impy: (hallo-kitty)
It's time to watch Joss play dress-up!
Historical and beyond. )

Oh, AG is having a sale on their dolls. Buy any 18inch doll, get 20% off one other item, not including Joss's VW bus. Code is SUNNY. Good through March 9, 2020.
impy: Pretty Little Liars Emily holding a coffee mug, looking super sweet. (PLL: Emily Sweet)
February release time! Not a huge release, but there's new stuff in most categories. Some historical, some Truly Me, some Wellie, some Bitty Baby, some Joss, and some books.

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Pictures and rambling inside. )

Oh, and Toyfair brought us this lovely hint for the fall historical:
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If she ain't blonde, I'll buy and eat a hat.
impy: Pretty Little Liars Emily holding a coffee mug, looking super sweet. (PLL: Emily Sweet)
Not sure if any of the other historicals will be getting anything but two of the Feb releases have popped up on the NEX site. Melody gets an Easter dress and Julie gets a third basketball uniform.

Melody's Daisy Outfit
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Melody will look her finest for Easter Sunday church in this springy outfit.

Outfit includes:
A green dress with inverted pleats and daisy appliques on the skirt
Diamond-pattern knee socks
T-strap Mary Jane shoes with buckles

  Again, needs a hair accessory. This isn't my favorite color in the world in general, however it stands out and looks good on Melody and for that reason, it's going on my to buy list. But she really needs something for her hair. Or a hat. Or something. Seriously.

Julie's Home Game Uniform
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When Julie's basketball team, the Jaguars, plays on their home court, she and her teammates wear this uniform.
Outfit includes:
A sleeveless mesh top with the Jaguars' graphic and Julie's number on the front
Sporty mesh shorts with an elastic waist
A pair of knee socks with stripes in her team's colors at the top
Lace-up basketball shoes with blue chevrons on the side

  It feels wrong to have my initial reaction be along the lines of, "she needs a hair accessory" for a sporty outfit but here we are. :P I got the dark blue version of her uniform during one of the various sales and I'll probably stick with it, but I get why they made yet another version. The second one is missing something when you compare it to the other two (it feels more like a practice outfit, I think) but it does have cute hair ribbons and Julie needs 'em, dammit.
impy: Lorelai Gilmore making her forks fight with the text 'Take That!' (take that)
We begin with BeForever because this first thing I'm going to show you is begging me to buy it right now.
New stuff for Kit, Rebecca, and Nanea. Poor Melody. )

For me, Rebecca won this round. And with only one item, too. Good job, Beckers.
impy: (BSC: MA loves)
Man, I've been in a funk for a couple of days. It's weird because it's not all the time, just a few hours here and there. I'm blaming my period and the flea explosion downstairs. I think it's getting under control but still... one bite and I'm itching for weeks.

I mention this only because it's why pictures and Nanea squee have not appeared yet. I opened Nanea... Sunday? Sunday, I think and didn't take her out of the box because have you seen what she comes in? White shorts in dust and cat central? No ma'am. But I did want to make sure there wasn't some big, glaring problem that would require talking to CS (I gather their phone lines are seriously understaffed at the moment.) and so I had to do battle with the box. I guess when they changed the packaging for just about everything at the start of the year they also started using those little plastic seals on the doll boxes, too? Meh.

K. Nanea's mold is like if Josefina and Marie Grace had a little baby. I specifically used those two because Josefina's got the surprised brows that Nanea seems prone to and well, only MG has used her mold. So far. Maybe one day, AG. Maybe one day. I remember when MG first came out and people started getting her, people were obsessing over her eyes and the placement and whether there was a weird crimp or something near the sockets. I remember this because once I heard about it and saw a particularly funky one, I had to spend ten minutes eye-balling my poor MG. Yeaaaaaaah. Nanea's got a similar thing in that her eye sockets are SO round that you can see for miles what feels like the whole eyeball and it's disconcerting. Really disconcerting if you're not prepped for it, honestly. My attention went straight to her eyes and then a little to the left and I was staring into her dolly skull and it was not a good time to be had. So I put her back in her box and told her we'd try this again later because clearly I was In A Mood.

Yesterday, I attempted to pop her out of her box. That took some work, lemme tell you. Mostly trying to get the book out without it getting damaged. Wtf, AG. I shouldn't have to destroy the box to get the book out. I really miss the little book tray they used before. I'm old and set in my ways, doll company. Work with me! And also really, if I had to work that hard to not fuck up the book, what do impatient kids do? I assume the new packaging is a way to save money (and adhere to the laws in say, Mexico, Canada, and perhaps whatever European expansion they keep hinting at) but if you have to replace borked books, that's not saving money.

I will say that her hairnet didn't really get caught up in anything, which was a first and so there I was. Face to face with Nanea and her eye sockets of doom. No, no, I kid. But I sat there, apparently in a funk once more, and wondering if perhaps I had made a grave mistake.
FF a few hours and some chocolate later and I went back to Nanea. Third time is the charm, dammit.

So I changed her outfit. Her Meet is one I like in pictures and I like the way it feels and looks but those white shorts basically scream "dirt magnet!" and I stress. So of course I put her in Melody's new outfit because white tights are so much less of a dirt magnet, right? *eyes roll out of head* It took a bit but Nanea and I eventually managed to make friends. Mostly because Ozma was very, very interested in Nanea. She flumped down next to us and just looked at her like, "and you will be my new friend and you can start loving me any time. Thank you."
Nanea! )

Onward. I read her book and really, really missed the illustrated books. Keep them in the giant collected forms, AG, but throw me a friends and family picture at the front or back, ok? Also, I am cheesed that her book cheerfully announces that it's available as an e-book. No, no you aren't. Not yet, anyway. Sigh.

Nanea and Maryellen would get along rather well. Both act before they think and both mess up. A lot. Their hearts are in the right place but don't leave a bucket of paint around either one. I am really pleased that there wasn't a big, huge friend fight in her first book. They had a disagreement but it wasn't a huge thing and it made sense. And reading the book made me really want Nanea's dog. This rarely happens with the pets, especially the dogs, but uh, yeah. That's a reunion that's going to happen.
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Default)
Ahhh, finally getting off my ass and assembling this. I've had part of this review done for awhile and the rest, well... I'm lazy.

AG reviews! )
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Default)
*stretches* Get comfy, folks, because this is gonna be a long one. Or two. We'll see. First up, news from the AG front because honestly, let's try and contain things as much as possible. If, like me, you actually wanted Gabby's Rehearsal Outfit, you're currently SOL because it's on backorder til August. Rumor has it that it's due to the shoddy new packaging and the number of complaints/returns due to holes in the outfit. I'd imagine her PJs might also get new packaging because their reviews are abysmal. On the one hand, I'm happy if we're getting new non-sewn in packaging and that AG is learning the error of their ways. On the other hand, Gabby's collection isn't exactly big enough at the moment to withstand possibly the most popular item (and it is) being on serious backorder.

Other news: if you were looking into getting Tenney or nu!Lyssie, make damn sure you check their lips really carefully as I've seen numerous posts about the lip paint rubbing off. And these aren't from the homes with kids or overzealous snugglers or cats who knock things over. We're talking the lips just chip off.

Finally, American Girl, I have some free advice for you. If you want to make more money/more sales, stop cutting corners on the product and simply offer free shipping all the damn time. Seriously. Free shipping. Always. Either on new products, no matter how much someone spends, or offer free shipping at a certain price point. The Wellies have had free shipping since they launched and they've made you so much money I suspect someone's got to be getting their Scrooge McDuck on at this point and part of that is due, yes, to having them available at other retailers, but the free shipping helps! If you give people time to spend their money elsewhere, they will. Don't let them overthink a non-essential purchase... and you're a toy company so all purchases are non-essential. Free shipping. You'll be swimming in money, even from those who vowed never to purchase again. Because free shipping is magic. Just look at your sales before you moved to targeted codes. Anytime free shipping leaked from a catalog code, people went nuts.

Wellies, Bitty Baby, Truly Me, BeForever So many pictures. )
End Part 1
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Default)
Oh, look. AG is trying to distract everyone from their FB kerfluffle where they capped the tail picture fiasco off by calling their customer a liar:
The photos that have been circulated suggesting otherwise are either altered or not of American Girl dolls.

Bonus points are awarded because the customer in question? Was given the doll by her husband for Valentine's Day, she's a new mother, and she named her new baby Ivy... y'know, like Ivy Ling, Julie's best friend. Good job, AG! Asshats.

Anyway, their original distraction was the news of Ivy getting a movie next month (March 24, I think?) on Amazon. I mean, technically I think it's being considered a Julie movie, but it's Ivy's Meet book in movie form so... really. Ivy gets a movie.

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Based in 1976 San Francisco, Ivy Ling is a 10-year-old Chinese-American girl who struggles with finding a balance between her two cultural identities: Chinese and American. With the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Vietnam War so recent, embracing her heritage doesn't feel appealing to young Ivy. All she wishes is to be like her all-American best friend, Julie Albright. But, when Ivy's All-City Gymnastics Tournament and her family's big Chinese New Year dinner land on the same day, she must decide between the two. - An American Girl Story- Ivy & Julie: A Happy Balance.

But that didn't really work (calling people liars generally goes over badly for some reason) so here we are with new doll alert!
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AG's site.
More pictures under the cut. )
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Default)
In my ongoing determination to forget that yesterday was the day my dad had his stroke that ultimately killed him (well, I mean it didn't help that the hospital didn't seem to notice or care that he wasn't eating anything even after Mums brought it up but I digress), we shall turn our focus to new BeForever goodies. Because I like shiny things and I like some of the shiny things we'll be seeing next week.

Julie is clearly the Samantha of today. )
In any case, overall I don't think there's anything I hate and a couple of things I ♥ annnnnnnnd nothing I would say no to if being gifted with it, y'know? So at this point I'm going to consider this leg of the release a success.


AG article with the newish President of AG.
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (minako: freakout)
*eyes clock* Yeah, I suspect this won't actually go up til Sunday. Still, maybe if I do a little work now, it'll be easier then. In any case, let's finally (FINALLY) give Melody some love.


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Melody, man. Melody.

Sorry, Melody, for being such a slacker. )


And it's taken me so long to post this that the sale bundles are about to expire but what the heck. Let's include them anyway.
Bundle Savings Good Through August 29, 2016 )


Man, I kept you guys waiting on this and it's not even my best work. Shame, self. SHAME.

I think part of the problem is that while I like Melody a lot (character and doll), I'm at that point where I've got a crapton of stuff and I'm being extra choosy about what I add to the madness. Also, I'm not rolling in dough or space and that kinda cuts out a lot of Melody's stuff. Couple that with my lack of interest in her musical accessories (though I find them quite nifty!) and you've got a collection I'm mostly content to look at in other people's photos. Which is great for my wallet, but not good for Melody.
Still, there are some things I want enough to buy and will the moment I have the funds and a proper sale.
Wish list:
Melody (and her Meet Accessories)
Pajamas
Christmas Dress
Birthday Coat

To make up for sucking, let's look at some pretty Pinterest shots, shall we?
Catalog shots, I suspect. )
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (dream)
It's now been exactly one week since the ick took up residence in me and I'm tired of it. I thought I was mostly over it other than the portion of a cold where you then hack up a lung for awhile but this morning I woke up and felt worse than I have in days. I hope it's simply that spring has decided why wait for March and appeared extra early. (Note to Spring: go home and send Winter back. Now.)


So with that said, my brains are a little more addled than usual and it's not simply because of the oooh, shiny factor.

If you were curious about the Mega Bloks AG sets, TRU Canada has them up already. Maybe not all of them, but I dunno. The mini figures aren't blind bag but since the MH ghouls weren't blind bag, I never really expected the Truly Me minis to be sold that way either. In case you wondered, as of me typing this, Grace, McKenna, Nicki, Saige, and Isabelle all have sets, with Grace having two.
If someone doesn't set up a MH/AG crossover very, very soon (I'm counting on you, Canadians!) I will be most disappointed in fandom. I just will.

Melody debuts on television. That link will take you to the gallery and this one should give you the video.

If you want to watch the video, that's perfectly fine. I'll wait. When you're done, we'll look at the gallery pics because I find it's best to just throw it all in the same place at once:
Pictures, glorious pictures. )
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (snowy impala)
This is quick because life did that thing where it actually sucked me in and wanted attention and now I'm tired and want to sleep. I read the new BeForever Melody book because it showed up for Kindle FINALLY.

I intended to only read a couple of chapters but wound up reading the whole thing. It's a very good book and I preferred it to Maryellen's book(s), though it doesn't break up to the old six book format the way Maryellen's did, which is to say there's no Christmas story and most of the book takes place over end of spring-early fall of 1963.


My only real problems with the book were:
Melody is one of those characters who is good at EVERYTHING. For someone who wasn't good or the best at a lot of things (even the stuff I was good at, I wasn't the best), I enjoy the books where the character isn't magically better than everyone else just because they're the star of the book. Melody's got a great voice, though you could argue she doesn't have the best in the book. She's amazing with plants (impresses old ladies!), she's kind and artsy and really, I'm not sure she's given a single thing she's incapable of doing. But she's not obnoxious about it so there's that.

and

I'm still not sure how I feel about AG using a very specific real life event as a major plot point in their book. It's hard to describe how different it is from using the various wars as backdrops for stories, but it is different. It's handled very well, though, so I'm not sure my aversion to this isn't more rooted in disliking the way the fandom pretty much salivated over this being an option. THAT made me kind of ill just thinking about it. Couple this with the way people are behaving now, and the whole church shooting here last year, and it's a strange mix.
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Guardgoyle)
Oh, look, AG has a sneak peek of their new BeForever stuff that's coming out Thursday. And, because they're AG, they screwed up just a smidge.

Or a lot if you don't like the stuff. :P

We're going to follow AG's order as they put them up, ok?

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Pictures ahead! )

Updated with new stuff.
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Bubbles so excited so happy)
Sooooooooooo... my BF batch arrived. I restrained myself and ordered Addy's Meet, Addy's School Outfit, and Samantha's Meet dress to start myself off with. Because Mattel is clearly not content unless they're in the middle of a new launch and screwing something up, all the Meet outfits that claimed to have a hair accessory included for BF's debut (so everyone but Addy, essentially) is lacking one in the actual box. I'm biding my time til they've upgraded their reaction from, "so sad, too bad" to "we'll put you on the list and send one out as soon as we get them in stock."


Also, the pictures really do suck because it rained all day until just before I got too tired to stay awake any longer. Then, of course, the sun came out.

As PC did, so shall we. We begin with Samantha. )
I am most satisfied with all three of these purchases and I'm looking forward to having enough fun money to purchase more BF goodness in the future. :) I can also say that I recommend each outfit, although I really do think Sam's new outfit requires a bow or some kind of hair accessory to set it off. I plan on eventually caving and buying her accessories for the necklace, so that might help, too.

Bonus pictures! )

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impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Default)
impy

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