AG Outsider Retrospecticus: Totally 80s, Dibbly Fresh, and Neth’s Early Childhood: Courtney Moore from 1986 (And What the 80s Were Actually Like)

Let's go to the mall!

Time Keeps On Slipping Into The Future.¹ It's Black History Month, pay reparations on my soul.

It was just thirteen scant years ago that the announcement came down the pipeline for the newest American Girl Historical Doll to be released in five years, with the most recent being Kaya pushing Felicity off her horse and letting the AG world know she and other Indigenous Americans were here first, redhead, now get in the archival vault. And the speculation was all over what era would be picked. Would she be of the 1920s? The 1830s? Maybe they'd finally stick someone between Addy and Samantha, since we'd kinda skipped forty years of history there and clothes and culture had changed a lot, even if black people were all living in our underground bunkers until the Civil Rights Movement.

Nope, none of that was correct. Instead the new girl was going to be from the far flung era of...

The 1970s. The historical era of bell-bottoms, disco, President Ford, avocado colored interior design, and fondue. Her name was Julie Albright, she had long blonde hair and brown eyes, she liked the Brady Bunch and basketball, she lived in San Francisco--our first Californian Historical--and her parents were recently divorced.²

Now I hadn't been in the fandom very long--and the only place there was any fandom outside of AG Over 18 was AG Fans (from which I'd been banned for rampant public paganism) or AGPT--and that mess I still need to go in on, how the mighty fall like a Fall Out Boy song--but the reaction was, from the more middle aged sectors of the fandom? Melodramatic flailing. 

"How dare American Girl say my childhood is historical! It wasn't that long ago!" was the outcry from quite a few women--mostly white--who had been celebrating the anniversary of turning twenty-nine for the past decade or so and had forgotten how to count. Those that weren't clutching pearls over having to realize they (as late boomers/Early Gen X) were way above their dirty thirties and had been kids nearly forty years ago were instead running around in circles and fainting in the pews, because Julie's parents had committed the awful sin of ending their marriage and American Girl was daring to endorse/condone/promote the breakup of good marriages and stable homes. You know how Kira B.'s books were controversial over women marrying women? Yeah it was kinda like that. We had the same levels of outcry from the homeschooling conservative ladies who were terrified of their eight year olds learning about poor people, over the portrayal of women daring to seek no-fault divorce instead of remaining miserable housewives. Women ain't supposed to do anything but take pills and stay married to shitty men that treat them badly, I guess. Karens gonna Karen, Beckys gonna Becky, and conservatives are going to whine that we're destroying the family and all of America by daring to let a woman have a right or something. 

Yet, among all the lamentations, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the rending of calico peasant dresses, marriage certificates, and Have a Nice Day shirts from Nice Old White Ladies, Julie--and Ivy, the superior Julie--came out Fall 2007 with much fanfare, six illustrated books, and quite a few outfits and accessories. The predictions failed and her release did not suddenly turn people who were ten in the seventies into dust when they had to explain to their own target-aged kids about the US Bicentennial, Title X, the 1976 Election and record players. AG Life went on, and after Julie came Rebecca, Caroline, Marie-Grace and Cécile, a lot of retirements, characters out of the vault, the start of BeForever, Maryellen, Melody, Nanea, the end of BeForever, this blog, and a whole slew of white Girls of the Year.

And in February 2020, American Girl announced that they would release a new historical character from the newly minted vintage era of...

The 1980s. Historical era of Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony, wanting your MTV, VCRs being stupid expensive, Walkmans, designer jeans, Cabbage Patch Kids, President Reagan--the second worst president that's ever been president in my lifetime--and hanging out at the malls and watching Saturday Morning Cartoons. Because it was that or go outside, and outside didn't have air conditioning and Nickelodeon.

And as the news came down the pipeline that American Girl had declared another generation "historical" everyone looked at the fully Gen Ex kids and waited to see how we'd react. 

We rejoiced. At least, in my corners. I'm sure somewhere online, a collector fell face down on her bed and cried into the body of her lopsided Kirsten doll with the uncombed hair and shitty hair loops because American Girl was stating the 1980s was now historical and she believed American Girl history should remain firmly before 1940, as it was when Saint Pleasant was still in charge of the company and everything was made of balsa wood and glass but Samantha and Molly's shoes still sucked and Felicity's books wouldn't say outright that Rose and Marcus were enslaved so folk could say deadass to my face that they were just "hired servants." But I haven't been on AGPT in over a decade now and I don't let people who suck that hard around me unless they want to get bodied. 

Anyways. I rejoiced.

My friends and I in that late X early Mill chunk were hype for the news. Unlike the 70s kids who'd been swooning over the fact AG had slapped their asses with the history label, a good portion of us were excited to be folded into the canon of a company we'd known about since we were kids. Many of us had been right around that target age of eight to twelve when American Girl launched with three dolls and required mail ins and calling and $85 for a doll was asking for a lot so no, we did not get the West Germans. Many of us didn't get our first dolls until we were older--if not fully grown--but we cherished our gangs and had memories of pouring over the catalogs and hoping for tiny doll plates. We put on Whitney Houston and Prince and Debbie Gibson and A-ha and talked back and forth about our childhoods in excited voices as we pictured tiny Trapper Keepers, acid wash jeans that zipped at the ankles, scrunchies for days, side ponytails and Get in Shape Girl leg warmers--and we were hot to be here for every neon poisoned, acid wash, Swatch Watch minute of it. 

And we pretty much got it. 

Baby Boomers in 2007: nooooo the 70s isn't history nooooooooooo you can't say we're old nooooooooooooooooooo
GenX in 2020: hehehe courtney go beep boop

I'd long ago created Kimmy Kim and her best friend Tyanna Lewis as my representatives of the 1980s, because the fact is that history and historical events keep popping off every day.³ And Courtney--in all her Valley Girl Southern Cali glory--was going to join them as part of the AGGiRL on day one. As more pictures of Courtney and her collection came out and more information leaked, I just kept here and there bouncing in my seat and going "dolly play the Pac-Man" because dolly indeed, play the Pac-Man. She had curly blonde hair--mistaken for red early on, because lighting was off--and blue eyes--mistaken for hazel, same lighting off--and was wearing leggings and ankle boots and acid wash skirts. 

My body was ready and my wallet was squeaking.  

The AG Brat Pack. L to R: Tyanna, Courtney, and Kimmy.

Courtney Moore launched on the website about a month before my birthday, and Bae--who buys me one AG doll like, every half decade at most and the rest of the time tells me "I love you but I can't tell your dolls apart, honey, I'd probably buy you a double of something you already have"-- gave me a shopping limit, an upgrade to two-day shipping in place of paying for ear piercing since I owned a power drill so she'd be here in two days, and an "I love you, this is your Big Birthday Thing" since we didn't get to do what I wanted on my birthday anyways and I was hitting a big birthday milestone and there was a pandemic out there that'd been ruining my entire year since March. She got here that Friday and I was up for the FedEx delivery and took pics of her arriving like I had with Edith and DeeDee four years prior, meeting the girls like her already here and they formed the AG Brat Pack even though I haven't actually watched The Breakfast Club.  

Step 1: Courtney's Collection
Step 2: Joy

When AG Seattle⁴ put things out in the store the weekend of the 26th, I  went, got the giveaway extras--a scrunchie and some crafts⁵--and got even more of her collection then. In fact, there's not a lot of her smaller stuff I don't own, and that's more of a matter of balancing my desires for other things across the brand and things being constantly on back order. Or not ever arriving at AG Seattle, weep. 

I love Courtney so much, guys. She's now in my top Ten Historical Characters. Maybe Top Five. There's kind of a Fog of War there in the middle. Maybe someday I'll do a proper ranking of Historicals and Why Neth Likes or Doesn't Like Them, and everyone can tell me why I really should appreciate Molly, you guys, because Nanea is a SJW promotion of a tiny part of American History that didn't apply to as many people as much as turnips and tap dancing. The shit I be reading with my own eyes. So in this post, we're going to cover her entire collection that's out now. Including the three new cute and fresh things that just came out recently, are already coded onto the Wiki because we work that fast--me and one of the content mods almost overlapped, we were so hype--and that I won't have personal pictures of until I place an order later in the month and wait two weeks for its arrival unless I want to pay a hit extra for two-day shipping.⁶

This post is probably one of my longest posts, right up there with my covering of the BeForever release in 2014. I, unlike some people in this fandom, know that on the internet we are made of words and don't show up cutting off my own fingers. There's no limit on how many letters we can use to type the whole word out instead of going "skskskkskss lol u say 2 much." I mean, character limits on Discord, but you can type twice! Even paragraphs! Boo boo, we gave up netspeak way back in the days of MySpace in the transition onto LiveJournal--but I'm pretty sure you weren't even potty trained when that was the hotness, if you were even so much as weaned. They don't even use that shit on Twitter and for years we only had 140 characters and could post via text message. In this thread I will--ahem.  

Ahem. If you don't want to summon my death glare, keep your name out from behind your teeth. I've hexed people for less. I don't know why you keep trying to waste my time.

Are they gone? Good. 

Get some snacks, yo. This is a double sided 90 minute cassette, with Side A about Nonsense in the Fandom and Side B about The Stuff. Moonwalk under the cut, and let's talk 80s, babies.

Including how I'm coming for everyone's necks today because these damn children have no idea how anything before 2000 worked. 

AG Outsider Retrospecticus: Beach Bum Baby Gay Joss, The Many Closures of AG Stores, And Some Things I Missed In My Last Post

Welcome to the first of a series of posts: The American Girl Outsider Retrospecticus.

No, Retrospecticus is not a misspelling of "Retrospective." Yes, it is a Simpsons ref from the season seven finale episode Summer of 4 Ft. 2 released on May 19, 1996 that's nearly 25 years old. Thanks for asking. I wasn't born at the tail end of Gen X to not make casual Simpsons references on my blog about doll shit.

It has been, minus one post about Joss at the start of what became The Year of the Pandemic--and my last two most recent posts--two years, give or take, since I did a proper snark and opinions on AG Releases. And we've already gone in on why, you can click backwards and read, I'm not saying the same thing yet again. Brain dumb, pandemic dumb, moving good. There, a six word story. 

There is a ton to cover that came out. The Moddies, The Girls of the Year--two of them--the Wellies, and the Historicals. And news to touch on as well, some of which I said in passing in Joss's first post and want to go into more now.

But you gotta be organized. Sometimes. 

So on Sunday I sat down with a Vanilla Coke, the same Journey song on loop on Spotify, cracked open the AG Wiki, went back through the last two years of news and releases, and sorted them into a word doc. Then I printed that out, used it to sort things into sections, and printed the new document out to ref as I go through and write posts. The resulting text doc is twenty-four pages. Twenty-five, with the cover. I'm one of those writers that uses analog paper to help my mind make sense as I type. This is why I have, you know, writing notes and binders for my books stacked a foot high instead of a Scrivener doc.¹ 

We're starting with a relatively short set, even if the costs are high: Joss's last collection items and some things that either came out under cover on the AG site or that I overlooked in my last post. And since some of that was not at the AG Seattle store--and never will be, le grand sigh--I'm already busting out the website and catalog pictures. Day One, baby!

I also am going to talk about one set of news that was going to be in my MegaNews Post, but AG dropped the bombshell on me yesterday and I might as well bite the wax tadpole now.

Dive under the cut for wildly expensive weed vans, hospital bears, a deck of UNO cards, and me explaining why I have reached Acceptance with occasion Lamentations in my stages of grief over AG Seattle.

Rambled Opinions and General Snarkiness: Around The World in Five Outfits, Knit-ness Meets Fitness, and The Queerest Shoes Ever Launched by AG: The Truly Me Early '21 Launch

Travel in your brain, and don't get on a plane.

What a long, frustrating, set of years it's been.

I've lost family, made great friends, had to face ending toxic friendships, seen the glory of Galarian Ponyta, seen the nonsense that is Karens¹ and Tankies and rising white supremacy, blocked TERFs on sight on the social media places, seen entire transphobia and dumbass shit, wrote books, read books, not written books, not read books, proceeded to gather a whole slew of Copic markers, misplaced my phone and my embroidery floss and a box of Pokémon cards, played hours of Animal Crossing, and bought a lot of tarot decks and a Bluetooth speaker so when I'm lounging in my bathtub-that-is-separate-from-my-shower with my unicorn braids pinned up, I can listen to Spotify play 90s Baby Making Jams while I ask my wonk brain to enjoy the bath bomb I tossed in there and not think about rabbits.

And through it all, I've kept up with American Girl. Not only have I bought several things--look this is a fandom where folk buy things, I buy the things--I've kept my pulse on AG releases and news. Running the AG Wiki and keeping it updated, modding my message board and other places even when it's hard and people's feelings get hurt because they have to be told "no, that's not right of you"², hanging with my fellow dolly friends, and tried to blog here and there. And I was doing a semi-good job. 

Until came the year I moved to an entire new home and that took my focus because an entire move, and then when I had to stay very close to it for an entire next year while a spiky boi was like "hello, I shall bugger the whole human body and make it ded!" and the fucking morons fucking up the government that just got yeeted this week just let that shit run rampant and thus more people have died in the US of Covid-19 than died in all of World War II in the span of not even a year. And I'm still here in my house except for when I go out and shop and yeet people from around me. Privilege has meant that I've been blessed to have the space to be locked down comfortably and that my household is, if occasionally stepping on each others toes and glaring at each other and "I don't think I like you right now"/"no talk me I'm angry", are doing all right through this--and it's a good thing we didn't have to do this whole thing in an apartment because I might have had to strap on a mask just to go out and stab someone in the eye with my snap knife. I miss my mommy and grandma and sisters and con friends and family, but we spend this time apart so when we get back together none of us are missing. (Most of us, anyways. Love you, Uncle Mac, from your Little Lady Nethie.) And I miss the little things, like taking my coffee in with me to sip on while we shop for groceries, sitting down in a bookstore, food samples at Costco--god, I miss food samples, that says a lot--and my husband calling me nightly to say he's on the way home from work. 

And I thought Twenty-Gay-Teen went on forever. At least then I could graze on grapes in Fred Meyer and go to the state fair.

Still, now that I don't have to doomscroll³ Twitter for hours to see how shit is going south and have been getting sleep which means I can do things? I'm slowly swinging back up on my bullshit. I haven't sewn much--that's my next hopeful "get on my shit" task along with cleaning--but these past two days I've been feeling like, better. I've actually done art. Like, got out my watercolor sets and my brushes and done me a fooking artz. Check the IG. There's art! I have two monthly art boxes now. I have ordered new tools to help me do art at my desk more, and I've joined a PoC creative Discord. 

And I just...is this serotonin? I still need to do other stuff for this body of mine and get on more meds, but is this...is this fine? Is this what it's like to feel some degree of peace?

What's a potato serotonin? Tastes very strange!

All that is to say I have eaten the plums this post now means I've done more posts here, even quickie ones to confirm my existence, than I did in both '18 and '19--and on the next one, I'll have done more than both those years combined. Again, y'all don't pay my salary, but I have wanted this even when I couldn't make it happen, and so have my readers. We're doing what we can with the tools we're given. And we finally found the tools! They were in the goon closet.

So let's talk moddie shit.

Recently, AG tends to do a "start of the year" release for moddie stuff that comes out for purchase about one to two weeks before the new year actually flips over. Likely to give the Girl of the Year her own focus, even if it all goes together in the catalog together, and also make it so the staff at the stores aren't doing an entire store turn over of both the moddie stuff and the Girl of the Year in a single night. Or something. I've mostly just blogged about it all together--or would have, but. But.

Best laid plans, mice and men, gang aft a-gley. Putting that BA in English to semi-decent use.

This most recent set was released about the 23rd, and I was able to see it on the first. And also get the queerest shoes released for AG. Look, these shoes are for the queers⁴ and the kids and for the queer kids. There's Travel Stuff, Gym Stuff, Shoe Stuff, and Head Stuff. And some other stuff. 

Be Happy For the Strappy and jump under the cut to go on a trip to the gym and Europe!

Well, not really. Pandemic.

If Real Life Don't--(A Micropost with Nellie)

Consider this a preview for...oh let's say Moe Friday.

Me: I'm going to blog the Friday after my return and Kira B's post, about the travel stuff. Get back on the horse that threw you.
The Next Day: *A literal fucking mob riot on democracy by white supremacists*
My Brain: lmao fukking bye
Me: motherfucke--

So yeah, that happened. And I knew gods damn good and well I wouldn't be able to blog about doll shit until post inauguration, because my brain had fucked off to where all ADHD brains fuck off to, the Forest of Fuck Your Executive Function. 

But it's two weeks later. (literally. Just two damn weeks.) We are post inauguration as of...*checks watch* about an hour ago. President Joe Biden is #46, Vice President Kamala Harris is of the same sorority as my mom and the sister sorority to my dad's frat, and we've got a lot of healing to do.

And so do I. These last four years have been like a bad relationship. Ask me how I know! Don't do what 16 year old Neth did.

Anyways, I've lured my wonk brain back with candy canes, a pack of fancy Japanese Watercolors, McDonald's cheeseburgers, and some Crayola Colors of the World Colored pencils. It's amazing what you can get when you're not impatient. And I do work in colored pencil more than actual crayons.

See you this Friday. We can talk about shortbread and workout pants.

 Now where the hell did I put my photo lamps...? ¹

--Neth

 ¹ It's just weird not having footnotes on my blog. So you get one. Don't spend it all in one place.

Rambled Opinions and General Snarkiness: Kira B.'s 2021 Aussie Adventure, The Future and Past Two-Year Retrospecticus on Releases, and The Reason Anon Should Get Off My Areolas

Be like Kira. Stay in bed and stare at the wall.

I haven't done a substantial blog post since January 2020. 

I haven't done a properly set up review of items in my collection since Sept 2016. I haven't done a craft post since 2018. I haven't done a true Book Blather since May 2016, a Casual Friday since 2018 with Series One Hairdorables, a complaint department since summer 2018, a "Why I'm an Outsider" talk since 2016, and several other things in...whew. *mops face with sweater sleeve*

2019 got barely anything--certainly not any Blaire posts--and 2020 got two posts: the start of Joss's collection (and my joy over winning her for free) and my lamenting that I ever invested in a day planner by July, when I'd basically been no further from NethBae's House of Fabulousness and Sparkles than about a thirty minute drive since March, hadn't been in a group of more than two other people since that February, and masking up was the fashion of those not trying to die on a fucking ventilator.¹ And this is not because I don't care about American Girl any more. I love AG still. I can get things done on the Wiki, and snap pics for Instagram, and sometimes even sort a whole one bin of doll clothes! And Courtney was my 40th birthday present.

So why haven't I blogged in forever? Simple and complicated. Not only is there an entire pandemic throwing my entire groove off like an emperor in a Disney animated movie, but I have a wonk problem.

Wonk? Wonk. 

Cut for talk about my head, and then we can talk about Kira B.'s things to start to try again.

my worst purchase in 2020 was a planner

had a post in the works for feb 29th. started it. was gonna backdate it. still will.

the pandemic, racism, the murder of black folk, and general malaise from everything outside my front door got my brain fucked up since march 5th.

all my summer plans are shot and dead, but better shot plans than shot people and death by coronavirus.

i'll be back july 2nd.¹

wash your hands, wear your masks, stay home as much as you can, stay six feet away from me and don't be a racist.

black lives matter.

--neth

¹ETA: or august. or sometime after that. are you seriously the kind of person to lurk and spam my damn comments? must i remind you there is a whole ass pandemic out there? fuck's sakes, riding my ass about me not writng a blog post doesn't make my ADD ass post any fucking faster. cultivate patience. you're at home anyways and everything is canceled, you have the time to do it.

Rambled Opinions and General Snarkiness: Surfing In with Joss Kendrick, A Double Handful of Moddie Mix-and-Match, and Notes on the 2019 Discourse

Surfing In: It's Joss Kendrick!

Meet Joss Kendrick, 2020's New Girl of the Year! She Surfs! She Cheers! She Can't Always Hear! And oh, how I am buzzing to really tell you why she's my new darling in so many ways this soon into her release. 

We will not discuss my lack of actual review, talk, or new shit posts in 2019.

*gets glared at and someone points to the two--two!--posts I did in 2019*

Okay, okay we will! I'm sorry!

In the past year I didn't cover anything. Not Blaire, not the death of BeForever and Rise of the Historicals Again, not the Moddy Shit, nothing. Between the all new house and the all new other shit on my plate, I let the blog fall aside. I've been packing! Unpacking! Putting up trees! Putting up book cases! Putting books on them! Not having enough book room! Painting rooms! Washing raw wool and processing it and spinning it into things! Working on novels! Spinning yarns in both senses of the word! (I wouldn't be the queer you know and love if I wasn't doing both things.)

...And in all that, not blogging. And now here we are, in 2020, with a whole new Girl of the Year, and I haven't even covered the last one. Entire Mix and Match sets have risen and fallen in the time since I last gave a "new shit" post.

I will make it up to you, my beloved audience.

First, let's talk about what I've missed talking about that can be summed up in paragraphs and expanded on later.

Then, about the new shit.

*~*~*

2019: All The News That's Fit To Blog

What's happened in the last twelve months on the AG Front news wise? Well, well,  well...

 It's All In Her Wonk-Filled Eyes: 

After copious complaints from everyone--some justified, some not--AG has gone back to an older style of eyes. Dolls could be sent in to have their eyeballs popped out and replaced with new ones, so you didn't have to live with inferior peeper. You had until December 31st to get this done for free. Now you'll have to live with your choices in eyes. Or pay, maybe, I guess. I sent Blaire Fifi in as soon as she was purchased, but everyone else is staying the way they are. Including Luciana.

Maybe now that annoying Bring Back the Kwality account on IG can quietly tumble into a bayou.

BeForever Is Dead, Long Live The Historical Characters:

In October 2019, AG publicly removed all the BeForever branding from the Historical Characters. Kit and Josefina have joined the Cube Life with Addy, Samantha, and Felicity--wait, Felicity? We're not sure. Is she there? Is she not? She's in the catalogs but not in the stores. And what of Molly? What of Molly?! Who knows? Anyways. Now every character has their own adorable logo that emphasizes the year and their name, and their books have the illustrations back! Addy, Kit, and Josefina will get theirs in a few months, but Ellie, DeeDee, Nanea, Julie, Becca, and Kaya already got theirs, which meant all new pics for the first three!

Speaking of those books.

We seem to be missing some things...¹

The new books have pictures. And whole chunks of books and story missing.

Guys gays and enby pals, welcome to the Abridged Historical Books. Barnes and Noble was having a yoink one yeet one free sale on AG books right before the switchover and had the new abridged AG books, so Neth got them all and did a few comparisons since I have all the prior volumes. And what changed? 

Well, hope you like illustrations more than all of Maryellen's holiday story. Or Rebecca's. Or Julie's story about helping eagles. Or Kaya's story with Lone Dog other than maybe a chapter. These books said abridged and they mean it. Stories are missing, chopped, remixed, and screwed like a 90s mix tape.

AG answered the demand for illustrations to come back by monkey pawing y'all. Picture's worth a thousand words and I'd say about that many got cut per volume. If you're a person who doesn't already have the books in some prior form, first of all what are you doing with your AG book life, get them old books. And second, you're going to be a sad panda. I suspect we're going to have a new set of readers in the future who won't understand major plot things (for example, there is no conflict of Speaking Rain being anywhere but back with her tribe forever). 

Y'all asked for illustrations back, you should have said you wanted to keep all the words too. You know genies are assholes. Next time specify your wishes into the universe. I'm chill but others won't be.

Maybe unabridged will come out later. Or maybe we're all boned. 

AG Stores, We're Two Down: 

American Girl closed two AG Place locations--Mall Of America/Minneapolis and Boston/Natick--on March 20th. All the petitions in the world online didn't help and just got your data harvested. Enjoy the spam mails! The general thought is that AG, losing money hand over underwear and eyeballs, let them go. Or the malls just didn't want to renew the leases because whatever reason. 

My store seems to be doing okay. 

Here's the Free Shipping You Wanted, and Dolls Are Cheap and Plentiful
  
American Girl in June started offering standardized free ground shipping on minimum orders of $125 or more. Additional charges continue to apply for rush shipping, shipping outside of the US or Canada, and shipping large items.  

Then they dropped the cost of dolls across the board to $98 by October.

So you're going to have to buy more than dolly and a pair of shoes to get them sent to you no cost. Get her accessories. And then some shoes. 

AG Rewards: It's now by Moneys:

The AG Rewards got a revamp, with the biggest change being that that each tier is reached by dollar amounts spent annually, not points accumulated per year. Y'all were gaming the system too hard, now it's dollars. Each reward level will have its own unique annual reward certificate gift, and Berry level members also will not have points expire as long as the level is maintained.

The 2019 Retrospecticus: Neth Will Cover What She Missed

She's got a chicken!

Regarding the old new shit, here's what I'll do: Every few posts here in January,  I'm going to go over the 2019 things. Blaire, the All New Old Historicals, Moddy Shit--even if it's gone forever and your only hope is eBay or crying on Instagram. Hell, half the stuff missed me by. It was gone faster than Sam's Velvet Underworld Dress. I was too busy picking out carpet and bedroom funiture, visiting my mom and grandma, hanging out with cool people, ending up with two Kirstens² and hanging vertical blinds³ to get everything, and what I got I'll be okay with. Hey, Blaire's still around. Hell, Luciana kind of is.

I got pictures of it all! I just didn't blog. So you can still have my thoughts on everything.

*~*~*

Now, we can get to talking about Joss! 

Air over the cut and let's get this surfing party starty.

Moving a Gang: Neth's Fuc'n House And How She and Bae Got the AGGiRL Into It

The place looks new. Because it is.

*dusts cobwebs* ahhhh--dead spiders~!¹

*blows dust* oh god bad idea--hack hack hack *cough*

*one inhaler pump, a cold beer, and a pack of Halls later*

Backstreet's Nethie's back, all right!

On Gods and Yemaya, it's been a time and a half, hasn't it my loves? We've got like, three months left in the year--Inktober,² NaNoWriMo,³ and Holiday. And I ain't blogged but once to say that I couldn't blog yet back in Pride Month but good things were happening. I call months what I want, thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Twenty-Bi-Teen has been a year of transformation for me in so many good ways. I have been elevated and rose and am making my ancestors proud. I've been working, I've been working, I get focused when that caffeine get into me. I had a Thing. A multiple month long Thing.

But working on The Thing meant not being able to blog here.

Yes I know there's new things from AG. I got pictures of them each release--huh, we actually had and lost a whole set of mix and match options while I was doing the thing, didn't we? They redid the AG core books while I was busy.⁴ Blaire got here and been here as my Fifi and will get her freckles later. Eyes were addressed. And if I hadn't been doing the Thing, I would have done the blogs. I'm just going to play catch up later, and everyone will be okay with it. Even when new stuff coming out--what you mean it's in the stores today look I will just go this weekend.

Spinning more than wheels.

I did many things while doing The Thing. I ended up with two Kirstens.⁵ I had visitors in the state that came to hang out--multiple different sets--while I did the Thing. I went to my con-work and MCM while doing the thing. Visited my grandma and mom and family. Ate the creamed puff and the scone. Went to the state fair as a demonstrator again. Hung out with friends in Seattle. Went to PAX West. All while doing the Thing.

The Thing I was doing?

Moving. Into a new house. That Bae and I now own.

Kirsten under the sold sign. To my house.

say what hit that cut

Busy as a Bee - With Fifi

It's Pride Month, and Neth is very busy.

Hi, everyone.

Yes, I've missed two releases. I was dealing with my brain, and as soon as my brain fixed a lot started going on everywhere in my existence. Everywhere.

So consider this a pause--but not a termination. Around August to September, once my life is sorted? I'll catch up. Promise.

Heart you all. Pay attention to my IG to keep up with me.

Enjoy "I have two moms and live on a sheep farm" Blaire Wilson Fiona Martin-Russell and her lamb Chrysanthemum.

--Neth

Rambled Opinions and General Snarkiness: 'Twas The Week Before Giftmas for Moddies and Wellies

Not a Wellie was stirring. Except she was. Because cookie dough.

I was ready to blog for my birthday, after getting decent shots of the new stuff that'd come out on October 1st.

I...did not do that.

Long story short, some stupid shit went down two days beforehand that ate the entire second half of October right up until Nano. Then I spent all November working on Nano, and making up for the fact that I lost my entire planning period dealing with fuckshit.¹ As me and my friend BWI put it, when both the Libra and the Scorpio want out of the birth month, then you know it's been fucky.

If I've told you what happened, then you know. If I haven't told you but you know I would, then you know how to get to me to be told. And if I don't want you to know? Then you ain't gonna know. I'm damn near forty, I gave up fucks for Lent years ago. Silflay hraka and die mad about it.

So yeah, it sucks that 2018 also was a low blogger's year. Which is weird because Twenty-Gay-Teen has gone on for what feels like 200 years already.² Sucks that I am getting out the October release *looks at her phone clock* two weeks before the Girl of the Year Twenty-Fine Bi-Teen launches.³

But then I wouldn't have this cool heading. So, uh, silver lining.

To the stuff that came out months ago and you already heard other people opine about. Or maybe not, because maybe I'm the only doll blog you read. And in case you're wondering, yes, I did get #80 for my birthday, her name is Giselle and she's pretty.