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| It's been real, girls. Welcome to Archival. |
Anyways, consider this post as my yarping about the New Shit, the Retirement of the Girl From World War II, and Doll Weave. I shall call these kinds of half reviews and mini-posts Rambled Opinions and General Snarkiness.
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| Strolling into the Retirement Zone! |
The main big news is that, after of twenty seven years of acceptable performance, Molly McIntire is tapping her way off the stage and into the American Girl "Archives". Which a nice way of saying they are retiring her entire ass, and she's taking Emily with her. Collection, dolls, clothes--all but the books, movie, and mini-dolls. So either the bloggers freaking out about AG shifting towards the modern were psychic, or they were just idiots. I'm going with "idiot" still.
My feels about this are variant, really. See--and I don't care how much flack I catch for it--I never really liked Molly. Back when there were only three girls and I saw them in a magazine spread, I didn't like her. My six and seven year old self had a rule that history happened before cars, electricity, and reliable indoor plumbing. Molly had a car, electricity, and reliable toilets, so she was not "historical."1 I also was not a fan of her Red White and Blue Super Patriot color scheme, and her clothes seemed really boring to kid me. Then I read her books, and I liked her even less. She came off as a whiner and brat in so many ways. Her scheming was often rude and cruel--"I don't like what Allison proposed, I'm going to talk my besties into something else!--oh wait that didn't work" "I'm going to dump undies on my brother because I'm mad at him!"--and her dreaming was generally impractical if not self centered. Also, she was rude and bratty to a British refugee and I couldn't abide that. I liked a few things from her collection, but not all of it--mostly the birthday pinafore which I totally have a pattern for and the tap outfit that I want the first issue of and not the second. So there. But I will be sad to see Emily go. I do like her and her style. I'll see about getting her to add to my gang. She was much more polite, though the stiff upper Brit thing was a touch odd in the movie. Also her book makes her a little weird with the whole fudging practice thing. Ah well, I tweak personalities all the time. I have more to say on Molly, but that can be a blog post and I will make it so.
Here's the thing: generally, they retire a Historical when they're about to put another one out. Rebecca replaced Sam, Marie-Grace and Cécile replaced Kirsten, and Caroline replaced Felicity. So this might mean the Dreaded 1950s Doll2 or a 1960s Civil Rights doll. I hope they don't do 1960s, that's my schtick and I'm good at it and AG isn't so there. Also, if AG puts Addy in the cross hairs I might have to have some words for them, mostly involving the versatility of the word "fuck."
So long Molly: you hated your braids and glasses and eating turnips and got sick when you washed your hair. Let's see if you hang on through the holiday season.
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My American Girl continues the trend of adding new faces and taking away old ones. Out go AG# 14 and 17, and in come:
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| White-Wheat Bread |
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| Eyes are okay, but Green would be better. |
The new outfits and things vary for me. Quick run down of just a few highlights, because I haven't got all day to cover shit I don't care about:
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| Tropical Bloom Outfit. I don't hate it. |
Flower Sweater and Skirt: It's okay. I do love red, but I hate the headband. The skirt seems busy, but might work with a white plain shirt. Hmm. I bet I can make it work with a lot of mixing around.
Striped Hoodie Outfit: OH GOD WHY IS DOLL WEARING ORANGE SKINNY JEANS KILL IT WITH FIRE. Also the hoodie blows. All I like is the shoes, so not worth it.
School Day Outfit II: It would have been moderately cute if not for the yellow ass shoes throwing the whole damn thing off. Fuckery.
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| And then everyone was poorly dressed except the black girl. |
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| Witchy Weird. |
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| Generidress, now in Clown. |
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| SCIENCE! now in doll size. |
Backdrops: Look AG, if you're going to half ass Scenes and Settings, just let us know.
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| Dolly Weave! |
This gets its own section because I'm just that amused. Now your doll can get her weave on! There's the Braided Headband, Chic Bun, and Curly Ponytail Set for all your weave needs. Now in Blond, Light Brown, Red, Brown, and Darker Brown. Huh. Looks like if I get a set they'll only work for Marisol. I only have two blonds, and Kit won't wear that even when she's modding out. There's also the Bright Highlights Set, so that your doll too can copy Bean's Sara and clip neon stripes in her hair.
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So that is the new stuff, or at least some of it. And the old stuff leaving.
Next time I'll do something not as rambling.
--Neth
1It was not until about high school that I stopped doing that. Now I define "history" as "any time in the past, including last night."
2 I swear, every time people bring up the 50s they bring up poodle skirts on little girls and I'd like to drown them.
I was hoping to see what you said about the snack cart!
ReplyDeleteI am not even sure how to feel about that, until I look at it at the store Saturday.
DeleteI feel relieved this time around, like I dodged a bullet. AG has this nasty habit of retiring modern dolls just as I'm about to buy them (#45, #50...I won't bore you with the whole list) but neither #14 nor #17 were on my want list, so I'm calm. As for the new girls, all I have to say right now, is: hmm...interesting! we'll see....
ReplyDeleteIf Otters were a real child, you'd have something to threaten her with. "You behave, or it's the Witch Costume for you!" (heh heh) But that's cruel and unusual punishment, and you're not cruel.
I rather like the Hideous Clown Outfit, but then I'm just weird that way....
I want a 50s doll. I do not want her meet outfit to be a poodle skirt. Maybe as a side outfit that's not even one of the story outfits like Molly's Play Outfit or Samantha's lawn party dress. AG is usually pretty good at doing their research and not dumping the doll into a stereotypical image of the era- Samantha's clothes are Edwardian kids' clothes and not miniature adult outfits, Addy's clothes are reasonable for a kid from a poorer family (even if they did have the "her mother is a seamstress" workaround to get her some nicer stuff) and aren't these #gorgeousperioddress plantation clothes with hoop skirts and crinoline, Felicity's day to day outfits are simpler than the frippery that comes to mind when we think of the era, only one of Julie's sets is actually insufferable in a modern context, etc.- so hopefully they will continue the pattern here. I wonder if they will continue filling up decades that haven't been claimed yet, or if they'll eventually tell the story from another side- for example, Kit being replaced by a migrant worker in the Depression with a story similar to that of Esperanza Rising? IDK...
ReplyDeleteGod damn them. I hate how they made the clips. Bean started it with Sara and I admittledly followed under it.
ReplyDeleteI gotta admit, mt AGOT has a poodle skirt. I made it, and it matches the one I owened. I went to about 6 Girl Scout Sock Hops, I was a 90s girl, and my AGOT is a 90s girl. Works for me. But little girls wouldn't have worn them in the 50s/60s, only the 90s, heh.
ReplyDeleteNah, felt skirts with poodles and other applique designs on them *were* definitely a thing, and variations of the style were worn by girls from elementary age through highschool, though they did tend to be more common with the younger crowd. It's just that they weren't the ONLY thing or even the main thing, and something happened during the late 70s-early 80s Fifties nostalgia bent to frame things as if they were. http://www.bettiepageclothing.com/blog/costume-shop-right-where-are-your-poodle-skirts has a pretty nice overview of the reality regarding the felt circle skirt style versus the modern perception. (The long ponytail, however, is a near complete fabrication from the big-hair 70s and I'm fairly sure Patient Zero is Patty Simcox. Most women, regardless of age, wore their hair in short, curly, feminine styles for the duration of the decade.)
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