Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessory Reviews: Samantha's BeForever Meet Outfit and Accessories

Nellie: Pretty in all that pink.

I continue to gush and gush about how much I like the BeForever revamp, in great contrast to a great many older AG collectors who grew up with the original looks. There's some bits I don't care for--there's not much that has my undying love without at least one thing to complain about¹--but overall, it's been a good thing. And when AG went for the relaunch, they relied on their regular fall back for all-new historical product launches and first tries. Yep, that's right. They reached back into the Historical Character vault, pulled Samantha out, shook her off and gave her an all new look. Same brown hair and brown eyes, but nothing from her prior collection came with her, not even her meet outfit and accessories.

And for that I'm glad. I never liked her original meet outfit or accessories. Oh, the underwear and black stockings had their usefulness, but the dress was mediocre at best and blech at worse and helped highlight the idea of turn-of-the-century sepianess and dull colors. And don't get me started on those pitiful ass plastic ugly shoes² or the high neckline that had to cover up that poor ugly white body the first three started out with. It wasn't even shown in the illustrations until the 1998 redraw. Away with it. Now Samantha comes to you in a much more pink set: a pink lace and dotted swiss dress, bloomers, white tights, black Mary Janes, and a velvet ribbon on a ponytail holder that that I don't have. Cause while all the new BeForever outfits come separately for about $36, they don't come with any of the hair decs. Either buy a new doll, clip your own ribbons, or see if you can obtain replacements for the hair clips. The accessories also transmogrified: a headband, velvet purse, and "locket" necklace for the standard accessory cost of $24. This was sold out the day of the BeForever launch--and also, I was getting all the Addy I could get--but later trips to AG got me a set to put on gang members such as Marisol and Nellie. So far there's no reason to touch eBay to get a set--even when it's not sold separately anymore, there's always the possibility of stripping a Samantha to get the hook up, though of course that's the more expensive option. There's also a matching sundress and headband. If you're like Zagat Editor Molly Moker you can fit in the set. I am plush and fat and can't do that.

With Nellie around, she can help share the Edwardian reviews with Marisol. She does an excellent job.

Pajama Jammy Jams and Historical Clothes Reviews/Historical Accessories Reviews: Maryellen's Pajamas and Hairstyling Set

Jamming for bed, the 1950s way.

Don't you love it when things conspire to make sure you get fuck all done? I sure don't. So there I was on this past Friday, planning to take some shots of Addy in her Sunday Best Set and Maryellen in her meet set, after getting the mail. Addy so I could compare her to the tiny LE mini, and Ellie to show her in something before her PJs. This was planned after getting my package from the office.

...And then I had a random encounter with a curb. I rolled for dexterity to save my balance, hit a two out of twenty, tripped hard, fell even harder, and both scraped my palm and felt shooting pain in my leg. I caught my breath, got my package and went back home, and inspected the damage. And wow that was a lot of blood and a wide ass cut. A temp patch up and a painkiller later, I waited for the Bae to get home from work and hoped it maybe wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I was wrong. He took one look at the cut and put me in the car and made me go to the urgent care center. This is where the doctors looked at my cut and made faces at it before injecting me and poking and flushing things out with others and three hours of my Friday evening was spent in the urgent care center, including a book reading. All that is to say that there are probably six to twelve stitches in my left knee,¹ it hurts like a son of a motherfucker to walk anywhere or flex my leg too much, and I'm not going to be doing any kneeling for pictures for at least two weeks. Fuck you too, gravity, you whore.

But I did have some older pictures I took beforehand, even if I wasn't planning this review to be Ellie's debut. So Ellie will just have to accept that her debut on the blog is going to be her in her pajamas. She's cool with this, considering she came with me to the Urgent Care center. If anyone understands healthcare needs, it's Ellie.

Ellie--Maryellen Larkin, but around here she much prefers to go by her nickname--wasn't initially going to be a Historical Character I cared for. The 1950s are the most overhyped nostalgia era ever for obnoxious white Baby Boomers, who want to remember the time of their childhood as a wholesome, perfect era of American Greatness when people didn't think about segregation, sexism, racism, or oppression and they didn't have to think about others at all. The Fifties get overly wrought down to the surface aesthetics: poodle skirts, records, jukeboxes, bobby soxers, roller skating diners, television spread, drive in movies, ponytails, white rock and roll, families with father knowing best and mother in pearls and heels, etc. Basically all the fluffy feel-good times with none of the understanding or discussion about the sociopolitial issues that plagued the time. But like Caroline and Kit before her,² Ellie's stories endeared her to me--she likes comics, science, does art, and supports vaccinations (having been disabled by polio). I basically went through a set of Five Stages with her:

1.) Denial: "Damn the 50s! And damn her! She's hazel eyed, she's white, she's got the classic mold, her name is meh--there is nothing special about her. I'm not getting her."
2.) Bargaining. "That outfit's nice. And that one. I'll just get a few of her things for Edith. Edith can wear her clothes. Dorothy too. I don't need Maryellen."
3.) Anger: "I've read the books and why is she such a charming character?"
4.) Sadness. "eeeen I wasn't supposed to like you eeenn i am cry eeeeen"
5.) Acceptance. "Come on, Ellie-jelly. You're the newest member of the Gang. Meet Edith and Dorothy and be friends."

So I ended up getting her as my 35th birthday gift to myself along with some of her clothes, making her the fastest from "I hate you" to "let us snuggle and be friends" since Kit. This included her Pajamas at the standard cost of $24: a top, bottoms, and flat style slippers. A later trip I picked up her Hairstyling Set for $20: a set of twelve rollers, instruction card, storage bag, and sleeping bonnet. The eBay costs are not even being considered on this post. Go to AG, Go Directly to AG, do not pass eBay, do not spend $50. Seriously, it's been five months. Girls' variations on the pajamas exist for those that can fit into them; I am not one of those people.

Hairstyling set first because Ellie had her bonnet on and I took her curls down as I was taking the pictures.

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Addy's BeForever Meet Outfit and Accessories

It's the all-new Addy-Meet Review, starring Addy Walker.

Oh, Addy. My first and forever American Girl. As soon as I saw her BeForever revamp, I knew that she was going to top it all and threw money at AG for her and her things. She's winning the game better than anyone with what she's been getting, including Samantha and her Goddamn Gazebo. Yes, I have innate bias and I don't even care that I do, because Addy needs and deserves love. Addy is the best character and written with a massively poignant character arc since she didn't get her stories mealy-written or the teeth torn out like some characters--Samantha, your potential was so great. People who claim otherwise or don't give her her props and shit on her need to get a clue and a half and get the racism out of their souls.¹ I've yet to get her tweaked books other than her Journey book, but I'm aiming for that eventually. And not just hers, but all the others. Again. Even if I have them which I do, The BeForever Books added text and tweaks, as I saw messing with Samantha's for a bit in the store, and that's just enough change for me to desire a whole new set. The life and struggles of a bibliophile are many and take up lots of shelf space. If they offer the books at Costco again, I'll likely bite down for that as the best bargain of a box set.

But let's not dwell hard on that. This is a clothes review, not book blather, and clothes review means clothes cuteness. Since Molly's out of the game for the forseeable future and not likely to come back any time soon, Addy's taken over the blue color² and that includes her meet clothes, since we're doing color coordination now. Gone is the classic cinnamon pink dress and cap toed boots that I reviewed some time back; now when Addy is given brand new freedom clothes, Miss Caroline hooks her up with a whole new fancy set: a blue calico bell-sleeved day dress, white drawers, white stockings, and black button side shoes.

I was almost ready to buy a whole new second Addy to get the new outfit and still may get one later on to help push the Addy love. But AG smartly offered the new outfits for all the revamped girls on launch day for a flat rate of $36, and I was lucky enough that there was one left in stock at AG Seattle when I went to the BeForever launch that I snatched right up. Fates with me. The boxed new outfits--which will each get their reviews as I get to them--don't come with any hair ribbons or decs in box, so if you want those you will either have to call in and order them or get a new girl, and I have blue ribbon around the house everywhere so I just clipped two of those to get her hair in the new style. But you get everything else. Her accessories also were revamped; she still has her cowrie shell necklace that means a lot, but her bonnet has been revamped with a new black plaid ribbon and she has given up the kerchief for a practical quilted tote bag for the low cost of $24. Yes, it cost me $60 plus tax to outfit her in her meet set again, and I don't even care because it's Addy. There's sets on eBay, and they cost varying amounts, but don't buy things from eBay that are available to you standard. I took these pictures right after she got her new set--the same time I took the ones for Josefina's review--but it took a while to get to. My review also includes the new Mini-doll, since I have one of those too.

Before I get into the review, news up. Yes, I know about the upcoming Fall BeForever Character on the docket and her three books, as well as the upcoming Journey book for Josefina. But until I have more details, I'm not going to speculate. I don't like speculation that can't be confirmed.  That's how you say wrong things. And one last Josefina thing--I recently got her older rebozo, so go back and look at her Meet Review to see it!

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Kit's Classic Meet Outfit and Accessories

Kit, old school in more than a few ways.

Kit, like everyone else in the Historical group except Kaya and Caroline, received a complete outfit revamp and collection refreshing with the launch of BeForever. Her teal color scheme on the side of her books migrated to her clothes. This brand new outfit look--teal and red, the basic Generidress silhouette done well--led to a lot of misinformed, uneducated mewling about how teal was somehow invented after the Great Depression and how her now-Classic meet set was so much better. I have to wonder how many people are blinded by nostalgia. It's not a terrible set, but--well, I'll go into details.

Kit was one of the two Historical characters that came around in that lull I had when I wasn't really focusing much on American Girl in college, the other being Kaya. Her books brought me around to adoring her and adding her to the group. Kit is not a flouncy fluffy pink girl¹ (this is why I didn't get her Easter set, along with the faux chocolate) and both her meet outfits have reflected that well given the confines of the 1930s in girls' wear. My girl's not just into waste-not, want not--she's into recycling, the environment, canning and jelly making, and socialism. And drinking out of Mason jars before hipsters Columbused² that shit. So I'm really kind of glad that Kit's one of the girls who got a major revamp from BeForever, since she's one of my up-there girls. Since her movie, things have gotten pretty fluffy in her collection--Ruthie, what did you do?--and while there's been a few things I've given major side eye to, I've gotten a lot of it. Including all her original Base Six outfits, which includes the meet set.

Kit's Classic Meet Outfit was released with her back in 2000--a mauve-lavender sweater and cardigan set, floral print skirt, closed toed canvas sandals, and basic white bloomers. Fun fact! Until later in the set's run, this was the only meet outfit that contained no Velcro; when it did, it was solely on the shoes until later versions also velcroed the skirt. My set doesn't have either. Currently it's available for $36 while supplies last. Her classic meet accessories included a woven clutch purse, Buffalo nickle, cloche hat, handkerchief, and compass necklace; these were available for a limited time after the BeForever release but now would have to be purchased on eBay and the costs are high. I've had her meet outfit since she joined up the gang in 2007 and brought her meet accessories with her--but not her underwear, so I had her wear some close-enough pink bloomers until I got her some closer white drawers.

Those are some pink panties, girl.³

Kit, like pretty much all my Historical girls, displays her own outfits here on the blog and doesn't have to share them with anyone else. She's a little more willing to share clothes with those that like her style for casual shots, but for reviews she's here to do the stuff herself and so she gets to do the stuff herself. So all you people bitching that I seem to be "racist against white people" by putting most of the outfits for Historicals I Don't Own on my Dolls of Color can shut the entire hell up. I don't know how you managed to not notice that Felicity only shares her clothes with Dear Elizabeth.⁴

Unlike Josefina, where the meet changes were mostly in two items, everyone else who was revamped got a lot of major changes. So when I do the BeForever meet sets for everyone else--I own them all--I'm going to do separate posts.

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Josefina's Meet Outfit (Classic and BeForever) and Meet Accessories

Hola, amigos y amigas, from Josefina.

November has been one of those draining months. Between Nano work (went slow but passed the goal, so ten years of victory, though), disabilities, clutter both good and bad, and current events, Nethie has been half curled in a ball trying to shut out the world. Shit happens, and sometimes the answer to handling shit is to not look and take time to just not. And there has been a lot of just not being able to. But I would be even more upset with myself if I went a whole month without a blog post here. Even if it's been almost a month since my last one. You still love me. As of right now we only have whispers and rumors of next year's Girl of the Year, though we know so far that she's a baker and has to go do some stuff in Paris. And that she's probably white, because people of color, whatever, they need to be mixed to fit our aesthetic, let's have four years of white girls. Le Sigh.

BeForever has been, in my opinion, one of the best things that could happen to the Historical section of American Girl. Before the launch, the line was getting muted out by both Girls of the Year and the modern line, who unlike the Historicals weren't stuck in a narrative of still being tied to the old days of  Pleasant Company for a huge part. While new things came out here and there, they had their meet outfits the same since the initial release--and as I said in an older post,¹ AG could only bleed us so long on old things. I'm a reliable Addy buyer, but before BeForever launched I could count the number of outfits of hers I didn't have on one hand. I have her whole collection, and I'm not the only one. American Girl can't really make money off of collections that people have already, especially not in an era where people can buy secondhand a lot easier than before (eBay yoooo). BeForever has given the Historicals a huge breath of fresh air that several characters had been lacking, and there is little in the line I don't adore and don't want to get my hands on for the girls I collect for.² The three biggest Historicals to get makeovers were Samantha (back from the past), Julie, and probably Kit; however, there are those that got very little focus. The biggest example is Josefina Montoya, who didn't get anything but a new BeForever Meet outfit. She hasn't even gotten a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book yet. This has led to whispers of her being retired or downplayed by AG, mixed with the rumors that she was set aside and she'll get her full new things come spring. We'll see.

Josefina was the last Historical Character released before the Official Purchase from Mattel, coming out late 1997. She and her stories represents the New Mexico area in the 1820s, when it was not yet part of the US and still part of Mexico, a still new country that had very recently separated from Spain. As in, Josefina would have been considered Spanish when she was born, since she was born seven or so years before the Mexican Revolution.³ Josefina is from a fairly well-to-do family; they have their own ranch which wasn't cheap, and her grandfather traveled as a trader. When Josefina was released--with a brand new face mold--she joined Addy as the only other character of color outside of the American Girls of Today and the only expressly Latina character.⁴ It wouldn't be until Marisol Luna in 2005 that another Latina character would be released and not until 2006 that the face mold would be used for a moddie. Her face mold, however, has been used for four other Historical Characters, another moddie, and two Girls of the Year, all who have been white. I find this slightly annoying, personally. Can we get some Josefina Face Mold darker than unflavored oatmeal, please. Ahem. Originally at release, Josefina also had her books translated into an older style of Spanish, something not done anymore and only done with her. Somewhere in my house is Josefina's birthday book in Spanish. Unique, but it didn't last long.

Josefina was one of the characters I fell for in the AG line, having grown up in Texas and having lots of exposure to Chicano culture as a child, and so I definitely wanted her to be part of my collection at some point. I was fortunate in 2006 to, with a tax refund check, be able to get Josefina with what's now called her Classic meet set in a private purchase that included some of her outfits, Kaya, and some of Kaya's stuff at a discount. Her meet outfit is intended to reflect the loose comfortable wear of women and girls in Mexico during the era; it consists of a camisa (blouse), print skirt, sash belt, drawers, hair ribbon, flower hair decoration, and moccasins and came on her. I'm not about to work out the math of how much that cost me but it wasn't full cost; currently the Classic Meet is available from AG direct for $36. Her accessories were purchased soon after I got her for what was then $20 and consist of a jola coin, handkerchief, waist pouch, garnet necklace, and rebozo; the cost is now $24 as with any other set of accessories. At the launch of BeForever, I got her updated Meet outfit for $36 day of release; it has all the same parts, but with some notable changes. It's quite possible that she'll be losing the coin and handkerchief come any BeForever revamps, so if you want those jump on it soon. Since little changed in her meet outfit, I'll be comparing things as I go for the most part. It doesn't make sense to write two separate paragraphs on parts of the outfit that are near exactly the same in design.

Earrings: Now for Josefina.

Before I dive in: like Addy, Josefina was given non-removable gold loop earrings. A lot of Hispanic and Latina culture has ear piercing done very soon after birth, and this was true in the past. Josefina likely would have had the ice needle and potato soon after she was born, and worn earrings her whole life. I love that she has this little bit of clear culture in her design.

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Addy's Meet Outfit and Meet Accessories

Addy meets the world! And runs this joint.

Did you miss me? I'm sure you did. I'm pretty awesome. I got back home about a week ago, but circumstances got in the way of my posting. I'm sure you still love me, and I'll try to get back on a regular weekly schedule. Anyways, enough chatter from me, and more posting. I'm here to both review and educate, and I plan on doing both.

If you didn't know--and how could you not?--now you know: BeForever is coming down the pipeline. This is a revamping of the Historical Characters Line that will be resulting in a lot of changes to appeal to a new generation of children and the return of the doll Everyone Loves to Kiss the Ass of, Samantha Parkington. Some changes I've seen the leaks of include new Meet Outfits, redone Central Series books¹ that will be bundled into two-book volumes, and new outfits and accessories. This has also resulted in the official retirement of the Best Friends Line (with Ruthie Smithens the first doll to drop out of the race and end up out of stock). While not every Historical will be getting redone clothing--Caroline, for one, will be keeping her current look--several are getting a whole new Meet. Including my favorite girl, Addy Walker.² So I'm likely going to go over her and several other Historical Character's meet sets in some reviews.

Before we talk about her meet outfit, let's have some history education, Today is actually a very historically significant day in Black American History: Juneteenth. Juneteenth marks the last day that slaves in the US learned that they were free. Everyone knows about the Emancipation Proclamation, which announced the end of slavery. But that was just in the Confederate States--and only in places not already under Union control. Plus it didn't apply to the border states--states with slavery that didn't secede. Hell, Delaware and Kentucky still had slavery legal until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. The Emancipation Proclamation was less a "Lincoln freed the slaves" moment of equality and more "Lincoln wanted to cut off a major part of the South's production and fuck them up" war maneuver. But given the circumstances, black people took what they could get.

Anyways, freedom for slaves! In theory. The Confederacy--Texas included--didn't give a single fuck what those Yankee bastards had to say, and ignored the shit out of the news. And unlike nowadays, news didn't move very fast, and if you didn't tell someone news, they just didn't know. So as the Union Army worked its way south and west and took shit down, they would tell the slaves "oh by the way, you've been free since January first, 1863, get on that." Also, travel was slow as shit, not helped by the fact that there was, you know, a fucking war on. This all led up to the fact that Texas kept its slaves for practically the entire war and a few months afterwards.

It wasn't until June 18th 1865--over a month after the official end of the war on May 10th (and three days before the final shot was fired on June 22nd by the CSS Shenandoah) that a Union General, Gordon Granger, and federal troops showed up on Galveston Island. They took Texas back for the Union and enforced emancipation. On June 19th, General Granger got up on the balcony of the Ashton Villa and let the black folk of Texas know that they were free people and that this was the way shit was. Celebrations started immediately and were formally done the next year in 1866--and have, in some way, been happening ever since. This makes Juneteenth one of the oldest Black History celebrations in the US. In Texas it was made a Texas state holiday in 1980--the same year I was born--and in the 80s and 90s when my black ass was growing up in Texas the celebration was in major revival and spread across the nation. So yes, Addy would have likely participated in Juneteenth celebrations at some point.

Back to her meet outfit. Addy Walker's debut in 1993 added the first doll of color to the AG lineup and the first girl with earrings--permanent as they are. She came with her first three books illustrated by Melodye Rosales and a lot of neat shit that I absolutely coveted and now pretty much have all of--including the desk. Addy's meet outfit--until the relaunch--consists of a pink and white dress, white drawers, black stockings, black boots, and a blue hair ribbon. Her accessories--for $20 originally and bumped up to $24 as prices rose--are a straw bonnet, half-dime, kerchief, water gourd, and a cowrie shell necklace. You've got til August 28th before the revamp to get her in original form; after that, you're looking at eBay prices which range from "that's not so bad" to "you're getting ripped off, honey." But you'd probably still be able to find them for respectable costs since she's been around for over twenty years. Addy was a Giftmas Gift to me in 2005 and my first AG ever, so I paid "ohmigawd I love you in-laws you are the best" for it. Unlike several meet outfit and accessory sets, Addy's entire outfit is given major significance in her books: the outfit (and hat) is the first outfit she is given by Miss Caroline on her way running to freedom in the north, and the accessories are all mentioned in her first book.

Oh, and the background isn't my usual fully backed green for the most part; it's the wall of my mom's place on top of one of her display tables, and the images are a little yellow in places because of the lighting at the time. I meant to make this post while in Texas, but so much came up that it didn't get posted. And with my scanner in WA State, I couldn't give you all the beautiful data I like to give with my historical reviews so it all works out.

On with the show!

Crafting Creatively - Things I've Made: Elizabeth's Holiday Dress and Historical Accessories Reviews: Elizabeth's Doll

Felicity Merriman and her darling Elizabeth Cole.

I have several self-made historicals, since American Girl can't or won't do a lot of things right, and this has been true since the very first three.¹ There's Edith and Dorothy from 1964 Memphis, Charlotte from 1842 Texas back when it was its own nation briefly, and Kimmy and Tyanna from the later 1980s Seattle, and Addy's best friend Sarah. And there is Elizabeth Cole.

Back story time! When Felicity's books were first written back in 1991 and best friend characters for Historicals were not a thing, Elizabeth was described as tiny, brunette, and with brown eyes. This stayed the way until about 2005, when Felicity: An American Girl Adventure was released. The actress playing Elizabeth, however, was blond and blue eyed. And through the magic of Photoshop this:

Elizabeth 1: Brown and brown.

became this:

Elizabeth 2: Behold, she's fucking blond!

Along with this, all the books were changed to match in the text along with some really haphazard Photoshop over the illustrations.² AG's official statement was to put more contrast between the girls so they didn't look the same, but redheaded isn't brunette so what-fucking-ever I don't know. The blond version--when I was in fandom--got called Barbie!Elizabeth or Mattel!Elizabeth, because Mattel also owns Barbie and if we can't compare everything to that blond tramp of a doll that we're supposed to hate for her nipped in waist and humongous tatas then we're bad doll collectors or something. (I might have issues with people shitting on skinny fashion dolls.)

I don't care for blond-version Elizabeth for multiple reasons, but that is because there are very few books I don't like over movies.³ So a buddy of mine made a brunette Elizabeth by rewigging and eye swapping a blond!Elizabeth, and I later had her join the gang in 2008 during the holidays as a beautiful surprise to her dear Felicity who had desperately missed her girlfriend. I don't know if the woman who made Elizabeth for me does customs anymore--she has kids and had some board shit go down that led to her getting kicked off AGPT and has eased back from doll collecting some--but she made me Elizabeth and Sarah and for that I'm awesomely grateful.

By necessity, Elizabeth Cole needed her holiday outfit. But not the AG one. I never got it, even when retirement was impending. First, let's show what AG offered us, as an interpretation of the dress from the movie:

Uh, no.

Pathetic, isn't it? [/Ursula] There's no side slits. There's wonky full fabric slippers. There's no separate petticoat. And there's no stockings. Gods, and you expected me to put my pretty Brunette Elizabeth in that? Nope. Fuck that shit. The only AG Approved Elizabeth Outfit I have is the riding outfit and nightclothes. So of course I had to make my own. Armed with Felicity's sewing patterns and a physical example of what I wanted to do for the outfit--Elizabeth's Doll, Charlotte--I took my ass to Joann's, bought some satin, and made something nice.

Pretty dresses are so much prettier.

Maroon and gold, lace and satin, and much more accurate for me. It's a gold dress, maroon stomacher and petticoat, and ribbon choker and hair ribbon. I'll go into the details of wear as I review, but not as intensely as Felicity's since they're based the same way.

Bonus: a mini-review of  Elizabeth's Doll.

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Felicity's Christmas Gown and Stomacher, Invitation and Fashion Doll, and LE Mini Doll

Merry Holidays from Felicity Merriman~

"I'm going to post Felicity's set on the seventh, the day the dance is in her stories," I said with great exuberance on the sixth. My body said differently. Two days past an aggravating headache and a considerable amount of sleep later, we actually start this. Yay, chronic illnesses. Felicity accepts the things she can't change and changes the things she can do something about, and so do I.

Many people really don't care for the beginning of January. This is because we as a society nowadays tend to compress everything. You only have so long to go on vacation, enjoy childhood, mourn deaths or celebrate life changes, and celebrate any and all holidays. Move on to the next thing and stop sitting around in the past, or something. Also everyone's harping on you about your resolutions¹ or something, the gray skies are still gray, the days are only marginally getting longer--say what you want, the sun's still set at five around these parts--and right now a huge part of the country is caught in a polar vortex of cold where blowing bubbles literally will freeze. I much prefer my personal trend of carrying the winter celebrations on as far as I possibly can. And if right now that means continuing the holiday reviews, then so be it. Plus I said I was going to try to cover everyone at least once, and I mean it, even with spacings out of other things such as crafting, customizing, and magazines.

Historically, Christmas and the entire holiday season started to get a bad rap in about the late 1600s, with some places in England and its colonies banning the celebration outright. Christmas was considered pagan, Papist² and the drunken revelry and such was looked down as a vulgar holiday. You can blame the Puritans and hardcore Protestants for that. Like you can for most things. It really wasn't until Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that the holidays started to reroot in society as a season of joy and celebration. Even then that wasn't about Jesus either, especially in the story. It was about compassion and goodwill towards fellow man, peace, and a time for family and friends. Christmas has always had a secular side since it became the sort of modern situation it is now. "Jesus Birthday" is a pretty modern turn on the holiday, to be honest. (And that's why I'm cool for calling it Giftmas.)

Christmas was and wasn't popular in the American Colonies--it really depended on where you went. Virginia and New York were pretty gung ho for the holiday season, and Felicity is from Williamsburg, VA, so she would have been for the holiday and the Christmastide season. In her story she gathers holly, makes Shrewsbury cakes, and spends time with family--and this culminates in her going to the Governor's Ball on January seventh and participating in a dancing lesson--which is a nice way to say "come and dance your butt off and enjoy things."³ Felicity had originally thought she'd  just wear her brown silk gown⁴ she wore to church every Sunday, but she sees a sample of the dress on a fashion doll and just lights up--and when her mother sees that for the first time she can think of that Felicity wants to have a pretty gown and actually be girly, she indulges her daughter's girliness and gets the stuff to make the dress. This is why I side eye the people who act like Felicity was some sort of 24/7 gung-ho, fuck all your feminine ways tomboy. Lesbians can like pretty dresses too. I like pretty dresses. But this is a outfit review, not a book review, and if I start babbling about the book I'll never ever get to the outfit.

Like Felicity herself, the Christmas Gown and Stomacher (also named Felicity's Holiday Dress) came out in time for holiday 1991. Felicity was the first historical to come out after Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly. Which is weird, because Saint Pleasant the Overly Revered initially got the idea--so the mythos goes--by going to Colonial Williamsburg. (Whatever, Ms. Rowland had and has issues and I'm not above bitching about them at a later time.) The outfit initially consisted of a gown, petticoat, two stomachers--one lace, one ribboned--a ribbon choker, and pinner cap when it was released. The hair ribbon was added in 1993, and white flat shoes with blue bows were added sometime after 2005 with Felicity's revamping because when I got the outfit as my Giftmas gift in 2006 it came with those shoes. Yes, Felicity was also a Giftmas gift like Addy--I got my husband the Wii since I'd just started working at Nintendo, and he got me Felicity and a good starting chunk of her collection, including this dress for the going cost of $28.

Felicity's holiday collection contained several things, much like the other girls before her: the Shrewsbury Cake food set (with Real Sugar!), her Invitation and Fashion Doll, and Noah's Ark--which was a special toy only for the holiday season for the children to play with. While I have the ark, it is not appearing right now because my house ate the little wooden ramp. If I don't find it by this weekend I may assume it got thrown out and make a new one. And I don't have the Shrewsbury cakes set. If I ever come across it for less than a hundred fucking dollars, I'll consider it--I really only want the basket, cloth, and cookie cutters. We can all live without actual sugar from 1991. The Invitation and doll were retired right before Felicity was in 2009 or so, the ark in 2007 (after a few revisions), the cooking set in--sometime, I don't fucking know--and the dress set with Felicity when they put her in the American Girl Vault in 2011, though it sold out before she did. Since Felicity's retirement prices have shot up on everything; her dress goes for upwards of $60 bucks, though with patience you can get it for around the $32 that it was before retirement.

I'm actually about as purist fussy about Felicity as I get about Addy--she doesn't share her clothes with the notable exception of Talk Like a Pirate Day and Elizabeth getting in her clothes in more than one way. Well, to be honest it's to a lesser degree when it comes to getting things for her collection. While I won't blink twice about paying through the nostrils for some of Addy's collection at times--though I do try for bargains--I will not pull the trigger as fast for Felicity. (The costs for that Travel Trunk can fuck off.) But she's one of my favorite girls and I fell in love with her easily--she was the second AG Historical to join my gang back in 2006. When they put her up for retirement I got almost everything for her I didn't already have, which was mostly furniture and accessories. (But not that gala gown, what even was that shit.) I even did a whole photostory series about her arrival that I scooted out over the course of weeks that December: Naomi's Giftmas Surprise.⁵ I also later got her her love, Elizabeth Cole. She's a custom with brown eyes and hair. That blond girl ain't Darling Elizabeth. I'm an original book purist.

I don't have the white shoes anymore. Well I do but they got reappropriated to someone else's holiday wear because I much prefer Felicity in her meet shoes for this set. Of course, this review has the mini-doll. And there will be lesbian innuendo all throughout. There always is with Felicity here, because I ship Felicity/Brunette!Elizabeth hard. Their love is so revolutionary.⁶

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Addy's Tartan Plaid Dress, Ida Bean Doll, LE Mini Doll, and Sweet Potato Pudding Kit

Merry Giftmas, AddyWalker!

Merry Fucking Giftmas to all my readers, lurkers, lovers, haters, and hangers-on. And that's not sarcasm, that's exuberant joyful cursing.

Normally, I don't do back to back day posts, hence my holiday series reviews going to carry into January. It's stressful on me, and I get tired and feel like I'm flooding you with too much data. I always worry I'm going on and on about shit no one cares about when I get into The Doll Zone. But today is Giftmas, and Giftmas is very important to my AG collecting. Because, if you haven't read the story before or spent any time on this blog, let me remind you. Christmas Morning, 2005 was when I got my first AG doll ever after wanting one since I was kinda around eight or nine and falling in love with Addy when I was thirteen: Aduke "Addy" FirstArrival Walker.¹ I was 25 years old, and my mother- and father-in-law² got me her, her meet accessories, her nightgown with her heartwarmer and slippers, the hair kit, her work dress, and her Tartan Plaid Dress. I cried, people. I fucking sobbed when I got her and I'm not ashamed. I immediately changed her into the dress and she was so pretty that I swear she glowed in my arms. I cuddled her all day and eventually started snuggling in the bed with her every single night. Every year, she gets into her dress for the holidays. Even last year, when some shit went down through my family--the December after I got laid off that March--and I thus had a miserable, shaken holiday season , I changed Addy into her dress because she just has to get dressed. It's as much a tradition now as fucking around on the internet and staying up ridiculous hours. Addy is the leader of my gang, she is bossy and she is brilliant and she is cocky and better than your blond and/or blue eyed moddies and she doesn't have to share her collection with anyone except maybe her bestie Sarah because fuck you, that's why.

Yes, that's right, I started with one doll and one holiday set, and eight years later I have twenty-six gang members and enough AG holiday stuff that it takes a calculated effort to do the holidays and some people have to change outfits twice. Aw yiss.

The Tartan Dress came out the same year Addy did in time for Holiday 1993, and originally cost $22 but has since been bumped up to $28 because gas ain't less than a dollar anymore. And at the time, she also had

• a holiday food craft set, the Sweet Potato Pudding Set for $16: cast iron spider, glazed  mixing bowl, spoon, faux holly spring, and recipe
• a doll, Ida Bean, for $18 (originally $15)
• and a craft set, the Needlework Kit and Lamp. for $18: Plastic and metal oil lamp, plain apron, embroidery floss, needle book with needles, wooden hoop, and instructions.

Everything else has been retired--the kit in 2002, the needlework kit and lamp in about 2005-2006, and Ida Bean just this year in 2013. But her dress still stands for the holidays. AG sort of wants you to want to get holiday wear for dolls, and so they almost never retire a holiday set if the historical character is still there to wear it.³ And I have almost every bit of Addy's Holiday collection. I got Ida Bean off eBay for $15 with shipping since the cost was cheaper than AG's costs at the time within months of getting Addy; since she's retired her price has almost doubled but I'm sure with patience you can get her for a good cost. I paid $75 for the complete, unused Sweet Potato Pudding Kit from private purchase in 2012 because Addy and I are spoiled absolutely rotten by my husband, and on eBay it goes for about that much when it shows up complete. My needlework set is a mishmash of stuff. I got the authentic apron from someone for about $10, I scanned someone's instruction book and needle book, I have so many needles I lose and replace them on a regular basis, and I took my ass to Joann Crafts and Micheal's and picked out embroidery floss and a wooden hoop for maybe 6 bucks in total. I just don't have the lamp.  But that will change when I finally focus on eBay and find a good knock off. So it's not going to be a review so much as a Crafting Creatively and adaptation.

Order is: Dress set, Ida Bean, Mini Addy, and Sweet Potato Pudding Kit. Of course I have the LE Mini Doll. She was the first I got, as soon as she was released. So this bonus? Is me showing some of my fancy cooking. I'm way too good to you.

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Kit's Christmas Outfit, Aviator Doll, and LE Mini Doll

Merry Christmas from Kit Kittredge!

There are no major holidays today. Well, there's a feast day for a saint but I'm pretty sure there's a feast day for a saint every day of the year so we're going skip most of those for sanity's sake. Instead we will talk about traditions, briefly. Everyone has one or another for the holidays, even if they don't say it. Some people throw the tree up as soon as the turkey is cool, some wait til the first of December, some wait until a week before. Some get the tree out of the house as soon as everything is over and some wait til the first. Some people insist on Christmas morning in pajamas, or not opening presents before the whole family is there, or opening in semi-private. Some do new pajamas on Christmas Eve. Some let the kids tear through everything first before the adults, and some go around in birth order and one at a time until everything is open. For years, we opened everything at midnight, had a blast until about two in the morning, went to sleep, woke up, and then went to my paternal grandfather's for Christmas dinner and gifts and all that stuff from them. And by the time I was six or so, I recognized that the toys and gifts from "Santa" were the ones from Toys from Tots, because I grew up poor enough to qualify. That's why, in part, I try to donate to them every year--and try to do something name brand. People who do the cheap, off brand toys because they think poor kids don't notice are jerks and should choke on a stocking.

Nowadays my traditions consist of remembering to put up the tree--this year there's only the tabletop one, since I'm in a transitional phase--my husband and I hitting up Cyber Monday Sales to get TV series we like on the cheap, and me blowing about a hundred or so bucks on AG's Cyber Monday because half price AG stuff is the goddamn bomb. I'll probably make more when I do finally sprog out, but that's pretty much how it's going. Yes, I'm going somewhere with this. Let me babble.

Kit Kittredge had her own traditions too--Christmas waffles, lighting up the tree, and her mom and her going out with Ruthie and her mom to downtown Cincinnati for the whole the day after Christmas and going to lunch at a fancy restaurant and a show. She was thrown for a loop during the course of her books because of the impact the Depression had on her family--for one, the power bill was hard to pay, presents were scarce, the phone bill wasn't even paid, and there were borders in the house. And she was pretty pissy when Ruthie's solution to "I don't have a new dress to wear on some fancy date with you, baby, I got real problems" was "How about you wear my old one from last year and we'll pay for the whole date?"¹ And rightfully so, because Kit's issues were deeper than a new dress, seeing as they were looking at eviction. But, like AG books often do, everything was wrapped up nice by the end and she and Ruthie kissed and made up and gave each other gifts and were back together at the end--and then in Really Truly Ruthie Ruthie, not wanting her girlfriend² to lose her house, went on the train to Kentucky and got the money from Aunt Millie. On that note, fuck Uncle Hendrick's rich old selfish ass. Selfish people like him are the reason we're in the shit we're in right now. But politics. Anyways, after they make up, Kit accepts the red dress as hers, and she and Ruthie still go out on their date the next day.

Margaret Mildred "Kit" Kittredge was released in 2000, the first Mattel released Historical. So if you ever hear someone talking about how AG was so much better when it was PC and all characters after Mattel suck, and then claim that Kit was a PC character, they're a stupid moron and you have my permission to throw mini dolls at them until they shut their face. I actually was very reluctant against Kit because eh, blond dolls are so not my thing. But then I read her story and warmed up to her because if there is one thing I can ID with from my childhood, it's wearing old clothes and struggling to pay bills and threats of evictions and people thinking their charity is accepted when it's half assed or really condescending as fuck. I ain't too proud to beg, to modify the meaning of the TLC song. But some well-to-do-people think anything they give you is to be appreciated because they were generous enough to give anything at all, and that's how you get pumpkin pie filler and endless rice along with mock-Barbies with cracked legs and yo-yos that break four minutes later. But I digress. Kit joined the gang in 2007 when I moved to where I am now--her last family left her behind, and when she saw the new folks moving in also involved people her height, she became part of the recently renamed AGGiB.³ Here, she's what I call a 50% Modern--she bounces back and forth between her 1930s clothes and modern clothes, and likes a computer over a typewriter. So--even though they wouldn't be Wiki refs--you might see her in a modern set here and there.  What can she say? Jeans are nice.

Like Josefina before her, Kit's Christmas Outfit (or Kit's Holiday Outfit, because she technically wears it post Christmas proper) was released with her Fall 2000 along with her first three books, so that you could have her all cute for the holidays--and like Josefina, I ordered her holiday wear in 2007 so she could look her very best for Giftmas in the new place. The set consists of the red dress, a red polka dotted hairbow, white net stockings, and black t-strap shoes. Originally, the Scottie pin was a separate piece, but now it comes as a button permanently attached to the dress and that's the version I got. Or, it was attached. You'll see. I paid $24 dollars for it but, again, prices rose and the cost is now $32. Unless you've got a hard on for the Scotty pin with the magnet and can't mod it yourself--and it's really easy to do if you're not incompetent--there's no reason to bother with eBay. It almost never shows up with everything, and most of the time it's just the dress. Don't do that to yourself. Order the dress from AG.

Fun fact? Every AG character had a unique letter in the ordering codes before a revamp in about 2007. And they were really easy to break down when, if you were anything like me, read the catalog voraciously. For example, Josefina's Christmas dress had the code "JCO"--Josefina Christmas Outfit--and Addy's Lazy Susan Table and Chairs was "AF" - Addy's Furniture. Since Kirsten already had a monopoly on the letter K, Kit got "Q". Told you Kit was bisexual--she's queer.

This review will also include the Aviator doll and--like Josefina--the LE Mini-Doll.

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Josefina's Christmas Dress and Mantilla, Niña Doll, and LE Mini Doll

Feliz Navidad from 1820s New Mexico!

Behold, the Winter Holiday Season! That wonderful end of the year where evergreen trees are erected, snow happens in a lot of the US, people finally give their children the things they've been promising them since August¹ and the year gets the hell out of the door with a string of festivals cause it's dark out and there's fuck all to do in the Northern Hemisphere. Some celebrate the birth of Jesus even though we're all pretty sure that happened in the spring, some celebrate black unity and togetherness with candles and first fruits. Some wait until Three King's Day to give out their gifts, some do it on Saint Nicholas's saint day, some people celebrate the low point of the sun and the longest day of the year. Some have a Holly/Oak King thing going, some are celebrating the birth of the Horned God, some of us celebrate the day to celebrate the dwelling of Persephone's time with her husband in underworld (yo) and this year the Jewish kids decided to get that shit overwith early and ran Hanukkah during Thanksgiving. As for the 25th of December? Around here, we call it Giftmas, the Festival of Giving and Receiving. Because contrary to popular belief, some of us like to show our love to and from others with material goods, and if we're not Christian but want to do shit on the Socially Obligated Day of Holiday Mirth, we're stripping the religion out of it. That or we just like the discounts on Cyber Monday. All the fun of holiday shopping, none of the pants!

Wait, I'm supposed to put a review in here somewhere instead of rambling on about holidays. Right.

I have a theme for this month and next month, and that theme is holiday wear for my gang members. Why into January? Cause I have that many holiday dresses for my gang. Everyone has an outfit--and the two girls that don't technically have them yet will be getting them and having that displayed in a Crafting Creatively post. I can probably even Casual Friday a couple other holiday dolls I have. And so that I don't feel obligated to post every day--that's stressful for me--these holiday reviews will be a little spaced out. Let's see if I can finally get back to that "three posts a week" goal I had.

Yes, this is a long opening.

First on the docket is Josefina Montoya and her Christmas Dress and Mantilla² (also known as Josefina's Holiday Outfit). Josefina, as we all should know, is from 1820s New Mexico--not long after Mexico broke off from Spain and became its own country in 1821, but before the chain of events where Texas split off in 1836, joined the US in 1845, and the US and Mexico had a three-year slap fight over Texas called the Spanish-American War which led to the US getting damn near everything out to the Pacific including New Mexico, Arizona, California, and a lot of other chunky state bits.³ So Josefina's family didn't cross the border, the border crossed them.

When Josefina debuted in 1997--one year before Ms. Rowland decided that money was a nice thing and sold Pleasant Company to Mattel, thus leaving a nice point where nostalgic people can point and go "that's when everything about AG got ruined!"--she was released with her first three books and the outfits and accessories for each in time for the holiday season. As the books had a pattern at the time, her first three books were her meet book, school book, and holiday book--and so she had her holiday dress lined up and ready to go for Holiday 1997. Josefina joined the AGGiB (then the AGGiR) in a private purchase in early 2007 that included Kaya and a good portion of her clothes but not her holiday stuff. I got holiday stuff for her and Kit so they could look their best for Giftmas 2007, and then found out she was a PC doll and just gave her the Destuffing Diet.

Josefina's Christmas Dress and Mantilla comes with an empire waist dress, mantilla and attached peineta, full combination white underwear, white socks, and black shoes for a cost of $32. I paid $24 in 2007, checking my packing slips. (Welcome to cost of products rising.) There is no good reason to buy any currently available outfits on the secondhand market unless you can't get AG to ship to you or you desperately want a PC version for some reason--in which case, on eBay the set generally goes for just about as much as it does direct but is often shoeless, sockless, and underwearless. Just buy it from the company if you can.

This review will have a bonus of Niña, Josefina's personal doll, and the LE Mini-Doll that was released for the 25th Anniversary of AG.

Historical Clothes Reviews and Historical Accessories: Julie's Meet Outfit and Accessories

All of Julie's Meet Stuff. None of the Julie.

Julie Albright was the first historical launch I was actually in fandom/alert for, coming out along with Ivy Ling in 2007. The lead up to her release had a chunk of the fandom kinda flipping out about her. The seventies were considered historical? Oh noes, that meant that the middle-aged white women collecting AG were old, and there ain't nothing more whiny than middle-aged white women that have been informed that they are no longer "twenty-nine"¹. Considering the fact that the target AG audience wasn't around for an era that didn't have equality in women's sports (though it was getting fixed), a lot of rights we take for granted, the internet, and even cassette tapes--yes, the Seventies were historical in 2007 and every day they get more historical. I, being born right at the start of the Eighties, completely missed the era. The closest I got was the fashion cycle of the mid to late Nineties when platforms and bell bottom pants came back into style. Oh and that my mom was in her college years in the Seventies so she can tell me a lot about some of the stuff from there.

I like reading Julie's books--Divorce! Women's Rights! The Bicentennial! Fairness in sports! Chinese New Year! However, I don't have Julie proper. As much as I like the Josefina mold and Julie's clothing, I tend to ease away from blond girls in my gang. I had originally planned to get her to reform into a Pre-Platinum Lizzie² but I got one as a gift. "But you have the whole meet outfit," you say. Yes I do. Because AG and people sell meet outfits separately from dolls, and that is what I did--got her meet outfit in separate chunks.

Like Julie, her meet outfit and accessories launched with her in 2007. Julie's meet set consists of a multicolored long turtleneck, white peasant overshirt, two-tone bell bottom jeans, a braided and beaded belt, pink panties, and platform sandals. Her meet accessories are a shoulder bag purse, crochet lace hat, gold name necklace, and bicentennial quarter. In the most technical sense, Julie's Meet outfit costs $110 and comes with a bonus Julie doll and book; however, "replacement" parts can be purchased separately, even directly from American Girl. The meet outfit--dual shirts and pants-cost $20, the belt $4, the shoes $10, and undies $3 for a total of  $37 bucks. The meet accessories cost $20 bucks. I was gifted the undies by someone cleaning out their doll stock collection for free, and got the meet outfit sans belt for $32 off eBay. I then ordered a replacement belt and added in her accessories at full price (not including taxes and shipping.) So I paid a little lower than standard at a total of $56.

--and all of the Otters. Far out, man.

When I reviewed Felicity, I put my foot down that around here, historical clothing sets and accessories are for Historical Characters--when I choose to have them. While girls in my gang like Addy, Josefina, and Kit will always be modeling their own gear, Historicals I don't and won't own will get their clothes and things modeled by designated moddies who love that era of clothing. Since I don't have Julie, Otters will be modeling this set and the many, many seventies clothes I have and have made. Some quick data on Otters: her real name is Amber Kathleen Flynn, but no one calls her that, not even me--they call her after her selected animal patronus.³ Otters is probably one of my signature gang members along with Naomi and Addy and is one of the "oldest" in the gang at 13 1/4. She is my badass snarky nerdy goth bohemian blatantly pagan girl--she even had her own series that I plan to pick back up, Otters Teaches Paganism--and I have adored her since she joined the gang even if the person that gifted her to me is damnatio memoriae⁴. Basically, if you know me as a AG fan, you know that I am the one who has Otters.