Pajama Jammy Jams: Polar Bear Pajamas (2013)

Michi wishes the weather was warmer. She certainly is.

It's March, and in theory the days should be getting warmer and the plants should be wiggling up. But someone on the East coast clearly pissed Demeter off,¹ cause she's been dumping snow, sleet, and ice on them like it ain't no thang. Climate change, motherfuckers. Here in the PNW we're not snowed on--in fact, we didn't get any snow all winter near the Puget sound. Or at least not near my place. Fuck you climate change, I didn't move to Seattle to have Texas Winters. Now how am I going to take cute pictures of Addy with her sled? Sigh, I'll just have to snap shots of Felicity in the cherry tree that's popped its flowers. But it still got cold, the nights are still in the low to mid 40s at best, and I'm better off keeping the heater on and remembering to put on house slippers here and there when my toesies need cosies. So if you're all snowed in--or even if you're not--grab some warm drinks, tuck your AG into her toastiest pajamas, and read more reviews by yours truly.

I have a bit of a love of AG pajamas. Nearly all my AG Historicals have their canon PJs,² several of my created historicals have pajamas I either made or swiped from others--Edith notably has Emily's, which is very 60s--I have a couple PJs from other historicals, and I have enough modern ones that in theory I can get all my moddies and near moddies in pajamas and have a pajama jammy jam. Today we're reviewing the Polar Bear Pajamas, a notably more recent addition to my pajama stash: a blue tunic top, polar bear print leggings, knit boot slippers, and two white ponytail holders. And a Square "Real""charm but since the charms are being phased out, whatever. (Let's see what clutter they put with Truly Me.³) These came out in 2013 and very recently retired--as in I just noted as such on the wiki, and they were in the last Cyber Monday Sale. I purchased a set soon after release at the AG store for the original cost of  $24. They went down to almost half off during Cyber Monday to $12.50 before they sold out. Since they just retired, the 'Bay people will try to get you to pay $35-40 or more for them. Hah. Bide your time, get them cheap. Michi has half claimed these as her own, though other moddies have worn them. There's also a bonus when we get to the shoes.

To the review. 

Happy New Year! And a Petition for Change.

Happy New Year!

Michi would like to be the first of the gang to wish you all a Happy New Year, and a fresh calendar change.

Actual review tomorrow, I'm a little tired. And it's not this outfit, but don't worry--I'll be reviewing this one soon. Prepare for a fresh year of reviews, bitching, information, and learnings.

And a whole year of giving WonderBread the side eye. Look, if I don't like you, you get a snarky nickname and that's it. McSeattle got one, Chipolte Mayo got one, and now WonderBread the Ballerina joins their bland, flavorless ranks. She even has a cat, oh god are you biting EVERYTHING off of Marisol, you little punk. Even members of the target audience aren't impressed: 10-year-old petitions American Girl for disabled doll.

"For once, I don't want to be invisible or a side character that the main American Girl has to help: I want other girls to know what it's like to be me, through a disabled American Girl's story," Melissa's petition says. And the 10 year old's reaction to this new character?

"My sister was like, 'Wow, another blond girl who's a dancer,'" YingYing said.

But I'm sleep though.

The petition is here to sign: American Girl: Release an American Girl with a disability and, as of today, is up to over 13K signatures--including my own with the reason: "Representation matters for everyone. For the past three years AG has focused on able bodied white children for their Girls of the Year. Able bodied white girls are not the only people desiring these dolls, and so should not be the only people who should be considered when AG wants to telling stories to a diverse audience."

May you take more risks than AG did this year, s'all I'm saying,

--Neth

Clothes Reviews: Ice Blue Outfit (2001)

Ice Blue outfit on Michi for ice days.

It's rare that I get or have had a white Giftmas. Southeast Texas don't cotton to your snow falling bullshit most of the time, and up here in Seattle it often snows but not around Giftmas. And I used to hate it when it snowed worth a damn any time between the fifteenth of December and the fifth of January because while the man had the week off between Giftmas and New Year's most of the time, my black ass had to be in to work every day I was scheduled unless it was so shitty that they shut down CS. And the day after Giftmas was always scheduled, and there was no getting out of it because we had to deal with every asshole who got a Wii or DS for the holiday and was coming to yell at us because it didn't come out of the box shitting perfect rainbows and we had ruined the entire holiday.¹ Customer service for Nintendo, oh god. I have horror stories.

But enough about my ex-job flashbacks. Because it snowed today! And I react the same way every time: Oooo pretty let's go out in it oh god it's cold who told me snow was cold fuck this shit I'm going inside. Think a very excitable cat who has to be reminded physically that the white shit that falls from the sky is not sand. Today's snow didn't stick too much, and then it rained which means ice which well, fuck that. Hopefully if it sticks a good level later on, I'll put someone out there in the best winter coat set I've got and snap pictures.

Which segues into the outfit I'm doing today: the Ice Blue Outfit. This set was one of the first Mattel holiday sets, released in 2001 and not retired until 2003. The set consists of a blue wrap sweater, silver overlay circle skirt, tights, silver Mary Janes, and silver hair clips for $24. It shows up here and there on eBay and tends to get lost in the shuffle of ugly homemade blue outfits and ice skating dresses, and while there's always some dumb spikes it actually goes sensibly for less than or about original retail--the $10-25 range. I got it for $15 in that nice post holiday lull, partially because it had a couple little flaws. Seriously, you want things off eBay, start searching in that post holiday slump, when people start scaling back after blowing the end of the year loads.

This set is being shown off by Michi. Michi got here at the very start of the year. I'd wanted a girl like her in my gang for some time. I was nosing around eBay and saw her for a very low cost and in an outfit I didn't have just yet, and picked her up with no regrets. Veronica Michiru Taylor is half black and half Japanese--black mother, Japanese father. She likes to organize things, read books by Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein (absudish children books are the best), 30s and 40s era wear, traveling, and the thrill of performing the stage.

Mine was a little cheaper because it had no hair clips and some flaws that I was willing to fix up because fuck skipping broken shit I'm a seamstress. I'll point out these issues. The ponytail holders don't originally come with it. But they match so there. And while it greatly resembles the Frosty Party Outfit I reviewed earlier, remember this came first. 

AG Complaint Department: Never Too Old for American Girl - Or Anything Else!

Addy, Michi, and my mom's Cécile.

So, back on track with things on the blog: ranting, raving, reviews, and magazines.¹ But first the ranting. Well, more like fussing and talking, as it were, on a topic that is pretty dear to me.

In this picture are three lovely dolls. To the left is my Addy, to the right is Michi Taylor, and in the center is Cécile. But Cécile's not mine². This pretty girl belongs to my mother--I gifted her to my mom when I went to AG Houston, along with her starter accessories. When I told some people this, they were a little shocked that my mom wanted an AG doll. Why would grown people want dolls? Shouldn't we want things like babies, or cars, or booze or houses or other mature, adult things? Isn't doll collecting a sign of immaturity and not growing up?

Fuck no. AG dolls might have a lower limit in my eyes, but they have never had an upper limit. Children can be too young for dolls and toys. But people can never, never be too old for dolls.

On vacation, in case you're wondering.

Michi in pajamas. For filler. 

Forgive me for a lack of updates--June has been stressful as well, and I am also on vacation in another state. I may be able to work up a post while out of town, but if I don't expect new posts a few days after I get back into town, including another Magazine Monthly, Crafting Creatively, and Historicals for Fun and Frivolity. Also reviews. All the reviews.

For now, enjoy Michi in pajamas. 

--Neth

Clothes Reviews: Mix and Match Outfit and Accessories (1995)

Michi's taking it back to the Original AGoT Meet Outfit.

Lemme take you back. Way back. When the internet was just a few meager computer connections and AOL was the wave of the future. When cellphones were huge and hideous. When I was just starting high school and already had breasts. When Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, and Fresh Prince of Bellaire was on the air waves, and I was rocking out to TLC, Jodeci, and En Vogue. Back into time to 1995.

American Girl (still being called Pleasant Company at the time), after massive success with Felicity, Addy, Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly--and the shifting from Our New Baby to Bitty Baby--decided to launch a new line: The American Girl of Today. Billed as "You're a Part of History Too!" it threw out the idea that girls could want to write and create their own Historicals of today--even going so far as to include writing books in the six book style series--and tell their own stories. It was a success in tons of ways, and has lasted ever since. While the modern line has changed names numerous times, shifted to a more "companion" style focus, and it has since taken over AG in many ways, the modern line had very humble beginnings. 

And of course, the brand new American Girl of Today came in clothes contemporary for the style. The first Meet Outfit was called the Mix and Match Set, and naturally was never available as a separate set because if you were buying an AGT, she was coming in this: a t-shirt, overshirt, vest, leggings, panties, scrunchie, and black flats. So if you want to kind of guesstimate the cost, it's probably have been about 30 bucks. The Accessories--purse, hat, lunch ticket, money, library card, and mini magazine--were $20. Michi is displaying this set for me--partially because she likes the old school sets and partially because she came in one of the older sets. (Not this one though. What she came in is next.) This outfit lasted from 1995 until 1996, so not very long. 

Consider this the first of a multi-part series on AGT Meet Sets. Because through many channels, I have managed to get the main outfits of every Meet Outfit they've had, and a lot of the complimentary accessories. So first the accessories I have, and then the outfit itself.