A quick rant about my love hate relationship with Beforever...

Hello everyone! Over a year ago I wrote a post about where I thought the historical collection was headed. Since then, we have witnessed the rebirth of the Historical Characters as Beforever, My American Girl's transformation into Truly Me, and a packaging update for the Girl of the Year. In short, a complete facelift of the American Girl brand. So I thought I would go over these changes and talk about how I feel about them, and contrast my predictions with what actually happened.

Okay, first of all let's make a little timeline...

1986: Pleasant Company was founded and American Girl started with just the Historical Characters

1995: American Girl of Today was launched (now known as Truly Me)

1996: American Girl of Today changed to American Girl Today

1998: Mattel bought Pleasant Company and all marketing began to use the nomiker American Girl packaging colors were changed, etc.

2006: Modern line renamed "Just Like You"

2010: Modern Line renamed "My American Girl"

August 2014: Beforever Launched

January 2015: Packaging for GOTY changed

May 2015: My American Girl line changed to "Truly Me"

So, in just the past twelve months, we have seen American Girl completely revamp their entire line. That's a lot of change in very little time. But not all change is bad, right?

I guess the main thing that I struggle with is how much I wanted to see American Girl focus more on their Historical Characters. I wrote this back in February 2014, when we first heard Samantha was coming back:

The Ideal

This is what I really want to happen. I want AG to shift their focus back on the historical characters and their stories, and bring back the uniformity where each character had a birthday story, a christmas story, a winter story, etc. Unfortunately I don't think this is going to happen.

The funny thing is that that did happen. The uniformity the Historical Line had is returning. In the June 25th 2015 release, each character got a revamped bed and pajama set, along with bedtime accessories. There are now clear "key" items that each character is going to have, key collection points. The color schemes have also been homogenized. Addy is blues, Julie yellowy pinks, Rebecca is purply pink (magenta?), Samantha is pastel pinks and greens, Josefina is South Western Oranges, Blues, and Reds, Kit is bright green, orange, and pink. This makes boundaries between collections clear.

A job well done? Look at those prices...

And yet, I'm not satisfied. Probably because what I dreaded also happened:

The Worst Possible Outcome

AG changes the historical line so that it's non-existent? Okay, that's highly improbable, but they might consolidate what they have and perhaps redo the meet outfits of the characters to make them more pink. That's been a recent trend. Don't get me wrong, I love pink (ask Honey) but it's nice to see diversity and both Caroline and Marie-Grace had pink dresses.

This prediction was pretty spot on.

Is it just me, or is everything looking pinker?

At least Kaya's outfit doesn't have any pink on it. Yikes. And my guess about consolidation was right too. Remember the consolidated books? We now have two instead of six (plus a choose your own adventure book that I don't really count). So yeah. Here we are.

I have always been a huge fan of the Historical Line. It was pretty much the only thing I cared about. And now... I don't really care at all. I've bought a single Beforever outfit. At my last trip to the AG Place in LA, I didn't buy ANY historical clothing. It might be because Marie~Grace's collection was retired so I can't get any clothes for my doll. I mean, I'd like to get Addy's pajamas.. Or it could be because this line is losing its appeal to me. In any case, I'll probably be scouring ebay to finish my NOLA collection.

One last quote from my February 2014 post...

The Middle Ground

To be honest, I'm unsure about what this one would be, despite that it has the most likelihood. Maybe AG will redo the formating of how they market the historical line and add some new catch phrases? Who knows...

It's funny to me that the "Middle Ground" ended up being a combination of the best and the worst. So while in theory, I love the focus being on the Historical Line, this doesn't cut it and my wallet will speak for me.

The BIG Picture~ February/March Short Issue

Hello everyone!
       Here is a short but sweet Magazine.
We're a month late, but we hope you enjoy anyway. See you in April!

Fun Doll Sized Finds at Target

Hello everyone!
        I went to target today and found some really great doll sized stuff in the dollar section. Here are some of the things I found.

Not for school supplies.

 This first item would make an adorable display case for a bakery set up. Those are pretty popular with all the Grace hype, so this little tray would be a great way to organize doll sized pastries.

 Another new American Girl thing is the gardening set. It is adorable, and I'd love to make some kind of similar garden display. These lanterns would be perfect for lighting up your garden in the evening.

Money may not grow on trees, but eggs do.

 These "Egg Trees" don't make very much sense, but they are really cute and would be fantastic for an easter photoshoot.

 This little chalkboard sign would be wonderful for a Grace pastry set up as well. There is a similar item included in her bistro set.

Another trend in the doll world at the moment is doll room set ups. Agoverseasfan does great ones, and lots of other people (MixiePixie7 and Basilmentos come to mind here) have wonderful doll houses. These "Basket Containers" would make perfect laundry baskets for any doll room or house.

These one ct. glasses would be perfect for the carafe in Grace's bistro set.

All of these items were available for $1-3 in the bargain section at target, a great alternative way to make cute set ups without having to foot the American Girl bill.

Until next time,

A touch of color... Girl of the Year Color Palettes

Here are color palettes for all of the Girl of the Years. You are free to use them for whatever projects you might undertake :)

Grace Thomas GOTY 2015 ~ Maple's opinions

I have to say I am not at all disappointed about GOTY 2015. When Willow first told me about some of the leaks I thought it was going to be another generic white doll. But when I saw the pictures my jaw dropped open.  She is SO cute. And her outfits are ADORABLE! I can't emphasize it enough, I LOVE GRACE'S COLLECTION!

                                          A wall paper you can get by solving a puzzle on
                                          the AG website.

I love everything about Grace's face. She has the same face mold as Mckenna and Chrissa but I find that the side bangs make her face look different. Her collection is adorable and I love all the sets. If I could buy one thing from her collection it would be her Baking Outfit. The jumper is so cute! She is totally the new number one on my favorite dolls list! The only thing I don't like about Grace's collection is that she doesn't have any sets for a bedroom or house (like Mckenna's bed or Kanani's chair).

   For now,