Word of warning: the opinions voiced in this blog are strictly the opinions of moi, RagingMoon1987. I do not voice these opinions to offend, nor do I expect everyone to agree with said opinions. This is largely just for fun. With that said...
Lindsey's hair is listed as "auburn" on the wiki, albeit a drastically different shade of auburn from Felicity's hair. Wait a minute...isn't Felicity's hair RED??? It certainly looks red compared to Lindsey's hair!
WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: BORRRRING!!! She's too much like my Kirsten. And she's an athlete. And a budding environmentalist. ZZZzzz...
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: I could've sworn I'd read somewhere that Kailey was a slow seller like Lindsey was, but I can't find that anywhere so maybe I dreamed it. For me, Kailey looked too much like some of the then-current Just Like You dolls to excite me much. Granted, almost all of the JLYs had bangs then and Kailey does not, but she still didn't impress me much visually. I'm also afraid of water, so being unable to relate to Kailey is my own fault to a certain extent, and it also makes my fondness for Joss more than a little hypocritical, as we'll see when I talk about Joss. Lastly, I was already a budding conservative in 2003, and when I read that Kailey was out to save the tide pools I thought "Oh yes, make humans go homeless so you can save a starfish." I know now that it's possible to help the humans AND the starfish, and I also know that the development in Kailey's area was a shopping mall and not a housing complex, but I digress. I was not impressed by Kailey, and during her run I focused instead on outfits for the dolls I did have. Now that I've said that...well, y'all can see that I have Kailey now. I bought Sandy, thought it was silly to have Sandy but not Kailey, and I bid on her on eBay last October. I still maintain that Kailey isn't super-duper special compared to later Girls of the Year (and her predecessor Lindsey), but A, the starting bid was reasonable, and B, she was in great shape. I didn't win that auction, so I found another Kailey with her accessories in tow and the "buy it now" option. Y'all got a brief glimpse of her on
New Year's Eve, if I recall correctly. Brooke at
American Girl World notes that in comparison to Lindsey and Marisol Kailey is
of poor quality with hair that fell out, and I've also heard horror stories about Kailey's vinyl turning orange...just as I've heard of Lindsey's vinyl turning gray. As far as I can tell neither Kailey nor Lindsey are turning colors...
...or maybe Kailey is! She's certainly darker than Lindsey is! Granted, she looks like she's got a suntan, which a California girl would have, but Lindsey and Kailey are definitely not the same color. On the good side, as far as I can tell my Kailey's hair is not falling out. Some of the strands are broken, as they will be on these older dolls, but overall Kailey's hair feels nice and thick. Granted, the wig cap is visible if I part it just so, but that's par for the course with American Girls, or at least American Girls that don't have full parts in their stock style.
As an extra little ha-ha, Kailey arrived in a box that had Melody's logo on it.
Now that I actually have Kailey I realize that she's more like Julie than Kirsten, but Julie didn't exist in 2003, and indeed I wonder if AG had forgotten about Kailey when they designed Julie. Both Julie and Kailey are brown-eyed blondes with braids in their hair, they both have sandals that refuse to stay on (
OOOOOO, I HATE THAT!!!), and they're both from California. Those are some fairly significant similarities, y'all. California girl or no, since she's an early Girl of the Year Kailey had a small collection like Lindsey did, though she did at least have some extra outfits and
her dog, a golden retriever named Sandy. Sandy is a plush wuppy dog with a barking mechanism, bendable limbs, and a purple bandana, and I actually bought her before I bought Kailey!
Sandy is a nice item. Her barking mech no longer works, but she has an armature in her body similar to a My Twinn skeleton. She can thus pose like she's playing, but unfortunately the doll I chose to show this is a little too stiff to interact well with Sandy. I didn't have Kailey at the time, so I chose Jordyn, my Tumbling Tomboy. Here Sandy looks fine, but Jordyn looks like she's frozen in terror. Being a tomboy likely means that some of Jordyn's best friends are dogs, but she can't pose effectively.
Poor Jordyn. She's good for tumbling, and that's about all. Strangely, Sandy is not mentioned in Kailey's book at all. Could've fooled me! Stranger still, Lindsey's dachshund Mr. Tiny plays a fairly big role in her book, and as I noted above he was NEVER made into an accessory for Lindsey! I may have to fix that, because I love wiener dogs! Boston terriers are my all-time favorite breed, but I hold a special place in my heart for dachshunds, having known and loved several. Neither the dachshund nor the golden retriever have ever won "Best in Show" at Westminster, by the way...nor has the Boston terrier, for that matter. Just thought I'd throw that out there. So Kailey is...okay. I thought she was kind of a disappointment compared to Lindsey, but as I stated in the beginning of the paragraph, that may be because I related to Lindsey more than I did Kailey.
MARISOL LUNA, 2005WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Awwww, she's Hispanic AND a ballerina. Cool, I've never heard of ballet folklorico. She even has a puddy tat! Oops, Daddy died. Can't bother Mama with a doll I don't need, not right now when we've got more important things to worry about.
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: I wish I DID bother Mama or Grandma about this doll! Indeed, when I finally did tell Mama about how much I wanted her (I told her two days ago) she said "Well why didn't you say anything, for heaven's sake???" It's been almost twenty years now and I still love Marisol. And yet...I don't remember exactly what it was that I loved about her. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't white, like Lindsey and Kailey were. Maybe it was the fact that she danced (remember that while I can't dance, I love watching a good, skilled dancer). Maybe it was that cute meet outfit, or the controversy surrounding her, or ALL of those things put together. Controversy??? Yes, when Marisol's family moves, they cite her dangerous neighborhood as the reason. Turns out that according to the residents of said neighborhood, it's not all that dangerous at all, at least for Chicago! Both Lindsey and Marisol are from Cubs Country, by the way. Just thought I'd throw that out there, that two of the first three Girls of the Year are from
hell Chicago. Anyway, Marisol was the first doll to have an extensive collection, complete with
a trunk that would hold some of her crap, and a dance stage. A dance stage??? Okay, maybe that was a little goofy, since it's pretty much just
a mirrored doll stand that rotated and played sound effects, but some little girls probably loved it. Marisol is not thunderously hard to find on eBay, but since I have Luciana and Marina already I may not bother with Marisol now. May not, that is. Haven't quite decided on that one. Marisol also got her pet, though her puddy tat was
bundled with her dance duffle, maybe because the little sneak liked to play inside the duffle? I dunno. I cited Rascal as another reason to like Marisol, as he's a Himalayan and every Himalayan cat I've known has been a big purring cream puff. Even the sick one I met at the vet's once was a doll! As a last little tidbit, Marisol can't be submitted for head replacements at the American Girl Hospital either, though I've been unable to figure out a reason for that one. Maybe her wig is more unique than it looks, just like Lindsey's is. Or maybe there's something unique about her vinyl coloring? I dunno.
JESS AKIKO MCCONNELL, 2006WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Cool, a new head mold, and I LOVE that meet outfit. But...I'm eighteen. Aren't I just a hair too old for dolls???
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Ha, little did eighteen-year-old me know that I'd be going strong with the hobby well into my...<pauses to do math>...I'll be thirty-four and a half in April, so yeah. Jess is a doll I considered at one time, but my enthusiasm has cooled for her over the years. The only thing I really love about her is her meet outfit, and the fact that she introduced a new head mold. The trip to Belize didn't excite me, nor did many of her other collection pieces (except maybe
that hammock, LOL). So while I liked Jess in 2006 and still like her, I don't like her enuff to be chasing after her now, especially when Z looks so much like her. Now granted, Z isn't an exact clone of Jess, a point proven when one looks at Jess's zig-zag part and Z's beauty mark, but they do look a lot alike, especially when Z is wearing her peasant skirt set from last fall.
Despite looking a lot like recent dolls (Ivy, Z, and some CYOs and JLYs) Jess can't get her head replaced at the hospital either. The Jess mold has undergone a modification to the eyes in the time since Jess herself has been around, so if you've got an all-original Jess, hold on to her!
NICKI FLEMING, 2007WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Is that the new Girl of the Year? Boy, has this line gone downhill. <resuming my studies> I HATE CHEMISTRY, DAMMIT!!!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Nicki is one of those dolls who has grown on me over the years, more for her backstory than for the doll herself. The doll herself is kinda meh, a classic face and light brown hair and blue eyes, but she was one of the first Girls of the Year to do something kinda unique. She helped train a service dog...and had to deal with bonding with him and then giving him up. Yikes, that's something I never considered. The dog,
Sprocket, was included in her collection, along with several outfits and some skiing stuff, but what makes Nicki valuable in my eyes is that story. On her own she's...just another American Girl doll. That being said, I was unable to replicate Nicki as a CYO, due to her wig being unique. The other dolls had curls that were too long, too short, or too tight, so maybe there's more to Nicki than meets the eye. I like her enuff now that I considered getting her once, but Mama talked me out of it (LOL). "Some little girl might want her for her birthday," Mama said, and I relented. I haven't considered Nicki since, though I do think Sprocket might make a good seeing eye dog for Xenia. Not that Xenia needs one, since she manages pretty well with
her cane. Nicki was also the first doll to have an emphasis on winter sports, though it wasn't a big emphasis. One of her outfits was a ski outfit, and one of her accessory sets was ski paraphernalia. Overall I don't have much to say about Nicki; she's just...there.
MIA ST. CLAIR, 2008WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: No thoughts on this one; I was honest-to-God living at college by this time, and I was more focused on making my grades and trying to catch a young man I liked (he never bit).
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Even now Mia is one I tend to forget exists. Oh, she's cute enough in her warm, snuggly, brightly-colored meet outfit, and she's got beautiful eyes and a unique freckle pattern, but I forget she exists. I think that overall interest in Mia may go up a little since she's a snow bunny like Corinne, but watch me be wrong, LOL. Once upon a time I'd have been all over Mia's ice skating backstory like white on rice, but for some reason figure skating no longer excites me. All the jumps look the same after awhile, as do a lot of the spins, but that's not Mia's fault. I'll admit that Mia looks nice and cuddly in that raspberry sweater and knitted skirt, and the cuddle factor does attract me to her some. Mia also had
a nice, big collection with
a hockey outfit in the mix, and I like that since little girls do play hockey nowadays but don't often get noticed for it. Oh yes, the moving doll stand returned, this time playing the part of
Mia's Ice Rink. So both Marisol and Mia got a goofy item that helped them "dance." Interestingly, a photo on the wiki exists of
two prototype Mia dolls, and they were both...dark-haired and dark-skinned. Oh, what could've been...anyway, I feel very meh about Mia, much as I do about many of the dolls during this time frame. Like Nicki, I was unable to recreate Mia as a CYO, due to her unique freckles and eyes.
CHRISSA MARIE MAXWELL, SONALI MATTHEWS, and GWEN THOMPSON, 2009WHAT I THOUGHT OF THEM THEN: Since when did AG start releasing more than one Girl of the Year at a time? Gwen is boring. Why is she so controversial?
WHAT I THINK OF THEM NOW: Since there's three of them, I'm gonna break this down.
*CHRISSA: My feelings range from "ehhhhh" and a hand wave to "she's not so bad." At first glance she seems pretty ordinary, but Allycat noted that Chrissa combines the Josefina mold with blue eyes and dark, straight, shoulder-length hair, and this combination of features made her special at the time. I also applaud the overall bullying theme since I was both the giver and the recipient of some bullying in school. I was one of those lovely cases where I was bullied so much that I became something of a bully myself, which isn't right or fair, but what's done is done and I may as well be honest about it. Kids, if you're being bullied, don't become a bully yourself. Defend yourself if you must, but don't pick fights. Anyway, since Chrissa was the lead character in this series she got all the clothes and the accessories, consisting of some nice stuff like a swim team outfit, a sewing machine, and a mini llama...A LLAMA!!! I may need that in the future. But as with Nicki and Mia my feelings for Chrissa are pretty lukewarm. She can be replicated as a CYO to a certain extent, but none of the wigs are a dead ringer. As an interesting little bit of trivia, Chrissa is left-handed. She was the first southpaw in the AG lineup, and as far as I know she was the only one until Maryellen appeared on the scene.
*GWEN: Can y'all say
JLY #12??? I thought y'all could! Since Gwen got her bangs annihilated by the school bully and her band of merry bitches she could've had shorter bangs or no bangs, but I guess AG didn't think of that. Anyway, Gwen has some positives about her, but it's mainly her outfit (I love that sundress). Without that she's just another Just Like You doll. Again, I like Gwen's story, as she was the main recipient of the bullying in school and was homeless for a time, but some folks DIDN'T like that idea. Feminists seized upon Gwen's mother, who they thought looked weak because she lived in her car instead of going out and finding work (uh...how did they know she wasn't looking???), and some consumers got their hackles raised over "spending a hundred bucks on a homeless doll." Hey, some little kids liked
Little Miss No Name and
Poor Pitiful Pearl back in the day...but then again they didn't cost a hundred bucks! Basically I think poor Gwen was a fairly decent idea wasted on a lackluster doll.
*SONALI: The former bully of the bunch, Sonali leaves her in-crowd and builds a new friend group with Chrissa and Gwen, though the road has some bumps and potholes along the way. Of these three Sonali is the only one I've ever considered getting, and once again it was for that cute outfit more than anything. Sonali did bring a new head mold to the table, which has proved to be a bit of a pain over the years as the Sonali mold slowly ekes out the Addy mold. For all her initial originality Sonali is the easiest of this trio to replicate on the CYO program, though like Chrissa there are some differences. Overall I feel underwhelmed by this group and don't give them much thought.
LANIE HOLLAND, 2010WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: A blonde environmentalist? We already did this!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: A blonde environmentalist? We already did this! Here's the first doll that I outright dislike (not hate, mind y'all, just dislike). Lanie herself is a pretty doll, with light hazel eyes and short blonde curls, and I like her meet outfit that uses my two favorite colors, but other than that I've never been a Lanie fan. Her online bio makes her sound pretentious and a little obnoxious, her "
wildlife set" consists of critters that should only be handled by expert adults, and her clothes are...well, actually, I like her clothes. They're bright and colorful, and I've considered stealing some of Lanie's stuff for my own girls to wear (Kailey would look amazing in
that green T-shirt, for example). I'll also commend Lanie for encouraging her readers to love and respect the outdoors, though most of her clothes and accessories are emblazoned with "girly" insects like butterflies, dragonflies, and ladybugs. I like butterflies, dragonflies, and ladybugs, but when I was Lanie's age I was also prowling the grass for
cow killers, locusts, praying mantises, and my favorite quarry, cicadas. I usually looked without touching since cow killers are ground wasps and thus
have a nasty sting, but I always loved finding one because they're so beautiful. I went on bug hunts well into my teenage years, and during one trip out a cicada even got tangled in my hair. Have I ever mentioned that I had two and a half feet of hair during my teenage years, and I often wore it loose??? For the record, if you ever get a cicada caught in your hair, yelling "HOLD STILL, YA DUMBA$$!" won't do a bit of good. I did eventually get him pulled free and he was no worse for wear, but that was an interesting experience. Regardless, going on bug hunts can be a lot of fun, so if Lanie encouraged some little kid to search the grass ten years back then she wasn't so bad after all. But I highly doubt she'll ever be in my collection since I already have a curly-haired blonde with hazel eyes (Rilla Louise). Granted, Lanie and Rilla Louise don't look much alike (Rill is a
#21), but...yeah, point made. Regarding doppelgangers, Lanie is medium easy to recreate as a CYO, and
JLY #56 looks similar to her, though there are enough differences to tell Lanie and #56 apart.
KANANI AKINA, 2011WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: <yelling into the next room> MAMA!!! JOPLIN GOT HIT BY A TORNADO AND PEOPLE ARE DEAD!!! I'M TURNIN' ON THE NEWS!!! <glancing at a sidebar on my computer> Hey, is that the new Girl of the Year??? She's cute, AND she's Polynesian!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: People are dead...yeah, that was an understatement. Anyway, I adore Kanani, the doll that sprang from the year that the world tried to turn inside-out. Kanani resided in Hawaii, which probably felt like a world away from Joplin, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa, and I was thrilled to see the Jess mold used again. I'll admit that the Jess mold looks a little chipmunk-cheeked, but it still tickled me to see it utilized for another Girl of the Year, especially after a long string of classic- and Josefina-headed dolls. Kanani is a popular doll, I'm told, for reasons that vary from her cute meet outfit to her long hair to the combination of the Jess mold with medium skin, which was new then and still isn't very common among American Girls. My joy at a Polynesian American Girl was dulled a little when I learned that Kanani was actually biracial, but I like biracial dolls so I got over that (Jess and Sonali are biracial too, after all). Kanani had a
good-sized collection, mostly consisting of clothes in pinks, purples, and blues, plus a shaved ice stand, a paddle board, and...a monk seal pup??? I love seals, but I don't think they make the greatest pets! If I've read my info right, Kanani finds the little chap tangled in a net, and...I don't know what happens next, but that's why he's in her collection. Either way, Kanani is popular to this day. I like her enuff that I've shopped for her on occasion, but her hair looks like its a lot to handle (doll hair and I have a love-hate relationship). Kanani is the last of the four Girls of the Year whose head cannot be replaced, partially because AG fooled around with the Jess head's eye sockets, and partially because Kanani's closest JLY match,
#79, has a different and somewhat-unique skin tone. Any Kanani dolls that are sent in for repairs basically come back looking like #79. #79 is a cute doll, but she's not Kanani!!!
MCKENNA BROOKS, 2012WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Not another blonde. Not another athlete.
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: It's been ten years since McKenna was in our lives, and this doll still annoys me. She came on the heels of Kanani, but then any doll that came after Kanani would feel like a letdown. My main beef is that McKenna puts her focus on athletics rather than schoolwork like way too many of my schoolmates did, though in her defense she does have an issue with reading comprehension. That kind of thing is no joke, so I'm glad McKenna's stories touched on that. McKenna even resorted to cheating at one point to pass a test, something that I can sadly relate to (I got away with it and McKenna didn't). Breaking her ankle was probably the best thing that could've happened to her, because as her parents pointed out, she could focus on school now instead of being another bubbleheaded jock. Of course since she IS a bubbleheaded jock McKenna doesn't take that suggestion well. Probably the only thing I like about McKenna's collection is the little book set that came with her
loft bed; one of them is a childhood favorite of mine,
Harry the Dirty Dog. By the way...I wonder how McKenna got up and down from that bed when her leg was in a cast? When I broke my ankle such maneuvering was out of the question. Either way McKenna will never be one of my favorite American Girls. She looks very standard, I don't like her meet outfit, and she just...annoys me. Indeed, my opinions on this poor doll are so low that I haven't even tried to duplicate her as a CYO. I'll have to do that and get back to y'all. I will note that McKenna
owns a dog, so that's saying something positive. To my great delight Cooper is a goldendoodle, one of my favorite "breeds," though I don't like the high prices people pay for designer dogs (a.k.a. mutts) when the shelters are full of other nice mutts. But I've heaped enuff hatred on poor McKenna without questioning her choice of dog too, especially when Cooper could very well have been a shelter dog. I dunno, because I haven't read the book. If McKenna is y'all's favorite, forgive me, but I don't like her at all. Next, please!
SAIGE COPELAND, 2013WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Bummer, another white doll. Yay, a redhead!!! In blue, no less, and she likes art! Ooo, I like her horse too! He looks like an appaloosa.
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Like Jess, my enthusiasm for Saige has cooled over the years. I still love the combination of her red hair and her blue dress, and I still love her fondness for art, but Saige herself can be a little nasty in her books about music enthusiasts (which her best friend is). Granted, Saige does make a stout point that one can't stand and look at music for hours on end like one can visual art, and even though I love music myself I sadly have to agree. Once a good song's over, it's over, and if one plays it again and again one will attract some strange looks. I don't remember what response Saige's music-loving friend clapped back with, but it probably was also a good point. Anyway, the personality isn't the reason why I've not brought Saige home, but rather that red hair that I love so much. There's a lot of it, and I'm told that it's bad to get very frizzy if not kept in its stock style. Sure, all doll hair will do that, but apparently Saige's hair (and red AG hair in general) is bad about getting...well, bad! I've done maintenance on dolls in the past, but as with Kanani the thought of doing maintenance on that much hair does not fill me with enthusiasm. Still, I went back on my word with Kailey, and I may again with Saige. She's pretty cute, and I like her clothes and her art set. Saige sort of has a JLY doppelganger, #61, but #61 has green eyes rather than the unique turquoise eyes that Saige has. Due to those eyes (and to a certain extent the wig) I was not able to recreate Saige as a CYO, so despite being a pale Classic-head doll Saige is fairly unique. Saige's horse
Picasso did not turn out to be an appaloosa, by the way, nor did he actually turn out to be Saige's horse (he's her grandmother's). Saige's pet turned out to be another dog, another of my favorite breeds, a border collie named
Sam (another breed that's never won Westminster). Jeez, I hope the Copelands had something for him to herd! Border collies need something like that so they won't get bored and then depressed and then destructive. I approve of Saige's grandmother naming her horse after Pablo Picasso, by the way; my sister took the same path when naming one of our cats. The cat looks like his face is smeared with paint, and Sister christened him "Pablo." Best cat ever, by the way; he'll be ten this September.
ISABELLE PALMER, 2014WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Don't ANY of these Girls of the Year wear blue jeans??? Why another white doll??? Why another ballerina??? Why pink highlights and not something edgier???
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW:
Seeing Isabelle in real life helped warm me up to her. True, Isabelle is still a white doll with blonde hair and the classic head, but sandy hair and hazel eyes proved to be a good match, even better than Lanie's fair hair and hazel eyes. I do still wish she'd been dressed in yellow or green to make her eyes stand out a little more, but that can always be remedied by the person who owns the doll. I'll admit that I still see Isabelle as a rehash of Marisol, because they both dance and both like/own
longhaired cats, and I'll also admit that I think Marisol is superior. On the other hand, Isabelle was accompanied by a then-unique wardrobe, one that consisted of individual separates that could be mixed and matched, rather like Courtney's wardrobe and the Modern Mix and Match Sets. The items were dance-themed and came in a multitude of soft, girly colors with copious sparkles, but they were still cute pieces that I may steal for some of my dolls someday (both Doremi and Denise are ballerinas). For all her cuteness Isabelle was an easy doll to duplicate on CYO, though I'd have to style the doppelganger's hair myself. She has no exact matches in the JLY line, though
#22 and
#27 are close. Overall I never honest-to-God hated Isabelle, and indeed she's grown on me significantly, but I don't think she'll ever belong to me since I have too many blonde dolls as it is.
GRACE THOMAS, 2015WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Looks like a Chrissa rehash. Baking? Traveling to France? Boring! At least Jess went to Belize!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Grace is another one of those that I forget. I thought that the trip to France was unoriginal since lots of dolls go there, but I've seen the baking gimmick with new eyes since not many children cook on their own nowadays. In Kirsten's time it was second nature by the time one was ten (Laura Ingalls Wilder loved baking day when she was little), but not today! As for appearances, Grace does indeed look a lot like Chrissa, with dark hair, fair skin, and blue eyes, but the styling of their wigs and Grace's lip color and freckles set the two apart. Grace is a cute doll, cuter in my opinion than Chrissa, and maybe a teeny-weeny bit more unique. She's unique enough that I couldn't create an exact duplicate on CYO. Just the same, I probably won't add Grace to my collection, largely because she's just...cute. ALL of my AG dolls are cute. Dog-lover Grace does adopt a street pooch during her time in France, but even that doesn't impress me much...except that the dog is a
French bulldog (yet another dog that's never won Westminster). Do y'all know how much one of those goobers costs??? My mother met a guy last November who paid $12,000 bucks for one! Sheesh, I love French bulldogs, but no way in hell would I pay that much for one, not when shelter dogs are free! Thus that part of Grace's story seems well-nigh implausible, since she found the thing running loose and got to keep it. Indeed, Frenchies are more likely to be stolen than dumped, as
Lady Gaga's dogs were around this time last year. But anyway, my opinions on Grace are fair to partly cloudy. She's got some cute outfits and accessories, and her personality sounds alright, but to me she's just...cute. She does have a unique freckle pattern and a semi-unique wig though, so I won't heap too much hate on this one.
LEA CLARK, 2016WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Woohoo, she's from Missouri! And I LLLLOVE that dress! Oh crap, she's travelling abroad. Don't these girls ever stay home??? At least it's another semi-original place; one doesn't often hear of little girls travelling to Brazil.
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: In the days before Z Yang, Lea was the photographer of the bunch. She also travels, and she also has the Josefina face (so nothing new), and...well, Lea is exciting visually, and one of her accessories was a sloth. A SLOTH!!! Sloths are too freakin' cool! I have the sloth.
If a sloth is good enuff for Coyote Peterson (yep,
him again!) then it's good enuff for me. Some folks think that sloths are slow because they're stupid or lazy, and that's actually
not the case. Anyway, Coyote Peterson talks about two-toed and three-toed sloths in one of his videos, and my sloth is the three-toed variety, though both are fifty shades of adorable. Since I don't have Lea my resident environmentalist Kailey has stepped in as this little guy's friend. Cape Girardeau has
their own safari park, but I don't know if they take volunteers, nor do I know if they have sloths. Regardless, I like to pretend that Kailey works at a similar place that does have sloths. Since Kailey is a Monster High fan she named her little buddy "Slow Moe" after
Slo-Mo.
Lea also was accompanied by a
margay and a
sea turtle and I like those too, even though none of the above should be handled by novices, and even though the stuffed margay looks more like an
ocicat (a domestic breed) than a
margay (a wild species). But other than that Lea didn't bring much new to the table. I did like her clothes and accessories, and Lea herself is pretty, but...meh. Now granted, Lea's wig is unique, making her distinctive. I also did love and still do love the fact that she is from Missouri, though she's from St. Louis, which I find a hair problematic. When my sister (or less often I myself) travel to another state, we'll be asked "Where are you from?" We'll answer "Missouri"...and the other person will automatically assume that we're from either St. Louis, Kansas City, or Branson. No, no, and no. And to think someone from St. Louis had the audacity to ask my sister what part of Mississippi she came from, since she "talked like a hick." Phooey on that! Anyway, Lea hails from my beloved Show-Me State, and as far as I know no other AG doll has come from Missouri. I can understand why, since to the outsider Missouri can seem kinda dull, but I wouldn't live anywhere else, sand and sticker burrs and the fault line and all! Anyway, I have Lea's sloth and also her
celebration outfit, but I don't think I'll add Lea to my collection anytime soon.
GABRIELA MCBRIDE, 2017WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: FINALLY, a black Girl of the Year! Oh, she's another ballerina? Oh well, I'd gripe if she were a gymnast or an ice skater or a horseback rider, since we've had those too.
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Poor, poor Gabby. Instead of getting the royal treatment like the recent Girls of the Year she got royally crapped on! It's pretty clear now that Tenney was supposed to be Girl of the Year for 2017, but then everyone got their knickers in a knot over how there'd NEVER been a black Girl of the Year, something that has been an issue ever since Nicki was a thing, and this is the year that AG panicked and decided to do something about that. They hastily retired
JLY #46, threw together a basic meet outfit, and Gabriela was born. I'm told that her storyline was fairly disjointed (I wouldn't know 'cause I've not yet read the books), and her accessories were largely repaints and rehashes of past items. Gabby's loft bed was a recolor of McKenna's, for example, though I like Gabby's bed better than McKenna's. Gabby dabbled in dance, just like Marisol and Isabelle did. Gabby's pet was
a cat, just like Marisol and Isabelle had. C'mon, folks, not all ballerinas are cat people! Some of them prefer dogs or birds or SNAKES!!! I forget what else was a rehash, but apparently there was quite a bit. Heck, Gabby even had to share
her exclusive earrings with boring ol' Tenney! Or rather, boring ol' Tenney had to share her exclusive earrings with Gabby, since all the shapes are more suited to Tenney than they are to Gabby. Gabby does have a few unique characteristics, though. She's a stutterer, and to combat this she utilizes an art form that often gets overlooked: spoken word poetry. I'll give that much to Sleepy Joe; he too was a stutterer in his youth and
got bullied, and he overcame it through reciting poetry. So Gabby and the president have something in common...two somethings? Do having a stutter and using the same method to fight it count as two things? Anyway, despite getting dumped on royally I like Gabby quite a bit and have strongly considered getting her on more than one occasion. She's still high on my wish list. I can give her the A-list treatment she deserves, with nice new things from Etsy.
LUCIANA VEGA, 2018
WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Eeek, STEM doll!!! Eeek, she's got a purple streak in her hair! She's cute!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Obviously my enthusiasm didn't fade out, because I have Luciana now. I'll admit that the legal case surrounding her had something to do with that, but I regret nothing about that. Allycat isn't Luciana's biggest fan, but to each their own, right? McKenna has her fans too, and I pooh-poohed her pretty hard and heavy. That said, Luciana is not one that I do much with, since she seems pretty static. Kailey and Lindsey are both pretty elastic, and I can do just about anything I want with them (if I can get them to hold a pose, that is), while Luciana's character is...obsessed with space. But...she also appears to have a mild panic disorder, which I totally get, and she also has an artsy side, which I respect. I love her purple streak, even if it is permanent.
I laughed when I learned that Luciana put that in her hair on impulse, 'cause it's like a stunt I'd have pulled once upon a time. I'd have gotten my rear popped for it too probably, but I'd have still done it. But yeah, I like Luciana, but she was an impulse purchase, and in time I've grown to regret that bit. As I noted above, she's a STEM doll and...that's essentially it. I'm glad for that, especially since American Girl missed the boat with prior opportunities for a STEM doll (Kailey's mother was a marine biologist, and Lanie claimed to like the sciences but seemed to be more into camping). I have to admit, though: Luciana is one of those that I tend to forget I have. As I stated above she's pretty static, and I haven't been able to assign my own little quirks to her, like I have with the others. I pretend that Lindsey is more respectful of her Jewish roots, for example, and is studying to be a rabbi. I pretend that Kailey helps out at the local animal sanctuary, is pen pals with Kira Bailey, and has developed an interest in entomology, and I have plans for Joss to be a
Sesame Street fan when she moves in. I'm slowly working out a personality for Luciana, though.
Back in January I mentioned her fondness for the Tenth Doctor, so I've got a few facets cut.
BLAIRE WILSON, 2019WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Yikes, a white dress on a play doll??? That'll get dirty in a hurry! What a beauty, though! That hair is stunning!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Blaire helped bring attention to lactose intolerance and other food sensitivities, so that's good. Since Blaire lives on a farm her animals are farm animals rather than your usual pets. She has
a lamb (like Felicity does), a silkie chicken (he accompanied
Blaire's garden), and
a cute little spotted piglet. I love piglets...and for that matter I like big pigs too. Pigs can be smelly and ornery and
can pack a wallop when they bite, but they're also quite intelligent and can be affectionate if one spends enuff time with them. My dad's family had one that was tame enuff to wear a bow around her neck, for example. I need to do that for Silver Bird; remember that she owns a pig, and a goat too, for that matter. See?
Regarding Blaire herself, I've heard her described as everything from funny to "a character" to a full-tilt brat. She apparently futzes around on her tablet a lot to the point of forgetting everything around her, and she also apparently likes to cook, just like Grace does. I admit that I was sorely tempted by Blaire, with her new skin tone, bumblebee dress, and unabashedly red hair, but my fear of getting her dress dirty and my inability to replicate her hairstyle if it fell down were my deterrents. I may bring her home in the future, though. She's a pretty little dolly, and if she's a brat I can just pop her one. We'll see what I do about Blaire.
JOSS KENDRICK, 2020WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Hey cool, she's deaf! Some of my favorite patrons at the library are deaf too! Maybe I'll learn some better methods of talking to them instead of raising my voice, since that doesn't help Joss a bit. Hey cool, she surfs! That's kinda new...or is it??? I can't remember. Sweet, a new head mold too!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: This is where my initial dislike of Kailey gets hypocritical, because I like Joss quite a bit. I liked the surf gimmick since we haven't had a surfer since...did Kanani surf? <glances back at Kanani's bio> well...both Kanani and Kailey sort of did, since Kailey had a boogie board and Kanani had a paddle board. I find it a hair strange that Kanani had a paddle board, but her bio says she doesn't like surfing. Boogie-boarding and paddle boarding are not the same as surfing anyway, but they do utilize some of the same equipment, and all three sports are "a good way to drown," as Mama would say. Anwway, I like Joss's loosely styled hair, which looks both easy to style and easy to care for. As far as I know, Joss is also the first Girl of the Year to be a cheerleader, a sport that lots of little girls take up nowadays. Indeed, by the time Joss was introduced I think American Girl had had...was it four cheerleading outfits for the Truly Me bunch? Normally I'd have turned my nose up at the cheerleading gimmick, but since Joss is hearing impaired cheerleading presents a unique set of challenges. Heck, it would've been challenging even if Joss WASN'T hearing impaired. I certainly never had the coordination to be a cheerleader, though I admit that it looked like fun...until I saw a friend of mine get dropped, that is! My friend wasn't hurt, but that kinda killed any desire I had to be a cheerleader. Nevertheless I have more respect for the sport than I used to, and I applaud Joss for going in that direction, hearing loss or no. Of course Joss runs into the stereotypical problems of bullies and old friends getting jealous of new friends, but in this case the bully is as ableist as they come, an issue that a lot of disabled children have to put up with. By the way, I find it interesting that Mila (the bully in question) is described as having brown hair in the books, but in the stop-motion videos she's got
flaming red hair like Blaire.
KIRA BAILEY, 2021WHAT I THOUGHT OF HER THEN: Julie clone! And another danged out-of-country journey!
WHAT I THINK OF HER NOW: Julie clone! And another danged out-of-country journey! Granted, Australia was in dire need of help when Kira came along, since they'd had some horrendous wildfires that did a number on the flora and fauna. But did Kira seriously have to be another blonde??? Did she seriously have to have the Josefina head??? With her ties to Australia Kira could've been at least part Aboriginal. Further, Kira is the third doll in four years' time with the Josefina head, though that's primarily an issue for me because I'm not a huge fan of the Josefina head (I admit it). The green eyes/blonde hair combo excited me a little, until I saw how dark Kira's eyes are. Green eyes to me are supposed to be bright like Felicity's, or more subtle like Marina's (keep in mind that Marina's eyes are actually hazel). Someone on Failbook pointed out that Kira's green skirt brings out her eyes, and that's true, but Kira was a disappointment to me. I was ready to see the next year's doll by the time June rolled around, which is unusual for me. I wasn't ready for Blaire and Joss and Gabby to hit the highway until it was time, LOL. My beef is mainly with Kira's unoriginal appearance; her story, I'm told, is pretty good. She helps foster kittens in her home state of Michigan, and thus likely knows what it's like to lose one here and there, like I do. Her trip to Australia involves her taking care of animals that are out of pocket, due to the wildfires, I assume. The animal loving bit is another rehash, because all kids love animals, allegedly. Also, if any of y'all are of an LGBTQ stripe, Kira was groundbreaking in that the aunts she was staying with were in a lesbian relationship. Etsy had some cute stuff celebrating that.
Speaking of animals, Kira's animals consist of a
kangaroo, a
koala, a
wallaby, and a
wombat (all rescues and not pets), and I respect the originality of that, though like Lanie's animals most of Kira's would probably bite if handled in real life...I guess. I know that kangaroos kick and punch like
Hitmonlee and
Hitmonchan rolled into one, but do they bite? Anyway, I also like Kira's tent, but that durn thing is expensive and hard to store so I don't know when/if I'll get that. So Kira has some cute accessories and some cute clothes, and her story is pretty good from what I'm told, but Kira herself is just...meh. Too much like Julie and Kailey for me, and since I already own both Julie and Kailey I probably won't ever bother with Kira. I do like to pretend that she's Kailey's pen pal though, due to their shared love of animals. I also have a few pieces of Kira's collection, namely her
wallaby care set (utilized by Kailey) and her
comfy camping outfit, which I think will look nice on Luciana...but Genius here stuck them in storage and can't find them now! Go me.
MEI LING "CORINNE" and GWYNN TAN, 2022WHAT I THOUGHT WHEN THEY LEAKED: Hmmm...I like the hair on Corinne, and I like both their wardrobes. Is Gwynn a retooled Emerson doll? Please tell me that's not the Nanea head on Corinne. And how do you get the nickname "Corinne" out of the name "Mei Ling"???
WHAT I THINK OF THEM NOW: I'm not sold on Gwynn, since she does indeed look like a retooled Emerson doll, but since I'm a completionist if I get Corinne Gwynn will have to come too. I don't like that these two live in Aspen, Colorado for two reasons:
1) The scuttlebutt before Corinne's release was that she'd reside in Alaska, and we haven't seen an Alaskan doll since
Minuk, and
2) Nicki lived in Colorado.
But what little kid is gonna remember Nicki in this day and age??? Regardless, Aspen is pretty rich-bitch and likely would mean that Gwynn and Corinne are farily well-off. But not everything is peaches and cream for Corinne, as I understand she's dealing with the ups and downs of a blended family, just like Courtney. On the good side, Corinne has her own head like Jess and Joss do, though I still think it looks a lot like the Nanea mold. I promise I don't hate Nanea!!! It's just her childish-looking head that I don't care much for. I also like that Corinne is full-blood Asian rather than mixed, and...I like this doll. She's only been out a month and I already like her a lot better than Kira. Gwynn...I'm still on the fence about
Emerson Gwynn. But then again...doesn't Emerson look fairer than Gwynn?
Their hairstyles are pretty different, and Gwynn's eyes look lighter than Emerson's. If their skin is also different then I may have to bite my tongue about Gwynn being Emerson all over again. If I did have Emerson already I'd be taking a hard pass on Gwynn...but I have Camille, not Emerson. Overall I like what I see so far. There's a lot of pastels in both dolls' wardrobes, but since they're both winter-themed I get that. The colors make me think of the aurora borealis...all the more reason why these two should've been Alaskan!!! Basically I'm having the same conundrum with Corinne now that I had with Joss
when she came out: she's an awesome doll, but do I really need her? With all the other dolls I've got? The answer is no, of course. No one NEEDS a doll. But I do like both Gwynn and Corinne. I'm hoping that they'll have some items in their collections that will touch on their Chinese roots,
like Ivy Ling did.
WHAT I MIGHT THINK OF THEM IN TEN YEARS: If I'm alive in ten years I'll probably look back on Gwynn and Corinne and sarcastically think "Ah yes, these were the halcyon days of Sleepy Joe, insanity at home and abroad, and that coronavirus crap. Good times, man, good times." Indeed, my mother grew up during the sixties, and she says this day and age is just as nutty politically as the sixties were. The only difference is the music; she got to listen to the Guess Who and the various Motown artists, while I'm saddled with that a$$hole Bruno Mars and various other idiotic pop "musicians." I understand that Shinedown is working on a new album, so maybe soon I'll have something new to listen to...even though I'm not really the Shinedown fan of the family. That would be my sister, LOL. Anyway, I think the most enduring thing about Corinne will be her head mold. As with Sonali, Jess, and Joss, she brought something new to the table, and she added a bit of diversity to American Girl's rather limited Asian options. Before Corinne one's choices were the retired
Asian mold and the
Jess mold.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall this is a line that's gotten more interesting with time. It's not without its problems, of course; the only black Girl of the Year got shafted, and Corinne is so far the only fully Asian Girl of the Year. But AG appears to be trying to rectify that. Some will say "Do more than try," and oh, do I hate it when folks do that! Sometimes all you can do IS try, and American Girl is doing just that. That being said...THEY DIDN'T TRY HARD ENUFF WITH POOR GABBY!!! No, I don't think it's a case of "they didn't try hard enuff," but rather a case of "they rushed a half-baked idea into production to shut up the critics." Anywho, I was concerned a few years back that American Girl was running out of ideas for Girl of the Year, but it looks like they're warming back up again and I'm glad of that. I like Corinne and Gwynn a lot, and I already have high hopes for next year's doll. As I said above, these opinions are mine and mine alone, so if any of y'all love McKenna and Lanie and positively HATE Joss and Saige, all I can say is to each their own. No offense meant.
Stay warm,
RagingMoon1987
