Tam, don't hate me for ripping you off, but I loved this line of dolls and I've gotta vent. I've also gotta fangirl a little, LOL. I bonded with Friend from Newfoundland (Blogger handle is Christa79) over Cabbage Patch Kids and a shared fondness for Doctor Who, and I had planned on asking her "Christa, if you were the Doctor or one of his/her/their companions, which doll or dolls would you take with you on your journey through time?" My answer to my own question would be my Jesmar Cabbie (Candela Laura), one of my Nancy dolls, probably all three of my Sasha dolls (they're all English/European), and I WOULD have included A Girl For All Time as well. Bex, on the far right of this image, is my favorite (these are the four modern kids, by the way). From left, the modern ones are Max, Maya, Nisha, and Bex.
I don't know how Tam found out, but she found out and posted yesterday morning that A Girl For All Time is going out of business. I hope the proprietor isn't quitting the business because of illness; that was what happened to Paulette Goodreau and I LOVED her stuff. Anyway, I had and still have a lot of respect for A Girl For All Time because they provided a look into British history in an extremely creative way: all of the historical girls, ranging from the Tudor era (Matilda) to the modern era (Maya), were related in some way. The American Girls are not. Miss Emily also says that the book she read (Matilda's) was...fairly grown-up for a book accompanying a doll. She said she couldn't put it down, and that made me want to read it (I haven't yet), so there's that factor. I also valued A Girl For All Time because their clothes fit Sasha, albeit imperfectly. The bodice of this romper was a little tight on Sasha, and the shoes didn't want to slip on...
Tam admits that she likes (liked) A Girl For All Time better than American Girl, so that'll give y'all an idea about what these dolls are like, and how devoted their fans are. Reviews of Clementine (representing World War II) can be found HERE and HERE, and a review of Amelia (representing the Victorian era) can be found HERE. Tam also has a quick post showing Amelia in her ballet outfit, which I love. Y'all may remember that I love ballet. But anyway, yeah, I don't own one of these dolls myself, and I'm sorry now that I don't because eBay has NOTHING!!! Finding one of these dolls, any of these dolls, is gonna be a pitched battle now.
Lastly...Christa, if the Tenth Doctor came banging on your door (I know he's your favorite), which doll or dolls would you take? Sarah Jane, probably, but who else??? Or would Sarah Jane be the only one?
Love y'all,
RagingMoon1987
I'm honestly impressed with how devoted a following A Girl For All Time has in an over-saturated 18 inch doll market, since the only other 18 inch doll line I know of that was based around historical characters was the Dear America dolls, and they tanked against American Girl. Considering that the Dear America line had a doll whose character was on the Titanic, and that the movie Titanic was still fresh in people's minds at the time of the doll's release, this just goes to show how hard it was to compete against the powerhouse that was American Girl in its prime. Kudos to A Girl For All Time for carving out its own niche.
ReplyDeleteSigned, Treesa
That Titanic book was the only Dear America book I read. That Margaret doll had been on my radar, but I forgot in time. Thanks for reminding me!
DeleteAGFAT had one thing AG still does not have. It originated outside the USA. American Girl are and were lovely dolls, but Mattel does not ship them outside of the USA easily. AGFAT survived as well as it did because they marketed outside the US, to a demographic American Girl barely touches. If AG sold worldwide more easily, AGFAT wouldn't have lasted as long as they did.
DeleteThat said, Dear America had DOLLS? I have almost all of the books and never knew they had dolls!
The Dear America doll line was incredibly short-lived, and only four of the planned dolls were released.
DeleteSigned, Treesa
Sounds like a good subject for a blog. Treesa, do you know how many there were supposed to be?
DeleteI'm not sure how many dolls were actually planned, since I've found very little information about this line on the internet. But the original Dear America book series had thirty-six titles. I've never actually read any of them though. For some reason, I was turned off by the diary format that was used for these books, once I found out they were fictional. There are after all plenty of real journals and letters from people who were present for specific periods in history that have been published for the general public. Historic sites always seem to have a couple in their gift shops.
DeleteSigned, Treesa