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| Unknown, Ashlyn, Emerson, Unknown and Willa |
I haven't spoken on American Girl yet, though I likely will soon. I need to tackle the second half of my Barbie post first, which I simply either haven't had the time for or didn't feel well when I did have the time. (Allergies. Woo.)
So you guys have one guess as to why these girls excite me so much.
Did anyone say "Because they look like Hearts For Hearts Girls meets AG?" Because that is the answer. I mean, look at Willa's face. (She's the redhead.) She looks like Dell. I wish these took a page from HFHG and didn't reuse faces in the first assortment, but AG isn't exactly known for its mold diversity. Seriously, there have been eight molds in THIRTY years. Man, wait, AG is thirty already? Dang. Are they even doing anything for this anniversary?
Sorry, got sidetracked.
Anyway, my primary complaint about the AG dolls is that they don't look anywhere near the ages they're supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, I love AG and I have several dolls, but those chubby arms and legs are not things usually found on 9-11-year-olds. And that's how old these girls are. The odd thing is that I bet the Wellies are meant to be younger than AG, but they look older than the regular 18" AG dolls. There are a few exceptions to the "look a lot younger" rule, like Julie, Jess, Marie-Grace and Grace, but mostly they do not look their ages. I loved the Girls of Many Lands, because they looked like the 12-year-olds they were in the books, but put one of their dolls next to an AG doll and there is more than a 2-year age difference there.
My point? I do have one. Basically, I love dolls that look the age the characters in the books are. AGs don't often. Hearts For Hearts Girls do. Wellies seem to have learned that from HFHG, so that's a yay.
So let's take a look at the individual dolls. I'll go in order from the pic at the top. We know the names of all 5 girls and using the book previews, I was able to figure out 3, but the blonde and the black girl are currently unknown, which is why I labelled them as such. One is Camille and the other is Kendall.
The blonde is up first. I think she might have my favorite outfit. I love those colors and the fish(?) boots are adorable. She's got a cute little beauty mark by her left eye, too.
Then we've got Ashlyn. The fandom seems to have designated her as Latina, but she could be so many things that a lot of little girls will see themselves in her. And she has a pretty classy outfit. She might have some freckles going on. The leaked pics aren't very good quality, but her book art has freckles.
Emerson (what a name...yeesh) is the darling East Asian girl. I think she might be the one a lot of people get, lacking a strong East Asian character in AG. (One of my megagripes is that we still lack an East Asian historical character. Cute as she was, Ivy was a best friend and does not count. I'm talking about a lead.) She might be the first one I get. She doesn't have my favorite outfit, because that bulky top over what I'm presuming is a leotard gives her a weird silhouette and she has my least fave boots. But the doll herself is just cuteness personified.
The black doll has adorable hair. Not a huge fan of her outfit though. The multicolored weird tie thing on the striped shirt and the general clashing. The skirt is nice though. Hmm, actually, all she needs is a solid color top and she'd be 100% better.
And finally sweet Willa. Willa clearly is the nature girl. (Emerson is a dancer and Ashlyn probably likes princesses, but the other two I'm not sure.) I love all the animal motifs. I can't decide if she has my fave outfit or if the blonde does. But she has the Dell face and the freckles and I love this color scheme, so she's a contender for first purchase. It's either gonna be Willa or Emerson. (Ideally both.)
No one is sure how big these girls are. From the pic with the real girls, I'd say 15-16". A bit bigger than HFHG, but I still hope they can share clothes.
Valerie Tripp has written 3 books for the line so far. Ashlyn's Unsurprise Party has 88 pages, while the other two have 96 each.
Ashlyn's Unsurprise Party has her trying to throw a party for Camille, who has lost two teeth, on her own, because she wants to surprise everyone, not just Camille. But I'm sure things go wrong and she has to accept help from everyone.
The Muddily-Puddily Show has Emerson in charge of putting on a show with the girls and trying to meet the challenges that go with it. I'm guessing she might want the spotlight, since she looks like the performer of the group, and has to learn how to make the show function so everyone can look good, not just her.
The Riddle of the Robin has the girls learning about birds and such. Willa plays a major role.
I had seen the doll images before today, but the books were something I only just saw this morning and I've been thinking about the line ever since. The art is really that cute.
The three books come out on September 1st, so I'm guessing the dolls will either be out around the same time or possibly a bit earlier.
I'm really looking forward to this line. Based on the blog comments I didn't want to read while I was researching, but couldn't help but skim, reception is mixed. Some people think they're adorable, but others complain that they're not "AG enough." I wasn't aware there was only one way AG was supposed to be. I mean, the baby dolls don't look that much like the 18" dolls, and we've had very different dolls before in the Hopscotch Hill and Girls of Many Lands lines. There is room in American Girl for a new type of doll, especially considering the more reasonable price of these, which is expected to be about $60. Seriously, that's half the cost of an 18" American Girl. Yes, they're going to look cheaper than the 18", because they ARE cheaper than the 18". I can't wait to get my hands on one! It's been years since AG did something this different and I think it's very welcome.
PHOTO CREDITS: The doll pictures were leaked. I'm uncertain of the source. The book pictures are from here:
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