American Girl 35th Anniversary Launch Review!

 

Hola my very cool friends! As you can see, I am not dead! XD I'm so sorry y'all, I know I keep saying I'm gonna get this out of whack posting schedule back together, (and we'll talk more about it at the end of this post as well) I just keep expecting life to actually slow down then it doesn't. Not that it's always bad things that get in the way though, sometimes they're really wonderful things. Just know when I disappear it's never because I've lost interest in this blog or you, that's never gonna happen. This blog means the world to me and so do y'all, I'm not going anywhere :) Anyhoo! Thought I'd do something a bit different today, since AG had a HUGE release to celebrate 35 years!!! Man, that is so crazy, my sister got her Felicity about a year after she was released! She got to see the old Pleasant Company and original catalogs and I'm so jealous lol! XD Just a heads up before we start, I usually don't do these because I'm actually really opinionated with AG stuff (weird right? I'm pretty sure I'm just holding a grudge still from that quality drop a while back XD) and I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. So I will give my honest thoughts, but if you like any of these items or have a different opinion then mine please know I mean absolutely no offence, these are my thoughts and mine alone :) I haven't seen any of these items outside of the last items we'll be looking at (You probably know what I'm talking about lol!) so let's dive in!

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(All product images moving forward are from American Girl)

Y'all have no idea how much it hurts my soul to click "Yes I am an adult so therefore let me into the online shop" and to actually be telling the truth :'(

TAKE THE CAKE BIRTHDAY OUTFIT FOR 18" DOLLS

($38.00)

Huh, this is..... Interesting. It's not really my style, but it's cute on this doll! I personally probably wouldn't buy it, like I said it just isn't my dollie style, but I will always be all for doll hightops, legit I am OBSESSED with doll sneakers/hightops!!! I can kinda dig the headband too.... Wait how much was this again?

*chokes on chocolate milk* Whoa what huh wait how what??? Isn't that kinda.... Way more than they normally charge for doll clothes? Have I just been away from the catalogs far too long and this is the new norm? I don't know but if y'all do definitely let me know in the comments! I'm super curious!

FUN AND GAMES PARTY ACCESSORIES

($35.00)

Guys, look at that little Polaroid camera!!! From what I can tell from the pic it's so on point! I would love this for my Grace even though she's not really a photographer, I can just see her having it. Unfortunately though, that's about all it has going on for me. I mean I guess the drinks are cute, as a doll blogger/photographer I will always appreciate a way for the dolls to actually hold stuff without me having to rubberband everything, but there's just too many stickers and card stock and what looks to be paper items for it to cost $35.00, seems just a bit high.

TAKE THE CAKE BIRTHDAY CART

($75.00)

Okay, okay, I can dig this. HUGE thumbs up to AG for not making the napkins, hats, and cups out of something that's not paper or cardboard! Y'all, I can't stress this enough how much I can't stand doll stuff made with cardboard or things that aren't meant to last, I have so many doll props from Walmart (Though I think My Life As has actually gotten so much better in recent years) and places like that where the sets came with card stock something and it was literally ruined after five minutes. Like please if I pay you money give me some quality. I beg of you XD but nothing here seems to be made of anything too crazy cheesy, plus the overall look of it is pretty awesome! My only complaint is that those like party horn things (is that what those are called?) would be super hard for the dolls to hold and might be hard to rubberband to their hands as well. But it's not really an issue unless you do photography.

DAY AT AG CAFE

($180.00)

Oh my gosh my heart, my 9 year old pink, black, and white classic AG Cafe loving heart!!

Annnnnnd there went my daydreaming bubble XD Okay not the highest price I've seen for this sort of thing, and if you have fond memories of the cafe then this just might be worth getting! Looks pretty accurate and detailed, I especially appreciate that the mini doll that comes with it is in a special dress rather than just taking one of the minis they already had and sticking it in there. I always appreciate extra steps to keep things unique! So overall, super cute! I actually really do like it, it reminds me of when I first got into AG and seeing the cafe for the first time, it's just not something I'd buy solely for the reason that I'd rather put that amount of money towards the actual dolls.

RAINBOW BIRTHDAY OUTFIT FOR WELLIE WISHERS

($24.00)

OH MY FROSTED FLAKES YESSSSS!!!! I love this more than I can put into words! It gives me such hardcore ballet costume vibes and what I'd do to have it for me in my size lol! I probably wouldn't get it literally only because I don't think the colors would work as well on my Wellie Wisher (Willa), but I absolutely love it! My only complaint, those shoes, why are they rubber??? That's some weird Our Generation type product quality to be honest. : / 

BIRTHDAY TREAT SET FOR WELLIE WISHERS

($24.00)

Not bad, once again thank you AG for not making paper napkins, especially considering this set is for younger kids. It's not a set that gets me really excited, feels kinda generic but I don't see anything I don't like either. So I don't think I've got much more to say, other than the topper gives me My Little Pony vibes, ah yes... My childhood :)

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE KITCHEN FOR WELLIE WISHERS

($48.00)

Ooooooooo cute! Love the details, it totally feels like those play kitchens I had as a kid, and I don't think the price is the absolute worst? I feel like Our Generation (forgot what they called their Wellie Wisher type dolls lol) would sell it for around $30.00-$35.00, so if you want the AG brand you probably wouldn't be paying a lot more for it vs an OG recreation of it. That oven mitt though... It bothers me, why did they sew it that way? Is it just felt? It looks pretty corny in my opinion, it's such a small thing but it stands out for me I don't know why XD

Okay y'all, it's the moment we've all been waiting for, American Girl pulled the most unexpected move that I didn't believe until I actually saw it.... They released the original 6 dolls in their Pleasant Company meets for a limited time.

I am not even joking y'all look at this!!! Like the audacity of these marshmallows, they pulled the move of moves! Now, how do I feel about this........ It's.. complicated? To be honest I'm not super impressed. I feel like AG has already shown they don't care about the history aspect of it all anymore, pushing the Historicals so far to the side that they're almost falling out of the catalogs (which is why I don't get the catalogs anymore, it makes me sad that my favorite thing about AG is so unappreciated by them). It's become clear that the only reason they'd bring them back is purely for the money. However, at the same time I'm thankful that it's at least not a Beforever style release, Beforever Kirsten probably would have devastated me lol! But! I will still be giving them a look over and telling y'all what I think!

MOLLY MCINTIRE 35TH ANNIVERSARY DOLL

($150.00)

Miss Molly Jean McIntire... All of you know how much this girly means to me, I bawled when they discontinued her, BAWLED! And now that they've brought her back for the second time (We're not talking about Beforever Molly, nope, let's not go there, seeing her in a new outfit hurt my Molly loving feelings), I'm just not feeling it. Looks to me they changed her eye color a bit (it's subtle, but as someone who's looked into the eyes of my best friend Molly Jean I can tell... They're a bit different), the velcro on the back of the sweater is new, but seems like a bad move in my opinion, might catch the sweater if you're not careful... That bag too, what did they do to it? Mine does not have all the fabric added to the fake leather, is it a Pleasant Company thing maybe? I'm not exactly sure. But if you always wanted Molly and want her new from AG then I guess this is your big chance! That price though.... I mean I get that it's a limited edition special thing but really? Can they really charge THAT much more for them when their other dolls are-

Never mind what I said earlier I quit

JK y'all, but what the heck is going on?! They don't even give you a special little deal for getting the accessories with the dolls now? When did this all happen?! Man you lose interest in the catalogs for a year and everything goes haywire -_-

SAMANTHA PARKINGTON 35TH ANNIVERSARY DOLL

($150.00)

Okay everyone, so I have 2 Samantha dolls, a Pleasant Company from the 90's and a Mattel one (Sarah) from about 2004-ish, and I must say this is pretty accurate. The dress is much more faded looking to me for some reason, but it could be just me. As far as accessories go, they look pretty good as well, I can't speak too much on most of them since I don't have them, but that hat looks pretty on point. It doesn't look cheapened in any way so pretty happy about that. Huge round of applause for the classic eyebrows rather than the feathered ones, that would have really bothered me XD The hair does look a bit longer, my PC Sam has longer hair but not quite that long, so that's weird. Overall pretty good. Don't see anything that's getting on my nerves too much so that's a good sign right? XD Also, didn't mention this before but I really appreciate the classic books and boxes! Nice touch!

ADDY WALKER 35TH ANNIVERSARY DOLL

($150.00)

Ah yes! My dear sweet Addykin Skywalker, y'all ready to get nitpicky? Because we about to go hard core into the ways of nitpickiness XD So! Doll itself, I will always be partial to the true PC Addy, to me she is perfect in every way, but this Addy..... Just falls short in a couple ways for me. Something that bothers me a bit about newer Addys is that they now use a much lighter skin tone and took quite a bit of the texture out of her hair as well, I just don't understand why they did that, she is legit one of the most beautiful dolls I have! Mattel, stop messing with perfection! Anyhoo, that looks to still apply with this Addy, at least they did the classic eyebrows though.... If they really wanted to go for PC accuracy here, they are the wrong color. Addy's eyebrows (At least the first addition ones) were green, yes you heard that right, her eyebrows used to be a dark green color. Also the lip color seems a bit too harsh, maybe it's a bit softer color in person? But moving on, the dress looks pretty good honestly! I can't speak much on the accessories once again because I don't have them, I will however rant about the necklace. What did they do to it??? It's not a real shell anymore, it looks like a poorly done mold. That is such an odd choice in my opinion, like why AG? What's the point of that change? I guess the only other complaint is the shoes, between the sewn on grommets, not really sealed shoelace ends (They actually used to have aglets on the end like real shoelaces), and that weird new hard plastic sole that they do nowadays. I don't know there are just a lot of disappointments with this one for me, I could also be being a little too critical because I love this girly so much as well though. What are your thoughts?

(NOTE: Right before I'm about to post this I saw an Instagram post of the 35th Addy doll next to a Pleasant Company one, and it actually looks pretty close in skin tone, it's a bit hard to tell if it's just the filter on the pic but if it is the case then I'm honestly so impressed that they took the extra mile to do that! If you have PC Addy and will be getting the new one as well please let me know if this is true! :D)

KIRSTEN LARSON 35TH ANNIVERSARY DOLL

($150.00)

Kirsten, my lovely sweet girly, don't have a whole lot of beef with this one, the doll itself looks pretty good, beautiful hair, lovely and super accurate dress, I will always love that cute little spoon bag (and props for the spoon still being wood), it's just too adorable!! The shoes are not actually leather, but I don't know if they ever were so I won't get too triggered by that. There are only two things that went wrong for me here, one of those being the ribbons...

AG, what even??? THEY'RE LITERALLY FALLING APART IN YOUR STOCK PIC! $150.00 guys you can afford to glue the edge, cheetos dipped in caramel y'all what is happening...

Also they did the hair wrong, y'all.... If you could've been here the last several days and heard how annoying I've been about this, it just bothers me so much! XD Like I know this is a much faster (therefore cheaper) way to do this hairstyle but it looks so wrong to me! Once again $150.00 smackers, you can afford to do the original style correctly AG.

JOSEFINA MONTOYA 35TH ANNIVERSARY DOLL

($150.00)

Okay guys, I'm starting to realize I love the original 6 so much that I will defend them to the very ends of this planet, even if that means finding the tiniest problems XD With Josefina though, she looks pretty darn perfect, I mean she looks gorgeous! I can't find any problems, I do however wish the shoes were actually leather, I know for a fact that they were back in the day. It's not a shocker that they're fake leather at this point but once again, $150.00 (Can y'all tell I'm not chill with this price? XD), hand over them leather shoes please and thank you XD Also, I kept staring at the rebozo and it just didn't look right. I assumed that it was probably just me but I finally checked and sure enough... It doesn't match the Pleasant Company one, the PC rebozo has a diamond pattern rather then the straight lines. :(

FELICITY MERRIMAN 35TH ANNIVERSARY DOLL

($150.00)

Felicity... My sister has her, my mom has her, I have her.... Please y'all, I need a favor. If you buy this doll, please tell me that in person her hair isn't brown and this is just a bad lighting for her hair. Please, it can be through email, comments, letters, you could show up at my house! I wouldn't even care that y'all found my house and my location was exposed THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT!!! Lol JK, I'm pretty sure it's just the lighting in the pic, though I'd still love to know if she's on her way to your home! (And if you actually do show up at my house I will call the police, it's nothing personal, it's just business.... Lord Business) :D So, her eyes are uh... Interesting? They're a very weird green, once again maybe lighting? But I've never seen the green eyes look like that, and they certainly didn't look like that in PC form. Dress looks a little brighter than normal, but all our Felicitys here are really old so it's a very good possibility that the meet dresses we have are also just faded lol XD I can't tell if it still has the pockets in her dress, I'm gonna guess no, but we do have the very original style of the undergarment! Like bruh I was not expecting that! Well done, AG! Credit where it's due on that one! The shoes look pretty good as well, we got the weird new sole on the bottom though, no shocker they did it on Addy's shoes too. That bag though.... That's not what her bag looks like at all, different pattern and something else looks off as well. I can't quite place it though...

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Well everyone, that's my very honest, overly annoyed with everything review! XD I hope you enjoyed even if just a little bit! My final thoughts are that AG definitely had some super unexpected releases for the 35th anniversary, as far as the dolls go, I have mixed feelings. I don't particularly like the fact that they're calling them "Almost exactly like the Pleasant Company dolls!" when in actuality, there are so many differences. Do I personally look at these dolls and think "They look like PC dolls!" Nope, not really honestly, but my goodness it's sooooo much better then if they brought them back as Beforever XD I'd personally recommend maybe buying true Pleasant Company dolls off eBay if you're okay with the idea of the dolls being used. Guys like seriously, it's the only ONLY reason I have as many dolls as I have, if you keep a sharp eye you'd probably be able to get about 3 PC dolls for the price of one 35th doll. True Pleasant Company's are such beyond amazing quality and have such a beautiful little face that sadly were changed by Mattel, plus you're giving a second chance to a dollie who otherwise has been forgotten about :) If I could say something to AG I would probably say if you're charging this for the dolls and products please PLEASE make sure you back it up with quality! I've loved AG for so long but managed to lose so much faith in you over the quality drops that I just don't trust paying these prices anymore. I'm not saying all this stuff to be petty, I'm just trying to be as honest as I can on where you can do better because I LOVE these dolls and they've become such a precious part of my childhood, and I hope you care enough about your following to deliver them the best quality you can muster! Once again all opinions are mine and mine alone, nothing I've said is meant to discourage you or hurt you, I promise I'd NEVER hurt y'all on purpose! I 100% understand that not everyone is into the idea of used dolls, and that is totally cool too! If you missed out on these characters and are okay with them being a bit pricier (only $10 more but I'm still in shock since the last time I checked AG's site they were $96.00, yeah..... It's been awhile XD), then this may be your opportunity to get your dream doll! Or.... There's also another way ;)

Remember Madi from Delightful World of Dolls? Well, she's made her spectacular return to the doll blogging world! And to celebrate she's hosting a giveaway for 2 lucky winners to get an AG doll of their choice, that's right, ANY doll! Have your heart set on one of the classic 6? Well, here's your chance to enter for a chance to win! Maybe you've been thinking a Truly Me would suit your collection well, or have had your heart set on a GOTY, girl I've got good news for you! Not feeling the classic 6 but LOVE a different Historical? This is an option too y'all! Have a dream custom? For 2 lucky winners that's a choice as well! (You heard that right! Create Your Own dolls are a choice too!)! I'm so excited about this giveaway but honestly, I'm even more excited to see Madison back (Like seriously y'all I've probably been so annoying XD I'm just so happy to talk and see her back again!), we've all been praying and hoping for her so to see her back again is just such a blessing :D Definitely enter the giveaway by checking it out HERE, and even if you can't enter I think it would mean a lot if you shared the giveaway info with others or even just stopped by to welcome her back :)

Thank you so SO much for reading, everyone! It means the world that you've continued to support me even when I'm not able to do this consistently! Y'all absolutely rock! As far as my new schedule, I will be posting at least once a month. I know it's not much and I'll absolutely be posting more than that when I can! But this way I'll be able to be more consistent at least and not over commit if life picks up speed. I'll be doing more Disney Lyric Shoots since y'all seem to like them so much (I also really enjoy sewing for them and as a music lover it's just so SO fun all around!), Photo Shoots, Photo Stories (I'm so nervous about those y'all I haven't done them in so long!), and so much more! If you'd like to join the email subscription for post notifications, fun facts about me and the dolls, BTS, and even vote on some future stuff then you can do so by going to the sidebar on our homescreen or, since FeedBurner is dropping email subscribers, you can email me at alldolldupbykat@gmail.com and I'll add ya to the list! Let me know in the comments what you think of this release, If you'll be getting any of the new dolls, or what doll you'd get if you won Madi's giveaway, I'd absolutely love to know! And make sure to stay tuned for a very special post later this month to meet a very special doll :) Have an amazing day everyone!

-Katie :)