the evolution of american girl dolls

American Girl Dolls have been around since 1986, and the brand has released all sorts of dolls, books, and other random media. In this video, I explore the history of the American Girl brand and their many ups and downs. This video was a bit more of an undertaking than I thought it would be lol, so I hope you enjoy!

Sources:

Keywords for the YouTube gods: american girl dolls, american girl brand, agtube, historical characters, girl of the year, pleasant company, pleasant rowland, beforever, molly mcintire, kirsten larson, samantha parkington, felicity merriman, addy walker, josefina montoya, kit kittredge, kaya, julie albright, dolls, video essay, long video, deep dive, retrospective, analysis, nostalgia, childhood, y2k, girly, Jenny Nicholson, Li Speaks, Izzzyzzz

0:00 Intro
02:37 Pleasant Company
05:05 1980s
12:54 1990s
29:35 2000s
52:52 2010s
01:16:58 2020s

[lizard]

I just want to kindly point out that Lucianne Walkowicz, the astronomer whose likeness and career story was used by AG without their permission, is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.

[Lizandjinx]

Felicity is the McRib of the American girl doll world. She is always popping back up right when you start to forget about her. Then retired again.

[annakellyvee]

So I worked at an AG store in Kansas from 2012-1019. Here's my insight into the sales part of it:

- Julie was the most popular doll, followed by Kit. Kaya's doll and accessories basically collected dust (except her horse, people loved her horse). Josephina was stuck in the Bitty Baby section. Poor Cecile almost never sold as well.
- The movies played on rotation on a TV and for the most part I found them adorable. I genuinely recommend the Kit and Molly movies, which in theory are on DVD somewhere.
- Gabriella was doll #46 with a hairband. Which is why doll #46 was "retired"
- We were taught that "retired" dolls and accessories went away forever, but "archived" dolls were dolls that were temporarily taken off the shelves. Not that it matters - AG will pitch new versions of formerly popular lines whenever they feel like it.
- Some of the larger play sets were super fun to clean up/reorganize. Luciana's Mars station was very cute and interactive. Ditto for the incredible French bakery set. And the Wellwishers playhouse. But to be fair we did notice a drop-off in the quality of materials and construction over the years.
- Our peak year was probably 2016. That was the last year when I remember Black Friday being amazingly busy. For Blair, the 2019 doll, January 1st was very lackluster in comparison. I think 2016 or 2017 was the last year the store had an event before the Girl of the Year movie debut.
- In 2017 there was some kind of hold-up from the Chinese factories that produced the Bitty Baby line, so we had tons of baby stuff out of stock for months (then they changed the design of the toys anyway SO take this with a grain of salt).
- We got a girl-sized ear-piercing booth in 2018. It was mostly successful. There was one incident where a very cute, VERY young girl got upset because (I assume) the piercing was too painful.
- Most of the books are really good. Some read like well-done, kid-friendly self-insert fanfic. Kaya's books are great. Kit is super boring. Tenney is basically a Taylor Swift riff. The quality of the Girly of the Year books is decent.
- I acquired a few accessories and dolls that I'm trying to sell off, hit me up if anyone wants a discontinued table & chairs or an unopened Logan doll (guitar sold separately).

[noneofyourbeezwax]

The range in struggle is uh… well… Addy: escapes slavery, Blair: Lactose intolerant

[kelthulhu]

The way they almost had a Black GOTY and then takes-backsies-ed it at the last minute for another light-haired light-eyed doll never fails to make me boil with rage! Also, Maryellen's childhood polio makes her the first doll with a physical disability, as she's described in the books as being overall weaker, especially in one leg, and having residual breathing issues. You'll often see collectors making little duct tape braces for her and such. It's all very cute.

[justpeachysoup]

if i had a nickel for every over an hour long history of american girl dolls video i'd only have two nickels but it's weird that its happened twice

[luxluther]

I had Kaya and ALL her books, as a native I *LIVED* for the representation that showed both the good and bad side of Native Americans

[ashleynorton]

The felicity movie also had a random shot where the slaves of felicitys grandfather are mourning from a distance presumably because they are not allowed to attend the grandfathers funeral. Like you said, on one hand bold and valid not to censor that part of history. But also so wild to include it and totally gloss over it in felicity’s story

[drinkswateristhirsty]

30:25 I was convinced you called Coconut a “little white CRUSTY dog” and had to keep rewinding to catch “Westy” 😂

[THATGuy]

Thank you for specifying what a "meet" outfit is. I imagine you understood that most of us were thinking of Lady Gaga when you said it.

[sleepyghostgirl]

I completely agree about the newer face molds!! I feel like they're just slimming down their faces (especially their jaws), painting their lips and giving them bigger eyes to make them appeal more to modern beauty standards (they remind me a bit of the instagram face. it really looks like they put them through photoshop or a snapchat filter). they also remind me more of modern fashion dolls and animated characters. the molds aren't ugly but they just...don't look like American girl dolls anymore?? lol

[JKXYGolden]

Very fascinating to watch the transition into and then out of the period I remembered and got the catalog for... definitely reinforced your point about the hobbies for Girl of the Year not being repetitive from a customer base perspective, since though I was definitely thinking "wow, another horse girl?" watching the video, as a kid I always thought the girls of the year were very unique.

[THATGuy]

If I had worked at American Girl, I'd have given myself room to do one "future" doll, who's gimmick is that she's a time traveler from a distant tomorrow. Tarla46. She makes historical crossovers viable.
"Meet Tarla46"
"Tarla46 Causes a Paradox"
"Tarla46 Discovers the Multiverse" (This one can even enable crossovers with other Mattel Properties.)

I'm why most toy company headquarters have a sniper positioned on the roof.

[cartoonsandcoffee]

Me shoving my list of everything I wanted from the American girl doll catalog to my parents being totally oblivious to the recession 😂

[dazanii]

My family was lower middle class to lower class so we could never afford an American Girl doll. I loaned the books from the library and got the catalogue to pour over the dolls and the accessories and items that came from the stories I was reading. My aunt and uncle paid for an American Girl magazine subscription, and it came with a paper doll insert based on the family history of a real girl chosen from among their readers who applied. I kept those for years and had them stored so they would stay nice, but they disappeared in the 20+ years since! I wish I had them still, they were so cool.

[TheChibiTina]

I can see how you can see them as toddler, but it's strange to me because I had an American Girl Today doll that looked like me and I named Rose. I thought of her as the same age as me (I was in middle school) and would bring home extra homework for her and made her little schoolbooks. It was pretty cool to know what's become of American Girl though.

[prismcure]

Two minutes in and I’m giggling at how much of a kindred spirit u are, as someone who spends way too much of their personal time buying dolls and restoring them it really is so much fun seeing the payoff of a good wash and re style lol. I’m not much into AG but I live for your sense of humor and anecdotes, and it was so much fun watching this video and learning more about a doll brand I’ve never put much thought into. Ver excited for your future content, keep up the good work!

[brigc]

Fun fact: the POC dolls DO sell better. Marisol saved the GOTY line (before her their sales were SHIT) and Corrine's release saw the only profitable quarter for the company in several years. They're just run by a bunch of old farts who don't want to put in any effort to make diverse & accurate dolls. Currently AG is such a mess that I feel like we're on the brink of another massive overhaul, and honestly I hope so 😭

[eerielakeerie]

i dont know how to describe my relationship with AG as a kid, but it was probably my first ever special interest. i am far too passionate about the decline in quality of this children’s toy brand than i, a 23 y/o with no kids, has any right to be. this video is everything i desired in an AG history. thank you!!

[delilahandaria]

It's wild seeing all the stock photos of the girls in their meet outfits, because when I was little I got a big bag of old AG clothes from a teenage friend, so when I see some of the early 2000s dolls I'm like "Oh!!! I have those pants!!"