GOTY 2016 - What We Know So Far

It's that time of year again.... After 4th of July we usually start seeing clues about the nest GOTY.  Except this year, we got a huge clue --- her whole name!!!

SPOILER ALERT

Her real name will be Lea Clark, instead of the code name Gemma.  This is confirmed through a leak of part of her meet outfit. IF and ONLY IF you don't care about spoilers, the link to her leaked outfit is here.

The summer Olympics are taking place in Rio d Janeiro next year, so many are speculating she is from Brazilian background.  

I have a different theory.  Because of her complexion (you can see the leaked mini doll here), she could have a mixed background.  The audition script mentioned Africa several times, and American Girl would miss out if they didn't do anything with African heritage for the character.  I wish they would just do an AA character altogether, but we ARE getting a new AA Beforever character next year.  Everyone who has wanted more AA diversity, 2016 is your year!

And so why am I thinking her story DOES take place some in Africa? Well, on imDb, the 2016 GOTY movie is listed under Gemma, Lea's code name. And one of the production companies is Out of Africa Entertainment, a company located in South Africa.  A lot of Europeans settled in South Africa, in addition to the African natives of South Africa.  This would explain my mixed background theory.  Her brother also apparently likes to explore, and Lea feels left out sometimes when he is busy with his girlfriend.

Sounds like an interesting plot! We'll be able to find out more information when the cast is confirmed.

Now back to the doll!

She has quite a bright patterned dress for her meet outfit.  Her palette seems to be lot of purples, yellows, greens, and tribal inspired patterns. So far only her mini doll, meet outfit, and possible jumper dress have leaked, so there is still a lot we don't know about her.  

I think she will be a cross between Jess and Kanani.  In fact, her hair is shorter but the same color as Kanani's.

This is all speculation for now, and any leaked images are from Chinese ebay or Tabao sellers, so they may very well just be prototypes.  The colors and features of the doll could be tweaked by time she releases.  This has happened many times for Maryellen, Beforever outfits, and Truly Me outfits. 

BREAKING NEWS Jill's Steals and Deals TOMORROW

 

 American Girl will be on Jill's Steals and Deals TOMORROW! Get out your savings and update your account info cause you'll want to act FAST.  They said its going to be HUGE tomorrow.  My speculation is there will be leftover Caroline items on sale in addition to other items.  There could be old bedroom sets, new bedroom sets, My American Girl, who knows!!! I'm thinking Rebecca's sideboard could be on there too, and if it is, well we all know what I'm buying!!!

 

The last deal was posted at 6:30 a.m., so be up nice and early!!!

 

Check your local listings for times!

 

UPDATED Maryellen Larkin Countdown

UPDATED: Here is a new sneak peak of Maryellen's school set.  Not much more of a sneak peak than last week, but we're getting there!

Maryellen's theme is.... THE SPACE RACE! We guessed it correctly!

*I follow my heart instead of the crowd                                                                                                   *It's my time to stand out from the crowd

*Cartoonist, rocket scientist, TV-news feature, roller-skater, and mold breaker, and that's only part of her story.

*My friends call me the one and only.  There's no one quite like me in the whole wide world.

Well we obviously know she will have roller skates!  I wonder if she will have a drawing set, since she likes to make cartoons.  She is rumored to have a T.V., which would go along with her story.  She joins the science club and she lives in Daytona Beach, Florida with her five brothers and sisters and her parents of course!  

This is her cute icon!

Also, there's some more information on Maryellen on my favorite website, The American Girl Wiki.  Go check it out! 

There was apparently a short film contest for anyone ages 13 and older to create a 15 minute short film about Julie or Maryellen.  Sadly, the deadline has passed. It wasn't heavily advertised and I just found out about it. I'm quite sad because I would have loved to enter, and I'm sure some of you guys would have loved to as well. I am excited to see the results in October!  There will be one short film for each character, and American Girl is hiring actresses to portray Maryellen and Julie!!!!   You can read about it here. 

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 The countdown is on!  Nineteen days to go until Maryellen debuts!  Stores will be having Meet Maryellen events at various times the 27th-30th.  Come dressed up in 50s attire to take your picture in front of a diner backdrop, 50s inspired crafts, a free gift, and more.  Come as early as possible so you don't miss out on the cool gift!

Valerie Tripp is coming to Nashville October 17th.  I'm very excited as she is the author of Maryellen's stories, Felicity's, Molly's, a few Samantha stories, and Kit's!  Basically half of my dolls!!!

  

I have seen a lot of leaked images of Maryellen's outfits, but I can't post them quite yet! If you don't care about spoilers, Lissie and Lily has several of the leaked images, and there are plenty of Youtube videos as well.

Maryellen's sweater will supposedly come with the doll, and not in the accessories set.  So far gloves and a pearl necklace are the only confirmed items in the accessories set.  

Her diner is rumored to be $300 like Samantha's ice cream parlor.  Luckily it won't be as crazy and huge as Grace's bakery!  She is also supposed to have an RV camper or something, but that is to be determined.

She will have a poodle skirt set, an ice skating set similar to Molly's, the red cherry outfit as depicted on her Journey book, and she will have a gorgeous party dress.  Her outfit theme seems to be similar to Kit's, but from what I've seen she has less of a color scheme as compared to the other characters.

 Maryellen's cherry outfit.

It is confirmed that there will be limited edition mini dolls for American Girl's 30th anniversary.  I've seen a few of the dolls, and they will all have different outfits, but not holiday outfits this time! 

Lastly, Maryellen is also rumored to have a dachshund. No news on her bed, bedroom accessories, pajamas, etc.  There are tons of items she is going to have they have no pictures or information whatsoever.  

This is the sneak of Maryellen's school set.  Her school dress will be purple, a continuation of no particular color scheme for our 50s girl! 

Are you excited for Maryellen?  I will probably get her for Christmas! 

Also thank you to everyone who has followed my blog for so long!  This is my 100th blog post! :D

Grateful Blogger Tag!

 

 

I've been nominated by Whiskers and Wildflowers for the Grateful Blogger Tag! 

 

These are the rules:

1. Nominate 3-7 bloggers (your favorites or somebody new;)
2. Answer the questions given you or follow specific instructions.
3. Make sure you post a comment on their blog telling them they've been nominated.
4. Copy the award image into your post.
5. Link your post back to the original.
6. Put the award on your sidebar or page.
7. Oh, and don't forget to copy these rules!

Have fun!!!

 

  Here are the questions she asked me: 

1. Who is your favorite actor/actress?  ~ Probably Zendaya or Shailene Woodley
2. What is your favorite thing to do with your dolls?  ~ Take photostories!  I have some new ones coming up soon.
3. If you could go back and live in any historical time period, which would you choose?  ~ Probably the 1950s.
4. Fork or spoon?    ~ Fork
5. Do you have a favourite word/quote?  ~ "Don't do drugs, eat candy." - Ricky P. Dillon
6. Who do you look up to?  ~ My mom
7. Favourite animal?  ~ Peacock
8. What is your favourite color?  ~ Red
9. Favourite school subject?  ~ Art and history
10. Painting or Coloring?  ~ Both since I'm an artist! 

And I nominate....

Doll Daydreams 

Doll Days 

Lissie and Lilly 

Julie Newsman's 70s Time Capsule 

Here are your questions:

1. What's your favorite type of music?

2. Do you like storms?

3.  How many pets do you have?

4. Provolone or Swiss cheese?

5. Horses or llamas?

6.  If you could have another doll, what doll would you choose?

7. Guitar or piano?

8. Do you enjoy being outside?

9.  What's your favorite sport?

10.  Have you ever been to another country besides your own?

News - Journey Girls Holiday Doll Available for Preorder!

The new Journey Girls 2015 Italy Holiday doll is now available for preorder.  She retails for $49.99.  It's already time to get ready for Christmas gifts and we haven't even finished back to school!!!!

 

Her dress is reminiscent of last year's Ruby Ball Gown from American Girl.  

And that's not all that's new from Journey Girls!  There's also a lovely wooden vanity set that retails for $39.99.  Looks like its time for a visit to my local Toys R Us.

 

 Also, don't forget you get free shipping at Toys R Us when you order $49 or more!

 

Our Generation In-Store Report

I went to Target yesterday, and the Our Generation line had a lot of new items!  Luckily, the retro diner was there so I was able to get a close up view of it and take pictures!  It seems like it is never in stock at my Target, so it must be very popular.

This is the diner all packaged up on display.  I like how they displayed all the food so you can see!  The food is all so miniature!

 There are salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and mustard, napkins and more for the table.

The pie has one slice that can be taken out. There are three of each type of cupcake, six cookies, nine donuts, three milkshakes, and a few varieties of ice cream. There's also a hot dog, a hamburger, and a basket of french fries.  The tops of the stools are shown below.

 This is the cake stand.  It is made of plastic, but is adorable! It has one slice that can be taken out and placed on a plate.

These are the empty plates that loose food items can be placed on.  There's two sets of "silverware" and some bowls and plastic cups. 

 This is the coffee and a cup of coffee with some play money and an order booklet. The pencil is fake from what I can see.

 There are tons of plates with meals that are attached to the plates.  The eggs, bacon, and sausage can be moved.  There are two sodas, a piece of chalk for the chalkboard menu, and what I believe is tomato soup.

 A cute sandwich and a brownie!

I really love the diner set and would like to buy it for Maryellen.  The set has a working jukebox, two booth seats, a table, a counter with working lights (the demo version was worn out at the store unfortunately), blinds on the window that open and close, and a rotating "glass" display case. It retails for $109.99, which is not bad for all that it comes with and the play value, especially compared to American Girl's prices for sets like these. American Girl has some wood parts, but not as many as they used to on playsets when it was still Pleasant Company.

Here are some of the new outfits. 

 

This is a very pretty yellow dress and denim jacket!

 I thought it was weird that just this one outfit is in a box.  I hope they don't change them all to this packaging!

 This is not a new outfit, but I was going to buy it for Samantha.  It's very good quality.  The shoes are the quality of Springfield, but the outfit is nice.

 This outfit would look great on Grace.

They had adorable new accessory sets too for only $6.99 each!

This looks like a retro recess set.  The ice cream cone jumprope is really cute! There is pretend sidewalk chalk, jacks, and a paddle.

 This is my favorite new set!  Its a birdwatching set, and includes binoculars, "bird seed", a pretend pencil, a bird book, and a bag to store the binoculars in!

 

 The next set is for the beach.  It has a shovel, a bucket, sunglasses, and a frisbee.  The frisbee is really cute.

 We've had sunglasses sets before, but this one was different than the one I previously saw!

 This is a popstar set.  It has a VIP pass, a water bottle, a lei, star sunglasses, and a purse.

This is a garden set that would work well as an addition to American Girl's.  A lot of people have been complaining that there is two tool hooks, but only one tool, so Target came in and solved the problem!  These tools and the windmill will be perfect for the gardening shelf.

 I thought these were very interesting two tone boots............

 This is another cute outfit that would look nice on Grace.

 Don't forget your scooter in Paris!

 This is a pretty dress, but the belt is a weird plastic like material.  It almost looks like duct tape!

And lastly this is a new pajama set.  The shoes are plastic in this set, but the kitty is really cute. 

Wow that was a lot of new items! I want to get all the little accessory sets! 

American Girl Dreams Come True Sweepstakes

I got an email this morning with American Girl's latest sweepstakes!  You can enter to win one of ten Beforever doll of choice plus doll and girl pajama sets!!!

You can enter once a day, with up to three extra entries when you share with a friend! This is similar to the Fetch-A-Friend sweepstakes from last year.

If you are under 18, remember to get an adult to help you enter!  Good news for those over 13, this is your chance to win!!!!!!!

I would choose Maryellen Larkin if I won.  Which BeForever girl would YOU choose?