I'm Back + Doll News!

Hey everyone!

Sorry I've been gone so long.  College and doll collecting sometimes don't mix lol!

What a great time to be back though! Its getting quite festive in the American Girl world lately with all the Christmas items and exclusives arriving in stores this week.  In fact, I will be heading to the store this weekend so expect a lot of updates on the exclusives.  

I will also be meeting Valerie Tripp at the store!  YAY She wrote Felicity, Molly, Kit, Josefina, and Maryellen's stories.  She's quite the veteran, and Maryellen has recently won the 2015 Parenting Choice Silver Award!  Congratulations to Valerie and her character Maryellen!

The in-store exclusive PWP is the snowflake dress with headband or the Santa dress with Santa hat.  Both are $14 with $50 or more purchase. I will be buying the Santa dress one because I already have the black boots.  I think its crazy how these outfits don't come with shoes but oh well.   See agupdatenews on instagram for photos.  I will have photos on Saturday or Sunday!

Grace's bakery is SOLD OUT.  The bistro table set and the bakery cart have very low inventory, so consider buying those soon if you want them!

More in-store exclusives include a notebook and pillow for girls, headphones, a silver heart purse for the Christmas dresses, hats and gloves for girls, and necklaces and earrings.  All of these items range from $10-$20 which is quite a deal!

American Girl is rumored to have a new salon chair and salon background coming soon.  There are some other TBA backgrounds also.  New doll and girl store exclusive pajamas are supposed to be arriving this month also.

And don't forget to save your money for the in-store exclusive holiday ball gown that's coming in November! 

American Girl has also updated their sale page to include several girl sized retired pajamas from when they updated the bedtime sets last June.  With this I would expect the old pajamas to show up on the Cyber Monday sale.  Julie's sold out but there could be some left.  I know Kit's and Rebecca's didn't sell out before the relaunch so definitely expect those for around $14-$16.  

More Lea Clark leaks and information are hitting the web, so look for a separate post on that.  

Also I will be investigating Beforever 2016 character that is rumored to release alongside Lea on January 1, 2016 because of the Amazon book release date.  This could be a mistake, but it could be true since its American Girl's 30th anniversary!  

Our Generation New Items

The Our Generation website has been updated! There are lots of cute outfits, accessories sets, and some furniture even!

 For the regular fashion, there is a cute penguin pajama set, some hiking outfits, a cute sport outfit, overalls (I'm getting those for Kit and dressing them up a bit), and another skirt and shirt set.

There are lots of new shoes.  I always check my local Target for different shoes since they don't list all of them on the website.  I definitely like the snow boots, the fringed boots, the cheetah print shoes, and the rainboots.  Plus there's a new sunglasses set, a street fair set, and the new "I Spot a Birdie" set.  I'm buying the birdwatching set for Samantha. :)

 More accessory sets!  The gardening set is a perfect addition to American Girl's gardening bench set.  Especially since there's been a lot of complaints that it only came with one tool, but two hooks. Target came to our rescue with this set!  The second one is a VIP concert set, and there's also a cute beach set.  OG made some nice shoes this time, and the roller skates will be perfect for Maryellen. 

 These are the deluxe sets.  They retail for around $17.99.  There is a scooter set, a fishing set, a butterfly catching set, and a gardening outfit set that will once again be perfect for American Girl's bench.  There are several absolutely adorable sets in the second row.  I don't know how I'll be able to choose which to buy! (technically we know we'll have to choose what showed up in our stores lol) :P

I like the Spring Into Ruffles set on the bottom.  It has a white skirt that will work nicely with Grace's collection.

Retro fashion!!! The first one I'm not as thrilled about, but the second two I'm buying for Julie.  She needs a school jumper set and a rainbow shirt!  The last one is a cute new roller skate outfit that I will buy for Maryellen.

Lovely new adventure sets!  Finally a Girl Scouts set!  On the website it shows the things on a doll with a Girl Scout uniform.  I wonder if that outfit will be coming soon too?  The best set is the vegetable garden set with a cute wheelbarrow! The vegetables can be taken out of the planter box as well.  I can't wait to get this set!!!!  There's also a lua set that would be great for Kanani, and a grill!  I saw the grill in the store and OG hit the jackpot with this set.  The food is extremely realistic!

 These are the furniture sets.  We have two new salon chairs, and a new yellow scrollwork bed.  The "It Seams Perfect" set has been reviewed by several other bloggers.  It is made of plastic, but its still very nice quality.  The old sewing machine will fit in the table as well. Now the "Table for Two" set is another story....

I'm not sure I'm digging those clear pink chairs that are reminiscent of the good old Barbie's Malibu beachouse days.... The table looks cute for Grace's bakery however.  If it goes on sale, I might buy it and spraypaint the chairs red.

And this is a closeup of what the sewing set comes with.  It has a real pattern for a simple dress and enough fabric to make it with!  Such a cute idea!  

Check out the Our Generation website here

to see more details on all the new things.  A lot of them are already rolling into stores.

Plus, OG is creating a line of accessories and furniture for mini dolls called LORI by OG.  They have created a retro car and a camper for the mini so far.  The camper has working lights and kitchen accessories, and will be a great addition to the Maryellen mini doll! 

Quick Info ~ Jill's Steals and Deals Sold Out!

I hope everyone was able to get everything they needed cause all the deals are sold out now!  No historical items this time, but maybe we will get lucky next time 'round!

Maryellen's Collection Prices

Stock photos have shown up, and with them the prices of Maryellen's collection are available.  Some of them are ridiculous, while others are actually quite reasonable.

Maryellen doll and book ~ $115

Maryellen books ~ $9.99

Scooter the dachshund  ~ $24

Accessories ~ $24

Mini doll ~ $25

TV console ~ $85 - includes a record player that supposedly works
Sofa bed ~ $150 ~ I think Maryellen sleeps on a couch in her stories - includes two pillows, a plush dog, and a blanket
Living Room Set ~ $58 - the table with the TV guide we saw - includes a working lamp, decorations, and a newspaper too
Seaside Diner ~ $275 - a lot less food than OG's, but it looks to have some wooden parts and some plastic parts like Samantha's Ice Cream Parlor.  It has two stools and booth seats with real material.  I don't know what the inside cooking area looks like yet.

Cherry Play outfit ~ $28
Birthday dress ~ $34
Poodle skirt outfit ~ $36
Pajamas ~ $24
Curler set ~ $20
Crinoline ~ $16
Jukebox ~ $90 - plugs into your phone - Im hearing rumors the records spin around inside it and it has elaborate light up features, but this isnt confirmed yet.  I hope so for that price!
School set ~ $40 - I will go ahead and warn everyone this set can literally be made out of cardstock printouts and a Michael's chalkboard....
School dress ~ $34 - This is the purple checkered dress we've seen floating around on ebay the past few months See here
Ice Skating Outfit ~ $36
Ice Skating Accessories ~ $24 - gloves, scarf, hat
Maryellen's dress for girls ~ $52 Very close to the actual dress itself 
Poodle skirt dress for girls ~ $48?
Maryellen's pjs for girls ~ $42

Also, Josefina will get a $20 hairstyling set, a Journey book, a mini doll, and a rumored outfit.  I haven't actually seen the outfit so I cannot confirm that at this time.

Some stock photos are available if you would like to see here.
Video belongs to CuteKatyDolls.

Casting Call for Julie and Maryellen Short Films

 

 

I talked about in a previous post that American Girl did a contest for creating two 15 minute short films for Julie and Maryellen.  The short film script and pitches are completed, and now American Girl is looking for talent between the ages of 8-14 to portray these two characters!  The winners receive $10,000 and a trip to film the movies.  It sounds really exciting and the opportunity is expanded to more people than usual.  Some people are receiving this email, while others are not.  Let me know if you receive it!

Maryellen's Living Room Set Sneak Peak

American Girl has given us another sneak peak on Pinterest!  This one is of her three level living room table.  It has such a cute TV guide!  I'm not sure if this will be available separate from the TV or if it comes with it.

Very cute sets so far for Maryellen! 

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.