American Girl’s Girl of the Year 2018
Luciana Vega made her grand debut as the newest Girl of the Year on Good Morning America December 28th, 2017. Mattel describes her as “creative and confident with a serious science streak”. Luciana’s stories center around her love of space and science. The most interesting thing about the actual doll design, which has tan skin, brown eyes and straight dark brown hair is the purple streak that compliments the dark brown hues. Other than that, the doll itself is kind of boring.
We know Mattel can do different face sculpts, like they did on Nanea Mitchell, so the fact that the 2018 American Girl Girl of the Year has the same sculpt we’ve seen used many times in the past is disappointing.
What I do think is great about this girl is her passion for space! Because Luciana loves the idea of space travel, Mattel made some really cool outfits and accessories to go with the theme. While they are going to be far too much money for me to actually buy, I know some kids (and adults) out there will be very happy with these amazing props and outfits. For example, Luciana has her very own blue Flight Suit, which looks really cute.
Even better, though, is her Space Suit, complete with authentic patches, equipment pack and astronaut helmet with a clear visor that flips up. Her causal looks are also super cute! I love the NASA jacket that comes with this Stellar Outfit! And her Visitor Center Accessories are fantastic.
Luciana’s big play set takes the cake. It’s up there with Maryellen’s Diner. Luciana’s play set is a Mars Habitat and it looks so neat! The habitat offers three-sided play, with more than 40 science, technology, and health accessories to set up and rearrange, including pretend rock samples, a pretend pair of virtual reality goggles, a set of photos, papers, notes, clipboard, and folder for keeping her research organized and many other cool elements. This play set is one of the most exciting things to come out of American Girl in years, in my opinion, though at nearly $400.00, the price tag is a bit hefty for the average person.
Every good scientist needs a workstation and Luciana’s is her Maker Station. Priced at more than I expected, her Maker Station includes a lot of cool elements. Within her Maker Station, you’ll see a robotic arm that can pick things up, measuring tape, screwdriver, and set of screws for building and Two MEGA CONSTRUX™ construction sets for a satellite and a rover. Pretty cool, right?
On a side note, if you’re on the lookout for more male dolls from American Girl, it looks like they’ve expanded their Truly Me line with more boy dolls! Check them out online. You can see all of Luciana’s collection on American Girl’s website. What do you think of the 2018 Girl of the Year? Do you think the accessories outshine the doll? Share your thoughts in the comment area!
Our Generation Rafael- Coming in Fall 2017
At Blogger Bash, I took a photo of the first Our Generation boy release. I didn’t expect much hoopla to come from it, so I didn’t ask any important questions. I’m not a big Our Generation (also known as OG Doll) girl, to be honest. However, the photo made quite a splash on Instagram and Facebook! After generating so much chatter between collectors, I reached out to the company to learn more about this new male doll and learned two things. First, his name is Rafael. Second, he’ll be out in Fall 2017 (hopefully around August). Below is the promo image of Rafael.
Here’s his profile, as seen in my photo from Blogger Bash. I think he looks better than most 18″ male dolls out there. He has a cute face that looks pretty boy-like, unlike some of the other popular 18″ lines attempts at this.
Will you be picking up Rafael? How do you think he compares to 18″ male dolls? Let me know in the comment area!
A Girl for All Time’s New Indiegogo Campaign
They’re at it again! A Girl for All Time started a new crowdfunding campaign this week to bring to life two brand new dolls. Already over 70% funded in only two days, I wouldn’t be surprised if the company reached their $20,000 goal within well within the month. Up for pre-order is new contemporary girl, Bex, who you learned about earlier here on the blog, and new historical girl, Elinor. Elinor, sixth in the historical doll line, was inspired by the Elizabethan era, 1558–1603. I’m no expert on British history, so through Google, I learned that the Elizabethan era was dubbed so in honor of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. A renaissance of sorts, the Elizabethan era saw the arts, like poetry, music and theater, grow and flourish.
Photo Credit: A Girl For All Time
Both dolls being introduced through this crowdfunding effort are 16″ tall and have nine points of articulation. They’re made of quality vinyl and wear high quality (and well designed) outfits. The dolls are priced a little lower than they will be later, when they eventually make their way to the A Girl for All Time website. So, if you’re looking to save a few bucks and help out this fantastic company at the same time, consider ordering through this crowdfunding campaign.
Will you be picking up Bex or Elinor (or both)? Share your thoughts in the comment area!
Toy Fair 2017- As Seen From YouTube
Don’t get too excited. Alas, I wasn’t able to afford a trip to New York City to attend the esteemed toy trade show that is New York Toy Fair. (I’ll be going to New York City later this year for Blogger Bash, though, which has a mini toy fair called the Sweet Suite!) The past week or so, I’ve been searching YouTube for videos from New York Toy Fair. Below are a few that might be interesting to you! (And I definitely plan on going to 2018’s NYTF. I feel like there should be more booths getting coverage than what is out there on the internet as of this writing. That, or it will be a pretty lackluster year for toys. Lottie, The Queen’s Treasures and A Girl for All Time were there, but I don’t see many videos from their booths on YouTube yet. Tonner was also there with Phyn & Aero, but seemed to have had a very small collection of items. He livestreamed from his booth.)
The best video that I found was a live stream from the Doll area. (The trade show floor is split into different themed areas.) It features Lottie, A Girl for All Time and Tonner. They go through the doll area and chat with vendors.
This video isn’t from New York’s event, but Hong Kong’s. It features Kurhn dolls! They don’t show at New York Toy Fair. That reminds me, I need to add a new Kurhn to my collection soon. It’s been too long!
Here’s a tour from Madame Alexander. No audio from the company, so your guess as to price, name and release are as good as mine on these dolls. I do see many things that were on display last year, though. I have an e-mail out to the company, so maybe we’ll be hearing more about them later!
Spin Master’s Luvabella will either win your heart or creep you out. Check out the video to see why! She’s a robot baby that has some pretty awesome head movements!
I love the Barbie hologram machine!!! It looks like it will be pretty cool. It doesn’t look like they have their new thingmaker, the 3d printer, on display this year. I wonder what’s going on with that?
My Ballerina Dolls was back (and still not in the doll area, it seems). From the looks of it, they didn’t have anything super new to show. It looks like they’re re-working Clara a bit so she can be more of an ‘anything’ character. (They mentioned that in another Toy Fair video.)
Shibajuku Girls debuted their new smaller sized dolls in their booth! I still prefer the big ones to the small ones, but they look cute!
This is just a sampling of what was on display at Toy Fair. If you haven’t, I suggest going to YouTube and searching Toy Fair 2017 and seeing what else people posted. (Look up Hasbro, Mattel and Funko– they usually have great stuff on display!)
There are some videos of the new Monster High dolls out, but honestly, the dolls don’t look very exciting. Also, bad news for Ever After High fans, it looks like they had zero new dolls on display for that line. There look to be a lot of fun new dolls coming to the DC Superhero Girls line, some of which are characters I actually know thanks to the CW’s current love affair with DC themed entertainment.
Did you see anything exciting at Toy Fair or through coverage online? What was it? Let me know in the comment area!
Dolly Review: Prettie Girls Tween Scene
Note: Originally, there were pictures in this review. However, they were hosted on Photobucket. I will try to reproduce them at a later time.
A few weeks ago, my mom and I went to Walmart. Usually, we miss all the big sales, but this time, we stumbled upon a treasure trove of toys at super cheap prices. Within those aisles, we found three Prettie Girls Tween Scene dolls, Lena, Valencia and Kimani. In total, we paid $5.00 for all three. (What a deal!)
Prettie Girls Tween Scene are articulated 16″ vinyl dolls. Sold at Walmart, they made their debut in 2016 and were made in collaboration with the Tonner Doll Company. They use the same body that Tonner Toys used for their Maudlynne Macabre and Little Miss Matched Girl line. For the most part, the articulated body is done really well. She has shoulder, elbow, hip and knee joints. The one point of articulation I feel is missing is a wrist joint. There are so many times I want to just move the dolls wrist, but can’t, because none of these dolls have one.
All three Prettie Girls are nicely rooted. I love the variation of hairstyles on Lena, Valencia and Kimani. Lena has super straight black hair. It’s soft to the touch. The same goes for the other two girls. Kimani has dark brown hair with lots of curl. Finally, Valencia has a light brown/caramel blonde sort of hair color that is styled in two pig tails. Were this line to grow, I’d love to see a more natural sort of hairstyle or a short cut on one of these dolls. Pictured below is Kimani.
To me, Lena and Kimani have very similar faces. I almost assumed they were the same character, just different waves. I peg that on their eye makeup. Both Lena and Kimani have the same color above their eyes and similar paint around their eyes. Even their lip color is very similar. I wish they would have switched up the face paint a little more, so each character could stand out more. Valencia, with a lighter skin tone and more sporty look, has more natural colors on her face, where the other two girls, both with darker complexions have cool, bright colored make up. Don’t get me wrong. I love the make up on them and think the faces look great as designed, I just think they could have done more to separate their unique characters. Pictured below is Lena.
If you’re looking specifically for a black/AA doll, then this is a line to look into. Lena and Kimani have different complexions, which is great and not always something doll lines do. Kimani is definitely darker than Lena when it comes to skin tone. I tend to like dolls with really dark skin tones, because, let’s be honest, they’re pretty rare when it comes to play line dolls. Valencia, who is Hispanic, has tan-colored skin.
All three dolls have super cool outfits! I’m torn between liking Lena’s red/orange dress or Kimani’s crop top/flower pants combo the most. Both outfits are just too cute. The sporty track suit on Valencia is my least favorite of the three and maybe of the entire line. Each doll came with an extra top. Strangely, though, I don’t think the tops they came with match very well with the outfits they are currently wearing, but maybe they expected to sell more fashion packs? Pictured below is Valencia.
To be honest, I’m not sure what the status of Prettie Girls: Tween Scene is. Last year, One World, the creative team behind this line, merged with Tonner, creating Tonner One World. However, nothing has really come out of that partnership yet, nor have we seen any new waves of Tween Scene. Their website teases a new line, Prettie Girls NYC, which features new girls who “are diverse in cultures & personalities, from the Chic, rocker Stone; to the sophisticated, classy Knox; the fun, funky Kiyo; the performing, princess Mayla; to finally the sporty, spunky Anja.” The image from the site, who I assume is Stone, is pretty awesome. I hope we eventually see this line one day!
Even a new wave of Prettie Girls: Tween Scene would be appreciated. This line really is a great size and one you don’t see very often on play line dolls. Not to mention, there’s quality to this doll line. They are well put together dolls. (They photograph really well, too!) And of course, we can’t forget the diversity factor. This line prides itself on having dolls from varying ethnicities. Not pictured in this review, for example, are Dhara, Alexi and Hana, who all come from different ethnic backgrounds.
What do you think of Prettie Girls: Tween Scene? Do you own any? Were they on clearance at your local Walmart? Share your thoughts in the comment area!
Confessions of a Doll Collectors Daughter 