American Girl's Feburary Release!

So, unless you have been living under a rock the past few days, you will have noticed that American Girl has released a bunch of new stuff- even for the Historical Characters! Don't worry if you have, because last year I totally missed the release that they did around this time of year. :) Also, all of this is my opinion, and I OWN NONE of the pictures.

Let's begin with the My American Girl section.

This set is the Dining Table and Accessories, which I LOVE. Although I think the chair covers and spinny thing in the middle shouldn't be sold separately, it is still really cute and I think the chair cover pattern is awesome.

While this, Rainy Day Outfit for Dolls, is cute, American Girl could have been more creative because there was a set like this a few years back, and then there's also McKenna's set. Both are retired, but fairly recent.

Yes!! Finally, a blue dress that doesn't have any frills or lace on it! This is the Double Bow Dress for Dolls. I'm probably not going to get it, but I am thrilled it's not pink or overly girly. For me, the best thing about this release for the MAG dolls is that I think AG is finally learning about using blue and other colors rather than pink & purple all the time.

Welcome to an American Girl that does Easter. While I know Easter is less commercial than Halloween and Christmas, it is still a big holiday that pretty much all kids in America get a week off for, so making the Egg Decorating Set is a good move for AG. Besides, this set is adorable!

Me when I first saw this: Aww, come on! Could they have been less creative if they tried?? I feel like this is the 3rd or 4th swim set that's pink. I like the actual swimsuit, but the Floral Swim Outfit & Swim Gear is almost identical to several other sets.

This is the Happy Birthday Outfit for dolls. It is..... ok. I would probably like it a lot more if it didn't have "happy birthday" written on the skirt, because it would be way more versatile. I've heard that there was a b-day outfit back in 2004 but that was like 10 years ago, and the majority of the people who like AG now didn't know it existed in 2004 or 2005 or something.

This is the Birthday Accessories, and they are so cute! I'm not really sure why the tiara is there if this is for kids 8+, but from what I can tell, the earrings are the 'gift'. All in all, a cute set.

Overall, this was a very cute release in the My American Girl part. Now, for the Historical Characters!

Honestly, I think AG could've put a lot more effort into all of the hairstyling sets. Kit's Hairstyling Set is really cute and actually looks accurate, but I feel that this should be part of an outfit or a store exclusive or something. It's just so small. Caroline's Hairstyling Set is a bit better than Kit's, but again, I feel like they could have made it into a bigger set with a mirror and more hair accessories. Addy's Hairstyling Set is alright, but again small. Rebecca's Hairstyling Set and Julie's Hairstyling Set are the most complete, because they actually have hair tools.

Now for the Special Editions, and I will have an overview of all of them after I get through each specific one.

I definitely like this set, Special Edition Rebecca's School Play Set. The dress and costume are beautiful and the makeup and stuff is so cute. On the website, it says that the butterfly "wings" fold back to be a dress train.

This, Special Edition Jingle Dress of Today, is nice, but did Kaya really need another dress from today? Not really. I wish they could have made an outfit that you would find a Native American of her time wearing. I know they had maybe 2 outfits in that time, but there's got to be something else that AG can do to make Kaya an outfit from her time.

I think that this set, Special Edition Julie's Dance Set is absolutely adorable. Although it's probably a little more late 70's, it's close enough for this purpose. The disco ball and poster are nice touches too, and I love the macramé belt.

This set, Special Edition Kit's Candy-Making Set, is pretty but really, really annoys me because it isn't historically accurate at all. The chocolate bunnies part is fairly accurate, but the dress? Kit's time is 1934, in the middle of the Great Depression. Kit's family could have had the chocolate mold and basket already, and the chocolate itself isn't that expensive, but the dress is just ridiculous. It looks very expensive and in her stories, Kit hates the color pink! The shoes look kind of like an afterthought as well.



And now about the Special Editions. Why, AG, why are they special?? Why must they be $64?!? WHY, WHY, WHY?????? I think $38-44 would have been reasonable for Kaya's and Rebecca's, and I think $40-50 would have been reasonable for Kit's and Julie's, based off of what I can see online. But on to the more pressing question: why are they special?? I can't answer that with confidence, but I have a couple of guesses. Guess #1: All of the Historical Characters with special edition sets are getting retired.
*collective gasp*
Yes, retired. The two reasons I think this are when Molly (and I think Felicity, too) got a special edition thing, she got retired. Also, there is the 'Be Forever' thing. If you don't know what Be Forever is, then go to dolldiaries.com and search Be Forever. There is a post with some Be Forever links in it. So, if you don't know, go search that, but anyways, with the new Be Forever coming this year, AG might retire more than one Historical Character at a time. And because of the past Molly thing, Kaya, Rebecca, Julie+ Ivy, and Kit+ Ruthie might be the ones to go. Thankfully, this is the least likely guess, because I think Kit and Julie are the best selling Historical Characters and that would make this move completely illogical for AG's sales. Anyways, Guess #2: All of the Historical Characters that don't have special edition sets are getting retired.
*collective gasp*
That would mean that Caroline, Josefina, Marie-Grace, Cecile, and Addy would all be retired (presumably) at the launch of Be Forever. This is backed up by the fact that none of these dolls are best-sellers and also Be Forever, which everybody is assuming is going to bring big changes to the Historical Characters section. Guess #3: AG is making the sets special edition for no reason other than to boost sales. Obviously, this is by far the best case scenario. Also none of these things could be true, I'm just guessing. :)

All in all, not a bad release! I like the fact that they finally put out new stuff for Historical Characters, and all of the MAG stuff is really cute too! What did you think of this new release, and what do you think of Special Edition?? Comment down below what you think! If you have read this far, THANKS A TON!!!!

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  (: Sarah :)