American Girl has decided that Cecile, Marie-Grace, Ivy, and Ruthie don’t fit into their “future plans” when it comes to Beforever.
So, now these girls will be in the Archives.
Yes, Mattel was so inconsiderate, they had the audacity to make this announcement just TWO MONTHS before Beforever, like people are going to be rushing like chickens with their heads cut off to buy FOUR $100 dolls in just TWO MONTHS!
You know what, screw Mattel. I’m glad I’ve gotten all the dolls I want because I would be skeptical about any purchase I make from them from now on. I still support American Girl for providing wholesome dolls for little girls, I still support the educational value of the brand, but as a company, American Girl aka Mattel SUCKS.
American Girl LIED to fans stating previously on facebook: “We don’t plan to retire ANY dolls this year”. Yea, full of lies, just as I predicted. This was confusing and breached any trust people had in this company.
Come on. American Girl has been planning Beforever for TWO years. We all saw Beforever trademarked a long time ago. It had to have taken them at least a year to design the clothing and concept. They KNEW these dolls would be retiring long before MAY. They could’ve announced it long before. And why are the store workers more open about it but the FB workers so “oblivious”? Store workers said the dolls were retiring while FB kept saying none were retiring this year. Right.
I already can’t stand what their new “fresh approach” is looking like. I do like the idea of consolidated books and the new images. However, everything else just pretty much bombs for me. I also might support the 1950’s doll, if she even turns out all that great. I’ve seen prototypes and I despise all of the pastels showing up on the American Girls so far and those over-used hazel eyes.
My article on American Girl’s Beforever
I was never a huge fan of Marie-Grace and Cecile, and I never saw the fairness in the Best Friend dolls, since all the girls’ best friends never had dolls. But Ivy WAS the only Asian Historical Character. She was nothing more than a side-kick, but a doll little Asian girls could relate to. Marie-Grace and Cecile have become a major part of the line. Cecile has shown people that there is more to African Americans than slavery. I guess only “Vanilla” fits into American Girl’s vision of “fresh and new”. They only had five other diverse girls that were a part of the main line (And no, I’m not including the side-kick Ivy, but I’m including Rebecca because her ethnic religious background is different). Now, that has been stripped to four.
Some fans didn’t see this kind of behavior coming when they were making “demands” for Mattel to “focus” on the American Girl historical brand. They didn’t see that American Girl would make inaccurate clothing to replace the old outfits when they begged American Girl to make new outfits. They didn’t see this coming when American Girl was Archiving dolls, imagining that American Girl was “replacing” girls. And I tried to tell them that’s what they WANTED people to think, to make change easier. They are really just trying to find new ways to make money. They may not replace all four at once, like people may want.
For any normal company archiving dolls in just two months, it would be okay. Companies retire and replace dolls all the time. Most dolls only cost $12.99-$20.00. Buying four dolls at that price would amount to buying ONE American Girl doll. Considering the PRICE of American Girl dolls, change isn’t easy without loss. If the price was lower, people wouldn’t be complaining as much. They could complete their collections within weeks. But with four dolls at a high cost? Inconsiderate, and shows how much they care about their fans: Not much at all.
Oh well, I got my answer for the Archived girls. It looks like the books WILL STILL be sold! At least they had the courtesy of doing that for fans.
Well, Beforever is set to launch around August 28, 2014 according to Amazon.com. Stay tuned for more updates.
Generation Next 
I agree with you in pretty much all respects, but in your article you ARE inaccurate in one thing: Including Rebecca, AG doesn’t have 5 diverse dolls stripped to 3, they have 6 diverse dolls (Rebecca, Kaya, Ivy, Cecile, Josefina, and Addy) stripped to 4 (Addy, Kaya, Josefina, and Rebecca). Rebecca because of her religion, Addy because she’s African, Kaya because she’s Native American, and Josefina because she’s Hispanic – yes, today Hispanics may be considered white, but Josefina’s stories and collection contain so much about Mexican and Spanish tradition and culture that it’s hard, for me at least, to group her with the caucasians. (I’m not trying to be racist here, I’m just saying the whole culture and traditions she brings to the table is radically different from the ones of, say, Caroline or Felicity). And the same for Kaya. I realize you may not agree with that, but it’s my opinion that AG now has FOUR diverse girls (including Rebecca), not THREE.
But that doesn’t change that the whole “beforever” thing is a horrible downgrade. HORRIBLE!!!
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That’s not inaccurate, that is OMISSION.
However, diverse ethnic groups (ones not from Europe) are what I was focusing on.
Ivy is an accessory to me, and I don’t consider her a apart of the main line. Just like all the other American Girl’s best friends. I never thought it was fair for Julie to have her best friend and not the others. She is not a lead character. She represented a time that was already represented without her as a doll. However, she was the only one from a different nation outside of EUROPE.
But since you brought it up, I will clarify why I did not include her.
Also, I feel that American Girl is STILL religiously DIVERSE: Non-Christian Kaya, Presbyterian/Protestant Felicity, Trinity Addy, Catholic Josefina, Marie-Grace, Cecile, Molly…There has always been diversity in the American Girl religious department, Jewish Rebecca is a part of that diversity rather than national affiliation, which she is still of European affiliation.
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This is ridiculous. The more I read this article, the madder I get. You have many inaccurate facts in this article, and you obviously have some serious personal issues with American Girl/Mattel from the past.
And the whole lying on Facebook? They can’t have known what the year would bring. Life just threw some curveballs at them, and American Girl is handling it how they see fit.
I think your rage over losing the four dolls (which I do agree with partly, just not the way you’re stating it) blinded you, and you need to actually look at what American Girl has done. They cleared the way for the company to make some more diverse dolls, and have them be not just sidekicks. I think with this change, they will be releasing some more ethnically diverse dolls, which will be better then ever.
I agree that retiring Ivy wasn’t their best move, because she was so popular, but American Girl is VERY considerate to ALL girls. And they continue to be as life goes on.
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O-kay…
Excuse me for not accepting EVERYTHING that AMERICAN GIRL dishes out. I am a long-time fan, and how can I have a serious issue with American Girl or Mattel in the past when 1) I like SOME of their changes (consolidated books and the new images) but not ALL of their changes 2) I loved the OLD American Girls, obviously 3) My personal issues are what the article is about. And this article is focusing on how poorly they handled the retirement of FOUR dolls, what part of that do you not understand? Or is this just a way for you to attack anyone against the changes? Keep venting if you like, but be careful who you attack.
They did LIE on FACEBOOK because the actual STORE owners said the dolls were going to retire LAST YEAR while the FB workers are JUST NOW SAYING IT. It was also NOT professional or ETHICAL to retire FOUR beloved dolls and not give people any time to purchase them. They have been planning Beforever for TWO years, look at the trademark on trademarkia.com, they organize everything they are going to do years before. They KNEW they didn’t have MG and C or the BFs in their plans when they started designing everything TWO YEARS AGO. Don’t hand me that BS. And American Girl is handling it as they see fit? It sounded like they forgot all about those dolls and at the last minute announced their retirement…But okay, I’m blind?…I think you need to stop being a blind supporter and stop idolizing a company or a doll line. I’m a customer, and as a customer, I have the right to speak out on something that I put money behind. I am a collector.
It’s not about releasing ethnically diverse dolls, but the way they went about the retirement. Perhaps you should read my ACTUAL Beforever article, which is linked in this one. American Girl released Ivy as a BF doll in the first place because they’ve already rejected the idea of an actual doll years before, stating that there was not enough “history” to focus on the “Asian” culture. Yea, I was around when THAT email went around before they started sending the generic emails…
You said everything I said was inaccurate…please state where?? I think it’s not fair to call my article inaccurate but not point out what is inaccurate… I think you are using that word out of context. Nothing I said in this article REQUIRED accuracy because they were stated opinions.
Now, it’s okay if you disagree and you like that American Girl is making way for new dolls. That’s fine, but you are attacking me from the wrong angle. I ALSO agree that American Girl is making way for new dolls, but that is not the point of this article because it doesn’t excuse how they went about this. It was done in the wrong way. Period. And since you agree with that, your argument is nonsensical…
You seriously can’t believe that American Girl is as “ideally” interested in girls, as you think. They are a business not a charity.
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