Iāve been into dolls my whole life. Now Iām getting into collecting them so here I am. Main focus is American Girl and other 14-23 inch dolls, with some occasional smaller dolls here and there
Today is Kirsten Larsonās 10th birthday! She was my first 18 inch doll, and I adore her to this day. She had a lovely photoshoot to celebrate, even making a friend in the garden!
None of my dolls can glow in the dark... so itās my Glow Squid Plushās time to shine!
All the white patches glow in the dark, though I donāt have any pics with it active and theyāre not in my dorm. I voted Glow Squid that Mob Vote and Iām very happy I did, this plush is awesome.
I do have a few vintage dolls, mainly from the 90ās, however I decided to try and mix it up a bit and find an older doll. So I called on my younger sister, who also collects dolls. She primarily collects baby dolls, so she sent me a few pics of one of her older Madame Alexander dolls
Iām not actually sure how old this doll is, she was a gift from my older sister to my younger. Probably 80ās at the earliest? A mystery to solve another day, today she can just party in that vintage dress
Nothingās more tranquil than a snowy walk in the woods!
I had a lot of fun last week during the snowstorm my part of the USA got. I especially had fun with my Yummiland dolls, who I got for Christmas. Turns out tiny dolls can be easily transported in pockets for pictures!
This day was hard, I have so many favorites! I decidedly to go with my favorite picture Iāve taken to make it easier on myself, one I took with my two A Girl for All Time Dolls Lydia and Clementine.
I feel thatās an appropriate reaction to being told this girl is your future many great granddaughter. Iām super proud of the composition of this shot, and it helps that dolls are gorgeous!
Honestly these two are up there for favorite dolls, I think theyāre extremely high quality, and quite photogenic!
A Garden Faerie stares wistfully into the horizon; do you approach?
Iāve got many Fairy Tale characters, but decided to feature Faerie Garden, one of my two Fidgie Friends today, since sheās just got the aesthetic down! She definitely could be the protagonist of a fairy tale.
I donāt have too many matching items, I typically aim for a collection of unique dolls. However, I have ended up with one set of duplicate dolls: The two Isabelle Palmerās
The one on the left is Like New In Box-sabelle, who I unsurprisingly found like new in box at a doll show. Complete with pink highlights already in her hair! Then one month later I found Goodwill-sabelle on the right, who I took home because it was my first time ever finding an AG doll at a thrift store. She came only in that dress that Iām still not sure the origins of. I plan to keep LNIB-sabelle as Isabelle, and turn Goodwill-sabelle into a custom of some kind. But for now, they match!
Addyās holding her pillow, perfect for a nightās rest.
I made this pillow myself, first thing I ever made on a sewing machine. Iām an absolute beginner at sewing, so this is about all Iāve made myself for my dolls so far.
I specifically made it American Girl sized, so it definitely qualifies for today in my eye. Addy appreciates the soft place to rest her head at night!
The most whimsical dolls in my collection are 100% the Pixlings
Theyāre so colorful, so detailed, and with such a neat fantasy theme! I especially love the whimsy of putting small dolls in large environments. (Even if I always have trouble getting them to stand)
The Midnight Princess is presiding over her small kingdom, in her own rainbow gown
I found Midnight Princess Barbie at a flea market right before I went back to college last summer, so she joined me at my dorm. Of all of my dolls at college with me, she's definitely got the most variety in the colors in her outfit, and the most striking colors. The rainbow pleats contrast with her black skirt, and I think she looks dazzling because of it.
Since I donāt have access to a lot of my collection rn (college), I decided to just scroll through my phone and find the earliest doll picture I have on here. I was surprised to see Monster High pop up before any American Girl Dolls!
Shriekwrecked Draculaura here has the honor of being the only G2 Monster High in my collection. My sister found her at a thrift store a few months before I properly got back into dolls, but the interest was reappearing so she gave her to me. Took this pic July 2021. Had no idea that G2 even existed at the time, I mainly engaged with Monster High via the movies as a kid, and Haunted was the last one we ever got. I primarily collect G3 Monster High now but sheās definitely sticking around; she may be missing many accessories but sheās a gift and her outfit is pretty gore-gous. Just look at these shoes.
How is she walking, I donāt know. Truly peak Monster High.
This is the prompt list for the Look Back Challenge for February 2026!
The Look Back challenge is for toy collectors of all types, aimed at showing appreciation for the things we have, instead of only showing off our latest purchase. Everyday for all of February we show our collections love by taking photos of them. See this Post if you want to know more about the Challenge and it's Rules.
You do not need to use the prompt list to participate, but if you'd like ideas, this list is here for you!
If you would like the challenge blog to share your photos, just @ us at "look-back-month-challenge".
Thank you to everyone who has helped make this challenge possible! I hope everyone has fun!
A very American Girl holiday! Probably my last major art for the year so I returned to something familiar and comforting to me. This year has been weird and long but I'm still kicking somehow.
ok like idc about the idea of modern historical girls
if we're doing weird spinoffs of the historical characters, I want to know about the lives of the older or much younger side characters
like, what would Britta have seen in her lifetime by the time she was kirsten's age? what would her personality be like?
Lydia Edwards pretty much haunts the narrative, lbr most of us want to know about her childhood and why the tunnel through the lilac bush is there i'd love stories about her
What was Miss Winston's childhood like back in Maine? Was she a very studious kid, or was her decision to become a teacher on the frontier more to do with escaping a hetronormitive life as a mother and housewife
honestly I want to see a cute 10 y/o doll version of like every baby sibling
Raquel Reyes may be a descendant of Samantha for AG's 40th Anniversary
2026 will be American Girl's 40th anniversary, and with it the anniversary of Samantha, Molly and Kirsten. As much as we love all three of the girls, it's undeniable that Samantha was the breakout star of the group, who was literally used as American Girl's icon for ages. Even in semi-retirement, she's still very much the face of the company and everyone remembers and loves her stories of acceptance, family, fistfighting the patriarchy and unionizing.
Recently, 2026's Girl of the Year, Raquel Reyes, and her starter collection (maybe full collection? Looks a bit small tho) has leaked. And it is looking very likely that she is either a Samantha fangirl or a straight-up DESCENDANT of Samantha Mary Parkington.
Leaks and discussion under the cut.
Got these photos from this reddit post from @/Phsyical_Occasion_57, Lord knows if it'll stay up tho so I'm reposting the relevant images below.
Now, at first, just seems like a preppy Girl of the Year. We've had pink and girly GOTYs for the last two years so a little disappointing, but I'm sure our tomboy sports girls will have their day. But no, what attracted people's attention was THIS.
Two black-and-white photos in her trunk, one of Samantha Parkington in a fancy outfit, the other seemingly of Parkington manor.
Now, she could very well just be a fangirl like Z Yang; it would fit with the meta we know she established. BUT. The black-and-white photography implies it may be a historical image rather than a printed photo of a character she likes, and we ALSO know that precedent for AG characters growing up was tested out with Julie in the graphic novel and McKenna in Lila's books (more on that later). There's also been speculation that American Girl in-universe is a company that depicts actual historical figures from their world, as Z makes a reference to "the real Nanea" when she makes her Nanea stopmotion. So this could be confirming that by having a descendant of Samantha in the same universe as Z and the other modern dolls.
But the picture isn't allā her collection is EXTREMELY Samantha-coded. Firstly, the pink-and-white and florals, obviously, but that could be for any girly girl. But let's look at her specifics.
Raquel's outfit, firstā it's EXTREMELY evocative of BOTH of Samantha's Meet outfits. The bow is obvious, but the checker pattern on both is highly reminiscent of Samantha's main arrival outfit, with the pink and shorter skirt being very similar to her BeForever design. Both dresses also share the puffy sleeves with her. Raquel's shoes also have red bows like the BeForever outfit and Samantha's belt.
She also has a gold bow bracelet and golden heart necklace beside the Samantha portrait; while neither seem to show the detail on Samantha's brocade, it could be reversed or a different necklace simply meant to match old photos. In any case, it's EXTREMELY similar to her BeForever necklace.
She seems to be interested in Pickleball (basically tennis if y'all don't know), but her pickleball set and dress are labelled as for Piney Point, somewhere Samantha frequented in Samantha Saves the Day at her summer house.
Her floral dress is also VERY BeForever Samanthaā so while not very historically accurate, VERY accurate for what AG envisions a modern-style Samantha to look like. The hat above the dress as well is definitely something I've seen in Sam's collections before.
Also compare both the floral dress and her meet outfit to Samantha's Harlem Fashion Row outfit from the 35th anniversary.
Her accessory bag also brings to mind Samantha's handbag and floral handkerchief accessories.
But that's just aestheticsā let's also take a look at that photo of Samantha. What's right next to it?
it's a recipe for Peppermint Ice Cream.
So at the VERY VERY least, Raquel is a Samantha fan. But the black-and-white photo and seemingly """handwritten""" recipe imply that she may be straight-up related to our very own Samantha Parkington. This, along with the fact that 2026 will be the 40th anniversary of American Girl, highly implicates a more-than-baseline connection between them.
And it's not just that; I think American Girl has been lowkey testing the waters for this since 2020. [Maybe even before, but Z was a bit of a rush-job I don't think they thought through.]
Back in Covid days, when Courtney dropped, there was a lot of disappointment around her design, including from me. Mostly the fact she was another blonde-haired blue-eyed white girl, but not even an interesting-looking one; she was nearly identical to Maryellen. When she first was leaked, people started rumors that she may be related to Maryellen as copium, maybe even her daughter. [photo from @/BookJockey1979 on reddit]
Obviously this wasn't what happened, but I think American Girl noticed the interest around such a thing. The next tested the waters of family dolls with Corinne and Gwynn being sistersā and that seemed to work out for them fine. Then, it was Lila Monetti being the student of McKenna, the 2012 Girl of the Year. Not only was that something fans loved, they LATCHED onto that so excitedly. And while it's definitely not the reason Lila is such a bestsellerā her cute design and adorable collection is probably to blame for thatā it probably helped the older market that wouldn't otherwise look her way and got Lila basically free social media publicity from fans. And AG is very social media-present.
I think the final test was 2024's Julie and the Blue Guitar. The graphic novel details a girl in modern times trying to track down an adult Julie, and eventually succeeding and meeting her. This was the first time we'd seen an adult historical character (unless you follow the Caroline or GrandMarie theories, which are faaar from confirmed), with the oldest anyone had ever gotten being Samantha's 16 in the Titanic book. And reception to this book was very positive. At the very least, nobody threw a fit; while it's only got 4 reviews on the official site, all are 5-star, with the same level of it's 5 amazon reviews. The most reviews I could find were on Goodreads, which has a 4/5 from 65 reviews right now. So if that speaks to anything? It was probably AG's last test before they gave the go-ahead for Raquel Parkington-Reyes.
Having Raquel as Samantha's descendant is also a genius marketing strategy; JUST from the initial reddit leaks, I've seen comments on both reddit and instagram saying they already are planning to buy Raquel based on the Samantha connection alone. Not only is she pandering to the nostalgia market, not only is she pink and frilly like Mattel loves (and what sold well with Lila), but she's also finally a non-white Girl of the Year, so the "AG So White" demographic isn't pissed. The name "Raquel Reyes" is very hispanic, she has the same face-mold as Maritza, and she has a medium skintone. Right now the name is very popular in Brazil and the United States, and MyNameStats.com says that 63% of people named Raquel that they've gathered are of Hispanic or Latine origin. All of this heavily implies that Raquel will be latina, which is great since the last latina doll of the year we had was Luciana (and Maritza as our last modern, who barely had advertisement).
So Raquel is nostalgia-bait for the collectors, extremely girly and frilly for the child doll-collecting market (or at least what Mattel thinks it is) and isn't a third white GOTY in a row, so it mitigates our frustration at AG's lack of diversity. Pretty much, everyone wins, and Raquel is gonna be their major cash cow for their anniversary year.
Technically, thereās a few answers to this question.
My first doll from an American Girl brand was Kacey, the blonde with grey eyes Bitty Baby I got when I myself was a baby (I was like one). Iām not really one for baby dolls anymore, but Iāve had Kacey for as long as I can remember, so sheās pretty special to me. One of these days Iād love to find an 18 inch doll to be an older Kacey, so I can give her a fun personality beyond ābaby.ā
The first 18 inch doll in the house was my older sisterās Samantha doll that she got Christmas 2005, and a few years later I finally got my first 18 inch doll. Mine was Kirsten Larson, the icon herself, who I got in 2009 at around six. I distinctly remember finding her in my first proper (aka not a baby) trip to an AG Store, seeing signs announcing her retirement, and feeling so bad for her that I immediately announced to my family that Iām getting her.
Iāve lost basically everything except the dress over the years, and she could use a spa day, but sheās my doll therefore sheās perfect and Iām a Kirsten defender for life. I even was Kirsten for Halloween a few years ago!
šwhat was the first american girl book you read? (@queer-nanea-mitchell)
š¹have you been to an american girl store before? if so, which one(s)?
šwhoās your favorite best friend? (doll or book only character) (@daensalemons)
š do you feel like the american girl books or the dolls have played a bigger role in your life? has that changed during different periods?
š„did any of the character storylines disappoint you?
šwhich retired historical character would you bring back? which goty?
šgirls of many lands or history mysteries and why?
š are there any best friend characters who you think we shouldāve gotten a book for or that shouldāve been the main character instead of the girl we got?
š which american girl book do you think is the best written? (@missyling)
šfavorite historical character outfit?
āļøwhich american girl characterās parents or parental figures are your favorites?
š§£bitty baby or wellie wishers (or any of the other lines for those ages) and why?
šwhatās your hot take about american girl?
šwhich books do you tend to like the best: main series, beforever main series, short stories or mysteries?
šļøwhat is one thing you would change about the brand if you had any control over it right now?
šwhat is your favorite american girl movie?
š§¶what american girl item (doll, furniture, accessory, clothing) is your holy grail?
šwhat is the rarest american girl item you own?
ā°american girl help books or american girl magazine? why?
iāll send a random ask to anyone who reblogs this post. likewise, if you reblog or like this post, please send one of these asks to the person youāre reblogging or liking it from!
(credit given to original askers if applicable. lmk also if you donāt want to be credited and iāll edit the post!)
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