your favorite historical doll and why

[dolldreamer]

Mine is felicity. Besides loving the red hair and no bangs as well as having a facination with colonial clothes, I LOVE her character. I love how she can't settle down, how she'd risk everything for a horse and then set it free, and how spunky and outspoken she is.

[chrstnwmn7]

Felicity. I was drawn to her. I tried to stop collecting for her since her things were so expensive...but since I found one with the bright red hair, I was hooked again...I just keep coming back to her!!! My next favorites would be molly and samantha. I never cared for Samantha until I saw her at AGPNY...she is SO ADORABLE!!!!

[felicityprincess04]

Felicity. I LOVE her bright red hair and her green eyes! She's so spunky! Plus, shes almost exactly like me...we both share a passionate love for horses!

[AmericanGirlLover2982]

I have two favorites Felicity and Samantha. Samantha because I love fancy things and most her outfits are gorgous and I like all things being the new inventions that were coming out in her time a time of change. Felicity because I love her red hair and her clothes the dresses are so elegant and I love Early American History. Wish I was apart of both these times.

Nikki [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]

[acorniv]

For the doll (not the personality) , I have to say Kit, because she has the best accessories. Her bed is just the best doll bed I've ever seen ( big enough for a sleepover but compact enough for every day use) It's sturdy and heavy and yet not chunky ( I abhor chunky doll furniture). It makes up into a pretty bed and I love the bedspread. Her waffle iron is my favorite piece in the entire world of AG. It's perfection. Even the little waffle holes match up and stick to the iron. Her camera - even her cans of food. Perfect. Her clothes are totally accurate with the exception of all three skirts/skort, which are all off a bit. Her shoes - to die for. And she's an adorable doll who always looks her best. She never has a bad hair day, and we love her freckles. Her personality is just so so - her only downside.

Then there is Addy, who reminds me of something I love in my own kids. Addy has a personality that really comes through as sweet and giving ( even though her story has been white-washed). She reflects a time when families worked together, and were a more cohesive unit than we have seen much of in decades. I'd like to see her clothes improved on, and I'd like to see her have more accessories like she'd actually have had, but all those things can be made by hand, so it doesn't bother me. I also think Addy is really pretty, and I love how bouncy boingy her hair feels. Her costumes are innovative and pretty but she also needs rougher things.

Kirsten does not ring true for the same reason Addy does, and possibly this is why she has failed to blossom as well as she might have in our house. It can't be her looks because she is beautiful. She and her friends would have borne heavy responsibilities; equal to that of most adults nowadays. They would not have laid around complaining about work, because that behavior requires a certain amount of support and no pioneer family could have afforded to support a lacky. Most were kept too busy to complain! Kirsten was Swedish and would have come from a culture known for it's work ethic, (see any Ingmar Bergman film for examples), yet she comes off (to me) as lazy. Swedish parents would not have gone easy on her! She is really pretty and some of her things are too, so in some ways I think her story spoiled her for us. I have wondered why these books were not written in diary form, and I think Kirsten would come off better if her story had been.

Kit and Molly both endured frightening and uncertain childhoods, which makes their negativity ( and I think both do have a slightly negative attitude) believable and acceptable
( sympathetic), although in Kit's case, I wish they had brought out a little bit more of the positive to make up for it. Kirsten's hardships (and Addy's) were of a different kind. Felicity was in a position to be spoiled by privledge, and so that seems okay for her too.

Molly took the longest to grow on us, and only recently traded in the catalogue life for our home. This was in part because for years all they offered were red white and blue clothes. Overkill - I wish they'd at least have done red and white or blue and white. All three in every outfit turned me off.. Besides, brown and beige and mint green were used as much as any of those colors and she owns no brown at all. I'd also much prefer her with 1940's style braids, and her 1960's look bugged me. The Victory garden dress and the Rt. 66 dress went a long way towards making her more appealing. Her personality has won us all over at our house - she was the quickest to hop in and be part of life here. I think Molly's books really show her off well. You know what though? Maybe they did too good a job. I wish her face sculpt had the dimples her pictures show, and maybe just a few freckles across her nose. Possibly one reason the doll didn't appeal at first is that she has he most lively and distinctive face in the books and the doll doesn't look like that.

Felicity was our first favorite (for both of us) . My dd was wild about her time period and begged me to make her dresses (I made 2 - she kept asking for more) hats, and quill pens, etc. So, Santa brought her that year. Yet her feelings about Felicity, the doll seem to vascilate. I think it is that we no sooner got her than (that same month) word came that she was to be taken away and a lot of her things got retired ( we bought only half before they were gone) . I think there is a trust issue, for my dd. I know she felt she could not wish for ANY of her things or they'd disappear. Perhaps Elizabeth will bring some comfort in this area, and Felicity will be dancing again.

Kaya has not yet moved in, but my dd is ready for her. She likes her face, especially. I love some of her things, like her craft set and doll, which we have. I'd probably lean toward getting her clothes and things for Kirsten and Samantha, both of whom likely would have had them, and not getting the doll. She is beautiful, I just don't get a sense of personality from her. No doubt she'll be here one day, though.

Josefina is the prettiest, we both agree, and has a pleasant personality. She is way overdue for new clothes and other things, don't you think? Is she on the retirement conveyor belt?

We both enjoyed Samantha's story. It's cute and interesting, and fairly believable, until she adopts Nellie ( which decorum of the time would have totally prevented). But neither of us has any warm fuzzies about Samantha as a doll - everything they ever made for her except the middy dress, her desk and a few of the accessories are so wrong they are insulting to people who care about historical accuracy. I'd love a chance to make Sam over from top to bottom. One day I might do that. In fact, I am getting ideas as I write this....I also don't think Samantha is particularly cute - though I like her Mattel version better than the PM one ( the hair is better). Maybe if she had only a few wisps of bangs instead of the (again) '50's / '60's bangs. Same with Nellie. With the exceptioon of her PJ's (which are pefect and reflect the era's fascination with international travel ) there is not a thing either of us want of hers. Josefina is ( we both agree) the prettiest of all the dolls, and yet we hate the same sculpt on Nellie. She has such a thin face in the book - why a chipmunk sculpt? And the bangs...

Has anyone else ever wondered if each doll has her own design department? Samantha makes me think this is so. She is not historical like the rest of the dolls aim to be. There are such interesting whys of the clothes of the time, and they'd make a fun and educational thing for girls, if they came wiht a tag explaining these things.

She needs a really lovely sketchbook ( and yet they took the one she had away!) and a scrap book. She needs modern conveniences like indoor plumbing and kitchen appliances. A stove would be so great! And why they gave her a carriage drawn by horses in a day when what a girl got a thrill out of was a ride in a *horseless* carriage is beyond me. It contradicts the book - go figure.

I am so anxious to see what they do with Elizabeth. I hope she gets a yellow brocade ball gown.

Popsie

[Peachysweetdream]

It's a toughie, but I'd say it's a toss up between Molly and Josephina. Both of them had such *incredibly* moving stories, imo, but at the same time, you can always kind of identify with them. Josephina, also imo, is the prettiest doll, while Molly was my first, so that just HAS to give them some additional level of favoritism. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[TaffyCheerful]

Molly, for the time period...

[Felicity Merriman]

Kaya. I remeber when she first came out, not liking her at all. Then my dad really took an intrest in her. He came to like her so much, he bought her for me, with her meet acessories and Talto at AGP Chicago last summer. He continues to buy me items from her collection. Once he got me Kaya's story collection, I fell in love with her and Indian culture reading her stories. The doll is, to me, the most beautiful. And I just love her collection.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ March 29, 2005 03:40 PM: Message edited by: Felicity Merriman ]</font>

[dolldreamer]

wow! popsie! That was a great reveiw!
We haven't read all the books, 1 kirsten, but it just didn't call to us, 1 kaya, and I don't know why we aren't more into her especially since she has my favorite face mold. 3 josefina, which called to my dd but not so much me, though I think she is the second prettiest and my dd thinks she is THE prettiest. And all felicity's which sing to both of us and I think is the prettiest doll.
I keep reading all these great reveiws about addy so I think we're gonna read those next.
I loved your opinions and my dd sais that 'see, I am right, josefina is the prettiest!' lol!

[Janie3082]

See, AG? There's so many Felicity fans out here!! Bring her collection back up to size!

I have to say that Kirsten is my most favorite. I have always loved pioneer stories (Janette Oke is one of my fave authors, she does mostly prairie romances)and Little House on the Prairie books. I just love who Kirsten is as a person, and how she overcame so much to come to America and find her place here. She has the sweetest stories, in my opinion. And all her clothing, acc., and furniture are so wonderfully detailed and beautiful. She was also my first doll, and a dear friend in my growing up years. I really, really played with her until I was about 16, then kind of went to changing her clothes a couple of times a year. She has been "neglected" for so long, and now is happy to be played with again!

Felicity is my second favorite because I also love the colonial era. (I find myself looking for her things in movies now!) She has great stories and an amazing collection. I think Felicity is one of the prettiest of the historicals, and I really, really hope AG will bring back a lot of her retired things for me to eventually collect. I love how all the girls' acc. are so historically correct. It makes it fun to learn while you're playing.

My other favorite girls' stories to read are Molly and Samantha, probably because these first four girls were the only ones for a long time, and my sister and I read their stories over and over. I have read all of Addy's and I am working on reading all the other girls' so I can get to know the characters. I only want one more doll (Elizabeth), but I want to own all the books.
Sorry so long, thanks for reading! [img]smile.gif[/img]