New Molly Retirements???!!

[auri]

Cami, you raise a lot of really good points. I also don't believe books should be changed to create new products. I raised the idea because, sad to say, I think it's something AG would do.

I do worry that the books are being downgraded because so many of the accessories drawn from them are being retired. When my dd played with these dolls, the accessories were a huge draw, even more so than the clothes or furniture. She loved being able to see and touch the very things that were talked about in the books.


Overall, I'm just so disappointed that AG doesn't seem to have any special plans for the 20th anniversary. I can't help but wonder if that's because it would turn the spotlight back on Pleasant Rowland and remind people of how things were when she was in charge.

[13Pumpkins]

Originally posted by auri:
Overall, I'm just so disappointed that AG doesn't seem to have any special plans for the 20th anniversary. I can't help but wonder if that's because it would turn the spotlight back on Pleasant Rowland and remind people of how things were when she was in charge.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Okay, now that's funny! Look where we started and now look where we are! Then people are like....whoa look at that...how come you don't have that anymore??
[img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ May 02, 2006 02:20 PM: Message edited by: *The*Paranoid*Pumpkin* ]</font>

[QNPoohBear]

A few years ago, Ann Kirsten got up a petition which members of this board signed. She mailed it to AG and they actually called her about it. They explained their reasoning behind retiring but they also said they would get better about letting us know, which is the most fustrating thing of all!

[jerseycow6]

It's the books that help sell the dolls, not the dolls that sell the books.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">See, now that's what the movies are really for!

If my niece is any indication, that is. She was four when she first saw the Samantha movie. She has watched it repeatedly since then, although I must say that that has been allowed partly because I like the movie, too. Playing with my doll wasn't good enough- she had to have her own and wouldn't shut up about it until a family member finally got her one. This was mainly to shut her up, but rationalized as "oh, maybe it will encourage her to read the stories!" She does want to read the books, but can barely sit through less than a chapter being read aloud to her. Mostly, she just holds the box and pulls the books out and puts them back into the case. Getting Samantha also necessitated getting practically all the rest of her stuff as well. After getting what she wanted, she then proceeded to demand the best friend doll.

Mattel knows what they're doing. I love the movies, don't get me wrong. This is not an attack on the movies. However, I'm sure that my niece is not the only example of the little girls who were brought into the American Girls solely on the basis of the movies. And I'm willing to bet that a lot of the families who bought these dolls for their kids don't really give a hoot about what's in the books or the historical and educational aspects. Having one of these dolls is like a mini status-symbol for a lot of kids these days, and the movies help place way more emphasis on the consumerist motivations behind the dolls as opposed to the educational motives. Now, through television exposure, even more kids who don't know how to read or "don't like to read" can join in on the consumerism while possibly only ever recieving a watered-down version of the dolls' former educational value.

I'm still kind of bitter that Felicity's Clothes Press and Work Gown and beautiful blue tea set and so many of all the little historically-accurate accessories were retired and that more of Molly's things may be gone, too, before I get a chance to get them, so the preceding opinion may be a bit hypocritical and biased.

[Ks4treasures]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cami713:
[QB] It's the books that help sell the dolls, not the dolls that sell the books.

Well this really has me thinking and it's not good. Neither of my DD's had ever even read "one" of the doll books. All they needed was a catalog and they were sold. They loved all the dolls and their accessories and wanted them all. They had absolutely no connection with the books at all.

Maybe my girls are in the majority and Mattel knows it so they aren't worried about whether they stay true to the story or not, or make the accessories accurate or not. Mattel is making good profits and that's all they care about. They continue to say these dolls are not made for collectors, but for the kids to play with. I hope this is not the case, as I hate to see then historical accuracy reduced to just another toy line.

This line of thinking makes me want to buy ALLLLL the historical stuff NOW, at least whats left of it, before its all gone.

[cami713]

Ks4treasures, your daughter might have cared more with the old PC catalogues that, for each book set, they showed the book, and gave a short blurb about it, and had all the items that went with it--for acting the book out--on the same page. When I was little (mid-late 90s), the old catalogues, themselves were like books. Descriptions of ALL the items, not just whatever ones they feel like promoting at the moment, lol. The way they pictured everything really made the stories come to life, and, even though I have no furniture and hardly any accessory pieces, I just wanted to act out the books (this is why I'm glad they do the friends line). I guess, I dunno, I just feel like even if the books aren't selling all that well, it wouldn't take up that much space in the catalogue to put them in there.

I know most of the older members here who were into AG when they were young did get into it from the books (of course, there wasn't internet then, for most of us). I know I saw my first catalogue, but then read half the books before getting my first doll. I guess this is just a sign of changes with kids. Perhaps they could stop publishing the books, if little girls aren't even reading them.

And there was also a petition made last year about something, wasn't there? Perhaps even the retirement issue again. AG really doesn't seem to care. Most companies disregard internet petitions. But then, they've showed they probably wouldn't care if we started like a letter writing campaign.

[horsemom]

*Sigh*

So it happens again. After what they brought in to replace Felicity's old items, I'm not keen on finding out if the replacement Molly items will be better than what they have now.

Guess I'll buy the last couple things on that list I don't have.

This is one of the many reasons I do at least 50% of my shopping on ebay. Most of my dolls and stuff is pre-loved. Yes, it's a little riskier and my doll furniture may come with a ding or two. But overall, I get fed up with supporting Mattel when they don't give a hoot about me as a collector, or me as a long-time fan of the historical line. The day they phase out the books is the day they stop getting my hard-earned cash. My entire reason for supporting the company is the historical educational value of it. Period. Without that, it's just a bunch of upscale toys- no thanks.

I like AGT, but even that is making me annoyed. By renaming it "Just Like You," it is ignoring the original intent of the AGT line- to make girls of today feel like a part of the history of tomorrow. The original line had blank books to write your doll's story. Now it just comes with a little scrapbook type thing that has no educational value whatsoever. What was wrong with providing girls the nifty books to encourage them to WRITE? Now they just fill in one-liner answers. Blech. As a teacher, I find the whole shift appalling.

What happened to the teaching guides?
The maps?
The many historically accurate (but no doubt expensive to produce) accessory sets we've lost?
The nifty museums and historical places of interest like Williamsburg where they integrated tours with the doll line?
The gorgeous lines of historically accurate clothing for girls?

You can see where I'm going with this. They're slowly but surely getting rid of everything historical and educational about the company, and replacing it with the same consumerist-oriented mindset that all the other companies have.

Thank goodness I'm almost done with my collections and love ebay anyway...

[Ks4treasures]

I should have clarified DD's ages...she was 4 when she saw her first catalog...so she wasn't a reader. But she is a lover of all those little small pieces...she always has been. I requested a catalog to buy a bitty for my then 9 month old who was CRAZY about baby dolls.

DD, 8 yrs now, just started reading the books and is just about to finish off Josefina's first book. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[MegadethLady]

Like Cami, I fell in love with AG based on the books. I didn't have dark curly hair like Samantha, nor as a little girl was I really into Victorian things, but I thought she was so thoughtful in her stories that I wanted her. Same with Felicity. I remember being twelve and reading Meet Felicity and thinking that Felicity was so wonderful. And the old catalogues were gorgeous! Remember them being beige, and every doll had her page for each one of her outfits that went with her story. I used to look in these catalogues for hours, and now I just blow right through the new ones.

But what K4treasures said is true. Girls now see glossy, colorful, catalogues and that is all they need. My nieces are obsessed with american girl. Everytime I call and ask what they are doing they always say that they are circling things that they want in the catalogue. Sadly though the only AG book they have read is Marisol, until I pulled some of mine out to read to them. They liked the stories but without me prodding they never would have read them. They just know that from the movies, the horse, and the pink dress that Elizabeth wears, that Felicity is a cool doll to have. They don't care about the story behind her, or her time in history.

[auri]

Originally posted by horsemom:
[QB]...They're slowly but surely getting rid of everything historical and educational about the company, and replacing it with the same consumerist-oriented mindset that all the other companies have...QB]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm sorry to say I agree with you. It's not that I don't like anything Mattel's done; Felicity and Elizabeth's new tea dresses are adorable and I even like Kit's scooter. But that's really besides the point. A love of history and a desire to share it with our daughters is what drew so many of us to AG in the first place. I think Mattel is making a huge mistake downplaying that.