2026 American Girl of the Year Doll Raquel Reyes

 Normally I don't post about the new American Girl - Girl of the Year dolls. However, I happened to see an ad for the 2026 doll, carrying a bag that said Piney Point. Hm, Piney Point, I said. That's the same place where Samantha Parkington spends her summer vacation in her book Samantha Saves the Day. Well, that's because... Raquel is Samantha's great-great-great-granddaughter!

You can tell that AG took some inspiration from Samantha's Meet Outfit, with the checked dress and bow, and the necklace with the locket. I wonder if that is supposed to be Samantha's original locket? I regret to inform MoonGirl that Raquel's clothes are mostly pink, with some purple. But then Samantha's favorite color was pink, so maybe that is in honor of Samantha too. Raquel's storyline seems to be that she attends a family reunion at Piney Point. In Samantha's book, Piney Point is where her grandmother owns a vacation cottage, and where her parents tragically lost their lives in an accident on the lake. Samantha is curious about a small island in the lake where she and her parents liked to go when Samantha was a baby. Unfortunately, Samantha's parents perished returning from the island, so Grandmary doesn't want to talk about it. Samantha and her Aunt Cornelia's younger twin sisters, who are staying with her, go to the island, but get stranded. When they are rescued, Samantha tells her grandmother how beautiful the island is, and how it would be nice to honor her parents' memories by visiting the island. Grandmary agrees that they should visit together.

I have mixed feelings about this doll. Samantha is my absolutely favorite American Girl doll, largely because she represents my favorite time period in fashion history. I completely disapproved of the changes that they made with the BeForever line. They even got rid of Samantha's original meet dress, which Raquel's outfit here is based on! However, it might be interesting to see when and how Samantha is referenced in the story. Since this is a family reunion, there will be many more descendants there, and we might get some stories about Samantha when she grew up. We may even get some stories about Samantha's friend Nellie and Nellie's sisters, since they are adopted by Samantha's Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia, when the girls are orphaned. I also hope that this doll will increase interest in Samantha, and we might get some of Samantha's older items re-released. I already saw that they have re-released Samantha's original birthday dress set, and now they have released a Samantha in her original dress, with accessories. However, the doll is $175! Also, I would like the accessories only, since I have an original Pleasant Company Sam, but not her hat, purse and locket. It would be especially nice since a locket seems to feature in Raquel's story. Here's Sam's page, if you want to check out some other new items I haven't seen before.

Is this the first time that American Girl has made a generational doll connection like this? I'm not really up on the dolls much since Mattel took over, but I think this is the case. I have to wonder why this is so. Maybe the whole Girl of the Year doll has been getting has been getting a little stale? When MoonGirl has revealed GOTY dolls before, she's also added how many fans have said, "Oh, we're getting another doll who is blond/dances/likes pink/etc." This is a fresh idea, and it might bring interest from old time Pleasant Company fans to Raquel. I mean, here I am posting about it, and I usually don't care about the GOTY releases. I will add that Raquel learns how to play pickleball at the reunion, which is a new activity I don't think we've seen before.

Kirsten and Addy have also gotten outfits re-released, and Addy also has a brand new accessories set. It seems like Mattel is trying to drive interest in the older historical dolls again.

What do you think about this new twist to an AG line? If you're a fan of the historical dolls, which doll would you like to see get a descendant? Or would you rather not see it happen again? Do you hope the historical dolls get some more attention?

Pool Party

 Cooler weather arrived here in Northeast Ohio right around the beginning of September, but of course in doll land, it can be warm enough to have one last pool party. Before I take down my summer backyard diorama, I wanted to set up a little diorama with my Little Tikes miniature pool. For that matter, I couldn't think why I hadn't done a photo shoot a long time ago, until I remembered none of my little Kelly dolls had swimwear! Well, I was tired of that being an excuse. Off to eBay I went, and found two vintage Fashion Avenue sets, one a matching set for Barbie and Kelly, and one a set of beach clothes and accessories for three Kelly dolls.

Here are Barbie and Kelly in their matching outfits. It included the matching beach robes, swimsuits, visor hats, and sandals. Barbie's sandals are made so that only flat-footed dolls can wear them, which is fine, except that they don't fit any of the flat-footed dolls that I have very well. You might notice that this Barbie does not have the Made to Move body. On that body type they fit less well. The pink Adirondack chair is one of a set of two made by Mattel. It matches their neon looks.

And here are three of the Kelly dolls wearing what came in the set for three, including the little accessories and the beach chair. Only one of the clothing pieces is really a swimsuit, but they would all be cute for the summer. I would have liked to have a beach bucket and shovel with the clothes, but there were several summer swim sets from the Fashion Avenue line, and it seemed Mattel wanted to have different accessories in the various sets. Not a bad idea, really. The little beach chair is nicer quality than I thought it would be.

I'm so happy with how the pool party pictures turned out. I think the two little friends look so cute.

Now I want to work on something for the autumn, and/or something for Halloween. This time of the year is my favorite. I love the red, orange, and yellow colors of the leaves, the pumpkins, cornfields, cooler air after the blazing heat of summer. My dolls also need warm weather clothes, and for the most part, I can sew and knit those. Making Kelly-sized swimsuits, though? I saved myself the aggravation and bought those. I'm glad Barbie got a new bathing suit too, because I think I only have one other of those. Do you have any projects planned for your dolls this season?

Lil McDonald's

 In July, McDonald's had a series of blind box toys for their Happy Meals called Lil McDonald's. Doll collectors and people who collect McDonald's toys went crazy for them. (I did not know there were so many people who collected McDonald's toys.) Fortunately, many restaurants would sell you the toys without having to buy a Happy Meal, although I don't think they suspected how popular these were going to be. Without including duplicates, here is my final haul, posed with vintage Kelly and Stacie sized dolls for size perspective.

I knew most of these would only be suitable for the dolls to use as toys, although the food trays are not a bad size. The red and gold Happy Meals boxes are too big for these dolls. Sadly enough, the pumpkin bucket is too. McDonald's has been offering human size pumpkin, and other Halloween character, buckets for decades, and they are very popular. The bucket did look okay with a Shadow High doll. I think her big head helps offset the bucket proportions.

The register and the drinks dispenser are a fine size for the kid dolls to play "store." The white sign is apparently a place to order your own food, which is definitely too small. It should be as tall as an adult doll. It could work as an ad sign, maybe. The drink dispenser has a button on the top, which when pressed down activates a blue piece of plastic that looks like "water" coming down into the cup.

The miniature McDonald's booth would be a fun place for children to pretend their dolls are eating in the booth. I have some mini Polly Pocket dolls that came with Polly Pocket Janet in the 80s or 90s, that might fit in the booth, if I can find them.

The trays are a little small for actual one sixth scale, but they look good enough with the smaller dolls. Kelly thinks her apples look yummy. Stacie finds the milk mustache on her bottle funny.

I don't really even like McDonald's very much, but I like minis! I remembered after taking this picture that I also got a mini fryer, but it's not that exciting. It might even be a bit small for pretend kitchen play. The only toy I want is the mini restaurant. Facebook is alive right now with people buying, selling and trading Lil McDonald's pieces, so I should grab one soon if I want it. Is there a restaurant or store in your area of the world that you would like to see make mini versions of its products?

Happy Independence Day!

I hope that all of my American readers have a nice holiday.

Fortunate Furniture Find

Garage sale season is going full swing here in Northeast Ohio. I was thrilled to find Ever After High Apple White's sofa, EAH Raven Queen's vanity, and a 1/6th scale table with two stools.

Barbie Basics 04 Red-haired Doll Review

It's nice to see Mattel bring back basic dolls of nicer quality than the Fashionistas. I also am happy to see these dolls with the Made to Move bodies, even if some old time collectors aren't. At the same time, I don't really need too many new Barbies, so I decided to get only one, the petite doll with red hair. I'm not too sure how I feel about her face, though, now that she is live in the vinyl. This is how I see this doll, as a hostess at an vintage cocktail party. She looks almost sly to me. I can picture something... interesting, happening that evening. Spilled secrets? Poisoned glass? A knife in the back?

So glad you could join us, my dear.

This is our petite lady standing next to an older Barbie head on a Made to Move Barbie body. Quite a difference, I think. Petite's dress is fairly nice quality. It's a stretch swimsuit type material.

On Facebook, I found the interesting tidbit that newer shoes with the B initial on the bottom will work with regular and petite bodies, while shoes with the Barbie ponytail silhouette will fit curvy and tall dolls. I tried this with a newer pair of shoes with the B on the bottom. Sorry that the camera focused on the wrong part of the shoe. Regular on the left, petite on the right.

This is what the Barbie silhouette looks like. The only curvy shoe I could get my hands on without going on a massive search was black on black, but I hope you can make it out.

 

Looking at how small and slender Petite Barbie is, I was hoping that she could fit into some clothes made for other dolls. What I did not realize looking at that sleek black dress, is that our girl is relatively hippy. Here she is wearing a vintage Teen Skipper outfit. The top fits perfectly, but the capris can barely fasten in the back. Next is a dress that I normally have a doll with the old school hands to side Barbie body wearing. Besides being a bit too long, although she is barefoot in this picture, it looks okay. It is a bit loose, but that's not terribly noticeable. However, the pink and white shorts made for the modern Barbie figure are definitely too big. There is a major gap in the back, and room at the sides too. Lastly, Petite Barbie tries on the outfit that her regular counterpart was wearing. The skirt fits, but it flares out so far that it almost look like she's wearing a cupcake. The top is alright, but paired with the skirt, it gets pushed up above Petite's shoulders. By itself it's acceptable. I guess the moral of the story here is that if you have any spare tops or stretchy dresses lying around, they might work.

Shoes made for other size Barbie family dolls did not work. The green Teen Skipper slides look okay-ish, but they're rather loose in person. Modern Teen Skipper shoes are too long. High School Musical shoes, which work on my J-Dolls, don't look right on her. The only shoes that could pass muster were some pink pumps with a kitten heel, made for Momoko dolls. They also were a bit loose, but it's not obvious. I also have one of my J-Dolls wearing these, normally. The difference between Petite and my J-dolls is that the J-Dolls' feet get wider as they move towards the toe, while Petite Barbie's feet are the same width for the whole of the foot.

 

This is one of the negative things about Petite Barbie, that she will be difficult to find clothes for. Mattel, surprising no one, reaped the positive press from the new bodies, made a few outfit packs for the different size bodies, then contented itself with offering stretchy clothes that will fit multiple bodies. This is why I personally hate the different body types trend, because doll companies hate making clothing packs to begin with, never mind multiple clothing packs for multiple body types. And while you can pass stretchy clothes between dolls, I'm afraid a larger doll wearing something will stretch it and make it too baggy for Miss Petite to wear it again. Plus, why should Petite not have clothes to wear that aren't made with spandex? At least she can share flats with regular Barbie. I forgot to check and see how her feet would fit in shoes made for arched feet, but I'm guessing they wouldn't look great.

I do like Petite in the brown top. When I was picturing in my mind what she would look better (to me) in than that black dress, I saw a country girl type of look. Her hair isn't giving off country girl, though, and the parted sides are pulled together in the back and cut rather short. Maybe I could take them apart and reattach in the back of her head. Sixties might work if I cut off most of her curls, but I don't want to do that, and I don't know that I want to dress her in sixties things anyway, even if I'm realizing that the kitten heeled pumps would also fit that vibe. Urgh.

Although I said above that I like Made to Move bodies, I wish Mattel could have proportioned the petite body's joints a bit better, especially in the knees. Of course, I do find the knees the ugliest joint in all the Made to Move sizes.

Lastly, these new Barbie Basics dolls come with a plastic circle underneath the earrings. Is that to prevent green ear, or any damage to Barbie's ears? I find them unsightly and green ear or not, I think they're going to have to go. 

 

I'd like to know if anybody sees my Petite Barbie differently than I do. Actually, I'm almost certain some of you will, beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that. I'm not going to get rid of her anytime soon, I don't think. I'll give her time to grow on me, and maybe try to make her some outfits of her own. It's a shame that she's hard to dress, or I might enjoy having her in my collection more already.

Total dolls: 92

Mini Brands Retro and Little Tykes Minis

I've been overthinking photography ideas for the post that I want to make, featuring Barbie Basics Number 4. Mr. BTEG surprised me yesterday with a couple of the mini item balls, so I'm blogging about these, and then I'll settle down to get some good pictures of Number 4.

First is the Little Tikes toys mini ball. I got the dump truck and the recycling truck, in their own boxes.

I could have sworn that I took a picture of Kelly standing next to Barbie, to show another viewpoint of Kelly's size next to the toys, but I couldn't find it when I uploaded the pictures. I was having a difficult time with these tiny pieces. When the little people go in their seats in the trucks, they don't fit in firmly. They still roll around, so when you have one person in the truck, he can still fall out while you're trying to put his friend in. I gave up and laid most of the people flat.

As you can see, these toys are way too small proportional to Kelly, who can still possibly put things in her mouth and swallow them. They're not made to be necessarily one sixth, so it's not an issue. I do have smaller dolls who will love new toys.

The two balls are supposed to stack together with the shelf pieces provided, to make a display center. I can't get the top shelf into the holes to hold the two balls together. :(

 

Next are the Mini Brands Retro line. By retro, it looks like it means mostly the 70s and 80s. You get five mini pieces. I got some Energizer batteries, a floppy disc, a one-time use camera, a can of motor oil, and a box of candy. It seems the box of candy is an Ultra Rare item, which is too bad, as I would have liked other items from the Ultra Rare group better if I was going to find one. (A floppy disc was an 80s version of a thumb drive, kind of.)

The box of Mike and Ike candy is too big. As I remember, the candies themselves aren't much bigger than jellybeans. That would be a lot of candy! I guess it would look okay on a store shelf or at a movie snack bar. The floppy disk is a bit too large, but not as bad. I actually used these, so I have vague memories of how big they were. This kind was smaller than the ones before it, which actually were kind of floppy and could be ruined if you folded them accidentally, but the one I have would still look okay on a desk in an 80s computer lab. Time for a LAN party! (Now get off my lawn.) Everything else looks close enough to one sixth scale, considering we do have big batteries like these, and the camera fits her face reasonable well, although I didn't get a picture of it. To be honest, I don't know how big a old-school can of oil would be, but it looks okay. It would work on a shelf in a garage.

I know these aren't available everywhere. Anyone else out there who likes to collect these mini brands balls?

I've figured out how I want to photograph Barbie Basics Number 4, but then it occurred to me that since she is petite, I should see how other dolls' clothes fit on her, which will take more time. She's next on my list; however I didn't want to wait too much longer to get a post up. Hope you all in Tornado and Dixie Alley, especially RagingMoon, and all my other readers are faring well.