History Trivia / AmericanGirlsCollection

* CashCowFranchise: The brand has been a hit amongst children in the United States since the 1980s and continues to make millions yearly, but has suffered some decline. This is due to many reasons: perception of quality issues in items, relatively high costs for product that are a barrier to entry for lower class levels, more interest in electronic entertainment among the target age, and the social perception that lowers the "end" of doll play to younger and younger ages. When the brand launched, it wasn't too unusual for a fourth- or -fifth grader to still be into dolls without considering it too babyish, but since the 2000s doll interest is often considered immature for anyone older than seven--much younger than the intended target age, even. Parents may find the idea of spending over $100 on one doll--not including additional accessories and/or clothing--too much to pay for what could be a fleeting interest, especially if the girl in question is younger than the target age and/or heavy-handed with how she plays with her dolls still. Part of [=BeForever=]'s goal included focusing on reminding purchasers that the target age range ''was'' 8-12, that the named characters had stories behind them, and the dolls were intended to be treated well and possibly preserved for future use or handed down rather than temporary playthings to later grow out of. The Toys/WellieWishers line is in part to help direct younger children towards dolls that, while part of the brand, can take more play stress. Still, it's unfortunately not unusual to see a three-year-old dragging around an 18" doll they were gifted, leading to damaged dolls of all kinds of states on the secondhand market. The Truly Me dolls now have a lower age of six (with the [=WellieWishers=] now at four and Bitty Baby at eighteen months), but Historical Characters and Girls of the Year are still recommended on packaging for eight-plus.

** In 2023 movies on Amazon Prime for Maryellen, Melody, Ivy and Julie, and Z were removed. Since they were all only released on the service, this makes them unavailable through common means. Z's movie, ''Summer Camp: Friends for Life'' was later restored on the official American Girl Platform/YouTube account.

** After the movie was pulled from Amazon, American Girl put Z's movie, ''Summer Camp: Friends for Life'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QNxc6ix5ck on the official American Girl]] Platform/YouTube account.

* FranchiseOwnershipAcquisition: ''American Girl'' dolls were initially made by Germany-based Götz using existing molds from the company purchased by Pleasant Company[[note]]Production was later moved to China, still under the Pleasant Company[[/note]] but has been owned and manufactured by Creator/{{Mattel}} solely since 2000, when series creator Pleasant Rowland sold the line to the toy giant in 1998.

* FranchiseOwnershipAcquisition: ''American Girl'' dolls were initially made by Germany-based Götz using existing molds from the company but has since been owned and manufactured by Creator/{{Mattel}} when series creator Pleasant Rowland sold the line to the toy giant in 1998.

* CreatorWorship: A significant contingent of [[PeripheryDemographic adult fans]]--in a strong case of FanMyopia--loudly insist that the golden age of the line was prior to the 1998 purchase of the company by Mattel when it was still owned by the founder, Pleasant Rowland. While Ms. Rowland sold the company to Mattel in 1998 and stepped down completely in 2000--and nowadays rarely does interviews about the brand--several fans still take her past words to heart about the target goals of the company as a way to immerse children into history and make keepsake products. They may also state that if she returned to helm the line, everything would be better and things wouldn't be [[DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER as "bad" as they've clearly been ever since]].

** Some of the lead actresses from the films are a few years older than the protagonists they depict. Creator/ShaileneWoodley was 13 when she played as Felicity, while Canadian teen actress Erin Pitt was 13 when portraying the nine-year-old Isabelle Palmer.

* DolledUpInstallment:
** Taken to a literal turn with ''The American Girls Premiere'', which started life as ''Opening Night'', a theatrical simulation game released by MECC in 1995. [=SoftKey=]--a company infamous for making a name for itself by grabbing whatever CashCowFranchise it sees, and which has since absorbed itself under Creator/TheLearningCompany label--acquired MECC, and since their theatre sim didn't sell well made a licensed version of ''Opening Night'' for Pleasant Company in 1997. And as ''WebVideo/LazyGameReviews'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqGwUffHyCo explained]] in his video, this verison sold like hotcakes and may have accounted for Mattel's subsequent acquisition of both The Learning Company and American Girl ''itself''.
** The dolls ''themselves'' are dolled-up. Pleasant Rowland made negotiations with Götz, a German dollmaker, in the 1980s; she purchased a face mold of theirs, the Romina mold, to use as the face mold for the first three AG dolls. The construction of the dolls, including the limb molds and the soft cloth torso, was similar to the soft-bodied version, Somina. They look enough alike that it's easy to mistake early Samantha dolls as redressed dark haired Somina dolls.

** In 2023 movies on Amazon Prime for Maryellen, Melody, Ivy and Julie, and Z were removed. Since they were all only released on the service, this makes them unavailable through common means. Z's movie, ''Summer Camp: Friends for Life'' was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QNxc6ix5ck later restored]] on the official American Girl Platform/YouTube account.

* NoDubForYou:
** The video games were only released in English with no alternate-language soundtracks, subtitles or game UI languages available.
** However, most of the films, despite American Girl being not nearly as known overseas by those besides toy collectors, have been dubbed. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqy5iJ__M-k Hungarian dub]] of ''Samantha: An American Girl Holiday'' has surfaced on [=YouTube=], and Unterganger [=Venkyra21=] discovered [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caUCMNWrzvE a Czech dub]] of the Felicity movie whilst looking for sources to be used on one of his WebVideo/HitlerRants parodies. Japanese, German and Italian dubs of the [=BeForever=] and contemporary character movies can be found in their respective Amazon marketplaces, as well.

** In 2023 movies on Amazon Prime for Maryellen, Melody, Ivy and Julie, and Z were removed. Since they were all only released on the service, this makes them unavailable through common means.

** By 2020 all American Girl retail outlets outside the States have been closed, meaning those outside of the US and Canada (which can still have items shipped, if not purchased in-person) have to have items they want imported or purchased from the local secondary market--if there's anyone collecting those dolls in the area at all.

** By 2020 all American Girl retail outlets outside the States have been closed, meaning those in Canada, Mexico and the Middle East would have to have the dolls they want imported or purchased from the local secondary market if there's anyone collecting those dolls in the area at all.

* QuietlyCancelled: Unlike the [=BeForever=] launch, the end of the rebranding was quietly made and mostly done via the changing of labels for the Historicals and slowly transitioning books from from the text-only two-volume books (which still contained all six volumes) to the abridged illustrated volumes that added pictures but removed stories and scenes.

** In an [[https://ew.com/american-girl-live-action-movie-mattel-not-snl-sketch-8415727 article]] by Entertainment Weekly, contributor Jessica Wang erroneously lists the first three Historical Characters--Kirsten, Samantha and Molly--as from World War II; Kirsten was a Swedish immigrant from the 1850s Pioneer era, while Samantha was from the Edwardian era during the turn of the 20th century.[[note]]American Girl previously marketed her as a "bright Victorian beauty", even when UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria was already dead since before the start of her stories.[[/note]] Molly is the only one of the original bunch who actually represents the wartime era.

** For the 25th anniversary in 2011, the company released special-edition mini dolls of all the the characters in holiday or winter wear; this also included the launch of new characters Marie-Grace and Cécile.

** The 30th Anniversary in 2016 had eight of the then-active [=BeForever=] characters released as mini-dolls in unique outfits from their collection; their stands posed them in a position similar to the walking pose on the first-edition books. (Kaya, who had a very limited outfit selection, was given the same dress she had in 2011: her special deeskin dress.)
** During the 35th anniversary in 2021, the company rereleased the first six Historical Characters in "classic" (original) versions of their meet outfits, many of which had been retired with [=BeForever=]. These sets also included their accessories, boxes similar to the first edition ones (only now with open windows) and first edition reprints of their meet books.

* LicensedGame: Five games from Creator/{{THQ}} games were released--three for PC (''Julie Saves the Eagles'', ''Kit: A Treehouse of My Own'', and ''Mia Goes for Great'') and two for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS (''Julie Finds a Way'' and ''Kit: Mystery Challenge'') [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames The DS games were not very good]].

* FollowTheLeader: In this case, them being said leader; while there'd always been some degree of "a doll with a story attached" around, American Girl was one of the first to take off the way it did. The success of the franchise led to myriad brands of 18-inch (or near to it) dolls, several with a similar premise of characters including Literature/MagicAtticClub. Some of them, like Target's ''[[http://www.ogdolls.com/ Our Generation]]'' dolls by Battat or My Life As from [=WalMart=], are ''intentionally'' compatible with their ''American Girl'' counterparts, making their accessories and clothes a suitable low-cost alternative to items sold by AG. A number of companies, such as the Canada-based ''Toys/MapleleaGirls'', Australian ''Australian Girl'', or British "A Girl for All Time", apply the ''AG'' formula of characters and/or history to suit their national tastes. Meanwhile others market their ''AG''-like dolls as TheMoralSubstitute especially for devoutly religious or conservative parents, as in the case of ''[[http://www.dollsfromheaven.com/ Dolls from Heaven]]'' or the now-defunct ''Life of Faith.'' Even ''Literature/DearAmerica'' briefly sold dolls designed by Madame Alexander.

* FollowTheLeader: In this case, them being said leader; while there'd always been some degree of "a doll with a story attached" around, American Girl was one of the first to take off the way it did. The success of the franchise led to myriad brands of 18-inch (or near to it) dolls, several with a similar premise of characters including Literature/MagicAtticClub. Some of them, like Target's ''[[http://www.ogdolls.com/ Our Generation]]'' dolls by Battat or My Life As from [=WalMart=], are ''intentionally'' compatible with their ''American Girl'' counterparts, making their accessories and clothes a suitable low-cost alternative to items sold by AG. A number of companies, such as the Canada-based ''Toys/MapleleaGirls'' or British "A Girl for All Time", apply the ''AG'' formula of characters and/or history to suit their national tastes. Meanwhile others market their ''AG''-like dolls as TheMoralSubstitute especially for devoutly religious or conservative parents, as in the case of ''[[http://www.dollsfromheaven.com/ Dolls from Heaven]]'' or the now-defunct ''Life of Faith.'' Even ''Literature/DearAmerica'' briefly sold dolls designed by Madame Alexander.

* InspirationForTheWork: Pleasant Rowland gave three personal stories as inspirations for creating the line: a trip to historic Colonial Williamsburg, an inability to find dolls for relatives that were not either baby/child dolls or adult dolls, rather than companions the same age as the intended recipient (though these existed, they were not as prominent as brands such as {{Franchise/Barbie}} or Toys/CabbagePatchKids, which were the dominant brands at the time); and a story of her finding an old, well-loved doll in an attic in a storage trunk and being inspired to continue with the project. The last story is embellished; while the doll exists, [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120830205137/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001948.asp the doll was actually a mint condition museum piece]] donated by the owner.

** [[NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe Nostalgia-heavy]] articles, especially in the mid 2010s (from about 2013-2015) often lamented the shift of the company's advertising and promotional focus from mostly about the Historical characters to mostly about the Girls of the Year. This included hand-wringing that the Historical Characters had "real problems and adventures" that taught children real, important history--but were all PutOnABus and replaced by the more "vapid" Girls of the Year who all worry about shallow things like art, dancing, and going on unrealistic trips around the world. Firstly, the idea that the historicals have better, more relevant, "radical" adventures is wildly exaggerated; while, for example, Felicity does "steal" a horse (by helping it escape into the wild), Addy escapes slavery, and Sam speaks up against factory dangers for children, what they do is over-exaggerated to make the [[AuthorTract author's point stronger against the modern dolls]] (as the articles are often written by adults who are thinking about their own childhood with the brand, often prior to 2000) and what the characters do is rarely to the level cited.[[note]]A major one is how Sam is often claimed to have spoken in front of the factory owners themselves to lecture them about the dangers they inflict on children in factories, instead of a local speech contest only in her small town (which has no factories).[[/note]] They also had minor problems that were personal to them, not just marching through important historical event after event to teach a point about the era to the readers; Addy's Christmas book has her wanting to buy a scarf for her mother, a small personal wish, while Molly spends her school book initially being petty about a classmate's idea for helping the war effort being picked over her own. While several characters had retired and couldn't be purchased anymore directly, books remained in stores and the secondary market had many items (albeit at often higher costs that originally sold for). Secondly, the Girls of the Year have never completely supplanted the historical dolls at any time, nor are they intended to; they're another separate line, and their concerns and worries are just as relevant to their own current-day era. Saige's concern about art addresses the problem of schools not being funded enough to offer full artistic programs regularly; Chrissa faces bullying including the early addressing of cyberbullying; and Kailey worried about businesses encroaching on local beach tide pools. Grace's "fancy" trip to Paris isn't a casual expensive vacation where she flits around the city seeing all the expected sights; it's because her mom is helping family and Grace goes so her parents don't have to worry about who will supervise her while her mom's away--''and'' she's only there in her first book. While it's true some Historicals were made unavailable to purchase for periods of time and can't be bought in their original form anymore, their books remained accessible through the company for years (and can often be found on the secondary market) ''and'' the historical line has always existed in some form since 1986, with new characters for new eras added fairly regularly to keep the line active. New characters were even added as older ones went away--Rebecca came out soon after Samantha was made unavailable. "Brave" Samantha was not sent away so "silly" Isabelle could make kids worry about ballet instead of child labor.

* FakeBrit: The actress who plays Emily in Molly's movie, Tory Green, is actually Australian.

** Flash and App games released for the brand are no longer legitimately available online both due to website revisions that removed the games, removal of games from the Apple iOS store, and the depreciation of Flash in 2020. This means the savvy American Girl fan has to find an APK, IPA or ISO installer for their phones or tablets. Some of the Flash games have also been archived by [[https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/ BlueMaxima's Flashpoint]], a WebGame preservation project.

* LicensedGame: Five games from Creator/{{THQ}} games were released--three for PC (''Julie Saves the Eagles'', ''Kit: A Treehouse of My Own'', and ''Mia Goes for Great'') and two for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS (''Julie Finds a Way'' and ''Kit: Mystery Challenge'') [[/TheProblemWithLicensedGames The DS games were not very good]].

** According to [[https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/american-girl-dresses-racist-donald-new-amazon-film-article-1.2840245 this article]], Donald, the racist bully from Melody's movie, was supposed to be named Douglas. Somebody misread the script, and since he was a CanonForeigner anyway, the name stuck. Helps that [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed the obvious implications of the name in 2016]] got the film some publicity.

* LicensedGame: Five games from Creator/{{THQ}} games were released--three for PC (''Julie Saves the Eagles'', ''Kit: A Treehouse of My Own'', and ''Mia Goes for Great'') and two for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS (''Julie Finds a Way'' and ''Kit: Mystery Challenge'') The games were not very good.

* CashCowFranchise: The brand has been a hit amongst children in the United States since the 1980s, but has suffered some decline. This is due to many reasons: perception of quality issues in items, relatively high costs for product that are a barrier to entry for lower class levels, more interest in electronic entertainment among the target age, and the social perception that lowers the "end" of doll play to younger and younger ages. When the brand launched, it wasn't too unusual for a fourth- or -fifth grader to still be into dolls without considering it too babyish, but since the 2000s doll interest is often considered immature for anyone older than seven--much younger than the intended target age, even. Parents may find the idea of spending over $100 on one doll--not including additional accessories and/or clothing--too much to pay for what could be a fleeting interest, especially if the girl in question is younger than the target age and/or heavy-handed with how she plays with her dolls still. Part of [=BeForever=]'s goal included focusing on reminding purchasers that the target age range ''was'' 8-12, that the named characters had stories behind them, and the dolls were intended to be treated well and possibly preserved for future use or handed down rather than temporary playthings to later grow out of. The Toys/WellieWishers line is in part to help direct younger children towards dolls that, while part of the brand, can take more play stress. Still, it's unfortunately not unusual to see a three-year-old dragging around an 18" doll they were gifted, leading to damaged dolls of all kinds of states on the secondhand market. The Truly Me dolls now have a lower age of six (with the [=WellieWishers=] now at four and Bitty Baby at eighteen months), but Historical Characters and Girls of the Year are still recommended on packaging for eight-plus.

* CreatorWorship: A significant contingent of [[PeripheryDemographic adult fans]]--in a strong case of FanMyopia--loudly insist that the golden age of the line was prior to the 1998 purchase of the company by Mattel when it was still owned by the founder, Pleasant Rowland. While Ms. Rowland sold the company to Mattel in 1998 and stepped down completely in 2000--and nowadays rarely does interviews about the brand--several fans still take her past words to heart about the target goals of the company as a way to immerse children into history and make keepsake products. They may also state that if she returned to helm the line, everything would be better and things wouldn't be [[RuinedFOREVER as "bad" as they've clearly been ever since]].

* CreatorWorship: A significant contingent of [[PeripheryDemographic adult fans]]--in a strong case of FanMyopia--insist that the golden age of the line was prior to the 1998 purchase of the company by Mattel when it was still owned by the founder, Pleasant Rowland. While Ms. Rowland sold the company to Mattel in 1998 and stepped down completely in 2000--and nowadays rarely does interviews about the brand--several fans still take her past words to heart about the target goals of the company as a way to immerse children into history and make keepsake products. They may also state that if she returned to helm the line, things wouldn't be as "bad" as they've been ever since.

* QuietlyCancelled: Unlike the [=BeForever=] launch, the end of the rebranding was quietly made and mostly done with with the changing of labels for the Historicals and slowly transitioning books from from the text-only two-volume books (which still contained all six volumes) to the abridged illustrated volumes that added pictures but removed stories and scenes.

* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: Common misconceptions are frequently cited in news articles, by people who don't do the research and/or only remember things from their childhood.