History Characters / AmericanGirlsCollection

* [[Characters/AmericanGirlsCollectionOther Other Characters]] - Contemporary Characters and World By Us.

The following have individual character pages:

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

[[foldercontrol]]

!Contemporary Characters
[[folder: Tenney Grant and Logan Everett]]
Tenney and Logan were were released in 2017, launching the Contemporary line; Logan was the first 18" male doll for the company.

!!Tenney Grant
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tenneylogo.png]]
Tenney is a thirteen year old musician from Nashville, TN, who is starting on a burgeoning music career.
----
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Her little sister Audrey has moments of being annoying.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: The gentle girl to Logan's brooding boy.
* CanineCompanion: Her golden retriever, Waylon.
* ChristmasEpisode: Tenney is the only modern character to receive a Christmas-exclusive book.
* CoolOldLady: Portia Burns, Tenney's new songwriting mentor, is a cooler lady who guides her through her early time as a performer.
* CynicIdealistDuo: The idealist to Logan's cynic. This can also apply to her and Portia.
* DissensionRemorse: In ''Tenney in the Key of Friendship'', Tenney and Jaya get into an argument: Tenney is always rehearsing while Jaya is failing with making enough money for the book drive to rebuild her cousin's school (which was damaged when her whole town is ravaged in a storm). She and Jaya soon apologize to each other and make up. Tenney also makes up with Logan, whom she didn't get along with too well at the start.
* EverybodyLovesBlondes: Lampshaded by Tenney's mother, who says that her record company wanted her to dye her hair blonde.
* FeudEpisode: In her second book she has feuds with both Logan and Jaya, but she eventually makes up with both of them.
* FromZeroToHero: Once Tenney's song is uploaded to the internet, everyone loves her.
* HairContrastDuo: Her bright blonde hair contrasting to Logan's dark brunette.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Tenney is a sweet, caring blonde.
* IAmBecomingSong: "Reach the Sky."
* IntercontinuityCrossover: In one of the Z.Crew videos, Tenney meets Z Yang and they facetime with Gabriela [=McBride=].
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Tenney is a talented singer/songwriter like her mother, which worries her mom quite a bit.
* LovedByAll: Everyone talks about how great Tenney is at singing and songwriting. The only people who don't eventually admit that she is good at it and they're just jealous.
* MeaningfulName: Tenney's full first name is Tennyson, after Alfred Lord Tennyson.
* MyNaymeIs: Tenney's classmate Holliday.
* NewFriendEnvy: In the second book, when Jaya becomes closer to Holliday.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Tenney has been compared to Music/TaylorSwift, due to her light blonde hair, a passion for singing, and her emphasis on country music.
* PerformanceAnxiety: Tenney struggles with this in the first book, which almost costs her a record deal.
* PinkGirlBlueBoy: Both her and Logan's meet outfits and performance outfits fit this trope.
* ReformedBully: Holliday.
* SavingTheOrphanage: In ''Tenney: In the Key of Friendship,'' when Tenney and Jaya work to save Jaya's cousin's school.
* ShoutOut: In the second book, Tenney tells Logan that she likes singer-songwriters such as Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Taylor Swift.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: With Logan at first.
* TroubledProduction: It's basically an open (but unconfirmed) secret that Tenney was supposed to be the 2017 Girl of the Year. Following public complaints about the lack of diversity in the line on CBS, she was swiftly relegated to a new Contemporary line and one of the Truly Me dolls was turned into Gabriela. Stills surfaced online for a Tenney movie that was cancelled, likely to keep people from asking why the new white character got one while the black Girl of the Year didn't. There were also rumors of a Jaya doll that was supposed to be produced.
* WhiteMansBurden: Tenney becomes invested in Jaya's attempts to fundraise for her cousin's disaster-stricken school in Bangladesh. The fundraiser attempts don't make money without the intervention of Tenney or Holliday, and at the end of the second book Tenney gets a personal "Thank You" message from the entire Bengali school.

!!Logan Everett
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/loganandtenneylogo.png]]
Logan Everett is Tenney's grumpy fourteen year old drummer.
----
* BigBrotherInstinct: Logan will do anything to protect his little brother.
%% * BroodingBoyGentleGirl: To Tenney. %% Add more context to explain this. %%
* ByronicHero: The perfect snarky, pessimistic teenage boy archetype.
* CynicIdealistDuo: The cynic to Tenney's idealist.
%% * DeadpanSnarker: Against Tenney. %% Add more context to explain this. %%
* DelicateAndSickly: His brother Jude is cheerful and happy, but his asthma means he needs constant attention.
* DisappearedDad: Logan's father is traveling worldwide with a band, leaving his wife and sons alone.
* EmoTeen: Logan is actually the oldest of the American Girl characters at fourteen.
* FriendToAllChildren: Tenney realizes Logan isn't so bad after she realizes how much he visits the children's hospital.
* HairContrastDuo: His dark, straight brunette hair with Tenney's curly blonde.
%% * HiddenDepths: The stereotypical bad boy with a heart of gold. %% Add more context to explain this. %%
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's rude to Tenney and they have trouble getting along, until she finds out that he's a caring older brother and son who volunteers at the children's hospital.
%% * TheLancer: To Tenney. %% Add more context to explain this. %%
* PinkGirlBlueBoy: Both his and Tenney's meet outfits and performance outfits fit this trope.
%% * TroubledTeen: Due to his father rarely being around. %% Add more context to explain this. %%
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Z Yang]]
!!Suzanne "Z" Yang
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suzieyang.png]]
A Korean-American hopeful film director, focusing on online vlogging and stop-motion. The character was [[AscendedExtra initially created]] to promote the rise of stop-motion videos in the fandom with her own [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOhRWwSyTfGhmo6p0mo1dzVenLV13dV-e series of YouTube videos]]. Z was released in Spring 2017 with her own collection.
----
* AdaptationNameChange: In the Z.Crew videos, Mariela goes by "M." Mariela could ''technically'' be her full name, however in the books she never once goes by ''M.''
* AgeLift: Mariela is a year older than Z in the Z.Crew videos. She is the same age as her in the books.
* AsianAndNerdy: Korean Z is skilled with tech and filmography.
* CanineCompanion: Her dalmatian, Popcorn.
* CanonImmigrant: Z was created specifically for promotional stopmotion videos. When the Contemporary line was launched, Z was released as a doll with a small collection and her own book series.
* DissensionRemorse: Z and her best friend Lauren have a friendship breakup over Z's focus on her documentary; this later causes rifts between her and Mariela as well.
* GirlishPigtails: In most of her promotional photos she has her hair in two low pigtails; this carries over to the movie.
* InNameOnly: ''Summer Camp: Friends for Life,'' Z's movie, has nothing to do with her books or the Z.Crew videos. She has new friends and doesn't mention her book crew, with only her interest in filmmaking and marketable fashion style carrying over.
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: When Z is interviewing people on her road trip with her mother, one is an inventor who cites her autistic cousin as their main inspiration.
* IntercontinuityCrossover: Hoo boy, there's a lot of this. In the Z.Crew videos, Z constantly uses American Girl dolls in order to make her stopmotions, using the mini-dolls for shots with her own doll in them. In the books, while the American Girl books aren't named, she is stated to have a Kit Kittredge doll. Then, there is a Z.Crew episode where she meets Gabriela, then another where she meets Tenney and facetimes Gabi. In a later episode, to promote Nanea Mitchell's release, Z makes a Nanea stopmotion, and says, "It’s too bad I can’t have the real Nanea on my show, the Real Me with Z, but hopefully I’ll still do her story justice." This implies that Nanea was also a real person in this universe... does this mean the in-universe AG makes dolls about actual historical people? Where does the modern line tie into this?
* InternetSafetyAesop: Z says in the first book that her parents look over everything she posts before she posts it, because "nothing ever goes away online." In the second book, she accidentally releases confidential images. Oops.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Z learns a lot from her mother, a film professor.
* TheMovieBuff: Both Z and her mom.
* NerdGlasses: The Z doll was sold with glasses, though she's never illustrated with them nor are they mentioned in-text.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the second book, when Z accidentally posts NDA-protected photos online, potentially getting her mother in legal trouble.
* PutOnABus: Z's stopmotions stopped being made after her doll was retired. However, the videos are still up, in case corporate ever decides to bring her back.
* SecondPlaceIsForWinners: Z's documentary places third in the contest, to her delight.
* ShoutOut: Film/SinginInTheRain. Z has Mariela's band perform a cover of the title song for her documentary.
* SpoofingInTheRain: As mentioned above, it's deliberate.
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Z is usually tomboyish, due to her 'cool girl' attitude and not wearing anything that's pink, but she wears her hair in cute pigtails, and she often enjoys making stop motion videos with her American Girl dolls.
[[/folder]]


!World By Us
[[folder: In General]]

Focusing only on characters of color, the line launched in 2021 as part of a diversity initiative from American Girl.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/worldbyusgirls.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The three ''World By Us'' girls: Martiza, Evette, and Makena.]]
----
* IntercontinuityCrossover: The stopmotion videos as well as several promotional materials included the 2021 Girl of the Year Kira for no stated reason.
* SimultaneousArcs: Makena and Evette's books overlap in time.
* ShoutOut: Makena's Aunt Belinda is friends with the founder of Harlem Fashion Row. Three of the designers created limited outfits for the characters' collections.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Makena is the fashionable girly girl to Maritza's sporty tomboy. Evette isn't as girly as Makena, but she's not a tomboy like Maritza and has a meet outfit that, while a dress, works between the two.
* TownGirls: Makena is girly, Maritza is a tomboy, and Evette is in the middle though she leans more feminine than neutral.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Makena Williams]]
!!Makena Williams
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/makenalogo.png]]
A Black fashionista with a blog who posts her outfits of the day during school closures at the start of the pandemic. After experiencing multiple large and small racist incidents and meeting Evette and Maritza, the three come together as World By Us and she focuses her attention to calling out the racism she faces as a young black girl.
----
* BigLittleSister: Amari is taller than her older sister Makena.
* BigSisterInstinct: Makena is protective of Amari and becomes terrified when they are confronted by police officers and Amari is too scared to move.
* ButterflyOfTransformation: Makena likes wearing butterflies because they remind her that though change can be difficult, it can lead to something beautiful.
* CoolUncle: Her uncle Alex, who runs a food truck, and her Auntie Bling, who shares Makena's passion for fashion.
* CostumeEvolution: She wears her meet outfit early in the book, though without words decorating the shirt. She later paints on the words "See Me, Hear Me, Know Me" herself and wears the shirt with a Kenyan kente skirt to represent her pride in her heritage.
* ElementalMotifs: Both her and Evette compare themselves and their heritage to the river.
* TheFashionista: Became famous online through her beautiful outfits.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: In many of her outfits. Her promotional images also feature purple backdrops.
* HeartfeltApology: From the neighbor who profiled Makena and Amari.
* InstantWebHit: Makena becomes popular online after posting her quarantine outfits. She later makes a video about experiencing racial profiling, which goes incredibly viral and inspires many in her community to speak out as well.
* MeaningfulName: Makena Lilias Cook-Williams.
--> ''"I have four names: Makena means “happy one” in Swahili; Lilias was my dad’s mom, who died when he was a boy; Cook, for Mom’s family, and Williams. They all matter, and they make me who I am."''
* NiceGirl: Always kind, helpful and optimistic.
* RacialFaceBlindness: One of Makena's substitute teachers cannot tell her and the other black girl in the class apart.
* PinkIsFeminine: One of her signature colors, along with purple and black.
* PurpleIsPowerful: Her signature colors are black, purple and pink.
* PrettyButterflies: Used in a lot of Makena's outfits and merchandise.
* {{Profiling}}: The Williams' new neighbor sees Makena and Amari trying to get into their house after accidentally locking themselves out, assumes they must be robbers, and calls the police. While one of the officers realizes they're just children, the other continues pointing a gun at them and threatening them.
--> ''"I rolled over and pressed the pillow around my ears, but Mom's question was like a song I couldn’t get out of my head. Couldn't he see that they're children? Couldn't he see?"''
--> ''"No, Mom! I wanted to scream. That’s the problem. He couldn't see that we're real people, with real names and lives and feelings. All he could see was that we're Black. I cried sad and mad tears, because none of it made any sense."''
* ShoutOut: Makena references the "screaming white lady" meme while talking about a white lady who profiled her and her friends at the park.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Makena is a burgeoning fashion designer and influencer.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Makena is the fashionable girly girl to Maritza's sporty tomboy. Evette is more feminine than Maritza but not as much in comparison to Makena.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Evette Peeters]]
!!Evette Peeters
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evettelogo.jpg]]
A biracial girl (black mother, white father) and an environmentalist who loves thrifting and upcycling. When she learns about racism causing a rift in her own family, she wants to bring them together to heal her family issues.
----
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Evette says that her little brother Bud can sometimes be a pest.
* AscendedFanboy: Evette was a huge fan of Makena before meeting her. She sent her a picture of her upcycled shoes and became ecstatic when she liked them; when they meet in person, Evette is shy and excited.
* BoysLikeCreepyCritters: Bud likes the bugs in the garden, while Evette finds them creepy.
* ChildOfTwoWorlds: Evette's white paternal grandmother and Black maternal grandmother don't like each other, and haven't interacted since her parents' wedding. Evette goes out of her way to fix this.
* DotingGrandparent: Both Evette's grandmother and Gran-E love her dearly and take care of her while her parents work.
* ElementalMotifs: Both her and Makena compare themselves and their heritage to the river.
* ElementalPersonalities: In comparing herself and her family to the river, Evette herself is cool, calm, close to her loved ones, and always gunning for change.
* GreenAesop: Evette's main interest lies in conservation and recycling, and she organizes a river cleanup for everyone.
* GreenThumb: Evette loves to spend time in her Gran-E's garden.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Evette herself.
* MakeupIsEvil: Evette is scared away from Ashlyn's new friend Gia after seeing her with "too much eyeliner." This is later subverted once Evette realizes Gia is actually fun to be around.
* MistakenForRacist: Ziggy asks rather bluntly in his first meeting with Evette if she is black or white, which upsets her. She later bonds with him and Gia.
* NonconformistDyedHair: Evette's best friend Ashlyn surprises her with cut and dyed hair, which shocks her and weirds her out.
* NewFriendEnvy: Evette with Ashlyn's new friends, Gia and Ziggy.
* OutdoorsyGal: She loves to garden and work for environmental change.
* RacistGrandma: Evette's paternal grandmother didn't want her white son's wedding to be held in his black wife's neighborhood, because she saw it as dangerous. This caused a rift between her and her daughter-in-law's family. Evette later confronts her about it and explains that she had made a racist assumption, and they work to mend the rift.
* SunnySunflowerDisposition: Evette's favorite flowers are sunflowers, and she is cheerful and bright. Slightly subverted with Gran-E's sunflower swimsuit representing her childhood trauma when she wasn't allowed in a segregated pool.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: While Makena is girly and fashionable and Maritza is tomboyish and sporty, Evette is in-between. She's not a tomboy like Maritza is, but she's not as girly as Makena either. She has a feminine Meet Outfit and interest in vintage fashion, and that's it.
* WiseBeyondHerYears: Is able to heal the familial rift that has lasted in her family for fifteen years.
* YellowEarthGreenEarth: Evette's color palette is mainly green, though her interest in sunflowers brings a bit of yellow.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Maritza Ochoa]]
!!Maritza Ochoa
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maritzalogo.png]]
A Mexican- and Bolivian-American soccer player, she helps to raise awareness of family separation by ICE when her undocumented friend's uncle is detained.
----
* ActionGirl: Maritza is one of the sportiest American Girl dolls.
* AdaptationalAngstDowngrade: The serious and relevant plotline about immigrant rights is completely omitted in the stopmotion, which now focuses on raising money for Violeta's hospitalized family rather than threatened by deportation.
* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Violeta in the stopmotion short.
* BlueIsHeroic: While her main color is red, she also specifically gets a blue outfit in Makena's book. She also wears a blue outfit for Makena's fashion show.
* CanineCompanion: Her pug, Suerte.
* {{Catchphrase}}: "Tu lucha es mi lucha": Your fight is my fight.
* CoolAunt: Maritza's deceased aunt.
* EthnicMenialLabor: It is mentioned that Maritza's immigrant grandparents had to suffer through horrible jobs in order to stay in the country.
* TheIllegal: Violeta's uncle is detained by the ICE, leading to her family's fear that he will be deported. [[spoiler:We later find out that Violeta and her mother are also undocumented immigrants, adding to her panic.]]
* ImmigrantParents: Both of Maritza's grandparents.
* ImmigrantPatriotism: Maritza considers herself an all-American girl with an all-American family, including her immigrant grandparents.
* AnImmigrantsTale: Violeta's family.
* MeaningfulName: Author Angela Cervantes was allowed to pick Maritza's surname, and named her after Mexican soccer player Guillermo Ochoa.
* NewFriendEnvy: Sierra, until she realizes that Maritza was helping Violeta.
* OutdoorsyGal: Maritza is a track and soccer star in her neighborhood.
* PassionateSportsGirl: Mainly about soccer, but she's also known as a star racer.
* RedHotMasculinity: Maritza is a tomboy with a red color palette.
* RedIsHeroic: Maritza is the hero of her and Violeta's story and had a red-toned pallet.
* {{Tomboy}}: Despite her long flowing hair, Maritza is only really interested in sports, and admits in Makena's book that she's useless with fashion.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Implied to be with Sierra, who is more interested in pretty blouses than her. Played more straight with Makena, who helps her find a decent outfit.
* UnkemptBeauty: Maritza doesn't know much about fashion, letting Makena pick out an outfit for her.
* YouGoGirl: At the beginning of the book, Maritza argues with a male coach about letting the younger girls and boys play together.
[[/folder]]

* DelicateAndSickly: His brother Jude is often very cheerful and happy, but his asthma means he needs constant attention.

* AsianAndNerdy: Korean Z is extremely skilled with tech and filmography.

* BigSisterInstinct: Makena is very protective of Amari and becomes terrified when they are confronted by police officers and Amari is too scared to move.

* AscendedFanboy: Evette was a huge fan of Makena before meeting her. She sent her a picture of her upcycled shoes and became ecstatic when she liked them; when they meet in person, Evette is very shy and excited.

* ElementalPersonalities: In comparing herself and her family to the river, Evette herself is cool, usually calm, very close to her loved ones, and always gunning for change.

* SunnySunflowerDisposition: Evette's favorite flowers are sunflowers, and she herself is very cheerful and bright. Slightly subverted with Gran-E's sunflower swimsuit representing her childhood trauma when she wasn't allowed in a segregated pool.

* AdaptationalAngstDowngrade: The very serious and relevant plotline about immigrant rights is completely omitted in the stopmotion, which now focuses on raising money for Violeta's hospitalized family rather than threatened by deportation.

* RedHotMasculinity: Maritza is very much a tomboy, with a red color palette.
* RedIsHeroic: Maritza is very much the hero of her and Violeta's story.

* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Z is usually tomboyish, due to her love of sporty and cool attitude and not wearing anything that's pink, but she wears her hair in cute pigtails, and she often enjoys making stop motion videos with her American Girl dolls.

* TomboyandGirlyGirl: Makena is the fashionable girly girl to Maritza's sporty tomboy. Evette isn't as girly as Makena, but she's not a tomboy like Maritza and has a meet outfit that, while a dress, works between the two.

* FashionDesigner: Her main interest.