History YMMV / AmericanGirlsCollection

* GenreTurningPoint: While companion style dolls have existed as long as dolls have, American Girl helped popularize its particular size and style of dolls -- 18 inches tall, often with cloth torsos and vinyl limbs -- and [[FollowTheLeader led to other companies releasing dolls in their style]].

* MisaimedFandom:
** ''American Girls Premiere'', a computer game released in the late '90s that gave players the ability to write and perform plays about the various historical protagonists and their families and friends. It was supposed to be educational, but it was hard to take the game seriously between the creepy robot voices and the strange movements (characters could even float or [[GodMode walk through walls]], and even normal gestures were always exaggerated). As a result, way more people used the game for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgzjILW0b9c parodies]], ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDGpOygtlMY spoofs]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJ-EdLy1ZE poop jokes]] than for its intended purpose, helped along by the game's almost total lack of a word blacklist.
** WebVideo/{{L|azyGameReviews}}GR did a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqGwUffHyCo review]] on it, where he mentioned it was one of the most amusing dick joke simulators. The comments on the video mention all sorts of unusual productions people made, like people falling down the stairs, murder "mysteries", and swear words. You could also record your own dialogue with your voice... which resulted in all sorts of unusual screams.

* Speaking of Julie, many people strongly prefer her best friend Ivy Ling, with several wishing that the 1970s had been about Ivy instead and focused on Chinese Americans in the US (instead of Julie's mixed topics about divorce, the Bicentennial, the 1976 election, ''and'' environmentalism).

* FanMyopia:
** A lot of older fans can get locked onto several myopic ideas and opinions about the brand. Examples include that the best years of the company being before Mattel bought the company, the founder Pleasant Rowland was [[CreatorWorship purely noble in her mission and only did good]], product quality was at its best when they were a child, characters were more in depth in the past and hinged less on nostalgia, and the most popular characters of the brand are naturally, the Historical Characters (often released before a certain time period, with the other lines of the brand being mere hangers on or worse, called cash grabs). This was also an issue with the [=BeForever=] rebranding and later depreciation, which gets looked back on as having been completely inaccurate regarding the Historical Characters and thus, [[FandomHeresy absolutely no one in the fandom found any good in it.]]
** [[NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe Nostalgia-heavy]] articles, especially in the mid 2010s (from about 2013-2015) often lamented the shift of the company's promotional focus from being mostly about the Historical characters to mostly about the Girls of the Year. One widespread article was titled [[https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/american-girls-arent-radical-anymore/275199/ "American Girls Aren’t Radical Anymore"]] and proposed that while the Historical Characters had covered the "most heated issues of their respective times" and taught important history, many of them had been [[PutOnABus replaced (on Mattel's call)]] by the less relevant Girls of the Year who worried about shallow things that didn't have the same impact, such as "organic gardening and school art supplies." (The articles were often written by adults reflecting on their own childhood experiences with the brand prior to 2000, then looking up the website or catalogs to not see the same items they saw back then and thus [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks complaining that things had changed]].) While it's true some Historical characters were made unavailable to purchase for various reasons, their books remained accessible through the company for years (and even so, could be found on the secondary market) ''and'' the historical line has continued to exist in some form since 1986, with new characters for new eras added fairly regularly to keep the line active and refreshed. Plus, the modern characters each had their own relevant problems and addressed topics such as bullying, caring about the environment, and low school funding removing electives. Samantha wasn't retired so Isabelle could get kids to worry about ballet instead--they're two separate lines.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Both the Julie and Kit games for the Nintendo DS were given scathing reviews due to poor controls, subpar graphics, {{Luck-Based Mission}}s, and overall a poor representation of the stories they were supposed to represent. The ''American Girls Premiere'' PC game was a different story, though, being that it was [[SoBadItsGood/VideoGames unintentionally hilarious]].

** Felicity's [[spoiler:grandfather coughing violently out of nowhere before he dies]], again in the Felicity movie.

* CreatorWorship: The founder of the brand, Pleasant Rowland, named the company after herself (Pleasant Company) and was the head until selling it to Mattel in 1998. She nowadays doesn't do many interviews about the brand--she did some small ones for the 35th anniversary in 2021--but she still gets lauded as the ultimate founder with nothing but noble goals for the brand to educate girls about history using realistic young girl characters and making products intended to be long term keepsakes and heirlooms put away, rather than short-term toys.[[note]]This last part is in part due to the widespread dissemination of 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, which was often posted on the back of catalogs. The story is embellished; the doll exists, but [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120830205137/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001948.asp was actually a mint condition museum piece]] donated by the owner she had posed next to an older trunk.[[/note]] A lot of older fans (older millennials and Gen Xs) who discovered the brand in the 1990s-2000s, in a mix of FanMyopia and NostalgiaGoggles while [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks complaining about how things have changed since the Mattel purchase]], have been seen saying that things wouldn't be [[OpinionMyopia "terrible"]] if she was still in charge of the brand or would come back/be consulted, and could make the line focus on important eras of history instead of "flashy" new lines, revamps, multiple crossovers with other popular media, and eras that are [[MaamShock too "recent"]] to be historical.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Both the Julie and Kit games for the Nintendo DS were given scathing reviews due to poor controls, subpar graphics, LuckBasedMissions, and overall a poor representation of the stories they were supposed to represent. The ''American Girls Premiere'' PC game was a different story, though, being that it was [[SoBadItsGood/VideoGames unintentionally hilarious]].

* CreatorWorship: The founder of the brand, Pleasant Rowland, named the company after herself (Pleasant Company) and was the head until selling it to Mattel in 1998. She nowadays doesn't do many interviews about the brand--she did some small ones for the 35th anniversary in 2021--but she still gets lauded as the ultimate founder with nothing but noble goals for the brand to educate girls about history using realistic young girl characters.[[note]]This is in part due to the widespread dissemination of 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, which was often posted on the back of catalogs. The story is embellished; the doll exists, but [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120830205137/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001948.asp was actually a mint condition museum piece]] donated by the owner she had posed next to an older trunk.[[/note]] A lot of older fans (older millennials and Gen Xs) who discovered the brand in the 1990-2000s, in a mix of FanMyopia and NostalgiaGoggles while [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks complaining about how things have changed since the Mattel purchase]], have been seen saying that things wouldn't be [[OpinionMyopia "terrible"]] if she was still in charge of the brand and could make the line focus on important eras of history instead of "flashy" new lines, revamps, and eras that are [[MaamShock too "recent"]] to be historical.

* FandomHeresy: It's assume that no one liked the [=BeForever=] revamp of the Historical Characters. ''No one.'' It was the worst thing ever second only to Mattel buying the company.

** A lot of older fans can get locked onto several myopic ideas and opinions about the brand. Examples include that the best years of the company being before Mattel bought the company, the founder Pleasant Rowland was [[CreatorWorship purely noble in her mission and only did good]], product quality was at its best when they were a child, characters were more in depth in the past and hinged less on nostalgia, and the most popular characters of the brand are naturally, the Historical Characters (often released before a certain time period, with the other lines of the brand being mere hangers on). This was also an issue with the [=BeForever=] rebranding and later depreciation, which gets looked back on as having been completely inaccurate regarding the Historical Characters and thus, [[FandomHeresy absolutely no one in the fandom found any good in it.]]

** Felicity's [[spoiler:grandfather coughing before he dies]], again in the Felicity movie.

** The website. Especially the online store, much to the derision of puchasers. It's either being unable to place orders properly; at the more disturbing, ''someone else's account'' may show up for no good reason.

** Among some corners of the community, there are constant calls from the VocalMinority to take American Girl "back to its roots" as a brand, generally to [[NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe whatever time their childhood with the brand was]] and especially if the childhood was during Pleasant Company era from 1986 to 1998. (This often includes suggestions to discontinue any or all of the modern dolls (and any collaborations) or "too recent" Historicals such as Courtney and the Hoffman twins (from the 1980s and late 1990s respectively), reverting the [=BeForever=] redesigns, reverting the books to the older designs and six-book format for all characters, and/or rereleasing everything Historical that's been retired, including retired characters and items.) The implication from these people is that this "restoration" will "revive the brand" and not only appeal to the older collectors [[FanMyopia who must all universally be fed up with the direction of the company]], but be certain to bring in new audiences as well (who will surely understand that the way [[NostalgiaGoggles how things used to be were better than now]] and so be fine with the lack of any modern items or anything considered "historical" past a certain endpoint of time and not want anything not as close to the PC days as possible). However, this is a position mostly held by really passionate fans of the brand including hardcore collectors, rather than casual fans of the brand who maybe enjoyed one or two characters and look back on them fondly--and completely overlooks the target child audience of eight- to twelve-year old girls who may not be as enthralled in the brand without modern characters or more recent history that their own parents or grandparents are more likely to have lived through,[[note]]In the mid-1990s, a grandmother of a fifth grader would've have a childhood closer to Molly's era, but one of a fifth grader in the 2020s would've have a childhood closer to Julie's era. TimeMarchesOn.[[/note]] and modern-day characters and outfits similar to their own time to potentially draw them in. This can be really weird when seen in collectors who call for a return to the oft-lauded Pleasant Company days--but who were the target audience in the early 2000s by the time Mattel owned the brand!

** American Girl has a lot of fans who are adult women, often doll collectors, who were fans either as children or came across the brand in other ways. They can be the strictest, most nostalgic fans, especially those who got into the dolls as kids and apply the NostalgiaFilter or FanMyopia too hard. This can also lead to some of the... ''scarier'' parts of the fandom.
** There are fans of the brand in other countries such as Canada, Australia, and the EU even though the brand heavily focuses on American History and culture. American Girl as a company does cater to them, in that items can be shipped there, but purchasers have to call in to set up their shipping costs. In the case of the UK, dolls can't be sent in for repairs due to taxes.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Both the Julie and Kit games for the Nintendo DS were given scathing reviews. The ''American Girls Premiere'' PC game was a different story, though, being that it was [[SoBadItsGood/VideoGames unintentionally hilarious]].

** Agnes and Agatha, whom fans often accuse of replacing Nellie as "safe" friends for Samantha who aren't walking metaphors for classism and the bad parts of the Edwardian era. (This was not helped by the fact the first author was replaced two books in, with a separate author for the third book and the series completed by Valerie Tripp.) Nellie came back in ''Changes for Samantha'' and is present for stories set after [[spoiler:her parents' deaths and her and her sisters' adoption by the Edwards.]]

** From the Girl of the Year DirectToVideo movies, Music/OliviaRodrigo had her start in the movie ''Grace Stirs up Success'' as Grace Thomas (the 2015 Girl of the Year) before her appearance in Disney Channel's ''Series/{{Bizaardvark}}''. Rodrigo later gained critical acclaim for her Billboard chart-topping single "Driver's License".

** Even more so with "permapanties" i.e. permanently-integrated underwear, done by AG as a cost-cutting measure among other things. Needless to say, fans were livid over the change, occasionally comparing it to New Coke or Windows 8's start screen in terms of unnecessary change to a well-established product. Aftermarket doll accessory makers responded with [[http://www.alldolledup-dollclothes.com/store/p427/The_Solution.html conversion kits]] for worn-out or permapantied dolls. In the same vein as Coca-Cola and Microsoft, AG since [[https://www.facebook.com/americangirl/posts/1432849116758244 announced]] that they would discontinue the permapanties, mere months after it was first announced, and offered free repairs to exchange the unwanted bodies for the original style.
** While the drastic changes to the plot in Molly's and Kit's movies were largely considered entertaining and still kept the core of the story (it helps that Molly's books have a lot of detractors who found her and her story much better in the film), when they did it to Melody, whose books were lauded by the fans who read them, reception was not as kind. By making the lead more outspoken and assertive than the ShrinkingViolet she was in the books, [[DisappearedDad taking her dad out of the picture]] (along with all of her siblings--making her an only child--and her grandmother), and moving the focus from being a story about black community to being about integrating into a white school, the movie was criticized for turning a more unique story that went against stereotypes to a borderline racist cliché that felt it had to shove a bunch of white kids in and a "message" to get people to watch. (And on a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking much less serious note]], it barely showed any of the outfits the Melody doll had and gave her glasses which really didn't help the feeling of the AG license being slapped onto an unrelated movie at the last minute--even if it wasn't.) The later Amazon specials were TruerToTheText; ''Ivy & Julie'' switched around the roles of main character and sidekick, but still kept the plot of the books it was adapting.

* {{Narm}}: Jiggy Nye beating Penny in the Felicity movie.

** From the Girl of the Year DirectToVideo movies, Creator/OliviaRodrigo had her start in the movie ''Grace Stirs up Success'' as Grace Thomas (the 2015 Girl of the Year) before her appearance in Disney Channel's ''Series/{{Bizaardvark}}''. Rodrigo later gained critical acclaim for her Billboard chart-topping single "Driver's License".

** Many BJD collectors purchase furniture and/or accessories for their similar sized dolls. A 16-18" BJD will scale decently to chairs, beds, and tables.

* Pleasant Company items vs. Mattel's (to the point that "Pre-Mattel" is often seen as a ''value judgment'' rather than a plain, unbiased term, and some areas of fandom caution to avoid the term).

** A lot of the Beforever stuff has been assumed to be historically inaccurate, particularly bright and colourful items or things that would be considered unusual today. In particular, many people complained that Samantha's [=BeForever=] collection had too much emphasis on pink colored clothing. However, the availability of coal dyes starting in the mid-1800s made bright pink (among other colors) a very widespread fashion choice and highly popular, and it's possible that older extant clothing has faded from originally brighter hues. So yes, Samantha's Frilly Frock is historically accurate, including the lace-up boots (which are roundly mocked as "metallic" but were based on real ''satin'' boots, which would indeed have been shiny).

* BrokenBase: Pleasant Company items vs. Mattel's (to the point that "Pre-Mattel" is often seen as a ''value judgment'' rather than a plain, unbiased term, and some areas of fandom caution to avoid the term); the [=BeForever=] relaunch, which some collectors find as an unnecessary change in character designs and book changes while others feel that the relaunch gave new breath into the line and refocused the line on the age-range of eight-to-twelve year old girls as the primary audience; any character from a later time period than the 1940s, particularly among people who actually lived through their decade (some feel like [[MaamShock they're being called old]] by their childhood being marketed as historical, while others find the post-'40s dolls nostalgic and note that even the ''modern'' line was initially marketed saying that all time was history, including the present). The same is happening with changes made after the five-year [=BeForever=] rebranding.

** A lot of older fans can get locked onto several myopic ideas and opinions about the brand. Examples include that the best years of the company being before Mattel bought the company, the founder Pleasant Rowland was [[CreatorWorship purely noble in her mission and only did good]], product quality was at its best when they were a child, characters were more in depth in the past and hinged less on nostalgia, and the most popular characters of the brand are naturally, the Historical Characters (often released before a certain time period, with the other lines of the brand being mere hangers on). This was also an issue with the [=BeForever=] rebranding and later depreciation, which gets looked back on as having been completely inaccurate regarding the Historical Characters and thus, [[OpinionMyopia absolutely no one in the fandom found any good in it.]]

** The revamp of the Historical Line with [=BeForever=] has led to this opinion in some places. Some collectors insist that the rebranding of the line ruined historical accuracy, shrank the books (they were collected into two-volume books and had illustrations removed to appeal to older demographics) and "dollified" the characters to appeal to modern opinions and color designs instead of caring about the character's classic looks. Much like "pre-Mattel," "pre-Beforever"/"post-Beforever" is considered a loaded term in the fandom.

* CreatorWorship: The founder of the brand, Pleasant Rowland, named the company after herself (Pleasant Company) and was the head until selling it to Mattel in 1998. She nowadays doesn't do many interviews about the brand--she did some small ones for the 35th anniversary in 2021--but she still gets lauded as the ultimate founder with nothing but noble goals for the brand to educate girls about history using realistic young girl characters.[[note]]This is in part due to the widespread dissemination of 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, which was often posted on the back of catalogs. The story is embellished; the doll exists, but [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120830205137/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/artifacts/archives/001948.asp was actually a mint condition museum piece]] donated by the owner she had posed next to an older trunk.[[/note]] A lot of older fans (older millennials and Gen Xs) who discovered the brand in the 1990-2000s, in a mix of FanMyopia and NostalgiaGoggles while [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks complaining about how things have changed since the Mattel purchase]], have been seen saying that things wouldn't be [[OpinionMyopia "terrible"]] if she was still in charge of the brand and could make the line focus on important eras of history instead of "flashy" new lines, reamps, and eras that are [[MaamShock too "recent"]] to be historical.

** Among some corners of the community, there are constant calls from the VocalMinority to take American Girl "back to its roots" as a brand, generally to [[NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe whatever time their childhood with the brand was]] and especially if the childhood was during Pleasant Company era from 1986 to 1998. (This often includes suggestions to discontinue any or all of the modern dolls (and any collaborations) or "too recent" Historicals such as Courtney and the Hoffman twins (from the 1980s and late 1990s respectively), reverting the [=BeForever=] redesigns, reverting the books to the older designs and six-book format for all characters, and/or rereleasing everything Historical that's been retired, including retired characters and items.) The implication from these people is that this "restoration" will "revive the brand" and not only appeal to the older collectors [[FanMyopia who must all universally be fed up with the direction of the company]], but be certain to bring in new audiences as well (who will surely understand that the way [[NostalgiaGoggles how things used to be were better than now]] and so be fine with the lack of any modern items or anything considered "historical" past a certain endpoint of time and not want anything notas close to the PC days as possible). However, this is a position mostly held by really passionate fans of the brand including hardcore collectors, rather than casual fans of the brand who maybe enjoyed one or two characters and look back on them fondly--and completely overlooks the target child audience of eight- to twelve-year old girls who may not be as enthralled in the brand without modern characters or more recent history that their own parents or grandparents are more likely to have lived through,[[note]]In the mid-1990s, a grandmother of a fifth grader would've have a childhood closer to Molly's era, but one of a fifth grader in the 2020s would've have a childhood closer to Julie's era. TimeMarchesOn.[[/note]] and modern-day characters and outfits similar to their own time to potentially draw them in. This can be really weird when seen in collectors who call for a return to the oft-lauded Pleasant Company days--but who were the target audience in the early 2000s by the time Mattel owned the brand!