Friday, March 11, 2016

The Evolution of American Girl

Hello everyone! Bella here. Today I have a different kind of post. The evolution of American Girl. American Girl started in the fall of 1986. It was started by Pleasant Rowland and was named Pleasant Company.(Sometimes I'm going to abbreviate it PC.) The first three dolls were Molly McIntire, Samantha Parkington, and Kirsten Larson. (Notice how all of them (well, not Samantha anymore, but she changed.) are retired?) I thought that it was interesting that the original dolls are retired. Felicity Merriman and Addy Walker were added later. The dolls had white bodies and soft eyelashes.
                                                      The Torso
(I'm not sure who's picture this is. If it is your, please let me know and I will take it down.)
Here is a picture of a first edition Molly doll. She has the white body. (She is also signed by Pleasant Rowland which makes her even more a collectible.)
Some dolls have artist marks. (I'll talk about that in a later post.)
Dolls made from 1986 to somewhere in 1991 had white bodies. They also didn't have any tags. Another thing about them was they were made in Germany, not China. Tan bodies where introduced when Felicity came out in 1991. They also started having tags on the body in 1998. Somewhere in the 90s' they were made in China. 

The Head

The eyelashes. 

(Click *Here* for a great comparison between Pleasant Company dolls and American Girl) 
These are the eyelashes of a PC doll.
(These are not my pictures. Full credit to *this* blog. Click on the link above the picture for the post they came from)
These are the eyelashes of an AG doll. You can't tell from the pictures, but the PC eyelashes are nice and soft, while the AG one's are just hard.
The vinyl of PC dolls are squishier, Their faces seem to be more chubby also. 
Now that we established the difference, I will go on to the history.
In 1998 Mattel bought Pleasant Company from Pleasant Rowland. After Mattel bought the company the name was changed to American Girl. The quality of their products slowly went down. Pleasant Rowland retired from the board in 2000.
~~~~
I decided at the last minute that I should say that if you have a doll, like I have Katrina, and her neck says Pleasant Company, it is not Pleasant Company. She has a tag on her body that says American Girl made in China 2008. Also, if you have a Kaya doll that says Pleasant Company 2002, it is not Pleasant Company. Dolls from 1986-1997 are genuine PC dolls.
There you have it! The evolution of American Girl! Thank you so much for reading!
Do you have any genuine Pleasant Company dolls?
<3Bella




13 comments:

  1. This is such a good post! I never knew that Mattel changed the name to American Girl. I thought it was just Pleasant Company American Girl before Mattel. Also I just looked at my Kaya and she does have pleasant company on her neck! neat! I wonder why though, if she is a Mattel American Girl...
    ~Lilah
    www.worldofmagic-ljs.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I will make another post about why some say Pleasant Company when it really is American Girl.
      <3Bella

      Delete
  2. I don't know for sure. I have a doll that says plesant company on her neck. I baught her for $40 2 years ago on eBay. I looked and it looks like her tag wad torn off by her old owner. So i dont know if it was made in china or not. However her eyelashes are softer than those of the rest of my American Girl dolls. So i think i have 1 Plesant Company doll and 4 AG dolls. The plesant company doll when i baught her she was described as a just like me doll but those were introduced .... I just googled it. The just like me dolls were introduced in 1995 4 years before matel baught plesant company. Technecally they were at the time called American Girl Of Today. So i'd say my doll was made somewhere between 1995-1998

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh gea, visiting my blog and following itvwould mean a lot to me. Please visit and follow my blog. Americangirlsdolls4ever.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. My oldest doll, Jessica, has pleasant company on her neck and I cut off her tag when I was a little kid.... It probably says 2008, because that is when I got her.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Agteen
    That was so cool
    https://americangirldollteen.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't have a genuine Pleasant Company doll, but my Kaya has the stamp on her neck. :) I knew it wasn't genuine because it states, "Pleasant Company 2002" and Mattel bought AG in 2000, I think.

    ReplyDelete

Hi! Thanks so much for commenting! It means a lot. Since this is a doll blog I would like for it to be a blog for all ages. When you comment please think of these two things. One, no swearing or bad language. Two, be kind to other people and try not to start an argument. If you have a doll blog feel free to leave a link, and I will check it out! Thanks for taking time to comment!
~Saige~