American Girl caused Girl of the Year theory season to commence earlier than expected when they dropped the bombshell that 2024's doll will be releasing ahead of the 2023 holiday season! Normally, we'd be about seven months away, but now we're like... four?
Anyway, I figured that I'd go about the same theory routine I went through for Kavi and Kira for the new girl, rumored to be named Lila Monetti:
To start, I thought of year patterns that 2024 falls into (like even numbered years) and made a list of all the Girl of the Years that each year correlates with. Once I had my lists, my brain cells started working hard and then, conclusions were made!
The first list of Girl of the Years I made was the ones from odd numbered years. To narrow it down, I made the list Lila and the last four Girl of the Years from odd numbered years- Corinne, Joss, Luciana and Lea.
I observe from this pattern that these dolls are more of the active, adventure-like type dolls, who all either excel at a sport or/and go on an adventure (like Corinne's camping trip and getting lost in the ski slopes or Lea's trip to Brazil/Luciana's trip to Chile). I would say maybe a trip to Paris, where the Olympics are, but that was Grace's storyline and I doubt AG would want to make her travel like that, but chances are Lila will be sporty and like adventure.
The second list is dolls from every three years. Again, I narrowed it down to the last four- Kira, Luciana, Grace and McKenna.
ALL OF THESE DOLLS HAVE THE JOSEFINA MOLD. That is a weird coincidence, I know, but besides Lea, Blaire and Marisol, the only Girls of the Year with the Josefina mold have been in 2009 (Chrissa), 2012 (McKenna), 2015 (Grace), 2018 (Luciana) and 2021 (Kira). If the pattern holds, than Lila will have the Josefina mold.
In addition, there are two different color palettes that each of these dolls have. McKenna and Luciana's collections focus on blues and purples, while Grace's and Kira's are more pinks. Since Kavi's palette is more purple and blue, I can imagine Lila's as more pink.
In addition, this orange neutral color is the 2024 color of the year. Usually, these correlate with GOTY collections, and this correlates with the sneak peek image from Toy Fair, so it probably will show up in her collection somehow...
The third list is dolls from every four years. The dolls in this pattern are Joss, Lea, McKenna and Mia.
This is where I mention the theory I bring up every four years - the Olympic Theory, where in Olympic years, the doll has something to do with the Olympics. Joss surfed in 2020 (surfing was supposed to debut that year before the pandemic delay), Lea went to Brazil (where the Olympics was located), McKenna was a gymnast, and Mia was an ice skater. I doubt Lila will go to Paris, where the Olympics are being held this year, but skateboarding and climbing are the new sports this year, and I can imagine Lila being more of a climbing explorer, considering Nicki Hoffman just came out and she skateboards.
The last list is dolls from every five years- Blaire, Isabelle and Chrissa are included in this pattern. It's a weird thing that ties all three together, but all three deal with some sort of social issue regarding complications of friendships. Friendship is always a part of Girl of the Year stories, but these ones take those themes to the next level - Chrissa dealt with bullying, Isabelle had trouble fitting in with a new school, and Blaire had problems communicating with friends and with social media.
Before I go onto the CYO generator and try to come up with my guess on what Lila will look like, there's one more thing I thought of. Lately, Girls of the Year have been sort of similar to dolls from about ten years ago. Here are some examples:
Joss and Chrissa have an eleven year gap. Joss likes surfing, and Chrissa likes swimming.
Kira and Lanie have a eleven year gap. Kira and Lanie are both blonde environmentalists.
Corinne and Nicki have a fifteen year gap. They both live in Colorado and ski.
Gabriela and Marisol have a twelve year gap. They are both interested in dancing.
Lea and Jess have a ten year gap. They both explore a tropical South American country.
Ten years from Lila would be Isabelle, eleven years would be Saige and twelve years would be McKenna. I could imagine Lila being a sporty girl like McKenna who goes on an adventure and learns something about friendship along the way.
Now, here's my guess on what Lila will look like:
What do you guys think?