I've been thinking a lot recently about how American Girl likes to repeat themes in the Girl of the Year line. This is somewhat understandable considering the average American Girl consumer is only interested in the brand for four or five years maximum, but frustrating for collectors who know of the existence of every Girl of the Year.
Lately, most GOTYs have been repeats of a similar doll from the past. Not carbon copies, but similar themes, per say. So I decided to write down every GOTY and figure out how many are copies, including how many have been copies in the past few years!
2001- Lindsey Bergman: didn't really have a theme but she did like animals and scooters
2003- Kailey Hopkins: tide pools/beach, boogie boarding
2005- Marisol Luna: dance, specifically Ballet Folklorico, ballet, tap and jazz
2006- Jess McConnell: international travel (Belize), exploration/adventure, nature
2007- Nicki Fleming: ranch, skiing, animals (dog training and horses)
2008- Mia St. Clair: ice skating
2009- Chrissa Maxwell: swimming, crafts
2010- Lanie Holland: nature, gardening
Jess and Lanie both like nature, but Jess was in Belize and Lanie was in Massachusetts, so it's not really a copy.
2011- Kanani Akina: beach/paddleboarding
Kanani is the first real theme repetition here. Kailey, who was released eight years prior, also frequented a beach and enjoyed water sports. However, it's hard to notice that because AG did well with the Hawaiian theming and differentiating Kanani from Kailey.
2012- McKenna Brooks: gymnastics
2013- Saige Copeland: art and horses
Not only do Nicki and Saige look similar, but they also both share an interest in horses. Nicki was released six years before Saige.
2014- Isabelle Palmer: ballet, costume design
Isabelle was released nine years after Marisol, who also liked to dance.
2015- Grace Thomas: international travel (Paris), baking
Nine years after Jess traveled to Belize, Grace traveled to Paris.
2016- Lea Clark: international travel (Brazil), photography, nature, animals
Lea is more of a Jess repeat than Grace was, since they are both interested in exploration and nature and they both travel in the Americas.
2017- Gabriela McBride: poetry, dance
The dance element of Gabriela's story is clearly inspired by Marisol and Isabelle, even going as far as to reuse Isabelle items and recolor them. This is due to the lack of development time Gabriela had (11 months as opposed to 2-3 years for a regular GOTY)
2018- Luciana Vega: space exploration
2019- Blaire Wilson: farm, cooking, animals
Blaire's interest in cooking could be traced back to Grace's passion for baking 4 years earlier, but it's more likely coming from Nicki, who also lived in a home full of animals.
2020- Joss Kendrick: surfing, cheerleading
Joss is most similar to Kailey from 17 years earlier with her interest in surfing and also living in California.
2021- Kira Bailey: international travel (Australia), animals, nature
*looks at Lea from five years earlier*
*looks at Lanie from eleven years earlier*
*looks at Jess from fifteen years earlier*.
Enough said. Kira isn't that original. I do appreciate her aunts though.
2022- Corinne Tan: dog training, skiing
Nicki from fifteen years earlier lived in Colorado, skiied and dog trained. Corinne... you're a lot like Nicki.
Do you like AG copying previous dolls or no?
Some of the things that have been mentioned will probably be covered in the WBU series. With the GOTY they need topics that will appeal to the most girls in the short time they are available. They did handle that some when they extended the doll's availability - but the BTI is gone shortly after the year is over. That was the thing people needed time to save for. They have brought the price down on those as well. I think the biggie was Grace's Bakery for $500!!
I think they are under new management and they seem to be doing a good job of things - so instead of looking back - all we can do is look to…
I'm glad all of you guys are discussing this a lot! I wasn't able to share my feelings on this because I was rushing out the door when I posted this, but I'm fine with it as long as it's not a total carbon copy. For example, Corinne's story deals with totally different topics than Nicki's, and her being Chinese-American and in another social class adds a layer of differentiation as well. I do however wish AG didn't rely on the same themes over and over and chose different ones as well from time to time, but they've been getting better at that with the introductions of Luciana and Joss.
I remember when Saige was released I noticed the Nicki theming, with a similar appearance, the horse interest, black-and-white dog, and Nicki was also interested in art in the books. Personally, I understand AG wanting to appeal to the same modern demographics ten years apart... but that's also what the Truly Me line is for. Something NEW with the contemporary would be grand. Like... a modern gamer? An archaeologist? More masculine sports?? like HELLO there's so much stuff they could do that they just don't cause they're hoping that Jess #5 will save them from financial ruin. just make a dinosaur girl ag it's not hard
I wish they would throw in some new ideas, simply because I'm tired of seeing the same story year after year, but I guess AG's target age matches up with the spacing of repeats. Shame about Kira though... I have no excuse for her (she's just washed-out Lea)
It's interesting comments about kids who visit foreign countries....... I know that when my mom was still teaching there were kids that got to travel abroad during summer vacation. Over the course of about 6 years one visited Ireland, one visited Portugal, and another one visited somewhere else, but I can't remember where, plus she had students from the Dominican Republic and Japan.. When I was in 3rd grade one of my friends went to Finland to visit relatives. Because of geographical proximity we traveled to Canada a few times (I know it's not that "foreign" but). While it certainly wasn't the majority, world travel isn't totally freakishly obscure. And, for reference, these weren't highly affluent families. Just middle class…