One of the top results when you look up "American Girl" is "Is American Girl closing?"
Headlines read "American Girl doll sales are plummeting. Can it be saved?"
"Kids, And Possibly Parents, Are No Longer Interested in American Girl Dolls."
"American Girl is dying, and taking Mattel with them."
I am not in American Girl's target age range. I am in high school, will be turning 15 next month, and none of my friends (except one) like American Girl. Even my younger friends have abandoned them at the ages of 11 and 13. Most AGTubers have been disappearing, and this will most likely boost as more grow older and YouTube's new COPPA restrictions come about. Most Saturday mornings save for Christmastime, I'm the only one who shows up at the AG store at 10 am. Even I have been gaining new interests: I'm a Miraculous Ladybug nerd, an anime fangirl, I've always loved writing, and I've been in pursuit of my directing dreams more aggressively .
But, no matter what, I will always love American Girl.
Why, of all things, would an almost-fifteen year old high school freshman still love American Girl so much?
The reason? American Girl inspires me in almost everything I do.
I'm pretty introverted, and if it wasn't for AG, directing would be hard for me. But making AGSM videos, blogging here, and reading AG books inspire me to reach my dreams: and despite the barriers, I can follow my dreams.
I also love most of the dolls' stories. Whether its' Samantha's struggle to help out Nellie or Joss's unique way of finding confidence to do what she wants, they all inspire me in one way or another and remind me that I can be "the best that I can be". They also let me get ahead in elementary school history, and I'm still killing it in world history honors at high school!
Another aspect I love about AG is how much there is to learn about all the different dolls... from their face molds to little facts sprinkled in their stories to outfit release dates. As a girl with autism, I pretty much want to know everything about anything I'm interested in, and there's a wealth of information to learn about American Girl!
Sure, it's fun to dress AG dolls and brush their hair, and holding them helps me cope with sensory overload, but why do I love AG when I could be into Barbie or another kind of doll? Well, AG dolls are pretty awesome. I could go on for hours about how awesome they are, but I'll stop here.
But one thing's for sure... no matter what others may say, AG will never be irrelevant... because they'll always be relevant in my heart.
I'm in college myself and I still love AG. As they say, age is just a number, so who cares if you're not in the target age range anymore? And I can relate about the autism and sensory overload part, since I'm autistic myself.
It's great that we have ag fan sites like this one so that we can all come together and know that we are not alone in loving dolls!
I am an adult collector. I'll be 53 in 2 months. I have loved AG since 1986 and I will always love them :)
One of those articles popped up for me, too. I do sometimes worry about AG in this modern age; lots of kids would rather play with an iPad than a doll. But to say the company is “dying” is a stretch.
Also I’m in college so don’t worry about being too old for dolls :)
So sad! :'(