American Girl

Hello! I decided to make a chart listing every doll's release and retirement (as of today). I think it's interesting to see how long a doll was available so I decided to do a little research. I want to thank AG Wiki for being a big help, as well as Desert Doll Ranch on Tumblr for her informative posts. Below is a legend to help you along, and on the bottom I've written some notes for further explanation and trivia.

Italics means a re-release of a doll who was previously retired.

An asterisk (*) means a Limited Edition doll, not including Girl of the Year dolls, since Lindsey and Kailey were around for about 2 calendar years, and every GOTY since 2017 has been around longer than 1 year, so for this reason, each GOTY doll's retirement year is mentioned. These include other dolls that were only meant to be around for a limited time such as Costco exclusive dolls (like Molly's BeForever re-release), the 35th Anniversary dolls, limited edition Swarovski dolls, etc.

I didn't include the one-of-a-kind Swarovski dolls that were auctioned off in 2019 and 2020, since they weren't mass produced. I listed Kit's 2023 Birthday re-release as limited edition, however we do not know yet if she will remain in her original meet outfit or if this fixture is permanent.

Notes: Many of the dolls from the Truly Me revamp were similar to previous dolls, but since they had the painted eyelashes added and different eyebrows, they are considered different dolls. Dolls 105 and 114 of the Truly Me revamp are identical re-numbered versions of 70 and 73, respectively, so they are listed as a re-release.

The 2021 blonde "Sparkling Ballerina" doll was a Costco exclusive, and although similar to #22, her hair is completely different so she is considered a different doll. The other Costco dolls are exact copies of pre-existing TM dolls.

Around 2007-2009, many of the still existing AGOT/TM dolls who still had "pie bangs", were modified to have a thinner bang style. However, since the exact time of each of these individual changes for each particular doll are unknown, they are not listed as different dolls.

Of the original AGOT/TM dolls, aside from the bang changes mentioned above, the following dolls (6, 18, 19, 27 and 54) are mentioned as different versions, with a decimal to signify the changes, which are as follows:

• #6 was originally released in 1995 with black hair and brown eyes, before she was changed to have blonde hair and green eyes in 1997.

• #18 was originally released in 1995 with the same hairstyle as #1 but had lighter brown eyes, before she was changed in 1999 to have bangs.

• #19 was originally released in 1995 with dark brown hair and grey eyes, before being charged in 1999 to have light brown hair and green eyes (her bangs were eventually modified as well).

• #27 was originally released with permanent earrings in 2006, before ear piercing became an option for all Truly Me dolls in 2008, so as such, her earrings were removed.

• #54 was originally released in 2011 with the regular Jess mold, before being given the modified Jess mold in 2015 with the painted eye sockets (similar to Ivy Ling).

This list does not include any changes made to the dolls like face mold changes over time (otherwise we'd be here forever lol), or things like "Samber" eyes or other collector features.

In 2014, Samantha was re-released out of retirement for the BeForever launch. The existing historical dolls (Josefina, Addy, Rebecca, Kit, Julie) were re-released with new meet outfits and other minor changes. Kaya and Caroline remained the same. Felicity was later brought back for a short time, as was Molly (as a Costco exclusive).

Of the original Truly Me line before it's 2022 revamp, the following dolls still available (as of September 2023): 25, 42, 44, 64, 66, 71, 72, 73, 77, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92.

Trivia:

• At 32 years, Samantha Parkington has been around the longest. She was around for 23 years from the line's debut in 1986, before she was retired in 2009. She was then brought back during the BeForever relaunch in 2014, and as of 2023 is still available.

• At 30 years, Addy Walker is the longest running continuous doll, having been available since her debut in 1993. She was given a new outfit and hairstyle in 2014 as part of the BeForever launch, and was released in her original form for the 35th Anniversary.

• Molly McIntire has the record for most re-releases, with 3. She was initally retired in 2013, before being revamped (temporarily) as a Costco exclusive in 2018 with a new outfit as part of BeForever, she was re-released in her original outfit as part of the 35th Anniversary, and then was brought back again in 2022.

• Felicity Merriman could also be considered to have 3 re-releases. In the early 2000s, she had been removed from catalogs and made online only, although she was not completely retired. She was revamped in 2005 with a new meet outfit (along with Elizabeth's release) to promote her movie until officially retired in 2011. She was revamped again in 2017 with a third meet outfit as part of the BeForever line, before quietly being retired two years later. She was then released a third time in 2021 in her original meet outfit as part of the 35th Anniversary. I guess you could say she had 2-and-a-half re-releases, since during her first revamp, she wasn't retired. Should Felicity ever be released again, she will have beaten Molly's record.

• Of the original 3 historical dolls, Kirsten Larson is the only one to never be re-released permanently, aside from her brief return for the 35th Anniversary. She is the only one of the original 6 Pleasant Company historical dolls to have only one meet outfit (although collectors may find slight changes in her outfit depending on age).

• The AGOT/TM doll with the longest availability, was #13 at 27 years having been around since the line's debut in 1995, before retiring in 2022 (although her bangs were modified in the late 2000s).

• The AGOT/TM doll with the shortest availability is #86 at just 20 months. She was released in February 2020, and was retired in 2021.

• Another one with a notable short time is the original #6. She was released in 1995 before her change in 1997. However, since AG did not have a website then, it is unknown when exactly she was discontinued.

• Other dolls with a notable short availability with under three years are: original #27, 36, 45, 50, 76, 81, 82, 83, 84.

• #25 is currently the "oldest" TM doll still available.

• #4 is the only AGOT/TM doll to have her own unique face mold, and as such this is the only face mold without a name (aside from the classic mold). The closest to this would be the boy dolls who each have modified versions of previous existing molds.

• The Girl of the Year doll with the longest run (to this day) was Luciana Vega. She released January 2018, before retiring in September of 2021.

• Since 1991, at least one new doll has been released every year, with the exceptions of 1992, 1994, and 1998.

• Since 2004, at least three new dolls have been released every year, with the exception of 2010, in which Lanie Holland (the Girl of the Year) was the only doll released.

• 2022 is the year with the most new dolls released at 31 (3 of whom - Molly, 105 and 114 - were re-releases of previous dolls). The others are GOTY Corinne and her little sister Gwynn, new historical Claudie, and the Limited Edition Sapphire Splendor doll.

• As of September of 2023, no new TM dolls have been released this year, which marks this the first year since 2010 that no new TM dolls were released.

If there are any dolls that you think I missed with regards to release year or retirement year, feel free to let me know. If you have any other interesting facts you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them!

So, I made a post earlier today about wanting an American Girl doll from my home state of Utah. It made me wonder how many states are represented by American Girl and how many girls are from each state. In total, I found 18 total states and DC represented. While that's a big number, it's not quite half the country yet. Before I start the state by state break down, I have to mention that there are two Nicki characters with the same spelling, one a GOTY and another a recent historical character. I'll be referring to them as Nicki 2007 and Nicki 1999. Also, Kaya is the only American Girl to not have a home state because her tribe traveled through three different ones, so none of them can have full claim to Kaya's identity.

I'll be going in alphabetical order by state. In California we have Julie, Courtney, Joss, and Kailey. In Colorado we have, Nicki 2007 and Corinne. In DC, we have Isabelle, Evette, Maritza, and Makena. In Florida, we have Maryellen. In Hawaii, we have Nanea and Kanani. In Illinois, we have Molly, Lindsey, and Marisol. In Louisiana, we have Marie Grace and Cecile. In Massachusetts, we have Lanie and Grace. In Michigan, we have Melody, Kira, and Jess. In Minnesota, we have Kirsten and Chrissa. In Missouri, we have Lea. In New Mexico, we have Josefina, and Saige. In New Jersey, we have Kavi. In New York, we have Claudie, Rebecca, Samantha, Caroline, Mia, and Blaire. In Ohio, we have Kit. In Pennsylvania, we have Addy and Gabriela. In Tennessee, we have Tenney. In Virginia, we have Luciana and Felicity. Finally, in Washington state we have, Z, McKenna, Isabel, and Nicki 1999.

Use this information however you want to. I do want to point out, Claudie and Rebecca are both from NYC. Also, all the girls from Washington are more specifically from Seattle. Finally, Nicki 2007 is old enough to have been 2 during Nicki 1999's story. In fact, all GOTYs before Lanie are old enough to have been alive in 1999. Some of them might even be old enough to remember Y2K, though I'm not sure who because what you can remember and how much at what age varies from person to person. Take me, for example. I was technically old enough to remember the GOTYs that were released during my early elementary school years (Mia, Chrissa, Lanie, and Kanani), but I wasn't aware of American Girl until McKenna because the trailer for her movie was included in my DvD of The Lorax. It makes me wonder how Lindsey in particular would have reacted to 9/11.

Edit: I originally put Kavi in the New York group because of how close her town is to NYC. I fixed it. I also said Kit was from Connecticut. Oops. And I forgot about Z, Tenney, and World by Us. Last thing, there's been someone talking to me who is concerned I might have used some hurtful language regarding Kaya. I've looked over my words, and I can see where their coming from. I deleted the comments with the hurtful language because I don't want anyone from Kaya's or any tribe to see it and be hurt by my words. I've apologized to the user and told them that I will be more careful when talking about Kaya in the future. I'm sorry to anyone who cares about her and would have seen issue with my words. I think I've learned a valuable lesson leading me in the right direction to have sensitive conversations regarding Kaya and other Native Peoples in the future. I can't stress enough how incredibly sorry I am.