agrosehamada

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Hiro is home!!! (Of course he got a big hug from Tadashi, and let me tell you that was very therapeutic for all of us 💙)

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Absolutely HATED using this yarn because of how inconsistent the colorway is, but I think it’s still cute nonetheless!!

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Today Rose and I went for a voyage on the Titanic ⚓

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Yesterday we celebrated Rose's birthday! She got two new ball jointed dolls for her collection, we had Korean corn dogs and blueberry cheesecake, and we watched two of her favorite Ghibli movies, Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service 💙 All in all a pretty great birthday!

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Recently completed outfits 💙

Bloom from Winx Club 🦋🔥

Francesca Bridgerton inspired dress 🎹

90's Simba outfit 🦁

Kingdom Hearts sea salt ice cream nightgown ⭐

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Finished this Tinkerbell inspired dress for Penny, and Rose was modeling so we got some cute pics with the decorations we helped a friend put up for her birthday party tomorrow! 🦋🍄

Also went to a doll meetup today! I brought Rose, Tadashi, and my Huskerdust 20 cm dolls! (Husk's clothes are still coming in the mail so Angel let him borrow one of his outfits!)

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Happy Pride from me, Rose, and mini Angel 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ It's a little harder to feel the celebration this year with everything going on, but we're sticking close to our community and just loving even harder 💙

We recently got the opportunity to meet Alex Brightman at a convention, honestly such a sweet and delightful man! 💙

Also I've been working on some stuff for an upcoming trip, trip pics to come soon! 💙

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Custom Hazbin Hotel custom Calico Critters--I've had so much fun working on these and I've got plans for more! ^^

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Doll posting pet peeves

Me: *posts a pic of Rose in a cute dress I just made her*

Random stranger: Why is her face so shiny?

Me: *internally because I don't like starting fights* It's mostly just the lighting but also she's a very loved, very well traveled doll. Thank you for the reminder she needed a spa day but honestly this is just how she is. To be loved is to be changed. Why don't you mind your business?

(I get it, some people like to keep their dolls pristine. And I do my best to take care of Rose, but she goes everywhere and does everything with me so she's not going to look perfect, and I think she's happier going on adventures than sitting on a shelf all the time. Why do people have to be rude?)

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Recently completed outfit dump! Two Pokemon yukata, one with Flareon ears and one with Leafeon ears 🔥🌿

And my attempt at an Edwardian sailor dress ⚓🛟 (It may not be perfect but I think it turned out cute! 💙)

We hope everyone is enjoying their weekend--we're very much enjoying having a long weekend so we could see some friends but also get some sewing done and continue on our Winx Club watchthrough! (We may actually have a special Winx project coming up! 🦋)

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Raquel Reyes may be a descendant of Samantha for AG's 40th Anniversary

2026 will be American Girl's 40th anniversary, and with it the anniversary of Samantha, Molly and Kirsten. As much as we love all three of the girls, it's undeniable that Samantha was the breakout star of the group, who was literally used as American Girl's icon for ages. Even in semi-retirement, she's still very much the face of the company and everyone remembers and loves her stories of acceptance, family, fistfighting the patriarchy and unionizing.

Recently, 2026's Girl of the Year, Raquel Reyes, and her starter collection (maybe full collection? Looks a bit small tho) has leaked. And it is looking very likely that she is either a Samantha fangirl or a straight-up DESCENDANT of Samantha Mary Parkington.

Leaks and discussion under the cut.

Got these photos from this reddit post from @/Phsyical_Occasion_57, Lord knows if it'll stay up tho so I'm reposting the relevant images below.

Now, at first, just seems like a preppy Girl of the Year. We've had pink and girly GOTYs for the last two years so a little disappointing, but I'm sure our tomboy sports girls will have their day. But no, what attracted people's attention was THIS.

Two black-and-white photos in her trunk, one of Samantha Parkington in a fancy outfit, the other seemingly of Parkington manor.

Now, she could very well just be a fangirl like Z Yang; it would fit with the meta we know she established. BUT. The black-and-white photography implies it may be a historical image rather than a printed photo of a character she likes, and we ALSO know that precedent for AG characters growing up was tested out with Julie in the graphic novel and McKenna in Lila's books (more on that later). There's also been speculation that American Girl in-universe is a company that depicts actual historical figures from their world, as Z makes a reference to "the real Nanea" when she makes her Nanea stopmotion. So this could be confirming that by having a descendant of Samantha in the same universe as Z and the other modern dolls.

But the picture isn't all– her collection is EXTREMELY Samantha-coded. Firstly, the pink-and-white and florals, obviously, but that could be for any girly girl. But let's look at her specifics.

Raquel's outfit, first– it's EXTREMELY evocative of BOTH of Samantha's Meet outfits. The bow is obvious, but the checker pattern on both is highly reminiscent of Samantha's main arrival outfit, with the pink and shorter skirt being very similar to her BeForever design. Both dresses also share the puffy sleeves with her. Raquel's shoes also have red bows like the BeForever outfit and Samantha's belt.

She also has a gold bow bracelet and golden heart necklace beside the Samantha portrait; while neither seem to show the detail on Samantha's brocade, it could be reversed or a different necklace simply meant to match old photos. In any case, it's EXTREMELY similar to her BeForever necklace.

She seems to be interested in Pickleball (basically tennis if y'all don't know), but her pickleball set and dress are labelled as for Piney Point, somewhere Samantha frequented in Samantha Saves the Day at her step-grandfather's house.

Her floral dress is also VERY BeForever Samantha– so while not very historically accurate, VERY accurate for what AG envisions a modern-style Samantha to look like. The hat above the dress as well is definitely something I've seen in Sam's collections before.

Also compare both the floral dress and her meet outfit to Samantha's Harlem Fashion Row outfit from the 35th anniversary.

Her accessory bag also brings to mind Samantha's handbag and floral handkerchief accessories.

But that's just aesthetics– let's also take a look at that photo of Samantha. What's right next to it?

it's a recipe for Peppermint Ice Cream.

So at the VERY VERY least, Raquel is a Samantha fan. But the black-and-white photo and seemingly """handwritten""" recipe imply that she may be straight-up related to our very own Samantha Parkington. This, along with the fact that 2026 will be the 40th anniversary of American Girl, highly implicates a more-than-baseline connection between them.

And it's not just that; I think American Girl has been lowkey testing the waters for this since 2020. [Maybe even before, but Z was a bit of a rush-job I don't think they thought through.]

Back in Covid days, when Courtney dropped, there was a lot of disappointment around her design, including from me. Mostly the fact she was another blonde-haired blue-eyed white girl, but not even an interesting-looking one; she was nearly identical to Maryellen. When she first was leaked, people started rumors that she may be related to Maryellen as copium, maybe even her daughter. [photo from @/BookJockey1979 on reddit]

Obviously this wasn't what happened, but I think American Girl noticed the interest around such a thing. The next tested the waters of family dolls with Corinne and Gwynn being sisters– and that seemed to work out for them fine. Then, it was Lila Monetti being the student of McKenna, the 2012 Girl of the Year. Not only was that something fans loved, they LATCHED onto that so excitedly. And while it's definitely not the reason Lila is such a bestseller– her cute design and adorable collection is probably to blame for that– it probably helped the older market that wouldn't otherwise look her way and got Lila basically free social media publicity from fans. And AG is very social media-present.

I think the final test was 2024's Julie and the Blue Guitar. The graphic novel details a girl in modern times trying to track down an adult Julie, and eventually succeeding and meeting her. This was the first time we'd seen an adult historical character (unless you follow the Caroline or GrandMarie theories, which are faaar from confirmed), with the oldest anyone had ever gotten being Samantha's 16 in the Titanic book. And reception to this book was very positive. At the very least, nobody threw a fit; while it's only got 4 reviews on the official site, all are 5-star, with the same level of it's 5 amazon reviews. The most reviews I could find were on Goodreads, which has a 4/5 from 65 reviews right now. So if that speaks to anything? It was probably AG's last test before they gave the go-ahead for Raquel Parkington-Reyes.

Having Raquel as Samantha's descendant is also a genius marketing strategy; JUST from the initial reddit leaks, I've seen comments on both reddit and instagram saying they already are planning to buy Raquel based on the Samantha connection alone. Not only is she pandering to the nostalgia market, not only is she pink and frilly like Mattel loves (and what sold well with Lila), but she's also finally a non-white Girl of the Year, so the "AG So White" demographic isn't pissed. The name "Raquel Reyes" is very hispanic, she has the same face-mold as Maritza, and she has a medium skintone. Right now the name is very popular in Brazil and the United States, and MyNameStats.com says that 63% of people named Raquel that they've gathered are of Hispanic or Latine origin. All of this heavily implies that Raquel will be latine, which is great since the last latine doll of the year we had was Luciana (and Maritza as our last modern, who barely had advertisement).

So Raquel is nostalgia-bait for the collectors, extremely girly and frilly for the child doll-collecting market (or at least what Mattel thinks it is) and isn't a third white GOTY in a row, so it mitigates our frustration at AG's lack of diversity. Pretty much, everyone wins, and Raquel is gonna be their major cash cow for their anniversary year.

And I can't wait.

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New Dollblr Game: What States/Countries/Etc has your doll visited with you?

I'll start! So far Rose has been to California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida with me :) We're hoping to add Colorado later this summer, and maybe Utah and Nevada next year! :D

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Ren faire day with Rose as Angel Dust and Fat Nuggets 🩷🕸️

We went to the petting zoo and met a bunch of cute animals including a pig and a kangaroo!

And then we went to a pirate ship wreck and met two mermaids and a merman!

We also did some trinket trading and came home with some new treasures for the treasure box! Overall a fantastic day even though my allergies aren't happy now XD

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Just finished this Haunted Mansion wallpaper dress with a headband inspired by the attic bride herself, Constance Hatchaway 🪓👻

Also finished these custom Hazbin Hotel and Calico Critters 💙

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It's a Snow White kind of day 🍎

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Lightning McQueen pit crew⚡(Patch on the back from PatchForceUS on Etsy!)

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Rose wanted some bjd's of her own and the little Kikagoods dolls are the perfect size 💙