#isabel hoffman

[apeekintothepantry]

Happy Pokémon Day! February 27th is the anniversary of the first two Pokémon games’ release in Japan, and it’s a minor holiday in my house, as a fun excuse to make Pokémon inspired food, watch some Pokémon shows or movies (we’re going to watch Netflix’s new Pokémon Concierge this year!), and get excited about upcoming games and releases. This year, we’re making a Pokémon Sword and Shield inspired burger-steak curry and I’m making a dessert from the Pokémon Cookbook by Victoria Rosenthal. It’s one of my favorite fandom cookbooks – all the recipes are vegetarian or vegan, to get around the awkward question of where does the meat in the Pokémon universe come from?

But that’s not all we’re making! Ever since Nicki and Isabel were released, I’ve been dying to do a post about them and Pokémon’s infamous “Jelly Filled Doughnuts”, better – and more accurately! – known as onigiri.

Pokémon was released in the United States in 1998 via two Gameboy games: Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. The games quickly caught on to be one of the biggest pop culture phenomenon of the late 90’s and early 00’s, and as a kid at the heart of this explosion, I can’t overstate how much of a big deal it was. One of the great things about Pokémon – and probably why it has such lasting, widespread appeal – is that there are so many ways to interact with the franchise, and the marketing doesn’t skew hugely towards one gender or the other. Cool, tough Pokémon like Charizard got pretty similar billing to cute, pink Pokémon like Jigglypuff, and there were so many options for potential favorites that it was easy for any kid to find some creature to attach themselves to.

One of my petty complaints with Nicki and Isabel’s collection and books is the almost complete lack of mention of Pokémon and other anime that was really popular among kids in 1999. I know AG probably didn’t want to shell out for licensing deals with Nintendo or The Pokémon Company, but their stories just don’t feel accurate without discussing their prized binder of Pokémon cards or begging their parents to take them to see the Pokémon movie in theaters. Maybe the authors were just a little too old to get caught up in Pokémania?

I’ve also always thought its close overlap with the Beanie Babies crazy helped get millennial children like me very into the “gotta catch ‘em all” aspect of the franchise. Is this why I’m such a crazy toy collector as an adult? Who knows.

The Pokémon anime was one of the main ways kids like me got hooked on the franchise, because not everyone was allowed to have a Gameboy of their own (me), and not everyone liked video games, but even if you didn’t like video games, the cartoon might appeal to you. Although it was far from the first Japanese cartoon to air on US television, Pokémon was one of if not the first truly mainstream favorites of the 1990’s. 4Kids, the company in charge of dubbing the show into English, decided that American kids wouldn’t understand or be open to certain aspects of the show that reflected its Japanese roots, and so made a lot of strange choices in rewriting the script. One of the most notorious was deciding Brock’s rice balls were actually jelly filled doughnuts:

Onigiri – also known as omusubi or nigirimeshi – are balls of rice with a variety of fillings inside. They’re often compared to sandwiches, as an easy, quick, cheap meal or snack that combines carbs and other ingredients. While the concept of taking a rice ball and stuffing it full of other tasty treats goes way back to ancient Japan, the triangle shape became popular in the 1980’s thanks to a new machine that automated the filling process. Further developments over the last 40 years have created unique ways to prepackage onigiri without making the nori wrapping sticky. The ones we made were an attempt at recreating the “Hawaiian” (spam and pineapple) rice balls from our favorite food hall back in DC. One of my favorite pandemic indulgences was getting take out from the food hall, which often included a sampler of some of my favorite onigiri, and I haven’t been able to find anything close to similar where we are now. One of the many reasons I’m excited to move!

Even as a kid, I wasn’t convinced the food in the anime was fried dough with fruit jelly inside, because they sure look like rice. I also think 4Kids didn’t anticipate that Pokémon’s widespread popularity would inspire many of its fans – including me – to become absolutely obsessed with Japanese food and culture. I would’ve been more excited if they’d just been straight with me and shown more Japanese food on the show, and then probably begged my parents to make it or take me to a restaurant that made it. While I can’t confidently cite numbers of how many other people were first exposed to Japanese culture and food through Pokémon and franchises like it, I do think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity to highlight how things like this exposed kids like Nicki and Isabel to parts of a culture outside their own!

[genievillain26]

Doll Day Snow Day

[americangirlstar]

New Hoffman Twins promo images with their new Y2K Outfits.

[mydollsaregay]

Last night, I was thinking about the twins and was able to put my finger on what was still bugging me about them.

Despite it making us feel old, the 90s IS history (hell, yesterday is history!). AG is saying it, but I’m not sure they… mean it?

From the hints of the girls’ stories I’ve seen so far, the only anchoring historical event seems to be y2k. Everything else is nice enough, but certainly not unique to the 90s, and could be given to a goty instead.

Honestly? Y2K is not enough. It’s a little too safe. Yes, it was a big deal to the people who lived through it. However, it was literally just New Years, but cooler (and with a lot of programming work in the background to change years to be stored as four digits). What are the lasting effects that kids can recognize today? Because I see very few that can’t just be chalked up to the passage of time.

There was a lot more to the 90s than fashion, pop culture, and the biggest new years ever, but it kinda seems like those are the only parts AG is interested in portraying. When you put y2k up against some of the other historical events that other American Girls live through, even just the ones from the 20th century, it seems pretty silly. Second wave feminism, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, and now….. new years but the number changes a bit more than usual!!!!!! Like. Cmon.

Even if they were wedded to portraying y2k, columbine, the effects of which are VERY much felt by kids today, happened that same year. But I kinda doubt AG will have the guts to even discuss it in the girl’s stories, which is really sad (and honestly one of the biggest downsides to more modern historical dolls - the history they’re covering is still too touchy for a lot of parents to be comfortable with).

Also, by pushing the girls to be in the late 90s, I’m betting AG is trying to worm their way out of having the 2000s girl live through 9/11 (i.e. watching it on tv) and the start of the war on terror. Which like. I get WHY (still too touchy for parents) but it’s really frustrating. 9/11 and it’s aftermath is arguably one of the most impactful events in American history, it’s stupid to dance around it. Felicity gets to live through the actual revolution but god forbid a more modern girl actually live through recent historical events.

[girlsofmanylands]

Comparison of the new Hoffman twin grin pin stickers (middle) and the OG pin stickers. The new ones are so much bigger and thicker, much more like doll sized pins! And as you can see they made many updated versions of OG pin designs!

[in-pleasant-company]

Our Generation Hallie - circa 2009 vs. American Girl Isabel - presumed release 2023

[agbob-dollpants]

Hello! I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while! Today, I just wanted to show off some pictures of the new AG 90’s twins Isabel and Nicki Hoffman! :) ✨💿🛹🎾

I got these 2 on February 24, which was 2 days after they were released, at the AG Place Columbus! 💘

I have renamed Isabel to Shiloh Michelle, and I have renamed Nicki to Aviva Nichole! 💿 I had to rename them because I already have the Nicki and Isabelle GOTY dolls.

You can find all of these pictures on my Instagram: agbob_dollpants! ✨

[doll-princesse]

[kirstenstrunk]

We better be getting leaks of a tradmarked name for an Asian historical doll imminently. I'm not even playing, I'm deeply annoyed by all of this. If we really have to put up with two more white, blond, (barely!) historicals, then the next doll announcement out of AG's mouth has to be an Asian historical.

[americangirlpolls]

[dominican-girl-dolls]

which one of the twins is more likely to make a tiktok complaining about gen-zers’ opinions on skinny jeans

[americangirlstar]

American Girl + Percy Jackson PicCrew (3/?)

Maryellen Larkin, daughter of Hephaestus

Melody Ellison, daughter of Demeter

Julie Albright, daughter of Ares

Ivy Ling, daughter of Tyche

Courtney Moore, daughter of Hephaestus

Isabel Hoffman, daughter of Iris

Nicki Hoffman, daughter of Iris

[mydollsaregay]

collection time!

this post has everything except the dolls and their meet accessories (which I already talked about in another post), the pets (which are cute but basic, and pricey as usual at $34), and the obligatory gigantic, super expensive playset (which is just never going to be for me, on top of being $175).

the beds are very simple, but they’re cute, and super accurate to what a lot of kids had (I think I had basically this exact bed frame). $150 is extremely pricey for these, especially because they are so simple, but that’s true about most ag furniture lol

Isabel’s bedroom accessories are cute enough, but I LOVE the bubble chair in nicki’s. these are also pricey at $50 but they have quite a bit more detail than the beds. Isabel’s doesn’t seem worth it to me - the only thing you couldn’t make yourself or buy way cheaper is the tamagotchi, which isn’t worth the price tag to me. However, I’m def gonna get nicki’s bedroom accessories at some point, even if I don’t get her. That said, I might wait a year or so until they start getting incorporated into sales, as $50 is still a lot of money.

I really love the desk and computer! it’s $145, which is a lot, but there’s a ton of details, so it feels way more justified to me than the beds. if I didn’t recently acquire the old AG Mac computer to go into my eventual 90s room, this might make my “save up some money and stick around to wait for a sale” list. however, I find the implication on the website that the girls, in ‘99, would have a computer in their own room a little outlandish, but hey, maybe I’m just a pleb.

the pjs are. fine. there’s so many secondhand doll pjs out there from the actual 90s that are cuter in my opinion, though. At $34 and $28, I’ll be looking elsewhere for pjs.

The tennis outfit is cute - I like that they’re leaning into the preppy style here. It very much reminds me of an ag tennis/golf outfit I have from my childhood collection. I actually LOVE nickis skateboarding outfit. I think it’s probably my favorite outfit in the collection so far. The only problem? It doesn’t actually come with the helmet, knee pads, or elbow pads. Those are exclusive to the giant playset. That’s a weird stance to take on safety equipment, ag, but ok. Both sports outfits are $40, which is quite pricey, but consistent with similar ag outfits with accessories like these.

the pizza set isn’t for me; it’s meant to tap into nostalgia that I don’t have. However, it’s a hit with those who are nostalgic for this time period, from what I’ve seen. It’s a bit pricey, however, at $32.

And that’s it! Overall, I like it a lot. Quite a few cute pieces, quite a few overpriced pieces, the usual grab bag. I will say though that this is a really nicely well-rounded starting collection. since ag clearly isn’t going back to the six outfits format, I think that having a meet outfit, one activity outfit, and pjs at launch is pretty good! I’m also super relieved that ag isn’t doing more mix and match pieces with the historical outfits, even if they could get away with it with the more modern girls.

My only real disappointment here is that there’s nothing here or in the meet outfits of either girl that references their faith (at least that I can see). I’m sure that ag will come out with something Hanukkah themed for them this winter, but Judaism doesn’t revolve around Hanukkah (it’s not even a major holiday). I would have loved to see one of the girls with the classic star of David necklace (or a charm bracelet with that as one of the charms), some Hebrew school homework, or even just some cultural touchstones like specific foods. Like. Anything. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[crazed-dolls]

Someone said that Isabel being dressed like Cher from Clueless is like if Courtney was dressed like Veronica from Heathers and I can't stop giggling at that image lol