ICK.
There have been many, many whisperings of the renaming "Beforever" written in swirly white letters. Let's just say, it's pretty much been confirmed. On ebay, a seller from China listed Julie's Pajama's with a "Beforever" box.
I saw this on instagram, posted by the lovely @urbanfalls:
These are the covers of the new books. Notice something else? Marie Grace and Cecile have been nixed.
Another one bites the dust!
(sorry)
Guess they weren't Beforever, were they?!
(sorry, again.)
( I can't help myself. )
I do not like change. I've said this, well, I don't even KNOW how many times I've said it. American Girl is going through a time of change, extreme change, apparently. Now that My homegirl, Molly has been retired, I actually have nothing new I even want to purchase from AG besides the dolls.
I feel like the name 'Beforever' is just, degrading or something. I realize that "The Historical Line" Doesn't have an exciting ring to it, or a swirly lettering, or sparkles, or whatever. There are plenty of kids who think, "History? Boring" because it's often not taught in a very fun way. Lists of facts, and dates are boring. History itself is incredibly interesting! This is quite a clever marketing scheme. AG revamps the Historical's with a new fancy name, and gets more money, because the Historical'ss have a new, wider age appeal then. I must say that they new Illustrations are nice... different, I prefer the older ones, but nice. Goodness, I'm already a stingy old person about this! HA!
Off track again.
What's your opinion of the be forever line? Have any other facts (or corrections to the ones I wrote above, I'm open to those as well) you'd like to share? I love to hear from you all!
Jeneca.
I agree, if changing the name means that the HC stick around longer, it's OK with me. I don't like the covers as much, or the name. On ebay, there's tons of un-released stuff, including thr dress Kit in wearing in her cover.
ReplyDeleteI saw that! I'm planning on making a post about it soon, finals has me tied.
DeleteI dislike this change VERY much. Each of the HC dolls are supposed to have six books, they are not supposed to have photos on the front!! Plus, Beforever is not a word. Kit looks nothing like she should. She looks like a six year old!!! :P Also, I loved the illustrations of Caroline before! She was so pretty. Now, well.... I also really liked the illustrations of Samantha before, and well, all of them except for Marie-Grace & Cecile. I guess I am one of the only people who hate change. Sorry for being so negative. I hope you like reading my opinion, though. :)
ReplyDelete~Christian Homeschooler
P.S. Someone on Doll Diaries already noted that Rebecca has brown eyes on the front of her books. Who knew she didn't have hazel eyes? :P
I know, I wonder if they're going to change the actual stories too. That... that would not be cool. AT ALL. Beforever isn't a word, haha. And you're right, Kit does look awful young... No need to apoligeize for being negitive, it's hard to not feel that way when the company of a product you love comes in and makes waves in an otherwise calm pool.
DeleteI didn't notice that! Huh. I have seen in past books that they simply do not understand doll eye to cover eye thing. Kanani has brown eyes on her cover, and Ruthie has gray! I think Rebecca would be very pretty with brown eyes... :)
In Samantha's time, pink was a boys color.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I've heard that somewhere... very interesting!
DeleteI'm not a very big fan of the covers at all especially my favorite characters like Caroline, Kit, and Addy. I hope they didn't change the story! Sorry about my Johnny rain cloud attitude:)
ReplyDeleteMe too! That would not be okay... And no need to be sorry, we're all sad/mad/annoyed/angry here, hehe.
DeleteHey, now you have that song in my head! And another one bites the dust! :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, whoops! :)
DeleteTo be frank: We are disappointed with the changes being made. The HCs (can we still call them that?) look like they are seven- or six-year-olds. And the illustrations look very plastic. Everything looks very artificial. And Jeneca, you are not being a stingy old person, so don't worry about that. A lot of people have the same concerns about the new product line.
ReplyDeleteYes! I will never call them Beforevers. NEVER. They are the historical characters. They always will me.
DeleteI agree so much! And Rebecca looks like a vampire..just sayin'.
DeletePersonally, I am very disappointed. First with the fact that the new brand is a imaginary compound word! If they had gone with Be Forever, I might have more tolerance, but this one word thing drives me crazy. [Thank you Christian Homeschooler for pointing it out as well.]
ReplyDeleteSecond, the whole point of American Girl was to make history fun for girls because it pointed out how girls lived during time periods that tend to focus on the male part of society.
Third, Kaya's one cover is very annoying. Yes, there already exists a Kaya book cover where she is smiling, but that smile is more gentle...not wide like this one. The Nimipu (sp?) do not bear their teeth so to use this one as the cover on her "box set" is really upsetting.
Fourth, the sneak peeks we have been getting of the new clothes...if those are the true materials of what we will be getting, they just look cheap and inferior to the quality we have come to expect from the American Girl brand.
I think the research and development team did not pick loyal customers for their focus groups in this re-branding. Perhaps it will be as disastrous as New Coke was in the 1980s.
They do seem awful cheap, don't they. I feel as if the quality has been decreasing (in clothing, anyway) slowly for awhile now. I don't really purchase items from AG now besides the dolls or the Historical stuff.
DeleteI agree, they seemed to have picked new customers for old ones. At least they are trying to reach out to younger girls with history, but I wish they would reach out in a way that's more accurate.
They do seem to be looking for new customers rather than strengthening the relationships with existing. I wish they understood that a lot of new relationships come from existing customers who gush over their dolls and products.
DeleteHave the prices gone up again from January? That too is rather upsetting. I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much money on them with the quality decreasing.
Looks to me that Caroline has the same meet outfit ,and Addy looks way to dressed up for a slave ,and Kit looks like a 6 years old,
ReplyDeleteI am very against this. Julie looks like she buys her clothes at justice,Rebeccas outfit looks like it was made from a tacky carpet bag, and does anyone remember that Kit was a tomboy? and I saw a josefina outfit so bright that she could not have been able to find the dye if she spent her whole life looking, and I am so sad about Addy she looks like Harriet , a freed slave could never find that dress inless she stole it.also pink was not only a boys colour if you look in magazines from that time there are pink clothes.....she still looks dreadful and none of it is accurate for the time
ReplyDeletethat's true, if you read the betsy-tacy books by maud heart lovelace who lived in Samanthas time she wore a pink checked silk dress to her 5th birthday party there is even a picture.and in Anne of green gables Anne wishes she could wear pink but cant because she has red hair.
ReplyDeleteSo very true. Poor Anne didn't have Molly Ringwald to tell her she can look pretty in pink. :-)
Deletebesides Molly, Felicity has been scrapped too.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with everyone. I don't care for Marie-Grace and Cecile's illustrations, sure, but I still like the books! And I am so tired of all the changes AG is making. What is making them change it so much? I watched ALL of the Beforever videos. What did I get from them that actually made sense: They want to show girls that old*er* does not mean it can't be bold, that colors must be dull. SO BRIGHTEN THE COLORS YOU ALREADY HAVE. I just hope they will have all of the now Beforever books in the original format too. Not having much hope, but still. They are getting rid of dolls like lightning, and the changes just make me go all bezurk. I don't know how to spell that.
ReplyDeleteWE ARE SOUL SISTERS! I do not like change! I totally understand about not wanting anything from AG except the dolls! Azure, I think I was the one who said Rebecca looks like a vampire!
ReplyDeleteI don't get why everyone's so mad! Yes, AG is making some pretty big changes here. Samantha is a tomboy, but in her story, her grandmother wanted her to look all frilly and proper. And the dolls will still have the same charm. They haven't even released it yet! It's good that AG is giving it a fresh approach. The girls have had the same outfits for quite a while, so it's good to change it up every now and then. I think that it's mean to say "Ag, you should stop these changes" and stuff, because they know what they're doing! They have been around for 25 years! Do you think they are going to change AG into Barbie? Of course NOT! So stay positive about this, guys and be patient! Please! :)
ReplyDelete