GOTY Gabriela: Hellos and Goodbyes

Finally photos of Gabriela in her meet box are surfacing!

First the fantastic "Hello!"

Gabriela is almost here! Photo is shared with permission by Hello Savings!  Hello Savings is sponsoring a Gabriela Give Away and more official information can be found in the links but in brief:

Hello Savings give away of a free GOTY Gabriella doll will run Thur, Dec. the 15th, through Sunday, Jan the 1st at 10 pm EST. This contest is open to US Residents ONLY. Must be 18 years of age or older. Must be a fan of Hello Savings. The winner will be announced no later than Monday, January the 2nd. This giveaway promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed it administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

Poppets & Posies is in no way affiliated with Hello Savings other than through a shared interest in American Girl doll fandom!

Now for the Goodbye: the classic doll box is going away! 

New Coke vs Classic Coke?

Gabriela is the first of presumably many more AG dolls to be offered in the radical new redesigned box that DOES NOT OPEN in two pieces. Meaning, get our your scissors or knives, you will have to destroy some portion of the box in order to rescue Gabriela from the box.

The head-to-toe window pane aside and the more graphical design of the box aside--I am personally not thrilled with American Girl ditching the classic AG doll box of two pieces that lift and separate for a box that will be more or less destroyed upon unpacking of the doll.

I can imagine a whole host of reasons for the new box construction:

*Cheaper to manufacture

*More enticing for Costco and Kohl type stores display settings

*Hermetically sealed boxes means less lost accessories (books, hair bands or barrettes, etc.)

*Doll boxes no longer opened to handle/inspect individual dolls in store

*Returns of played with dolls discouraged (box destroyed)

Used with permission of Hello Savings. Note the cover has been carefully sliced off to reveal the interior of the box--cover was not lifted but peeled off and left the raw jagged brown cardboard edges of the front lip exposed.

I see zero advantages to the consumers. I am not insisting that AG stay with models of sales that are not successful, but I feel like if this new box style is a permanent shift that it does burst a magical bubble that gives these dolls that certain special experience of unboxing. Some in the fandom are calling this new box style the "Barbie" box and not in a complimentary way.

Think of Apple products offered in shrink wrap plastic rather than the gorgeous white boxes. Still an excellent product but such a move would also mess with the mystique and brand loyalty of many of their customers. Apparently AG is banking on the hunch that they will still be able to draw in more profits from their new approach--but it does feel like something special has passed.

Will AG offer the rumored BeForever Felicity in this new "Barbie" box style? Or will AG use the classic box style to set apart certain exclusive doll series? Or perhaps AG will try to sell their old classic  box as a stand alone "accessory" to make an extra buck.

Is it just a box? Or is it a New Coke fiasco in the making?

GOTY 2017: Whole World Price Tag?

It is Poppets & Posies favorite time of year! Welcome to our "31 Days of December!"

First up is speculation about Gabriela's Whole World Price Tag. With so little information yet available, speculation is going to be potentially far afield but I think there are trends and big clues already in motion.

* The GOTY Whole World Collections have rapidly expanded in price and scope but in 2016, Lea Clark's collection became the first shrinking collection since 2011 

* 2017 Gabriela is rumored, but not confirmed in any way, to be the last GOTY

* 2017 Gabriela is a late decision swap from the highly developed Tenney Grant (who has been moved to the Contemporary Series line) with possible resultant less lead time to develop and produce more complex or high-risk high-costs big ticket items for Gabriela

* 2017 will be introducing other modern character dolls including Tenney Grant and also a character doll rumored to be named Logan (possible boy character doll?)

* American Girl has been introducing more big ticket items for their BeForever line, with the advantage of being able to produce and recoup costs for more than a single calendar year of a GOTY. (It seems more plausible to see a Maryellen Airstream Camper next year than a fully decked out large Dance Studio for GOTY Gabriela)

I predict 2017 Gabriela McBride will have the usual complement of outfits and accessories close to but perhaps not quite as large as 2016 Lea Clark's collection. Specifically, I do not see Gabriela having 3 stuffed pets like Lea (perhaps just 1) and any big ticket items will be more modest in cost than some recent years.

I predict Gabriela will have 5 outfits (6 including her Meet Outfit), 2 accessory sets (one related to her Meet Outfit and perhaps a Hair Styling Set), a pet cat, 2 activity sets (such as a dance duffle bag set plus another interest/activity set for Gabriela) and 2 medium priced big ticket items, one around the $85 price point and the other around the $150 price point. I am having a hard time imagining AG creating a $400 - $500 priced big ticket item for this particular GOTY considering the lack of lead time due to the late swap and the rumored retirement of this line entirely.

With that all in mind, especially the lack of the super expensive big ticket item, I will predict the Whole World Price Tag for Gabriela will be more in line with 2014 Isabelle's collection and cap out at under $900.

What do you predict?