2016 GOTY Lea Clark Sell Out?

Has GOTY 2016 Lea Clark sold out online?

If you still have Lea on your list, you will want to start calling the stores themselves to see if they have any Lea dolls on their shelves.

A June Surprise! Lea Clark!

Look who has joined our poppet family!

While I went to Lea Clark's store debut at AGPSF on January 1st, I had decided to wait and discover if I really wanted to bring home the newest GOTY because of the novelty factor and rush of opening day or if I really wanted to have the poppet on her own unique merits.

I am so excited to share Lea's homecoming that this first batch of photos are merely a first peek. Here she is still in her box.

I both love her bright dress and I have no real interest in it as anything other than a romp-around outfit. I expect she will be wearing something else new very quickly.

Her arms are wrapped in plastic, presumably to safeguard against dye transfer or any other bumps in her long travels to her new home. I have not checked yet to see if she has the nee zip-tie at the neck, but I presume this is the case.

Hazel eyes and a new arched shape to her feathered brow. I think her new brow shape makes Lea's face look inquisitive and intelligent. 

I am an enthusiastic fan of the hazel eye color--it always looks life-like and warm on the poppets. Other poppets in our home with hazel eyes include Kanani, my Isabelle twin poppets, a Truly me #55, and a Truly Me #21. And no, I don't see myself ever being tired of the hazel color.

Spectacular highlights. I can't wait to let her hair down from the hairnet.

I purchased Lea as part of her Exclusive Collection which includes her Accessories and her Beach Dress. But I also absolutely had to pick up the one dress that I see as essential to her collection... sneak peak below!

Lea's Beach Dress and Lea's Accessories as part of the Exclusive Collection plus Lea's Celebration Dress!

The Beach Dress is available only as part of the Exclusive Collection bundle. While the purple tie-dyed dress, flip-flops, sunglasses and little blue butterfly hair clip are adorable the overall price of the exclusive bundled set is really a tough hurdle financially and thus emotionally. As an adult collector I can manage the added cost of the bundle but younger customers might not have this kind of stretch in their budgets. 

I love the embroidered details in Lea's outfits--a few quick snaps of this lovely detail!

I really like the embroidered symbol on Lea's Beach Dress.

The ruffle of the Celebration Outfit is full and flirty and the metallic gold in the embroidery is really special.

One thing I missed in all the early gray market leaks and even after the Celebration Dress officially debuted online last month is that the pattern on the top of the dress is also embroidered and not just a print. The embroidery is breathtaking!

The obligatory Lea Clark tag. I sort of love the tags on the GOTY lines and treat them the same way I do tags on "Levi" jeans or "Kate Spade" purses--my name is not Levi or Kate, but I have bought, worn, and/or carried these and hundreds of other trademarked items with names printed on them.

My Lea Clark doll, like all my other corporate "pre-named" poppets, will also have her very own unique name. She will also time-travel and be an older sister to another of my poppets--can you guess who?

From Lindsey to Lea: A Whole World Price Tag

The price list for Lea Clark's Whole World has been reported (thank you Lissie & Lilly)!

Lea Clark's collection is very similar in size, price, and scope as Grace Thomas' collection, with  Lea's big ticket items including an Ocean Kayak ($85), Fruit Stand ($150) and Rainforest House ($500). Sound familiar? Those are the exact price points from Grace Thomas' Bistro, Pastry Cart, and French Bakery.

For a look at how the GOTY "Whole World" collections have grown in price since Lindsey's debut in 2001 through the upcoming Lea Clark in 2016, Poppets & Posies has created a new info graphic. (Note the totals used are for the actual doll and collection and do not include merchandise for girls.)

Surprised? Shocked? Excited?

While Lea's debut collection prices out at $1235, one can fully expect a mid-year release of items, most likely coinciding with the release of her movie--so $1235 is just the starting point.

GOTY 2016: Lea Clark!

And here she is!

She's gorgeous and all over social media--YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and the doll-blogger universe.

What do you think? Will she be coming home with you in 2016?

Sneak Peak: GOTY Lea Clark Book Cover

GOTY 2016 Lea Clark as seen on the Scholastic Book catalog! Her first book is titled "Lea Dives In."

According to the Lea Clark book cover the new GOTY looks to have long and wavy caramel blonde hair and her "Meet" outfit based on the book cover and many other leaked prototypes is a brightly patterned sleeveless dress. She is in a tropical locale, most likely Brazil, so we can look forward to many outdoor/active outfits for both the jungle and beach and related gear.

Other accessories for Lea Clark based on this cover and early leaks to keep an eye out for include a camera and the rumored trio of "pets" which include a turtle (on cover) and a baby sloth!

Grace's French Bakery SOLD OUT

French Bakery - Gone!

The sell out date for Grace's French Bakery has been on my mind every week now for over a month and I honestly felt a bit sheepish for voicing my doom and gloom predictions, but even I was shocked to see confirmation this morning from American Girl on Facebook that indeed the French Bakery would no longer be available.

Today American Girl confirmed via Facebook that “Grace’s French Bakery has sold out and is no longer available.” They later added that “The popularity exceeded our expectations and sold out more quickly than anticipated.”

While confirmation of the sell out was not until this morning, I am recording the online sell out date as October 3rd as the French Bakery changed from its online backorder status to its final "No longer available" status sometime on Saturday.

Note that as of 12 pm (noon) today a few of the AGP stores have the bakery in stock, but I anticipate these will be gone in a matter of days.

Charlotte – Available
Minneapolis – Limited (Unavailable as of 1:30 pm Monday)
Nashville – Available
Orlando - Available

Call and jump into your cars now, because once these last few French Bakeries are gone from the physical AG stores the only place left to find the bakery will be on the secondary market--but even there the inventory is low and the prices are high.

Since this *morning* alone on Ebay 5 French Bakeries have already been sold (completed auctions) with the selling prices ranging between $750 - $815. Before this morning, only one or two a week or less were being sold on Ebay and generally for $650 or less. I now expect the prices on Ebay for the French Bakery to jump upwards and exceed $1000 from here on until the supply on the secondary market is depleted or the Christmas season passes.

The early sell out certainly is a game changer for GOTY collectors. Last year I waited until the last minute to purchase Isabelle's Studio (I bought it within one or two days of both online and in store sell out dates). Amazingly, a year later one can still purchase Isabelle's Studio on Ebay for approximately original retail price, so one can hope waiting out the secondary market holiday frenzy on Grace's Bakery could yield a better deal.

But my new rule of thumb for GOTY is if I want something from the collection, assuming no budgeting issues, that I better not wait too long--AG is running a much leaner ship in terms of supply chain management and "while supplies last" is not merely advisory, it is simply reality.

I realize many collectors were never considering purchasing the bakery, but if you were thinking about it...Are you relieved to have this item preemptively taken off your list knowing the temptation is gone? Turning to the secondary market? Changing how you collect for GOTY and other limited edition items?

The next big question about Grace's Wonderful World will be how long her doll stays in production--will she survive until mid-December? It seems like in order for Grace's clothing and accessories to sell that AG needs to keep Grace the doll in stock--so I imagine AG will try to keep her available until at least December 20th. But Grace has certainly broke the expected patterns already. Also, William Sonoma has another cross promotion with American Girl Grace Thomas rolling out this week so stay tuned for some talk about that here as well.

Looking forward: It seems time to begin a proper welcome for GOTY 2016 Lea Clark! There have been many leaked pictures of prototypes over the past two months, so we can start filling in the gaps here at Poppets & Posies with our own speculations.

Additionally, while I passed over blogging about the stunning debut of Beforever Maryellen, I am definitely interested in taking a look at what we know so far about Beforever 2016 and to ask the tantalizing question (based on rumors and early cues) if if BF 2016 will debut side-by-side with GOTY 2016 Lea Clark on January 1st, 2016.