A Fair Blaire Compare

Lovely Blaire is shared with us today by the talented and generous @katesdollhouse! Thank you so much, Kate!

All photos by @katesdollhouse, used with permission.

Blaire has such striking coloring, especially her deep red hair against her fair skin. The extra light vinyl tone is a new one for American Girl which first debuted last year with the new blond boy, TM 74.

Comparing Blaire with Rebecca, the difference in vinyl tone is very marked. Rebecca looks almost sun-kissed in comparison. Btw, she looks adorable Blaire's Meet dress!

Lea has a medium vinyl tone and the contrast is even more between the two poppets. Blaire eyes are also a very deep olive green compared to Lea's hazel green eyes.

Blaire is certainly a unique doll even if we've seen many red heads before from the AG line up--her extra fair vinyl tone really gives me a classic Nordic/Germanic fairy tale heroine vibe. She would look adorable in a dirndl dress!

Thanks again, @katesdollhouse!

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?

Groundhog Day News! Spring Rumors and Releases

Happy Groundhog Day! The critter has officially predicted spring is on the way without delay!

Lea's Three-Toed Sloth was the closest I had to a murmeltier (aka groundhog) to share all the following happy news! Groundhog Day was one of my favorite holidays as a young child--no fuss, just fun songs and crafts about a magical critter who could predict the coming of spring. So how fitting to talk today about all the coming arrivals at American Girl.

Rumored for February 11th at American Girl is the spring release. Social media has reported Truly Me additions of an Ice Cream Stand and Sprinkles Outfit and other summer/sporting outfits. While we will be soon saying an official goodbye to the Bitty Twins, the Bitty Baby line will be getting several spring items during this release. Stay tuned to Poppets & Posies for an AGPSF in-store report!

Looking further ahead, coming March 1st will be Lea Clark's third book, Lea and Camila.

Rumored for sometime this late-spring or early summer will be a NEW line of 16" dolls by American Girl called Wellie-Wishers. Small leaks has led many to believe that Wellie-Wishers will be similar in size (tall and slender) to an earlier line of dolls from AG called Hopscotch Hill. Will this be the doll line in which we finally see the rumored "little brother" doll?

However, what we will not be seeing in the spring release are any BeForever "Limited Edition" outfits and we will have to wait until summer for both Melody and any more Lea Clark outfits or accessories.

And finally, to follow up on an earlier blog post, I received my big Lea purchase--but it is still sitting packed inside of the shipping box. The unboxing will surely be soon! I would have loved to have opened it last month but life and the winter flu temporarily derailed my plans. What is now needed is little bit of Lea sunshine!

Have you heard any other spring rumors? What do you hope to see this spring at AG?

Side by Side: Lea's Rainforest House vs Kit's Tree House

Thank you to Forever Friends Dolls for their side-by-side comparison photo of Lea's Rainforest House and Kit's Tree House!

The two structures are similar in overall size, and while Lea's Rainforest House is slightly smaller overall it offers nearly double the useable and accessible play space inside because of the fully open front. Additionally, the height for the Rainforest House was utilized for a high sleeping loft bed rather than for the cute illusion of the Tree House being up in tree branches.

Kit's Tree House was retired in 2011 and for its price of $250 came with a chandelier, a lantern, photos and a cute bucket on a rope.

In contrast, Lea's Rainforest House is $395 but comes with a hammock, an outdoor oven with many cooking and eating accessories, a table and chair, a woven storage basket, a shower unit with a towel and soap, a moveable loft bed, mattress, blanket, pillow, a tablet, lantern, wind chime, paper butterflies, one frog and a colorful parrot.

I have loved the idea of finding Kit's Tree House for the longest time, but inch for inch, the design of Lea's Rainforest House plus its plethora of clever accessories makes it the five-star option for exciting play. 

Whole World Price Tags (Updated Version)

Poppets & Posies has updated its infographic with the corrected total for Lea's current collection. The biggest change is that her Rainforest House retails for a mere $395 verses the pre-release rumored price tag of $500.

The current total for Lea's Whole World is not likely to remain at $1130, but other than a festive embroidered white and green dress with a gold belt, no other images have yet leaked for her anticipated mid-summer release.

Stock Report: Lea's Rainforest House vs. Fruit Stand

Will Lea's big ticket items of the Rainforest House and Fruit Stand become so popular as to go into backorder status online? Or will AG stay ahead of the demand? The pieces look to be popular considering how the AG stores are having problems keeping them on the shelves in their stores.

All week the Rainforest House and Fruit Stand have been out of stock in-store at about half of the locations nationwide. The above chart is a snapshot from Saturday, January 9th, mid-afternoon. How will things look in-store once the weekend shoppers have left on Sunday night?

The ongoing unavailability of Lea's Rainforest House and Fruit Stand at the San Francisco store has pushed me to make a rare online order for one of the pieces above. Can you guess which one?

A Poppets & Posies Review: Lea Clark First Impressions

Lea Clark has arrived at American Girl Place San Francisco!

Today's post is a combination first impressions Lea Clark review and AGPSF Flash store report.

Let me begin with my bold and biased opinion: Lea is one of the most stunningly beautiful GOTY dolls that American Girl has ever produced. I believe she rivals Kanani for sheer beauty.

What is new for Lea's face and hair is a new shade of caramel hair with highlights, a new color of hazel for eyes, and a brand new eyebrow shape!

While the wild colors and prints of her dress are not my draw, her compass necklace is absolutely wonderful touch.

And while I was not originally a fan of the yellow braided non-functional belt (it only goes to her sides), I did end up warming up to it in person.

Cute, unique sandals. A bit odd, too. I am curious if they will mix-and-match well with the rest of Lea's wardrobe or with other Truly Me outfits.

Lea Clark's Accessories (camera, braided headband, wish bracelet, passport and sea turtle magazine) are very well integrated with her Meet Outfit in the sense that I think I would go crazy with having Lea but not her braided hairband! Well played, American Girl! Though to be fair, the Meet Outfit does come with the messenger bag, which is a great extra for the doll and I imagine many would be frustrated if the messenger bag and braided hairband had been swapped.

Camera. Not sure I like how the straps attach to the camera itself.

Passport!

High quality printed mini magazine.

The wish bracelet with the turtle charm is perfect!

And we could not complete Lea Clark's head-to-toe without talking about her Beach Dress ensemble, available only as part of the bundled package Lea's Exclusive Collection. The exclusive collection includes the Lea Clark Doll, Lea's Accessories & Lea's Beach Dress all for $180.

The Beach Dress is a tie-dyed purple sun dress and comes with sunglasses, a butterfly hair clip, and simple lime green flip-flops.

Even I am smitten. The tie-dyed purple sun dress was my second favorite outfit of the leaked images--amazing how well American Girl "knows" its customers. But it is only available in the bundled set...

My thoughts on Lea's Exclusive Collection (doll, accessories and beach dress)? It is very very very tempting. While I kept to my original decision to not purchase poppet Lea or gobs of her collection on her debut day, there is much discussion among the poppets at home about adding Lea to the family.

As for the store itself on debut day, we arrived around 3pm. We decided between the California cold snap and generally not feeling well from an earlier bout of winter illness, to go later in the day rather than stand outside in line in the wee cold hours of the morning.

No giveaway handouts! Sadness! It was only 3pm, but the children's craft table had already been shoved to the side and if one did not know better, it felt like just another day at AGPSF. I have located the giveaway (Lea's Sarong and Turtle Craft) on the secondary market and hope to share pictures of it mid-week.

Inside the store was bustling and there was much evidence of heavy traffic inside the store all day--shelves were stocked but with merchandise but in disarray.

I need to check out the Messenger Bag for Girls (above with Lea's Meet Dress for Girls) for possible repurposing for an adult collector. :)

We did see lots of Lea dolls in the arms of little girls, already freed from their boxes! The hair salon and ear piercing station upstairs was doing brisk business. And the Meet Dress for Girls looked like it was also getting brisk business as well.

My first impressions of Lea Clark is that she is even more stunning in person than she appears in AG's print or online catalogs. Her long, glossy hair is sure to be a hit and I personally think her light hazel (green) eyes make her face look animated and alive. I have seen some breathtaking photography of this poppet by collectors and I have to say Lea is extremely photogenic!

Final thoughts for this first impressions review of Lea Clark and her Exclusive Collection? My birthday is in February. I don't think I need to say much more!

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.