Hot Off The Presses!

This info isn't really hot off of any presses. In fact, it leaked in through the back door, but I still think it's pretty exciting. Exciting enough that I wasn't going to wait until tomorrow to share it anyways. 

For anyone who hasn't heard, American Girl is releasing a new line of dolls called Wellie Wishers. (The rumor is that they will replace the Bitty Twins when they are released sometime around June 24th.) Photos of the Wellie Wishers were released several months back.

Wellie Wishers are meant to be aimed at a 4-7 year old audience, and I do think they are cute, but they honestly seem like something I could pick up for my girls at Target for half of the rumored $60 price tag that AG plans to slap onto them. I absolutely adore their little Wellies, and am even intrigued by the fact that they will have both books and a (rumored) web series, but I just don't see us having any of these in our home. They don't say "American Girl" to me, and a 16 inch vinyl doll had better be screaming "American Girl" at me for it to have a $60 price tag. Sorry AG.

However, that doesn't mean that I'm not all ears for any leaks or rumors, and the latest scuttle is that a very "reliable source" says that these 5 girls now have names. Say hello to Camille, Ashlyn, Emmerson, Kendall, and Willa! (If you've been scoping out the recent American Girl trademarks you might notice that all those names were put forth by AG in September of last year.) 

While we probably won't be getting one, there is still a very good chance that we'll be attending a release event at an American Girl store on June 24th. Many stores have already posted about their Wellie Wishers events, (which leads me to believe that Melody will not have an end of June release like we had originally hoped for based off the book release dates...darn) so check the events at your local store if you want to be there for these girl's debut. 

No, I didn't jump out of bed and onto my computer just to tell you the names of the Wellie Wishers, even if they are adorable names. The more exciting news, for me anyways, is that it is also rumored that certain stores will be doing a "test" run of having their Truly Me line sell at a price of $98 a doll instead of $115. Some people have even managed to get this discount online, though it hasn't worked for me, and say that there will be a price adjustment that shows up after adding the dolls to your shopping bag. The fine print on the deal says that it will last through 11:59pm Central Time on 7/31/2016, or while supplies last. Selections can vary by location, not valid everywhere, not valid on previous purchases, and that there is supposed to be a limit of 3 dolls. (You know. The usual fine print stuff.) I think this is brilliant, and that it makes sense for there to be more of a price difference between the Historical/BeForever dolls and the JLY/Truly Me dolls. 

Of course, this price change might mean that I have to get one or two that I have been looking at for characters for awhile. I'm not sure how happy Mr. D is going to be about that...

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Wednesday night. 

~Mrs. D