Pleasant Company, the brains behind the American Girl Doll craze have finally decided to introduce gender equality. Meet Logan!
For women of a certain age and socio-economic class, the words “American Girl dolls” conjures up memories of poring over mail order catalogs that someone’s mother quietly slipped your mother, with whispered comments. “These dolls aren’t shaped like Barbie! They come with books!”
I was 8 years old in 1986, when the catalogs first spread like wildfire, and girls with parents just that much richer than us began turning up with Samantha, Kirsten and Molly dolls–even the ones we all knew wouldn’t read a book unless forced. At $86 a pop, these dolls were as much status symbols as they were toys aimed right at our age group.
Fast forward 30 years, and the status symbol aspect remains, with dolls running $115. The first generation of mothers who had these dolls are all reaching the point where they start getting them for their own daughters, or taking them on pilgrimages to the American Girl Doll stores in New York, Chicago and other major cities, and having tea.
Promotional Image via Pleasant Company/Mattel
But with that new generation also comes the growing movement for gender equality. And Pleasant Company is nothing if not good at reading their intended niche audience. To that end, after 30 years, they have introduced the first “American Boy” doll. From the press release:
"Kicking things off on February 16, American Girl fans will meet the newest contemporary character, Tenney Grant™. A rising star in the Nashville music scene, Tenney is a breakout songwriter finding the heart to be herself. Tenney comes to life for girls via a beautiful 18-inch Tenney™ doll featuring long, curly blond hair and warm brown eyes, an exclusive outfit that reflects her artistic side, and a book chronicling her story. The Tenney collection also comes with several music-inspired outfits and accessories, including a miniature version of an authentic Taylor® GS Mini® guitar that can be strummed and plays three songs, and a two-sided stage and dressing room that features more than 40 pieces, like an amp, microphone, and working spotlights. And keeping the beat as Tenney’s drummer is newcomer Logan Everett, American Girl’s first-ever boy character. Logan’s assortment includes an 18-inch doll with short brown hair, gray eyes, and an original outfit, as well as his very own rhythmic drum set."
Note that Logan is not the star of the new series. He is part of the “Best Friend” dolls that are nowadays included in the ever expanding collections. Still the inclusion of a boy doll, especially one portrayed in the books as a platonic girl-boy friendship, is in keeping with the idyllic yet ever diversifying image the company is working to portray this year.
Logan is only part of this diversification for 2017. As noted by The Huffington Post, this year’s much larger crop of new dolls being introduced.
"In April, the company will release a doll version of Z Yang, a Korean-American character known on American Girl’s YouTube channel, and in the fall, a historical Hawaiian character named Nanea will be released, whose story is set during World War II. Fans who might have grown out of American Girl will also appreciate the company’s reintroduction this year of Felicity from the Revolutionary War period."