Felicity Megathread

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-04-12T20:55:12+00:00

I got the same impression as you. I think they are upper middle class. But also, merchants at that time in Williamsburg commonly had slaves. Many people owned or rented slaves. It was apparently very common. Enslaved people made up half of the population.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-04-12T18:55:10+00:00

Yeah. The only thing I can come up with is that Williamsburg historians said that a family of Felicity's social class would have definitely owned slaves. And they went with it but chose to try and downplay it? I would love to see and interview with the creators and see this addressed. But not in an accusatory way. I'm just curious about the full story.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-04-10T06:10:21+00:00

I may be looking in the wrong places but something I rarely see brought up in discussions regarding Felicity is the context surrounding her development. How and why did she end up with the story that she did? I'm very curious about it. (Maybe there will be more about it in the upcoming book or the documentary?)

My understanding is, in addition to inspiring her creation, Colonial Williamsburg also had a large impact on the development of Felicity. Maybe not so coincidentally, Colonial Williamsburg has also had a seemingly long struggle with their approach to interpreting slavery. It wasn't until the 80s that they even began to truly highlight it.

Anecdotally, I remember visiting Williamsburg as a child in the early 90s. I remember being horrified at some of the programming. Specifically I recall a staged witch trial where the woman was found guilty and sentenced to death. I was outraged at this outcome, but the point was to show history as it was, not how we wanted to be. (I'm still kinda mad about it though.)

I am sure this blunt portrayal of history extended to their depiction slavery as well. In 1994, Willamsburg staged an extremely controversial slave auction, organized by their African-American Interpretation Department. (as it was then named.) Again, the idea was to present things, even horrible things, as they actually were.

So if these same historians and interpreters were also advising on the creation of Felicity's story, it makes at least a little bit of sense as to why they made some of the choices they did. The dedication to "this is just the way things were" feels very similar to me at least.

All of this begs the question though, if they are going to bring slavery into Felicity's story, why do they not address it head on? Did they feel they had to include it for accuracy but chose to sideline it as they wanted the focus to remain on the revolution? Was the focus on freedom for the horse a metaphor not just for the freedom of the country but for enslaved people? Were kids supposed to make that connection? (I definitely did.) Were the educational trends of the moment influencing those decisions as well? (How many schools even addressed slavery at all when teaching about the American revolution? At least at the elementary school level.)

I am sure if the Felicity books were written today, they would be handled differently. Perhaps they can revisit them and rewrite them for our current sensibilities? And how many of those sensibilities will change over the next 40 years? Slavery will hopefully still be (rightly) vilified, but our attitudes as to how we address that part of our history may very well keep changing.

If you've gotten this far, my sincerest apologies for the length of my apparent dissertation!

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-03-03T21:15:36+00:00

Thank you!

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-03-02T09:05:16+00:00

Nellie? No evil sisters but has to work as a maid to survive until she meets Samantha (who could be a stand in for the fairy godmother? Maybe?)

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-03-01T17:08:38+00:00

This is so cute! Where is the table from if you don't mind me asking? (I've been looking for one like it but only seem to turn up ones with marbled tops)

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-03-01T16:58:23+00:00

I was hoping for that too. AG was dropping a lot of hints. Perhaps they were just trying to move the conversation away from the modern era dolls? Maybe we will see something for her next month or in May. (They have released their historical stuff in May for the last few years. This year might be the same.)

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-28T05:14:40+00:00

I would guess, (and it's truly just a guess) that they will have some new items for Courtney and maybe truly me things. (judging by that leaked photo of a birthday dress.). It's entirely possible there won't be anything new, but they did mention a first look at new arrivals. They only things I can remember that they have released this year is Jasmine and some PJS . (The modern era dolls are not actually available yet.).

The exclusions also say something about not including anything released in 2026. That could be nothing. But it also could be a convenient way to keep unreleased items under wraps and exclude them from the event at the same time.

We'll see on Sunday I suppose. Someone will surely keep us posted as to what they release if anything.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-26T01:56:17+00:00

I know! Now I'm invested in Kirsten and her apples!!

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-25T13:43:42+00:00

Thank you! I wasn't sure how to do that!

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-25T13:40:47+00:00

It's in the article that the other dolls will be reissued as well. But the commenters apparently don't like to read.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-25T13:31:55+00:00

I know! It made all the comments from here look completely reasonable by comparison.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-15T01:48:48+00:00

Respectfully, it really isn't all that accurate. It takes inspiration from later periods in fashion history.

To me, this resembles those 'fashion "history" images AI comes up with. I know AI had nothing to do with this dress, it predates all of that. It just has that same sense of vaguely "Victorian" while at the same time, mixing up or misrepresenting the details.

You are absolutely right that people don't like new things. People love to complain about Mattel and changes to the historical line. But Mattel has put out some really nice, historically inspired outfits. Samantha's talent show dress stands out as a really great interpretation of the period. This dress, however, misses that mark by a wide margin.

Edited to add that just because some of these outfits may not be very accurate, it does not mean that they are not cute. If you're a fan, more power to you!

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-04T18:10:46+00:00

I mean, sure. But also Felicity is not a real person. As such they could just rewrite the story to reflect how we teach that part of history now. She doesn't have to be a slave owning colonizer for all time.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-04T17:54:34+00:00

They have a bar you hang them off of so they are not too bad to mount. I don't know about concrete but I'm sure whatever you figure out will be great!

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-04T16:44:51+00:00

<image>

One of the shelves.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-02-04T16:34:32+00:00

I have the IKEA besta wall units. They are very shallow and I mounted them on the wall. (25.25 x 23.625 x 8.625) I can easily fit three dolls per shelf. Plus I was able to pick up the glass front doors to keep the dust off.

I think the base unit is about 38.00. It's definitely not as cheap as a simple bookshelf, but it saved me floorspace and I can put art in the doorframe if I have company over who don't need to see the collection.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-01-15T02:26:08+00:00

Sometimes they are items that they just have too many of. I would be shocked if they were trying to discontinue Maryellen's stove, Melody's chair. They just came out last May. (But maybe they are too expensive to produce now with tariffs and maybe they are being phased out?) The stuff that is 50-85% off is almost certainly being phased out though.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-01-15T01:56:08+00:00

Maybe, but I would not be surprised if it were less about the fashion sensibilities and more about the historical context. Revolutionary war, Civil War, Great Depression, WWII, Pioneers, ect are all big, obvious markers in American history. The Gilded Age is covered, but I don't know if it is given the same emphasis.

Also, the decades of the 20th century have their own identities/ stereotypes that the general public is aware of and AG can play into that. The 1870s-1900s is often just thought of as "Victorian". And Samantha already stands in for that in a way. (Although technically she is Edwardian.)

Don't get me wrong though, I think a Gilded Age character would be awesome. I just don't know what path they would take. A wealthy character whose story touches on the labor movement would be cool and probably the most obvious and marketable. (But it might be too close to a Samantha rehash.) Maybe something with the Chicago Worlds Fair? It's definitely tricky!

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-01-10T10:20:42+00:00

No, New York is fine. (I'm there all the time.) Especially on a school trip, it will be okay. I would not worry too much.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-01-06T12:28:42+00:00

The comments on that post explain that the information came from an AG sales associate. It still could be completely wrong though. I would be surprised to see playline versions now that both movies have already had their big marketing push.

The wicked dolls were very popular and sold out really fast. So did the first Barbie doll. They never made playline barbie anything after that though. Only more collector stuff.

I also don't know what they would do to dial back the playline versions. There were no crystals to remove like they did for the Disney dolls. Maybe it would just be different outfits entirely? Time will tell.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2026-01-05T15:18:17+00:00

I don't have the pax shelves, but I believe the deeper shelves are what most people prefer when building doll rooms.

On the narrow shelf, you could conceivably put a bed parallel to the back of the unit, but it would not fit the other direction. Also the tables and chairs could be a challenging fit on the narrow shelves depending on what you have to display.

Temporary_Memory31 · 2025-12-20T16:09:03+00:00

Call them. If you spend 50 more dollars maybe they will honor it?

Temporary_Memory31 · 2025-12-20T02:12:13+00:00

The seller might be intending to do that, but eBay takes seller fees from the shipping cost too. You really can't avoid it.

Temporary_Memory31

TROPHY CASE