When you think of American Girl dolls, you probably have a certain image cemented in your mind: a glassy-eyed, intricately dressed piece of plastic, with slightly parted lips and articulated limbs, who’s meant to evoke a certain historical era. Perhaps you’re imagining Samantha Parkington, the Edwardian-era orphan who sported an afternoon tea dress, or Molly McIntire, known for her bookish looks of glasses and bow-tied braids.
If you were lucky enough to own one of these dolls as a kid—these days they cost $115, minimum—you probably think of Molly, Samantha, and the rest of the American Girls fondly. But did you ever wish that you also had an American Girl doll “who got so high on edibles she called 911”? Or one “who is obsessed with Twilight?”
Mattel, which produces the collection, doesn’t have these ladies for sale; the average American Girl doll continues to be an average American girl. But thanks to a series of increasingly popular internet meme accounts, the iconic brand is receiving a makeover as a series of quirky, pop culture-obsessed, unfiltered, and anxious characters—very relatable to the adult women who owned the dolls as children and now share the memes online.
