History of the American Girl Best Friend Characters

Part of this article was originally published by American Girl Wiki in 2021. Visit americangirl.fandom.com to read the entire article and explore other articles.

Who They Are

The Best Friend Characters are companion characters to the main Historical Characters. Although not given their own unique time periods, they share the same era and stories of the characters they are paired with. 

Best Friends are prominent characters in their companion's stories. However, each Best Friend’s story shows a different aspect of the same time period due to differences in their backgrounds and situations.

History of the Line

The Best Friend line debuted in 2004 with the release of Nellie O’Malley, Samantha’s best friend, who was released to coincide with the first American Girl movie, Samantha: An American Girl Holiday. Nellie is a main character in both the movie and Samantha’s stories. 

While advertised as a limited edition doll, due to positive reception, American Girl decided to keep Nellie as a permanent extension of Samantha’s collection. This prompted the expansion of the Best Friend line to include other characters.

Elizabeth Cole, Emily Bennet, Ruthie Smithens were released as a tie-in to their upcoming movie of their companion. Ivy Ling was released with the initial debut of Julie Albright. 

Their Collection

Best Friends were given much smaller collections than the Historical Character they were paired with. Though they were never displayed in the Historical Character's personal outfits, they were marketed as being part of (and thus being able to share) the collection of their companion. Collections were also tied together; when Samantha's collection was archived, Nellie and her collection were as well. This was also true for Felicity and Elizabeth, and Molly and Emily.

The End of the Line

In 2014 American Girl announced that the remaining best friends available for purchase--Ivy and Ruthie--would be archived, effectively ending the Best Friends line. One of the many official responses from American Girl was that they were seeking to return the focus to the main characters themselves.

You can still enjoy the Best Friends line by viewing them on exhibit with their companion in the museum. We look forward to sharing more of our Best Friends collection in the future.