History Buff/Miniature Enthusiast,He/Him mid 20's

PC: (voiceover) For millenia, the galaxy has considered the Prothean Empire to be the peak of civilization. However, as they did not develop Belgian techno duo Techtronica's 1989 hit "Pump Up the Jam," this seems dubious.

(The entirety of the music video for "Pump up the Jam" plays uninterrupted)

PC: (voiceover) Commander Shepard has been unifying leader in the war effort, despite not receiving any promotion over the past three years. I spoke with one of the many men who has been relying on her underpaid labor to boost their own success.

(Interview room)

PC: So Mr. Victus, you're a primarch.

AV: that is correct.

PC: Can I return this sweater with you?

AV: I'm sorry?

PC: I tried at the location on the Citadel, but they said I couldn't get a full refund anymore. Just store credit.

AV: … when did you buy it?

PC: last August.

AV: why didn't you return it before now?

PC: Dunno. Busy.

This is the story I created and the one that motivated me to start drawing. This is the first time I've designed something comic-style, but I really enjoyed the experience.

Thank you for the tag, @westernlarch! ☺️ Sorry for being slow in following-up on this. I see we both have a fic where the opening line is also the title, lol

Rules: Post the first sentence of your latest 10 fanfics, then tag 10 people.

Homecoming

The scent of his mother’s garden reached Garrus before he had crested the small hill between the gravel shuttle pad and his childhood home.

Garrus Never Prayed

Garrus never prayed.

The Usual Suspect

Detective Severan suppressed a gag as she surveyed the crime scene, her mouth plates pressed together to hide the small retch at the back of her throat.

The Ghost of You

The lingering smell of smoke and dust greeted Garrus as he stepped into the Citadel Presidium.

The Courage of Stars

A warm breeze blew over the countryside hills far outside the capital’s city limits.

Blood of a King

“Urdnot Grunt!”

A Gift of Peace

Birthdays had an old habit of being disappointing for Shepard, and more often than not forgettable.

Twitterpated

Shepard had a bounce in her step.

New Wings

Joker dragged his hand across the interface to lock the hotel room door behind him.

The Disciple

Shepard found Samara at the starboard observation deck, her effective residence, though she was a little surprised to discover the justicar not meditating, but instead reclined with a book she had pulled from the library.

Felicity’s story was set in the beginnings of the American Revolution, and addressed the conflict that she faced when her loved ones were split between patriots and loyalists. It also covered the effects of animal abuse, and forgiving those who are unforgivable.

Samantha’s stories centered around the growth of industrial America, women’s suffrage, child abuse, and corruption in places of power. Also, it emphasises how dramatically adoption into a caring family can turn a life around.

Kit’s story is one of my favorites. Her family is hit hard by the Great Depression, and they begin taking in boarders and raise chickens to help make ends meet. Her books include themes of poverty, police brutality, homelessness, prejudice, and the importance of unity in difficult times.

Molly’s father, a doctor, is drafted during the Second World War. Throughout her story, friends of hers suffer the loss of their husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. Her mother leaves the traditional housewife position and works full-time to help with the war effort. They also take in an English refugee child, who learns to open up after a life of traumatic experience.

And then there are the later dolls, that kids younger than me would have grown up with (I was just outgrowing American Girl as these came out), like Rebecca, the Jewish girl who dreams of becoming an actress in the budding film industry, or  Julie, who fights against her school’s gender policy surrounding sports in the 70s, or  Nanea, the Hawaiian girl whose father worked at Pearl Harbor.

Nah.

OP (of the tweet thread) was either a actively trying to start shit or is just a huge fucking moron. Probably both.

I’d like to point out that the company that makes American Girl dolls actually doesn’t skimp when doing their research and they don’t make the dolls with the intent to be offensive in any way:

i think back on this & realize that as third graders we were talking about how awful slavery was & because we were simply innocent kids without any societal or institutional influence yet, all of us could kept saying “why would you treat a HUMAN like that ?!” this one girl for her birthday invited all of us for her party & she got the Addy doll - every single one of us (boys included) held her & was in awe of this doll - it was such a touching experience.

i went back home about a year ago & ran into my third grade teacher in the grocery store. she said that year opened up a whole new teaching structure for her. she now reads american girl stories to her students starting day one of class every day to calm them down after recess & she’ll get through maybe four or five sets of books a year. she has the dolls in the room with packets on information from the doll’s time period that her students can “check out” to take home for weekends to care for them.

we oftentimes overlook how powerful toys can be in influencing young children & american girl honestly knew that kids could read intense moments in history & synthesize the issues to learn how to be a better person. my grandma bought me my first doll, molly, when i was only six & the dolls became a huge part of my childhood. when i turned 21 a couple years ago - we were living in minneapolis - she took me to have lunch for my birthday at the american doll place in the mall of america & bought me the Addy doll for my birthday. it was such a powerful moment i hasn’t expected.

I learned a lot of my core beliefs from these girls.

These are from one of their latest books, A Smart Girl’s Guide to Body Image:

They got a lot of flak from conservative parents for this and they did. not. back. down.

Their newest historical doll, Claudie, is a black girl growing up in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Her story is about Black artists thriving, and making a safe, beautiful place for themselves in a society that tries to reject them. It teaches about the NAACP’s protests against lynchings, in ways kids can understand, but there’s also so much Black joy and creativity showcased in her story.

Another historical doll, Melody, is growing up in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement. She faces the struggles and triumphs of attending a newly integrated school, and learns about the bombing of a Black church in Alabama that killed four little girls her age. Her stories show how black people found support and community within the church, as well as music— she loves to sing! If you have a free hour, I highly recommend watching her special on Amazon (free with prime). It stars Caila Marsai Martin from Blackish and it will make you weep.

The girl of the year for 2022, Corinne, is Asian, and her story touches on the issues of anti-Asian hate in the wake of covid. When conservative parents threw a fit about this, American Girl went ahead and made the girl of the year for 2023 Asian, too.

Any of their dolls can be customized with assistive devices like hearing aids, service dogs, and wheelchairs. They also have bald dolls, to include stories about girls battling cancer or alopecia. And it’s not just girl dolls— they have boy dolls now, too! And dolls with no gender assigned to them! People complained that they couldn’t find any dolls in the Just Like Me line that looked like them, so they now give people the ability to create their own custom doll, with tons of different options.