Alrighty, now it’s time for part 2 of this year’s Maplelea releases! So buckle your seat belts and get ready for new dolls, new shoes, new outfits – and what’s that? new pets?
(this is a pretty long post! you have been warned. it also comes with a big side of opinions!)
MAPLELEA&ME! DOLLS
KMF50 – this doll comes with two options for eye colour: hazel-green or blue. You . . . can’t really tell the difference in the stock pictures. It’s slightly better on the Maplelea site, but yeah, it looks like their blue is leaning kinda light and maybe almost grey right now. But, yay, a doll with shorter hair!! (The blue-eyed version is currently the closest doll they have to what I look like, though my hair is still significantly shorter than that). I think the eye colour option is an interesting and probably smart one, because in the past they’ve had dolls that look so so similar, with differences being only “with freckles” or hazel rather than brown eyes. 10/10, few notes.
KMF52 – Okay, so Maplelea is upping their game on “boy” dolls this year, and it was a long time coming. Seriously, they released their “boy” dolls (boy is in quotations because a doll can be whatever gender you want it to be, regardless of how it is marketed), oh maybe in 2021? 2022? Something around there. And they’ve ALL been white. Finally, very finally, we have a Black “boy” doll, and they’re very very cute. 10/10, I approve.
(Also, as far as I can tell, this is the exact same face mould that my beloved Toria has, so it’s really great that they’re not doing the silly American Girl thing of using a face mould designed specifically for an Indigenous character, or the one where boys can’t show their teeth and have weirdly thick jawlines for kids.)
KMF53 – We did need a curly-haired redhead, so this is also very good. This doll has freckles and hazel-green eyes (is Maplelea trying to use a catch-all colour for both hazel and green? Seems like. I cannot actually comment on this, because I’ve never met anyone with green eyes, and I have three friends with red hair. They’ve all got either blue or brown eyes, so idk.). I think she’s very cute and a good option for gingers who don’t look as much like Jenna. 10/10 once again.
KMF54 – wooo hooo!! Maplelea is finally allowing two – nay, three now! – Black dolls to be available at the same time! (This is a first since KMF11 and KMF12 retired around 2020). And she’s got long hair, so that’s very cool and new for Maplelea. 10/10, she’s cute!
KMF55 – new style of bangs for this basic doll. FlamyFox13 and I have been calling her “Brianne doll”, because she’s got the same features (blue eyes, long blonde hair, bangs). She’s got a different face mould from Brianne, of course, and her description says she has “curtain bangs”, so that’s new.
9/10. She does look like Brianne.
KMF56 – This is new and exciting too! Finally a “boy” doll with red hair and hazel-green eyes. Also, I do love all this curly hair that they’re doing. It looks super cute. Adorable doll, 10/10.
KMF57 – oh gosh, why is she so cute?? She’s also got freckles (you’ll see these in some of the later pictures) and oh, boy. If I didn’t have Toria, I’d very much want her. Alas, they do have the same face mould, and I don’t think I want two with the same face. But she’s so so cute. 11/10, beautiful.
KMF58 – I could have sworn we had this one before. Yeah, we definitely did, and as Maplelea&Me! doll too, not just one we had back when it was Maplelea Friends. Um, why not just re-release that doll?? 5/10, I don’t understand.
KMF69 – This was also a doll we had before, but back when it was Maplelea Friends. I don’t understand why they took so long to bring her back, because look, she’s so cute! 9/10, should’ve done this sooner, Maplelea.
Alrighty, so those are the new dolls, bringing the currently number of available Maplelea&ME! dolls to 17.5 (because KMF50 has two eye colours).
Now on to the shoes!
FOOTWEAR
So there’s a lot of new pairs of shoes and boots, but we’ll get through this.
First up, Teal Runners. These don’t come with journal pages, it’s just the converse-style shoes. They’ve done this before, but with high-tops – and they didn’t actually last that long before retiring. We’ll see what happens this time. Maplelea has done this style of shoe before, but these look a little cheaper. I dunno. 8/10
Same deal, just Fuchsia Runners instead of teal. 8/10. Nicole would actually wear both of these colours.
These are the Mica Shimmery Shoes, which I swear are the exact same as the white shoes in the Trio of Shoes set, just sold separately as well. I’m not the biggest fan. 8/10.
These are the Cloud Puff Walkers. I think the name is not great and really, they’re a little silly, but how much can I really say when Nicole has an older pair of fluffy white Maplelea boots? 8/10. I like Nicole’s better even if these look softer.
Fancy a bit of cultural appropriation, anyone? These are the Red River Boots, which the journal pages say are about the Red River Settlement. I’m a little wary, considering they keep showing these on white-looking dolls, and also not sure if they’re going to touch on the Red River Resistance (it was a pretty important event in Canadian history between the Métis under the leadership of Louis Riel, and the Canadian government, from what I remember) in the journal pages or not.
(I’m not Indigenous, I should note, and while I do think these are very pretty boots, I can’t say if Maplelea is going about this the right way. I’d appreciate additional perspectives!)
These are the Seaway Sandals, and they have a history too, but very different and much less important that the boots above. Still, it’s Maplelea history, and that’s kind of one of my hobbies. So, these sandals were initially sold as part of Léonie’s first bathing suit, way back in the late 2000s (I don’t actually have any pictures of this yet). They were later sold separately as the Seaway Sandals, 2011-2015ish. And now, well, they’re very much back! 8/10, no complaints, just not the most thrilling.
These are the Carcross Desert boots, about a desert in Yukon which I’m pretty sure is the smallest worldwide and also Canada’s only desert. So that’s cool! That said, I think these look pretty boring. 7/10.
Next up, the Comfy Clogs (read: crocs). Why white?? They could’ve at least picked red and that would’ve gone with the whole Canadian thing while being much more interesting. Though it did just occur to me that American Girl came out with white crocs (collab with Crocs, I believe) recently enough, so maybe they are copying that? These don’t seem very interesting. A red pair like the ones I had as a kid would be better. Or blue! Blue would be very cool. 7/10.
“Confederation Classics”. Well-made but not terrifically exciting to me. Still, 9/10.
I can’t figure out why, but these look like they have an odd shape, possibly because the sole is curving up? I also can’t remember what these are called, so hold on.
Reporting back – they’re called Glacier Guide. I swear in one of Maplelea’s stock photos, they’ve got the left and right mixed up. Anyway, probably 9/10.
I am decidedly not very interested in all this exceedingly-Canadian footwear. What about a pair of running shoes or something?
Oh, here they are! These Fireberry Flyers are still very white and red, but they’re cute. 10/10.
These are the Grey Jay Hikers (the Grey Jay is a Canadian bird, perhaps almost the national bird?). 9/10, no notes, really. Just too much red and buffalo plaid in this release.
Sandstone Boots. Beige and boring. ForestPoodle88 is not a fan. 7/10.
Moving on from shoes!
OUTFITS AND OTHER THINGS
I think this was released during the rest of the year – it’s the Truly Canadian outfit and yes, I am very tired of this excessive Canadian-ism. Look, Canada’s not that great, okay? We have a history of genocide (against the Indigenous people who lived here long before white settlers came), and things seem to be a bit better here than under the Trump rule in the States, but I dunno, personally I’m not into this pageantry and patriotism. A bit of it makes sense, a lot of it, no. (Sorry for getting a bit political here. Rant over for now.)
So, on to the actual outfit now. I think the fact that it comes with a backpack is cool, also the bucket hat is cool because I can’t think of any other time Maplelea has done that. But the colours, well, see above. And this is really not all that original anyway. 6/10.
Right, so let’s get the rest of the stuff I don’t like out of the way right now, shall we?
Trading Post outfit. Shoes not included. It’s a Hudson’s Bay Company sweater, just with the order of the colours changed so they can hopefully avoid lawsuits. Are they going to tackle the icky bits of colonialism and the fur trade in Canada here? I’m all for teaching Canadian history, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows and I’m not sure Maplelea will be touching on that. I think it probably could be done in an age-appropriate manner, I just don’t know if they’ll go that direction or not. There’s also the part where Maplelea is catering to older collectors as well, and I think this is one of those sets that may appeal to them since they’re likely more familiar with such sweaters.
On an aesthetic/outfit design perspective, I do like this. The green shirt was a good choice, and the beige khakis do work well too.
But overall, I’m not sure what to give this. I don’t have a strong enough base in Canada’s history nor have I read the journal pages that come with it to know. (I know enough Canadian history to see where things could go wrong, but not a lot more than that.)
This is called Bear Track. Not much to say, but it looks well-made. 7/10.
Trailhead Traditions. Hat not include, boots not included, mittens not included, and the snowshoes are a different set, simply called “Snowshoes”. How imaginative.
Snowshoes look well-made and very cute, 10/10 for those.
The outfit (pants, shirt, vest) is fine, I guess? I like the vest. Vests are cool, my dolls like vests (I do not wear vests, but they do), and I like that it’s white and brown. Shirt is classic and stereotypical (though I do own a black and white plaid shirt myself), jeans are jeans. 7/10, the vest carries the outfit.
Fall Foliage, same elements as the last outfit. This is the kind of thing you wear to visit your grandparents on a farm for Thanksgiving. Or, slightly more accurately, it reminds me of how my grandpa dresses, and this is the kid version of that, so! I do like it. The plaid shirt is a different colour-scheme (it’s got greens and oranges and blues in there), the jeans are darker (seems to be what the country folk wear, from my experience), the vest is very cute (love the toggle-button things!). Still very Canadian, but it doesn’t scream it so much. I do approve. If only Maplelea could do more of this. 10/10.
This is Canoe Country. It’s still pretty classic/stereotypical, but it is very accurate to clothes that one could get for human people. I appreciate the white instead of more red and I do think this is cute. Maplelea seems to be doing more hoodie and sweatpant sets, and I do think it’s cute. 8/10.
This is the Great Grizzly sweater coat. They’ve done bulky sweaters like this before, same colour-scheme as always. Cute, stereotypical but realistic. 8/10.
Same comments on these Red Leaf Warmers too, honestly. Cute, realistic, stereotypical, been done before (just not with the socks). 8/10.
SO close!! Last bit of super Canadian-ness below and then there’s not too much left.
Maplelea’s annual release of winter pajamas, this year, Polar Plaid. There’s usually plaid involved, often red, and some Canadian and/or classic winter elements. They’re pretty cute, but otherwise no notes. 8/10.
This is Style Basics. Boring name, -1. Do kids actually wear tights anymore? I would think that leggings would be more the thing. Also not sure why you need three pairs, especially two white ones (though I think one has lace-y bits). 5/10, mostly confused.
Sable the maltipoo is back! Can’t remember when this little pup was last around, but it was a number of years ago. Glad to see a pet again!
Silent Snow jacket. Whiter-looking in other photos, so not likely cream-coloured in person. Looks soft and fluffy! 9/10.
They’ve paired the this dress here with the above coat in some pictures – it looks good together. This is Tamarack Trails, we’re looking at the sweater-dress and tights. I approve. I like the blue tights and the ruffles in the dress. Also, trees! Nicole and I are both big fans of trees. 10/10.
This is the Snowfolk Sweater Set and it comes with the snowman sweater, leggings and ornament. Another snowman sweater for Maplelea! I have an older one, you can see it in this post: Happy Dollidays #3 – “Go Caroling”. I really love how the snowperson (snowfolk, as Maplelea is saying, and Sophie thinks this is excellent. She’s glad to have a gender-neutral term for a being made of snow) on the sweater matches the ornament – and even better, if your doll wants to match too, check out the set below!
So 10/10 for this, shiny leggings are fun, the sweater is very cute, and the ornament is a nice touch.
Downhill Duo scarf and hat set, so that you too can match the snow-being on your sweater that matches the ornament you also have. I think this is swell, 10/10 for matching.
And there, we’ve finally made it! I hope you enjoyed taking a look at Maplelea’s newest things and if you’d like, let me know which is your favourite!
(Ah, and now the dolls would like to tell you which they like best.
Nicole reports that she likes the teal and fuchsia converse and she would like me to obtain a black top hat and red scarf so that she and her sisters can match with their snowman sweater too!
Sophie says she wouldn’t wear any of this except Fall Foliage (the set with the plaid shirt and red vest), but that set she would definitely wear all the time.
Victoria really likes the red Fireberry Flyers and also, she thinks we need a dog. “Sable needs a loving home!” is what she told me. “You already have two hamsters, a calf, a chicken and Horsey Dear!” was my response.)
Anyway, thanks for reading and hopefully I’ll be back soon!
-ForestPoodle88
P.S. I just realized that I fully forgot that Charlsea got chickens!! I’m going to just link it here and you can tell me your rating on it instead of the other way around: Charlsea’s Chickens Set. See ya!
Hedgehog Hollow 