Journey Girls "Dana" by Toys R Us

In my part of the world, there are four inexpensive and readily available 18" play dolls that provide an alternative to the more expensive options like American Girl, My Twinn and Carpatina.  Target offers the Our Generation line by Battat, Walmart sells the My Life As dolls by Madame Alexander, AC Moore has the Springfield Collection girls, and Toys R Us carries the Journey Girls line.   I have reviewed the Our Generation dolls and looked at a My Life doll, and have been eager to see how these dolls compare to the Journey Girls.  When I'm browsing at the store, the Journey Girls always stand out to me because of their vinyl torsos, expressive faces and pretty eyes.

There are seven Journey Girl characters to choose from and they sell for just over $30 each.  I have had my eye on Kelsey (the green-eyed redhead) for a year or two, but it was actually the smiling, bespectacled Dana who finally tempted me to make a purchase:

Journey Girl "Dana," by Geoffrey, LLC (Toys R Us).

About six months ago, I purchased the Dana doll that comes with a black coat and tweed shorts, and I have been waiting for the right moment to review her.  The other day, though, I was at Toys R Us and saw some of the dolls from the newer Paris collection and Paris Dana was especially appealing because she's wearing a grey horse shirt.  I decided to buy the newer Dana for a review and give my older version to a local toy drive.  I should note that of the five Paris Dana dolls in stock, only two had eyes that were positioned correctly.  So, I would recommend hand-picking these dolls if you can.

Here is Paris Dana:

She comes in a large cardboard window box with a picture of the Eiffel Tower.  I really like Dana's short hair, eclectic outfit, glasses and cute expression:

The six regular Journey girls are pictured on the back of the box. The seventh character is not shown on the box--she is a holiday exclusive named Jordana.  

Chavonne, Kyla, Meredith, Kelsey, Dana and Callie.

I love all of their names, but I prefer "Siobhan," the original spelling of the Irish name Chavonne.

Each of the characters has a real child model who portrays her, and these girls are pictured at the bottom of the box and along one side.  The girls look about 10-12 years old:

On the back of the box, there's also a short summary of how the girls have just landed in Paris together for a sightseeing vacation.  This description is printed in English, French and Spanish:

I can't help but wonder about the nature of this Paris trip.  The girls can't be there alone (too young), so maybe it's a school trip?  A group family trip?  A Girl Scout adventure?  Hm.

Dana is attached to a cardboard display that slides out of the main box.  She is held in place by a wire tie, some clear stretchy rubber bands around her feet, and a plastic band around her neck.  The trickiest thing about de-boxing her is that there are two well-disguised plastic ties in her clothes that have to be cut before she can come out of the box.

The only decorative element in the box is a cardboard display with a photograph of a real chid and a short description of Dana's animal-loving personality.

The cardboard has a pale travel-themed design with a repeating image of Dana's airline ticket:

Here's Dana out of the box:

The red bow around her belly offers nice contrast to the more subdued colors of her shirt and skirt, but it makes her look a little bit like a wrapped gift:

Dana comes wearing a herringbone cap and her short hair comes tied back in an interesting way.  On each side of her face, there are two clumps of hair crossed over each other and tied with brown thread.  I suppose this is to keep the short strands of hair away from her face and glasses while having some hair showing near her chin so that it's clear that she has short hair.

The cap comes down over her eyebrows and touches her plastic glasses:

The plastic lenses of her glasses produce a lot of glare.

Dana's glasses are tied to her head with clear rubber bands.  Her hat is plastic-tied right into her head on both sides.  These plastic ties are very tight and quite difficult to cut without damaging the hat.  

Random dark areas of the hat have stained my Dana's head:

So, with the hat and the glasses removed, Dana is left with holes on either side of her head that have pokey bits of plastic sticking out of them, and also two large purple stains.  I tried to remove the stains with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and with acetone, but they appear to be permanent. 

I can pretend that they're birth marks, I guess.

It took me a while to get the clear rubber bands out of the earpiece hinges on Dana's glasses:

The glasses are made out of lightweight plastic and have a very simplified brown and black tortoiseshell pattern. They are not as nice as American Girl glasses, but they are not as expensive, either.

Here's Dana without her hat and glasses:

Her hair is a bit messy under the cap, but it brushes out nicely, leaving behind some subtle waves where the thread used to be:

The cut of the hair is very sloppy in some areas, with multiple long scraggly strands:

Dana has an oversized head with large, fixed blue eyes and a smiling, closed mouth:

Her profile is sweet, but the area just under her eyes seems a bit sunken:

Dana has very simple light brown eyebrows with about ten individual hairs drawn in.  She has black painted eyelashes that are thick and long on top and very short and thin on the bottom.

She also has a double row of black plastic lashes that attach into the upper part of her eyeball:

Her plastic inset eyes are a vibrant blue, but they're very realistic and have an iris pattern that I have not seen in other play dolls.

Dana has a sweet, crooked smile and thick lips that are painted with a very nice, natural rose pink.  You might notice in this picture that Dana's glasses have left behind faint, shiny dents on either side of her nose.  These have not gone away or diminished yet.

I have those dents around my nose, too.

I have always been impressed by the Journey Girls eyes and facial expressions.  I like that they have unique faces and lovely, detailed eyes.

Dana's hair is rooted and has a natural dark brown color with no highlights.  It feels fine, but it's nowhere near as silky and smooth as My Twinn Annie's short hair, and it's much thinner than the Our Generation dolls' hair.

The rooting is pretty sparse and the hair plugs are large, giving the scalp a prickly, unattractive appearance:

The scalp has a faint spray of brown paint, presumably to try and decrease the alarming amount of visible pale vinyl.

The area around each hair plug is free of paint, making the scalp look spotted and strange:

Dana's outfit consists of a grey jersey knit shirt, a red belt, a lacy fleece skirt, a pair of black lace leggings and tall black vinyl boots:

The red belt attaches in back with velcro and is easy to get on and off.

The zig-zag stitching is sloppy:

The grey horse shirt is my favorite piece of clothing in this outfit.  It is soft and nicely made and I love the horse silhouette.

It opens all of the way down in the back for very easy dressing and undressing.

The white skirt is made out of a fuzzy lace that feels like fleece.  

The lacy overskirt is plastic-tagged to a simple white underskirt:

Unnecessary.

The lacy black leggings are very thin and simple.  They have a fishnet background with a pattern of tiny flowers:

They are not hemmed at the ankle:

The black boots are undecorated and have a wide slit up the back for easy dressing:

The dark leggings have stained Dana's legs in several areas:

She even has a purple spot on her arm, which doesn't make any sense given that her shirt is light grey and doesn't seem prone to color transfer at all.

What's up with that?

Dana has a cloth belly with vinyl arms, legs and chest.  She has five points of articulation.

My particular doll tips to the left all of the time--I think because one of her legs is attached closer to her body than the other:

She's got a hitch in her gitalong.

Her cloth body is smooth in front and has two seams in the back.  I find the collar bone sculpting a little odd with this doll--maybe it's just that this level of detail seems out of place based on the smoothness of the rest of the doll's features.

Dana does not have great arm movement.  Her arms can only move until they are at about a 45 degree angle to her torso:

Her legs are more flexible and she is able to sit nicely on the ground and do her splits.

My doll's uneven legs make her a little hard to balance, but she can strike some simple walking poses if she has support or is wearing boots.

Dana's head only swivels around, it can't move up and down at all.  My doll has a head that is always looking a little bit up into the air.  Furthermore, as she turns her head, she looks up more and more:

The Journey Girls have a very nice, delicate hand shape that seems much less robotic than a lot of other 18" play dolls:

Here is Dana next to Target's 18" play doll, Our Generation Kendra:

Our Generation vs. Journey Girls.

Kendra has much nicer, thickly-rooted hair and sleep eyes, but Dana has more realistic eyes and I like her face mold better.  I also prefer Dana's vinyl chest because it allows her to look good in a wider variety of clothes.  Dana has slender limbs and a more visually appealing body, but Kendra's body is not crooked and has better balance.

Here is Dana next to my 18" My Twinn Annie (whose body is exactly the same as an American Girl body):

18" My Twinn vs. Journey Girls.

Annie's face and hair are what really set her apart from Dana.  Annie has a lot of realism in her features and her hair is wonderfully silky compared to Dana's slightly coarse hair.  Again, I like the shape of Dana's body better than Annie's, but Annie's vinyl is prettier, she feels more solidly made, and she can stand up straighter.

Last, here is Dana next to my Karito Kid, Gia.  Gia's body also has a cloth belly and a vinyl chest, although she stands several inches taller than Dana:

Karito Kid vs. Journey Girls.

Other than the construction of the body, there's really not much to compare between these dolls.  Gia is heavy and her vinyl is very high quality.  Her proportions are more realistic than Dana's, especially in the head.  Gia's hair is also long and silky and feels like real hair.  She is incredibly well balanced and well made.  The biggest difference in the articulation of these two dolls is that Gia has elastic-strung joints that offer much more flexibility--especially in the neck.  

Here are a few shots showing how Gia can strike a pose much more gracefully and realistically than Dana:

Frustrated by Dana's limited arm movement, I tried to peek into the shoulder joint to see what was going on in there:

There's a hard plastic cupped disc inside the arm joint, and a hole in the soft vinyl of the upper arm fits over this cup:

I got a little too curious as I was investigating this joint, and the arm eventually popped right off.  Here's a picture of the hole in the top of the arm, showing the ragged, cracked vinyl around its edges:

Here's the body at the shoulder joint with the full plastic disc exposed:

The disc attaches to the vinyl body through a small hole in the center of the shoulder socket:

After seeing this joint, the limited arm movement makes a lot more sense.  Unfortunately, after considerable effort, I was unable to get the arm re-attached.

Luckily, I had my older Dana doll as a backup, and so I can use her to finish this review, and also to offer some comparisons between the Journey Girl Paris collection and an older doll.  

The older Dana, who I will call "Winter Dana," comes in a black fleece pea coat with a purple tee shirt and purple tweed shorts over black nylon tights.  She is also wearing a sparkly silver knitted hat and black vinyl boots and carries a shiny black purse.  

This doll's hat is also very tightly attached to her head with two plastic ties.  I actually cut the silver hat trying to get it off--and I was being pretty careful.  Under the hat, this Dana has the exact same hairstyle as Paris Dana:

Her hair is caked with stiff styling product, though, which I did not find on the newer doll.  It was very hard to brush this mess out:

This Dana also has a very messy haircut--even worse than the other doll:

Houston, we have a quality control problem.

Under the black coat, this Dana is wearing a wonderful purple v-neck tee shirt:

Her shorts are also cute and could be worn alone or over the black nylon tights that come with the doll.

I think I'll have Dana wear the shorts on their own since the black tights have stained her legs and feet:

Winter Dana has short boots with a fur cuff and no slit up the back:

These are my favorite boots.  

Her body is exactly the same as the other Dana, but this doll can stand up straight because her legs are attached correctly.  Unfortunately, this doll's neck is lopsided, so she can't hold her head up straight:

Her head always tips to the right.

Here are the two Danas together--you can see that Winter Dana has a pinker tinge to her vinyl while the Paris Dana looks yellow in comparison.  I much prefer the warmer, natural look of the older Winter Dana:

My Twinn Annie was wearing a Journey Girl outfit in her review, so I knew that at least some of the Journey Girl clothes would fit American Girl and the new 18" My Twinn dolls.  After trying the Dana outfits on some of my other dolls, I've found that the Journey Girl tops fit standard 18" dolls perfectly, but the bottoms can be a little tight.

Humpty Dumpty bottom.

Most American Girl, 18" My Twinn, Our Generation and Springfield Collection tops and dresses will fit Dana nicely.

Springfield Collection dress.

American Girl dress.

Dana's vinyl chest is great for this dress, but the cut of the neckline is very wide for her slender frame.

Notice her funny head angles in these last two pictures:

Our Generation shirt.

However, Journey Girls are slender through the torso and hips, so standard 18" skirts and pants can be too loose in the waist for Dana:

Our Generation skirt...falling down.

Also, Journey Girl feet are narrower than American Girl feet, so American Girl shoes don't fit Dana very well:

I dressed Winter Dana in a combination of Journey Girl clothes and added in the fuzzy My Life panda hat that matches the black and white in this outfit:

Winter Dana's coat, shirt, tights and boots
with Paris Dana's skirt and a My Life As hat

I like this fleece coat, but it has a white net lining under the collar that sticks out and is difficult to conceal:

Bundled up like this, Dana was ready for a short trip out into the snowy and frigid woods here in Maine:

She wandered out onto some thin ice and was lucky not to fall in (we know what lurks in this stream...):

But I love how her smile radiates contemplative enthusiasm for her wintry surroundings...

Bottom line?  I was really expecting that the Journey Girls would be my favorites among the bargain 18" play dolls.  I am discouraged that my conclusion isn't that simple.  This doll has some frustrating flaws that hold me back from loving her as much as I thought I would.

Dana does not have awful hair, but the careless cutting, cumbersome styling gel and thin rooting pattern detract from what could have been great play doll hair.  As it is, Dana's hair is not as nice as the Our Generation doll hair, although I prefer the feel of this hair to the synthetic texture of the My Life doll hair.

Dana's body has a vinyl chest design that I really like and that makes a wide variety of tops look great.  I don't care for the visible seam between the vinyl neck and cloth body of dolls like American Girl and My Twinn.  However, both of my Dana dolls have body construction flaws that interfere with their posing and/or balance.  Under the best of circumstances, these dolls still have neck articulation that restricts head movement and arm joints with a plastic cup design that significantly limits shoulder flexibility.  Also, the shoulder joint was impossible for me to fix when it came apart.

I really like the style and construction of most of the Journey Girl clothes that I bought.  The clothes are more interesting and fun than My Twinn clothes and much cheaper than American Girl clothes.  I wish the Journey Girls could share clothes with other 18" dolls in a more reliable way, but the Journey Girl waist is narrow, which limits the sharing of pants and skirts.  The Journey Girl shirts and coats are wonderful and can be shared around nicely.  There's a lot of mix and match potential with these fun, multi-piece outfits.  Despite my overall appreciation for the clothes, the number of permanent stains on my two dolls is upsetting.  The facial stains on my Paris Dana are downright unacceptable and the herringbone hat should have been lined, displayed away from the doll's head, or removed from the ensemble completely.

At first glance, the two Dana dolls I bought seem to be identical except for their outfits.  They even have the same hairstyle and glasses.  However, after closer inspection, I feel that the older Winter Dana is superior (she's cheaper now, too, for those who are holiday shopping).  She did not have any facial staining, nor does her outfit put her at risk for that kind of damage.  Also, her vinyl color is more appealing to me, with a pinkish tone that is more natural and vibrant than the yellow tinge on the newer doll.  I like Winter Dana's outfit better, too, even with my fondness for Paris Dana's grey horse shirt.

I adore this doll's face and her beautiful blue eyes, and when she's bundled up in her cozy, attractive outfit, she seems wonderful.  I find her face more charismatic and sweet than any of the other inexpensive 18" dolls I've owned.  What's frustrating is how many flaws and shortcuts she's hiding.  Both of the Dana dolls I opened had imperfections that would make me pause before purchasing another Journey Girl.  I wish I could take Dana's lovely head, have Battat root her hair with the level of quality that they give to their Our Generation dolls, and replace the hard plastic articulation of her joints with a more durable, flexible alternative--while keeping the versatile vinyl chest.  That would be a pretty amazing doll.  Until a doll like that comes along, I'd recommend carefully hand-picking one of the older Journey Girls and avoiding outfits with dark clothing.