How does Giovanna compare to Jordanna?
Toys R Us has released their annual “Special Edition” Journey Girls doll. Starting with Jordanna in 2013, Toys R Us followed up with two dolls for 2014, both named Mikaella (both had the same face mold, just different hair and eyes). This year there is one doll, Giovanna, a beautiful blonde haired, blue-eyed doll that comes in a gorgeous crimson gown. Did Toys R Us make the right decision to go with just one doll? Does Giovanna stand up to the standard of a special edition doll? And most importantly…is she worth the money?
Giovanna
comes in a special clear, curved, window box, just like the other two years, the
top and bottom of the container are a thick plastic half circle, with a handle
on the top plastic piece. Unlike the
standard boxes, which are rectangular and have a flap that opens easily on the
top, Giovanna’s container needs to be disassembled to get her out. The easiest way I found to do this is to cut
all the tape holding the top plastic piece to the cardboard /plastic window,
then cut the tape that is holding the back flap shut. This should make it so that you can pull the
top off and then pull the cardboard that Giovanna is attached to out. You may have to work a knife around the top
of the plastic, since there is glue as well as the tape. If you don’t care about the container…rip the
back cardboard and the whole thing will open up for easy access to Giovanna.
There are
lots of things holding Giovanna to the cardboard backer. Cut all the plastic I fasteners, string, and
tape on the back. There are also two I
fasteners on the sides (one on each side, towards the bottom) that attach the
dress to the cardboard. Once you get all
of those off, make sure that you clip or pull of the clear rubber band around
her neck. Then she’ll be loose from the
back, but will still have a piece of cardboard attached to her dress. Find the I fasteners and cut them to get her
dress loose from this cardboard. Finally
the top layer of her dress has tiny I fasteners holding it to the bottom layer
(one on each side of the front) and her fur also has two I fasteners. Clip all of these and she is finally free.
Giovanna
has a very pretty face. She has the same
face mold as the new Meredith and Kyla dolls, but she looks quite different. Her lips are fuller then Meredith’s or Kyla’s and
have a shimmery lipstick painted on them (very much like Jordanna has).
She has deep dark blue eyes; almost navy blue, with beautiful plastic eyelashes on her top lid along with painted lashes on her bottom lid. She has bright blonde hair, identical to Meredith’s hair color. Her hair is soft and very smooth, but gets messy easily. It’s easy to comb, and with a little water, goes right back to where it belongs.
Giovanna is the first Journey Girl to come
with her ears pierced! She comes with
star shaped diamond earrings with a pearl hanging down from them.
Giovanna is the 1st Journey Girl to have pierced ears. |
Giovanna’s
dress is beautiful. The dress is definitely
closer to Jordanna’s than Mikaella’s.
There are three layers to the skirt of the dress; one made of stiff tulle
to help fluff the dress, a satin layer, and then a thin see through material
that is gathered in waves.
The dress has a layer of tulle that helps the dress fluff up. |
The top has
two layers; the satin extending from the skirt up to above the chest, ending in
a heart neckline, then the thin see through material is over the satin bodice
and forms a chocker neckline above the satin’s heart neckline.
The skirt is a nice thick satin material,
with good hems. It’s got great flow,
billowing in just the right places to make the dress look very full and
elegant.
It doesn’t puff out quite as
much as Jordanna’s, but it is a huge improvement over Mikaella’s. The tulle, satin, and see through material
are all sewn together at the back of the dress.
You can’t really see the seam, but it makes it difficult to fully fluff
the dress up, since the tulle is attached to the other layers.
The dress Velcro’s up the entire bodice to
the chocker neckline. It’s a little
tight, but not so tight that it is hard to Velcro together.
The see through material has light cotton
waves of fabric sewn on to it. This
really adds to the elegant look of the dress, and is very reminiscent of
Jordanna’s wavy fabric flower pattern on her dress.
As in past
year, Giovanna comes with a few more accessories than a normal Journey Girls
doll. She has a silver hand purse with a
silver ribbon strap, so that she can put it around her wrist.
It opens so she can keep some small items in
it for her night at the Gala. It latches
with a small piece of Velcro and has a beautiful diamond on the front. The jewel matches Giovanna’s bracelet, which
has two strands of small pearls on separate stretch bands, so that it can
easily be taken on and off. There is a
large round diamond on the bracelet, surrounded in a circle by smaller round
diamonds.
Giovanna's jewelry is very pretty and is easy to get on and off. |
This same jewel is repeated on
Giovanna’s fur shoulder shawl. The shawl
Velcro’s in the front, under the jewel, for easy removal. There is a white ribbon in the middle of the
shawl that the jewel sits on top of.
As
with the other special edition dolls, Giovanna has gloves on for her fancy
night out. Her gloves are a lovely
silver stretch material, similar to Jordanna’s white gloves. These gloves are more like mittens in the
sense that they only have a separated thumb, rather than separation between
each finger.
Her gloves are more like mittens, since there is no separation between fingers. |
Toys R Us…Giovanna needs better shoes!!!! |
Note that Giovanna also comes with underwear….just plain white
undies. Nice to have, since Giovanna
does the splits to sit.
Yeah! Underwear! |
Giovanna
has the ½ vinyl chest plate and ½ fabric body, as do all of the Journey
Girls. Like the other girls she also has
five points of articulation; both shoulders, both hips, and her head.
Her joints are similar to the new sculpt dolls (Mikaella, Meredith, and Kyla) which is not so great. All of the new sculpt dolls have notchy head and shoulder joints, meaning that they click or stick in places, rather than being fluid. Comparing Giovanna to the brand new Callie doll, Giovanna’s head is very difficult to turn and down right hard to tilt, where Callie’s head tilts and turns with ease.
The same is true for their shoulders;
Giovanna’s shoulder joints click and are more difficult to move, whereas
Callie’s are very smooth. Some of the
stiffness and clicking go away a little after the doll is played with, but not
all of it.
Unfortunately Giovanna suffers
the same issue with her legs as all the new Journey Girl dolls do. The leg joint has a very different rotation
in it than the older dolls joints. Her
legs go out to the side almost immediately when rotating them, making her do
the splits to sit.
Her joints are similar to the new sculpt dolls (Mikaella, Meredith, and Kyla) which is not so great. All of the new sculpt dolls have notchy head and shoulder joints, meaning that they click or stick in places, rather than being fluid. Comparing Giovanna to the brand new Callie doll, Giovanna’s head is very difficult to turn and down right hard to tilt, where Callie’s head tilts and turns with ease.
Giovanna doesn't have quite the same amount of bend in her neck. That may change as she is played with. |
Giovanna's arms don't have as much movement as Callie's. The joints also click on Giovanna. |
She has the same type of joint for her shoulder as all the other Journey Girls. |
Kelsey is from the Paris line. You can see that her legs also
spread out, but not as much. Kelsey's joint allows some movement in and out
from the hip joint, rather than just forward and back like Giovanna’s.
The difference is not that noticeable until
you try to seat the girls at a table.
Giovanna is going to eat by herself, kick the people next to or across
from her, or sit so slanted that she falls out of the chair. Kelsey can sit decently (although not great)
in the chair without kicking everyone around her.
The other issue that comes from the leg joint is that the dolls balance is off. The Journey Girls are fairly easy to stand up for the most part. Giovanna is more difficult because her legs start to go out to the side as you tilt her back or forward, making it so that her feet tip in, and reduce the surface area that is touching the ground. This makes balancing her difficult. Having flat shoes on her helps, but Kelsey is still much easier to pose.
Kelsey's legs spread out quite a bit when she sits on her own. |
Giovanna's legs have to go out almost 4 inches more for her to sit on her own. |
No sitting with others, when Giovanna is at the table. |
If Giovanna's legs are together more, she slides down. |
Kelsey's legs are still out pretty wide, but she is sitting up straight. |
The other issue that comes from the leg joint is that the dolls balance is off. The Journey Girls are fairly easy to stand up for the most part. Giovanna is more difficult because her legs start to go out to the side as you tilt her back or forward, making it so that her feet tip in, and reduce the surface area that is touching the ground. This makes balancing her difficult. Having flat shoes on her helps, but Kelsey is still much easier to pose.
Overall,
Giovanna is a wonderful doll. Her dress is
awesome, her face is very cute, and she is made well for the most part. As mentioned there are some issues with her,
but not enough to warrant her not being purchased.
Results
All ratings are out of 10
Poseability - 7 - Giovanna
has all of the same articulation points as any other Journey Girls. Her arms and head seem a bit stiff, but from
experience these joints seem to loosen up over time. The clicking in the joints sometimes goes
away. Consistency with joints is an
issue; one doll will have stiff joints, another loose. The big poseability disappointment is
Giovanna’s legs. Like Mikaella before
her, Giovanna sits in the splits.
Quality - 8 - Giovanna
is made with the same quality of materials, as are all the Journey Girls. She has good vinyl, quality clothing, and
good hair. Her hair is made of a
different material than Callie’s hair, but it is similar to Mikaella’s. It can get tangled, but more often it is just
frizzy. Not horrible…not great, just
good.
Adorableness - 9 – Giovanna
is beautiful. All of the special edition
dolls have been very pretty. Giovanna’s
gown design feels fancier than Mikaella’s, more like Jordanna’s elegant ball
gown. Giovanna’s bright blue eyes and
sparkly lips also make her very cute.
And the edition of pierced ears is awesome!
Compatibility - 8 – Giovanna,
like all the Journey Girls is a different size than other 18” dolls. She is just a little skinnier. This mean clothes from other companies will
fit Giovanna, although they may be loose, but Giovanna’s dress does not fit well
on other brands of dolls (except Espari dolls).
Giovanna will look very nice in any type of outfit, however as with
Jordanna, she looks more at home in fancier outfits. Maybe because of the lipstick and the earrings.
Overall Score - 9 – Giovanna
is amazing! Her dress is very pretty,
much more like Jordanna’s dress. She has
many great accessories. She has her ears
pierced! Giovanna does have a few issues
that plague the new Journey Girls; namely joint issues. None of these issues take away from the
playability of the doll. Toys R Us
ordered way too many Mikaella’s last year, due to the shortage of Jordanna’s
they had the year before. Because of
that, Giovanna may not be quite as plentiful as Mikaella was last year. Pick her up early if you can. She is well worth the $50. Watch for sales before Thanksgiving to get
her for even less!
Special Edition Journey Girls; Giovanna, Jordanna, and Mikaella |
7 comments:
Great review! I think she looks a lot like Meredith, but her eyes seem different. She definitely seems different enough. What a shame about the leg joints though. You're right in that she seems very unrealistic sitting at a table or even just to pose sitting on the floor.
I think my favorite special release is still Jordana. :)
Farrah Lily,
Thanks. Giovanna does look different than Meredith, but it is hard to pinpoint exactly how. I did notice that Giovanna's mouth is wider.
It is a huge bummer that her legs are the way they are. But all the new Journey Girls are that way. :(
I agree Jordanna is still my favorite, but Giovanna is a good and close second.
What a well written and thorough review! Both my Journey Girls are older, so I had no idea about the new joints. I wonder why they would do that with the legs, kind of ridiculous! She is really pretty though, I suppose she would prefer to stand in a fabulous dress like that anyway. :)
You have to love those fabulous dresses! My daughters and I love to see these special edition dolls when we are at Toys'R'Us. Great review!
Awesome review!!! I saw this doll at Toy r us once she looked adorible, I agree that Giovanna need way better shoes, she is a special edition doll she need better shoes Toys r us! I also wish she didn't have to do the splits to sit down. Jordanna is still the better one but Giovanna is very,very close :D
I noticed Giovanna does not have a real girl portray her
I had no idea her name was Giovanna! I've had this doll for years and I always thought her name was Italia because that's what it said on the front of the box😂. I'm a huge journey girls fan and I have Giovanna, Alana(Kyla), Callie, Kelsey, Dana, Chavonne, Meredith, Ilee, and Mikayla. I had never heard of Jordana before!
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