Ilee in Japan

The Journey Girls Japan Line Survives

The Journey Girls line has had an interesting couple of years as Toys R Us, re-branding as TRU Kids in the U.S., figures out what they are going to do with their brands of toys.  As Toys R Us stores closed during the Australian release, fans of the dolls were sure that was the last release they would see.  Many of us were happy to find out that Kroegers and Shopko had the dolls over Christmas time. That turned to mild disappointment when it was discovered that most of the dolls at Kroegers were the Australian dolls.  Shopko gave us hope as they had Meredith and Dana from the new Japan line, but most of the dolls were from the Australian line.  After Christmas Kroeger's stopped carrying the dolls, and Shopko went out of business.  Until recently there wasn't much hope that Journey Girls would be released in the U.S. at all.  Then they showed up on the Amazon website for Prime day.  All except Callie.

Ilee is one of my favorite dolls from the new Japan line.  Her outfit is adorable and well made.  She comes in a plaid pastel dress, with stripped socks, and pink high tops.  Along with her outfit she comes with a pastel bracelet and a purse.

When I first saw the new Japan line near Christmas of last year, I was super excited for Ilee to be released. Her outfit is dreamily cute and is very different than many of the other standard outfits from the Journey Girls line.  Well...let's look at the doll and her outfit.

I was glad to find that there were less than 6 I-fasteners holding Ilee to the cardboard backing, compared to other years when there were more than a dozen of the fasteners.  Once you find all of the fasteners, remove the clear rubber band around her neck to get Ilee out of her box.

Her dress is mostly white but since it has a plaid design, it doesn’t feel white because of all the pretty pastel colors. The dress is made up of a teal, lavender, peach, pink, and a kind of mauve color. The top has a large collar that comes across the center line of the dress and then leads down to the waist line similar to an overcoat but with no buttons. At the bottom of this line, on the waist, is a cute bow done in the same fabric as the rest of the dress.  

On the right hand side just below the arm, are two more bows, smaller than the one on her waist. Her skirt flares out a little bit and is cut on the left-hand side so that it goes closer to her hip.  Underneath of that is a teal slip with ruffles on it that can be seen from that cut.  

It’s a nice design that makes the dress look a little different and adds a lot of cute!  Although it looks like the dress opens in the front, it does have Velcro in the back to open the top for easy redressing of Ilee.

Ilee's striped socks match the colors in her dress.  There are more pinks and purples in the socks than are in the dress.  A little different, but they go well with her dress.

Her socks go right above the knee.  Unlike the lace socks that were released a few years ago, these socks are closer to a sock you and I might buy.  They are tight on her, and can be a bit of a challenge to get on, but they have to be a little tight so that they stay up.

Shoes have always been interesting for the Journey Girls line.  For many of the releases  the dolls had the same shoes (the well known plastic low healed dress shoe).   Then, sandals were added to the line, and there were two different types of shoes.  That is a little bit of an exaggeration, as there were actually a few other shoe designs, including some boots, but for some reason the majority of the new doll releases had one of the plastic shoes.   Thankfully, Ilee does not have these plastic shoes.  She has beautiful light pink high-tops. 

The shoes are similar to Dana's shoes (who was released at Christmas in some areas).  Ilee's shoes have a good rubber sole that seems to be taller than Dana's.  They also don't have a goofy shape to them like Dana's shoes.

Unfortunately Ilee's shoes have the ribbon laces, just like Dana's.  The ribbon is difficult to get into a bow and does not stay tied as well as normal laces.   That being said, I still love these shoes!  And they go amazingly well with Ilee's outfit.

Ilee comes with a cute, chunky star bracelet.  Although the colors are different than in Ilee's dress, they do complement it.  There is elastic through the middle of each star that makes it so that the bracelet can be removed easily. 

Personally, I love seeing this type of accessory rather than just the standard purse and sometimes a headband.   That doesn't mean that Ilee doesn't come with a purse...she does.

And it is a really cute purse that goes along so well with her outfit.  The little rounded pink purse has a long silver shoulder strap, making the purse hang right below Ilee's waist. 

There is a silk bow sewn onto the front of the purse.  Like many of the new purses there is a little bit of Velcro on the inside of the purse to keep it closed.

Usually with the new release of the Journey Girls, there are not many differences from the doll the year before.  This release a new company (again) has taken over the manufacturing of the Journey Girls.   "Just Play Products" is now producing the dolls (although you can't find the dolls on their website).  With this new manufacture I hoped that the joint issues are gone.  With my Ilee, her joints are wonderful.  Her arms move easily, as do her legs, and her head.  Her left arm actually has an area that it can't stay up because the joint is so loose.  I thought that the easy of the joints might mean that the dolls have a different style of joint, but when I opened Kyla I was sadly disappointed (her review will be coming soon).  

So we're still out on the quality of the joints. I'm not sure that the vinyl has changed.  It feels the same, but that doesn't mean it isn't different.  Her cloth body seems to be nicer material, and the stitching looks better.  Some of my dolls from the last few years had really wonky stitching.  Ilee's hair feels and behaves like Journey Girls dolls of the past 3 years.  It's not horrible hair, but it isn't as nice as an American Girl doll's hair.

Speaking of Ilee's hair...she has subtle pink highlights throughout her hair.  My doll has at least 4 different spots where I can find pink.

It is very subtle, but can be seen more easily at the top of the head.  It's a cute addition to the doll.

All ratings are out of 10

Value 9 – The jury is out on the joints and the vinyl of the newly released doll.  For $34, she is a great doll, as long as the arm doesn't break off when I try to pose her.  Ilee's outfit is one of my favorites.  It is extremely cute, and is made well.  The accessories that come with Ilee are nice.

Fitment 10 – Everything fits perfectly!  As it should be since the items are made for this doll.  No issue with things being too tight.   Each Journey Girl dolls is a little different though, so you might have a doll that has a harder time fitting in this outfit.

Versatility 8 – As with most dresses, the accessories are the only things hat can be used with other outfits.  This set has a good amount of accessories though.  The socks are fun and can go with a variety of outfits.  The shoes are perfect for play outfits, school outfits, just about anything but a formal outfit.  The same is true for the purse and bracelet.  Great to have things that work with a variety of outfits.

Cuteness 10 –  For me, this is the cutest release outfit I have seen from Journey Girls.   The colors are great on Ilee.  The mint green lace on the bottom of the dress is adorable.  And her knee high socks and pink shoes just complete the outfit perfectly.   A cute outfit!

Overall 9 – I honestly think she is very close to a ten, but I'm not sure that every Ilee is going to be.  With a new manufacture/distributor I am hopeful that the consistency issues decrease.  Maybe we even get a redesigned joint so they won't break.   My Ilee has no joint sticking, the vinyl looks great, and her outfit is awesome.  If you were lucky enough to pre-order her from Amazon, I hope your doll is as good as mine.   If you weren't able to order her, hopefully she will be on the TRU Kids website by this winter.  Or she may show up again on Amazon.  Either way, she is worth getting!