Joss Review
Let's talk about Joss.
I'm not entirely sure how she'll come across in photos to other people, but in person Joss is definitely a chameleon. It's kind of fascinating watching her shift between various face molds with just the tiniest angle change or lighting flicker. It's also slightly unnerving and a right royal pain in the ass if you're attempting to capture one in particular.
I should say that I haven't held her up to (and clearly haven't photographed her with) the other molds because I'm lazy and also I want to enjoy her on her own without direct comparisons just yet. Fine, mostly it's being lazy.
She really does give off a Marie Grace mold vibe, but I've seen pictures of them side by side and as soon as they're next to one another, she looks nothing like MG. But there's something about the tweaks they made to Josefina (or classic, but my money is on Josefina) that evoke MG. Without holding her up to a Josefina mold or classic, I think of her overall as a prettier classic mold, (the nose, however, is sadly classic) but if you pay closer attention to the face mold, it still screams modified Josefina to me. So.. yeah. She shifts, a lot.
All of that aside, or perhaps because of that, I really like Joss. I think she's cute as a button and I won't be upset at all if Courtney (upcoming 80's historical) uses the same mold. I've been pretty hardcore anti-classic mold in the last *checks* 12 years but this is just different enough that I wouldn't mind it being used again so soon.
Wig wise, it's thin. I would have kept to my plan to not order Joss until later in the year if not for the extra points sale and the worry that pretty soon AG's backorders are going to be much, much longer due to their factories being affected by the various shutdowns. So thin wig but color wise it's very pretty (this might actually be MG's color) and I'm hopeful that whenever I decide to take it out of the Meet style, it'll style well enough. I will say that during the however long it took for me to cycle through these outfits, it didn't really shed too much. However, it did have some ridiculously long pieces that had to be removed. She's not the first nor will she be the last to have that problem I'm sure. Frequently with the GOTY wigs later shipments will change the wig. Sometimes this means that a thick, spectacular wig becomes nothing special but usually it means that thinner wigs are fixed or short hairs are added if they weren't there to begin with.
My Joss has a head tilt and while I think it adds character, I know some people are super against that. *shrug* It also means that sometimes my failtography combined with that results in Joss looking very o_0 in pictures even though in person she's fine.
Hearing aid: I was prepared for it to fall out a fair bit but uh, I put it in shortly after deboxing her last week and yesterday I changed her outfit a bunch of times and only once did it shift and that was when I found myself holding her ear and pushing for whatever reason. Maybe when putting on the strawberry shorts? I do know it wasn't until the end and I think that's pretty secure. I wouldn't recommend letting a little kid cart her around an airport or mall or something, but visiting Grandma's or around the house? If the kid isn't part kangaroo and hopping around or shaking things, again, it should be okay. I do love Joss's color scheme extends to the hearing aid, too.
So. Let's get down to pictures, shall we?
Joss's meet outfit, sans underwear which is included but she's not wearing it. Overall, it's a cute as hell look. Piece by piece I don't like it as much, but as an outfit, it's probably one of their better ones. You have a fair amount of options and it's made for mix and match. You get a jacket, her swimsuit, shorts (with actual pockets), underwear, two hearing aids (they only work in her right ear and are housed in a cute little - and I do mean little - case), and thick, plastic shoes .
Fair warning: Joss's jacket is more aqua than the blue it appears here. It's one of my favorite colors and she blends right into my bedding at times. Clearly it was meant to be. Anyway, adjust your expectations accordingly. There's only so much witchcraft I can work on rainy days while figuring out lighting and a new camera.
The hearing aid. It slips right on without much fuss and it stays on. To be fair, I wasn't brushing her hair or anything massive hair-wise, but I did finger brush/smooth it and she did wear her hoodie at one point.
The jacket has a little star pull, which is cute. Said jacket is also pretty easy to unzip and I really appreciate that it's included in the meet instead of being sent off to live with the accessories. Probably because she's got her exclusive cheer jacket to purchase separately, but the jacket is easily my favorite part of her outfit so...
Prepare yourself for an onslaught of pictures of it. :P
But this does lead into my favorite detail.
I dig the rainbow wave graphics on the jacket. This kinda looks like a bird but it's a wave and I love the rainbow metallic look. It adds just enough interest to the jacket to keep it from being basic or boring.
But I really love the detail on the sleeves. Rainbow sleeves! ♥
Sigh. I suppose we should look briefly at the suit, huh. Look. Here it is.
A little closer if you were curious. It feels like a swimsuit but I almost never put the dolls in their swimsuits and I think I really own Julie's because it looks like a play outfit more than a bathing suit.
On the left pocket of the shorts there's a little detail to tie it in more to the bathing suit, and to probably ID it as Joss's in the future.
I don't fully understand how or why mom jeans are a thing, but here we are. I don't dislike the shorts, though I can get why people would. I think they'd be better a smidge less so high waisted but that's personal preference. I love that the pockets are functional and that they aren't tight as hell on Joss. They do velcro behind the buttons there.
View from the back. No, I didn't remember to take a shot of just the bathing suit. It slipped off easily enough and nothing on Joss was difficult to take off. I haven't compared her with other dolls, though I can say that if you've got a heftier doll, they won't work well with her Meet. This shouldn't be a surprise at this point, however, given how Mattel has been shrinking the dolls for awhile now. But it is nice to not have to worry that the doll they're made for is too big for the clothes, which is something AG's been flirting with for the past few years. So definitely a step in the right direction.
Oh, the shoes. Right.
The shoes aren't actually as bad as I thought, but they aren't great. They're really thick, sturdy plastic, which means they don't come off until you tell them to come off. However... I still don't love them and never will. Eh. It can't all be great.
I'll probably never break out Joss's swimsuit unless I'm going full We ♥ Kids or showing Joss's meet as her meet again. Her sandals might show up again at some point because they do stay on. Her jacket is love and it really does work well with her shorts. The shorts should mix and match pretty easily beyond that so again, good stuff.
Overall? Would recommend if you're at all interested. I know a fair number of people used MG to be Rebecca's cousin, but I think with MG being harder to find now, Joss would fill in just fine.
Next we'll look at Joss in various other outfits.
I'm not entirely sure how she'll come across in photos to other people, but in person Joss is definitely a chameleon. It's kind of fascinating watching her shift between various face molds with just the tiniest angle change or lighting flicker. It's also slightly unnerving and a right royal pain in the ass if you're attempting to capture one in particular.
I should say that I haven't held her up to (and clearly haven't photographed her with) the other molds because I'm lazy and also I want to enjoy her on her own without direct comparisons just yet. Fine, mostly it's being lazy.
She really does give off a Marie Grace mold vibe, but I've seen pictures of them side by side and as soon as they're next to one another, she looks nothing like MG. But there's something about the tweaks they made to Josefina (or classic, but my money is on Josefina) that evoke MG. Without holding her up to a Josefina mold or classic, I think of her overall as a prettier classic mold, (the nose, however, is sadly classic) but if you pay closer attention to the face mold, it still screams modified Josefina to me. So.. yeah. She shifts, a lot.
All of that aside, or perhaps because of that, I really like Joss. I think she's cute as a button and I won't be upset at all if Courtney (upcoming 80's historical) uses the same mold. I've been pretty hardcore anti-classic mold in the last *checks* 12 years but this is just different enough that I wouldn't mind it being used again so soon.
Wig wise, it's thin. I would have kept to my plan to not order Joss until later in the year if not for the extra points sale and the worry that pretty soon AG's backorders are going to be much, much longer due to their factories being affected by the various shutdowns. So thin wig but color wise it's very pretty (this might actually be MG's color) and I'm hopeful that whenever I decide to take it out of the Meet style, it'll style well enough. I will say that during the however long it took for me to cycle through these outfits, it didn't really shed too much. However, it did have some ridiculously long pieces that had to be removed. She's not the first nor will she be the last to have that problem I'm sure. Frequently with the GOTY wigs later shipments will change the wig. Sometimes this means that a thick, spectacular wig becomes nothing special but usually it means that thinner wigs are fixed or short hairs are added if they weren't there to begin with.
My Joss has a head tilt and while I think it adds character, I know some people are super against that. *shrug* It also means that sometimes my failtography combined with that results in Joss looking very o_0 in pictures even though in person she's fine.
Hearing aid: I was prepared for it to fall out a fair bit but uh, I put it in shortly after deboxing her last week and yesterday I changed her outfit a bunch of times and only once did it shift and that was when I found myself holding her ear and pushing for whatever reason. Maybe when putting on the strawberry shorts? I do know it wasn't until the end and I think that's pretty secure. I wouldn't recommend letting a little kid cart her around an airport or mall or something, but visiting Grandma's or around the house? If the kid isn't part kangaroo and hopping around or shaking things, again, it should be okay. I do love Joss's color scheme extends to the hearing aid, too.
So. Let's get down to pictures, shall we?
Joss's meet outfit, sans underwear which is included but she's not wearing it. Overall, it's a cute as hell look. Piece by piece I don't like it as much, but as an outfit, it's probably one of their better ones. You have a fair amount of options and it's made for mix and match. You get a jacket, her swimsuit, shorts (with actual pockets), underwear, two hearing aids (they only work in her right ear and are housed in a cute little - and I do mean little - case), and thick, plastic shoes .
Fair warning: Joss's jacket is more aqua than the blue it appears here. It's one of my favorite colors and she blends right into my bedding at times. Clearly it was meant to be. Anyway, adjust your expectations accordingly. There's only so much witchcraft I can work on rainy days while figuring out lighting and a new camera.
The hearing aid. It slips right on without much fuss and it stays on. To be fair, I wasn't brushing her hair or anything massive hair-wise, but I did finger brush/smooth it and she did wear her hoodie at one point.
The jacket has a little star pull, which is cute. Said jacket is also pretty easy to unzip and I really appreciate that it's included in the meet instead of being sent off to live with the accessories. Probably because she's got her exclusive cheer jacket to purchase separately, but the jacket is easily my favorite part of her outfit so...
Prepare yourself for an onslaught of pictures of it. :P
But this does lead into my favorite detail.
I dig the rainbow wave graphics on the jacket. This kinda looks like a bird but it's a wave and I love the rainbow metallic look. It adds just enough interest to the jacket to keep it from being basic or boring.
But I really love the detail on the sleeves. Rainbow sleeves! ♥
Sigh. I suppose we should look briefly at the suit, huh. Look. Here it is.
A little closer if you were curious. It feels like a swimsuit but I almost never put the dolls in their swimsuits and I think I really own Julie's because it looks like a play outfit more than a bathing suit.
On the left pocket of the shorts there's a little detail to tie it in more to the bathing suit, and to probably ID it as Joss's in the future.
I don't fully understand how or why mom jeans are a thing, but here we are. I don't dislike the shorts, though I can get why people would. I think they'd be better a smidge less so high waisted but that's personal preference. I love that the pockets are functional and that they aren't tight as hell on Joss. They do velcro behind the buttons there.
View from the back. No, I didn't remember to take a shot of just the bathing suit. It slipped off easily enough and nothing on Joss was difficult to take off. I haven't compared her with other dolls, though I can say that if you've got a heftier doll, they won't work well with her Meet. This shouldn't be a surprise at this point, however, given how Mattel has been shrinking the dolls for awhile now. But it is nice to not have to worry that the doll they're made for is too big for the clothes, which is something AG's been flirting with for the past few years. So definitely a step in the right direction.
Oh, the shoes. Right.
The shoes aren't actually as bad as I thought, but they aren't great. They're really thick, sturdy plastic, which means they don't come off until you tell them to come off. However... I still don't love them and never will. Eh. It can't all be great.
I'll probably never break out Joss's swimsuit unless I'm going full We ♥ Kids or showing Joss's meet as her meet again. Her sandals might show up again at some point because they do stay on. Her jacket is love and it really does work well with her shorts. The shorts should mix and match pretty easily beyond that so again, good stuff.
Overall? Would recommend if you're at all interested. I know a fair number of people used MG to be Rebecca's cousin, but I think with MG being harder to find now, Joss would fill in just fine.
Next we'll look at Joss in various other outfits.