Blythe Float Away Dream by Good Smile Company

This review is getting close to four years overdue!  That could be a new record for me.  You might remember that way back in 2022, I started a Blythe series that was meant to have three parts: an analysis of the imitation Blythe world, a review of a Takara/TOMY Blythe doll, and a review of a Good Smile Company Blythe doll.  But I haven't done the Good Smile Company review...until now.  I got the idea for this series in 2022 because Good Smile Company had recently taken over the manufacturing of Blythe dolls from Takara/TOMY, and there was some concern about whether the new dolls would be as good as the old ones.  That's not really a pressing question anymore.  However, I still wanted to see one of the newer dolls for myself, and I don't like leaving things unfinished.  So I'm going to wrap up the series today.  Better late than never, right?

I was reminded of this series last week because I got a fresh round of threats from This is Blythe, the shop where I purchased my first imitation Blythe doll.  They're back to their email harassment tactics, threatening to sue me for factually relaying my experience.  As far as I know, the First Amendment is still a thing, so I'll hold firm.  But it's depressing because I have never, in my 20+ years of blogging and collecting, encountered such a nasty, vindictive person in the doll world.  Nothing even close.  It's just not who we are as a community.

But I don't want to dwell on that unpleasantness right now.  Dolls are meant to bring joy and amusement--not anger and frustration.  And you've already waited long enough to meet my turquoise-haired Blythe beauty from Good Smile Company, so here she is:

Blythe "Float Away Dream" by Good Smile Company, ~$120.

I paid ¥18,500 for her four years ago, but conversion rates have changed since then.  I'm guessing she was about $120, with another $20 for international shipping.  I ordered her from Junie Moon, which is a reputable retailer for authentic Blythe dolls.

Float Away Dream was the second Blythe doll released by Good Smile Company.  The premier Blythe from this company was Song of London Mary.  I adore Mary, but was too slow to purchase her.  Now she's like $400 on eBay:

That coat is to die for.

I think there have been 36 additional Good Smile Company releases, including a rare Black doll, Jaylah, who came out in 2025:

That's all of the promotional photo hunting I'm going to do, because I don't need to talk myself into another Blythe doll!  In fact, if we end up moving to another state, I'll have to downsize significantly.  So...gotta be good.

I want to say one more quick thing, though: I noticed that Junie Moon currently has six Blythe dolls in stock.  That feels like a lot to me.  I remember searching for my last doll and only having one or two options.  So maybe Good Smile Company is releasing dolls at a faster rate?  That would be cool.  I always love to go and look at the variety of dolls, even if I'm not going to buy anything.

Anyway, Float Away Dream came in a beautiful window box covered with hot air balloons:

The balloons go all of the way around the box, and appear to be floating over the city of Paris:

It's a gorgeous box, and part of me didn't want to disrupt it to remove the doll!

The back of the box is also pretty, but it has a lot of text at the bottom:

Here's a close-up of the text for those of you who can read Japanese:

For those of you who can't, I asked Google to translate all of the words:

"Do not wrap the eye change string around your finger."

I never would have thought that the eye change string was a hazard, but they're not wrong: it'll definitely  restrict blood flow if you wrap it too tightly.  Now we've all been warned.

This next section has a lot of detail about how to use the stand, which doesn't seem necessary.  There's also a paragraph about handling the clothing, which basically boils down to an admission that some of the fabrics can cause stains:

The other side is pretty boring, with a list of reasons why the doll can't be returned or exchanged:

The style of the packaging is very similar to that of my Plaid Parade Blythe doll from Takara/TOMY:

Plaid Parade by Takara/TOMY.

I actually think Float Away Dream's box is even more beautiful.  And I like that Good Smile Company kept the basic aesthetic of the boxes the same.

This doll needs a name, because I don't want to keep typing "Float Away Dream."  Ordinarily I would steer away from the name Jade because of Bratz, but I found out that there's a plant that's almost the same color as Float Away's hair, and it's called a jade vine:

A jade vine.

So her name pretty much has to be Jade.

Jade and all of her accessories came securely fastened to a pink cardboard backdrop:

Most of the items were inside plastic sleeves with the ends inserted through slots in the cardboard and taped down.  It took a while to get all of the tape undone, but at least there weren't any plastic ties:

Jade's stand was secured to the bottom part of the box:

The empty backdrop has another sketch of Paris--and you can see all of the wreckage from my extraction process:

Here's everything that was in the box:

Blythe dolls can't balance on their own, so the first thing I did was assemble the stand.  That made it easier to get a first look at Jade:

I love her hot air balloon dress!  But she had a lot of protective plastic on her body that was distracting.  There was a band around her forehead, plastic sleeves on either side of her hair, and plastic coverings on her arms and legs.

I was able to get most of the plastic off pretty easily, but her leg coverings refused to come off without a fight:

And the strange thing is, even with all of that plastic (and a white underskirt on the dress) Jade's legs have faint red lines all over the place:

It's not even clear to me that these lines are from the dress.  The dress doesn't have that much red on it!  There are only a few areas on some of the balloons.  I'll have to take a closer look at the legs later.

First, though, I wanted to get Jade's shoes on, because the stand doesn't work very well for her when she's barefoot.

The shoes are brown boots with little molded and painted buckles down one side:

The boots have exactly the same mold as the black boots on my Takara/TOMY doll:

Plaid Parade's shoes.

Phoebe Maybe, my only other Blythe doll, had these same boots, too, which prompted me to wonder if all Blythe dolls have the same shoes?  I checked, and they don't.

The boots don't fit very well without socks, but at least they make contact with the stand, so Jade can get some traction:

Jade's hair looked pretty ragged right out of the box.  I'd imagined it in neat little ringlet curls, but it's just twisted slightly at the ends, with a rough-looking, matted texture overall:

Here it is from the back:

I feel like it should glow in the dark.

I'm not sure why I pictured ringlet curls.  In the promotional photos the hair has a slightly wavy texture, but no curls:

And it looks more blue.

Anyway, I was eager to see all four of Jade's eye colors!  Since I ordered this doll a long time ago, I couldn't remember exactly what she had--and not all Blythe dolls are the same.

She has pale turquoise right-glancing eyes:

Bright blue forward-facing eyes:

Orange eyes that look to her left:

And forward-facing pink eyes:

She doesn't have any bright green eyes which is too bad.  I'm a sucker for those.  Bright green instead of orange would have been nice.

I find it hard to distinguish Jade's face from the face on Plaid Parade (who I've re-named Isla):

Isla has the Radiance Renewal mold, and Jade has the Radiance Evolution mold.

Here's a GIF to compare the two faces:

All of the slight differences I see could be due to makeup, plastic color, outfit, or hair position.  Do you guys see anything obviously different?  Maybe I'm missing it.

Next, I tried brushing Jade's hair, and that did not go well:

Oh, for goodness sake.

The texture isn't great.  It looks and feels dry and coarse, and it's hard to tame.  I remember Phoebe Maybe's hair getting scraggly after a while, but it was nice at the beginning.  And Isla's hair is smooth, but has a ton of styling product that makes it feel greasy.  So this is a whole new can of worms.

I feel like I've said this before, but for dolls with such huge heads and so much hair, the hair should be great.  Like Rainbow High hair.

I thought maybe I could tie the hair back and tame it to some degree, so I found Jade's two elastic hair bows.  These are super-cute and match the hot air balloon print on her dress:

At first, I used only one hair bow to get the hair away from the left side of Jade's face:

This looks okay, but I had a hard time twisting the elastic around the tangle-prone hair without turning everything into a huge mess.  It took four attempts.

And a lot of tugging.

I had to test out the new hairstyle with all of the eye colors, of course:

Orange is still my least favorite:

And while I don't normally like pink eyes, these bring out the little bits of pink in the dress:

I was getting increasingly frustrated with the messy hair at this stage, so I used the other hair bow to pull all of it back into a rough ponytail:

This gave me a good chance to look at Jade's profile:

She has the same cavernous eye sockets and cute ears as Isla.

And, again, I don't see any significant differences between the two dolls:

Jade's outfit is really wonderful, and was high on the list of reasons that I wanted to buy her:

She's wearing a pleated pinafore dress with a whimsical, vintage-looking hot air balloon print.  Underneath the dress, she has a mustard yellow blouse with beautiful details.

The dress closes in back with velcro:

Here's a look at the pinafore on its own:

It's so perfect and cute.  I love the tiny brown trim all around the sleeves and waistline.

The construction is good.  None of the seam edges are reinforced, but the fabric looks sturdy, with no areas of unraveling:

With the pinafore gone, it's easier to see the yellow blouse, and also the off-white underskirt:

The blouse has little tucks all down the front and on the sleeves, with three decorative buttons at the neck and two on the cuffs:

The blouse closes in back with velcro, and the underskirt has an elastic waist:

Here's a peek at the inside of the blouse:

And look at the gorgeous detail on the sleeve!

I love the blouse, but it's familiar.  I thought it might be the same blouse that Phoebe Maybe came with, but I don't have her anymore so I can't verify.  I do have this old photo, though:

On closer inspection, Phoebe's blouse is missing the tucks in the sleeves, I think.  So it's not identical.  But that fabric must be the same.  You don't see that particular shade of yellow every day!  Maybe Good Smile Company inherited some fabric when they took over?

Once I'd removed Jade's clothing, I took another crack at the plastic covering on her legs:

It went all of the way up to her waist and was stuck in her hip joints and underwear, which explains why I couldn't pull it off at the beginning.

Underneath the plastic, there are little red streaks everywhere:

It's almost as though there was contamination to the batch of vinyl or something.  I don't see how these marks could have been caused by the outfit.

And they weren't caused by the outfit.  I can tell you that for certain now.  It's not a defect in the vinyl, either.  As I was tidying up after all of my photos were taken, I noticed that the streaks on Jade's legs looked less pronounced.  I started rubbing at them and guess what?  They went away!

Her legs are perfectly fine now.  And I have no explanation.  I don't even have a working hypothesis.  It's so strange.

Here's a look at Jade's full (stain-free) body:

Other than a slight difference in coloration, she has the same body as Isla:

Good Smile Company Blythe (left) and Takara/TOMY Blythe (right).

The only differences that I could find were the factory marks, which makes sense.  

On the back of Isla's head, there's a 2016 Hasbro copyright with TOMY underneath it:

On the back of Jade's head, there's a 2022 Hasbro copyright mark, with CWC and GSC underneath:

CWC stands for Cross World Connections.

The dolls have similar marks on their backs.  Here's Isla:

And here's Jade:

Jade has the exact same articulation as Isla, with a total of eight joints.  She has a neck joint, shoulder joints, a waist joint, and hip joints.  All of these have simple rotational movement: 

She also has internal click knees that can move through three different bent positions:

One cute detail that I noticed on Jade's body is that she has pink painted fingernails!  Isla and Phoebe both have plain nails:

At this point in my photography process, I took Jade's hair back down, waging a new war against that whole mess:

It has a life of its own.

I tried to keep the hair brushed, but my efforts would only help for a few seconds.  Like, I'd brush the hair in small sections, and by the time I was finished, the first few sections would be messy again.  I don't know what the fiber is, but I want to say nylon.  Maybe saran?  It's very thick and heavy.

Jade comes with several outfit elements that she wasn't wearing in the box, so now I'll get her dressed again, and add in all of those pieces.

First up are these black socks:

Given the stain warnings on the box, I was reluctant to put anything black near her body.  But I wanted to see the complete look as it was intended:

The socks look great, and they help keep the shoes in place, which eliminated a lot of my stress with the stand.

Jade also comes with a navy blue jacket:

The jacket has a tiny little golden bird on one side and three decorative buttons down the front.  Here's a closer look at the bird:

It's made out of plastic.

There are actually two little wings on this bird, which is a nice detail:

The back of the jacket has a white sailor collar with some French words on it:

It says, la chance ne dure jamais, which means "luck never lasts."

That's uplifting.

The jacket is made out of a medium-weight knit, and is unlined except for a short mesh strip that runs along the neck and down the sides:

There's also a band of fabric with a neat little bow on each cuff:

It was easier to get the jacket on than I thought it would be, and it looks really cute on Jade--even with her orange eyes:

I like it better with the pink eyes, though:

There's a matching blue hat in this set, with a red ribbon band and "bon voyage" embroidered into the brim:

Trips never last.

The hat is made out of a slightly stiff woven fabric, and parts of it look a little crumpled.

Here's the inside:

I like how the hat matches the jacket, but I found it difficult to position around the hair bow:

I worked really hard to get that hair bow in, so I didn't want to remove it right away!

From the back, I feel like the hat clashes a bit with Jade's wall of turquoise hair:

But I also like that the hair keeps the doll from being predictable.  She's got her own style.

My favorite of Jade's accessories is her purse:

It doesn't open (that red heart button is only decorative), but it's in the shape of an air mail letter from France:

I love the canceled stamps!

The purse is a wonderful little detail.  Trés bien.

My excitement about the purse was interrupted, though, because when I tried to get the hair bow out of Jade's ponytail for my next photo, I couldn't:

It got tangled up to the point where I had to cut it out.  The hair is so bad.

I brushed the hair out (again) and then went back to the big ponytail so that I could take a few more pictures with the hat:

There's a little wrinkle in the right side of the jacket's collar, which I could probably fix with an iron: 

The hat just kind of perches on Jade's head, but I like how it looks:

Especially with that cool purse!

Next, I tried to re-create the pigtail look from Jade's promotional pictures.  It was hard to wrestle the hair into this style, but it was worth the effort:

I had to try this with the other eye colors (and the hat):

And I think Jade looks really nice with all of the combinations:

There's no rooted part on the back of her head, and her hairline is very high, so pigtails don't look great from the back:

But there's no scalp visible, which is nice:

The pigtails were probably the best-looking hairstyle that I tried, but I'd come to the end of my rope with the hair.  I found it very difficult to play with and enjoy this doll with her unruly hair.

So, I decided to try a boil wash.  There was no logical reason for this to work.  I didn't feel like hair had a ridiculous amount of styling product in it or anything, and there isn't much curl in the texture, but I had no idea what else to do.

I dipped the hair several times in nearly-boiling water, and used some spray-on wig conditioner.   It took a long time to slowly comb out all of the snarls, but I was eventually able to run a comb through the hair with no resistance.  Much to my surprise, it looks and feels SO much better now:

Incredible.

I also trimmed off about an inch from the length, and added a bit of layering:

The hair still isn't silky-smooth, but it's so much more manageable and attractive.  And it feels lovely and soft.  I actually like this hair better than Isla's hair now.  Isla's hair is still clumpy and gross from all of the styling product, but Jade's hair feels clean and inviting.

I'm relieved to have a doll that I can actually play with!  Yay!

To that end, I tried out some of my extra Blythe clothes, to see which ones might look good on Jade.  First is the Frida Kahlo dress that I got from Doll Traveller:

I really like how this looks with her hair.

I also tried this matryoshka dress from Blythe's Big Closet:

The dress is amazing, and it also somehow manages to look good with the turquoise hair.  I didn't expect that.

Jade even tried on Fiona's signature orange dress from DolliThings, which looks great with her orange eyes:

I think I'll let Fiona keep this dress.  It's not a great match for Jade's turquoise hair.

Isla's clothing fits Jade perfectly: 

And I think that outfit would look good on anybody.

I also switched things up and let Isla try Jade's outfit on:

It's almost like having Phoebe Maybe again!

The coat and hat look good, too, but they emphasize Isla's super-pale complexion:

I love those green eyes, though!

I didn't want to leave anybody out, so I also let Fiona try Jade's outfit:

Regular Blythe clothes fit these imitation dolls quite well.  Even the shoes work:

Fiona's mouth is a strange shape, but she's certainly full of character:

I put Jade back into her own outfit for a few more portraits:

My favorite of Jade's eyes are the special pale turquoise ones.  They go nicely with her hair, and I like the side-glancing position:

With her hair under control, I had a lot more fun playing around with her outfit pieces and her different eyes.

I could probably do without the hat, but I love all of the other items:

The dress and the hair bows are particularly wonderful:

My other favorite outfit for Jade is the Frida dress, so I decided to end the review by putting her in that again.

I think it goes really well with her hair and some of her eye chips:

And it gives her a bit more of a modern, artsy look:

I even found an elaborate hair clip to take everything to the next level:

I think Jade is pretty excited about this look, but I can never tell with her:

I'm smiling on the inside.

Bottom line?  After waiting four years, it was really fun to finally get this doll out of her box.  As beautiful as the Blythe packaging is, the dolls are meant to be played with.

Jade wasn't very fun to play with at first, though.  I found her hair to be quite unpleasant.  It came out of the box matted and loosely twisted into plastic sleeves.  When I brushed it (carefully with a wire brush) the texture became thick and coarse.  And I had to keep brushing it over and over again.  Every little thing I did with Jade caused the hair to tangle, whether it was laying her down to get dressed, manipulating her into the stand, or--god forbid--trying to tie something into her hair.  The hair didn't look good, either.  The lovely, unique color was overpowered by the uneven, frizzy texture.  I was almost at my breaking point, but as a last-ditch effort I spent 30 minutes boiling, combing, trimming, and conditioning the hair.  And now it's great!  It isn't glossy or silky-smooth, but it's soft, full, and easy to brush.  And Jade looks ten times better.  I can't believe it turned out so well, and I hope it'll last.

With the hair under control, I was able to appreciate all of the other great things about Jade--especially her outfit.  I love the pleated pinafore dress with its beautiful hot air balloon print.  And the matching hair bows are a useful accessory, especially now that I can easily brush the hair.  The navy jacket is also appealing, with its sailor collar and tiny golden bird.  I'm nervous about using the black socks because of the potential for staining, though.  The hat is a fun accessory, but it's a little crumpled and doesn't stay on very well.  The cute little air mail purse is a delight, with a real metal strap and a wonderful postage stamp design.  Overall, the quality and creativity of the clothing is top-notch, exactly as I'd expect from this brand.

Aside from the outfit and hair, everything about Jade is very similar to my Takara/TOMY Blythe doll, Isla.  The two dolls' face molds look nearly identical to me, and the style and color of the eyes is similar, too.  The dolls have exactly the same body, so there's nothing to say about the articulation that I haven't said before.  And it's great that all of the dolls are able to share clothing.

In the end, the differences between Jade and Isla feel like the normal variability you'd expect from choosing between two different Blythe characters.  Which is to say, if I hadn't known, I wouldn't have been able to tell that the manufacturing of these dolls had changed hands.  It might have been fun to have a new generation of Blythe dolls with different faces or different bodies, but in the end I'm happy with how things turned out.  Collectors got a seamless transition from one company to the next, and now there's a whole new assortment of enchanting characters to choose from.  Perhaps best of all, after 54 years in this world, the Blythe brand still endures.

Rock solid, baby.