Project MC2

MGA are back in the fashion doll game in a big way this year, not just with a massive relaunch of Bratz but with a whole new line called Project MC2.
Riding on the coattails of "girls in STEM" (that's science, technology, engineering and math for those who didn't know) being flavour of the uh... past few years they've finally produced a fashion doll that's both traditional fashion doll and promoting these subjects as cool and worth doing.
I can't help but applaud them on that front, because unlike so many "let's get girls into science" toys they haven't just painted a telescope pink and called it a day. Instead, we have a live action tv show on Netflix and four adorable characters to buy dolls of.



Now, i admit I don't know a lot about the backstory except what's on the box, but I do like what I see.
Instead of taking the attitude of "we must pinkify/girlify this science to make girls like it" they've gone a different route and given us four geeky/nerdy characters with sciency interests who are portrayed as beautiful, fashionable AND super smart.
There's no perfume sets to promote chemistry, no pink microscopes and glittery labcoats, no glitter encrusted fossils here, the mc2 dolls are a rather colourful bunch of dolls and better yet, cover a range of ethnicities and interests.

Camryn Coyle is the engineer of the group, she likes to take things apart and put them back together better. And better doesn't mean she paints it pink and adds heart decals, heck no, she means she straps an engine onto a skateboard, throws caution and body protection to the wind and goes for a test drive!

Bryden Bandweth's the computer girl, she blogs but not about fashion and makeup, oh no, she blogs about technology, music and photography.

Adrienne Attoms is the chemistry girl, she's a culinary chemist apparently which means she's freezing icecream with liquid nitrogen and creating insane menus ala Heston Blumenthal. She's a little cliche "doll line" in that she likes rescuing animals. Animal welfare is like.. a hugely cliched "we have character honest!" trope for doll lines. But she comes with a mini baking soda volcano so it's all cool.

McKeyla Mcalister I think wins the award for "worst name ever". Like, holy crap girl. Your parents hated you didn't they?
She's the writer of the group (uh... since when was that sciencey?) and she's a hipster ahahahaha. She even has a freaking trilby!
Apparently she does magic and likes Arthur Conan Doyle.I'm not even sure what she's doing in this line, she snuck in while nobody was looking I think.Honestly I suspect the design team couldn't think of a doll for "maths" so just gave up and went with a journal writing hipster chick instead. Because.. that.. .makes... sense?

Anyhoo, Argos new catalogue day means new lines and amongst them was the Project MC2 dolls. Only the deluxe line mind, looks like we're not getting the budget one but tbh, I don't like dolls without articulation these days and will if I can, get a hold of the articulated forms by preference.

Sadly they only had one in stock and at a hefty £24:99 they are a bit steeply priced but considering the current price of Monster high? I fully expected them to be at least £25, particularly with the little accessory kits they come with.

I picked up Camryn, who's the sporty girl of the bunch (there's always one right? sporty girl, animal lover, girly girl and the wild child.)

Anyhoo, the mc2 dolls are about 11 inches tall (slightly shorter than barbie but not much), have inset eyes and lashes and in the deluxe line, articulation! whooo.
So let's take a look!

 Each of these deluxe dolls comes with an "activity" which is really pretty gimmicky and silly. This girl has a skateboard to put together and blueprints printed on paper that changes colour when wet (much like aqua doodle)

The box itself has a big plastic window on the front and notepad effect on each side.
there's a large somewhat unflattering image of the actress playing this character in the show. Her grin is... unnerving me.

This picture is useful for one big reason though, it shows how the headband is SUPPOSED to be worn, as a headband, not oddly plonked on top of her head like the doll in the packing.

Anyway, the doll comes with a bunch of stuff for the skateboard. An engine, wheels, a spanner... cool.

The back of the box features a character specific pattern and a quick little bio about the character. There's also a photo of the actress and a speech bubble with her catch phrase, which is apparently "nailed it".

 There's also a picture of the prototypes of the four characters. I actually think the production dolls look a lot prettier.
there's something off about these doll's faces, which isn't present in the actual product. Kinda like the liv promo shots, where they looked super creepy and shiny.

 The side of the box is the edge of a binder with tabs for each subject. Art seems a little out of place there. I suppose they can't be all science all the time.
Someone's gotta paint the volcanoes and skateboards.

The top of the box has this message. Smart is the new cool. I assume that's the slogan for the show, cute.

The box itself isn't too hard to open, the front panel opens out. However, the doll is then secured into the box so heavily it became a huge chore getting her OFF the backing card.

Her arms are banded in, her feet are encased in plastic, her waist, her head but the bit that made it tricky? Her hair is SEWN INTO THE BOX. Yes, it's SEWN IN in multiple places and not only that, it's sewn into these plastic boxes that hold the doll up away from the backing card or something, the hair is threaded through the plastic loops and stitched in place so then it won't come out without cutting the thread that's the same colour as her damn hair and hoping you don't snip hair and arghhh mga whyyyy?

Gosh she has a pretty face though.

Her eyes are a little wonky, inset eyes are often a wee bit wonked.

the remains of that stitching, see all the thread? Argh... there's a dreamcatcher behind her for some inexplicable reason, I dunno, i'm just impressed I didn't tear the box apart trying to get her out..

So here she is, her hair a little fluffed up from my deboxing struggle.

her bag is plastic tacked to her clothes as well, and her headband is stitched into her head and needed the brown threads snipped (again, same colour as her hair so really hard to see and snip)

Her hair is a gorgeous plum colour that has a wonderful tonal shine to it. it's wavy and a bit frizzy, but that's because it was sewn to the damn box *grumble*

Not sure what the fibre is, it's soft but full of some sort of styling product so it's a bit crunchy in parts.

Camryn has beautiful hazel eyes and long inset lashes, a broad nose and a small smiley mouth. Each of the MC2 dolls seems to have a unique face mould and while none really look that much like their actress, they at least share some of her features.

Her ears are unpierced and quite small  and very closely set to her head. It's actually quite difficult to tuck hair behind them as they really don't jug out at all.

these dolls have really prominent collar bones.

She comes wearing a yellow knit vest with a skull and crossbones decal. This is worn over an orange boob tube. She then has a pair of leggings with a funky rainbow wave pattern and a pair of silky boxer-like shorts with a chevron pattern.

Her shoes are a pair of blue sneakers with a sort of tribal pattern up the sides. They're made of super soft plastic so are really easy to get on and off.

Best thing of all, every item of clothing is a separate piece! (and I should think so for £25). Not only that, but each item is really nicely made and made of logical fabric. The boob tube is made of stretchy sort of lycra, the top is knit, the boxers are silky satin fabric and the leggings are cotton. The bag really opens, oh how i've missed quality doll clothing like this.

She also comes with a stand (it's pretty flimsy feeling tbh, the prop is really thin and the clip is fragile feeling). Along with those there's her "science fair kit". A skateboard and component parts to put together yourself, and a wrench.

There's also an utterly useless test tube shaped comb. It's too small and flimsy to do anything.

Then there's the blueprints.

There's three blueprints in all, each is different. They have the instructions for constructing the skateboard.
Honestly constructing the board is pretty intuitive but if you wanted to use the instructions, these blueprints are really not helpful.

To reveal the image you have to wet the paper, and "magically" the image shows up. Unfortunately it dries far too quickly to refer to, and the paper doesn't want to lay flat anyway.

Still the technology at play here is fun. My boys have an aqua doodle that does the same thing, I always thought it was neat.

you also can't tell which is "step one" till you wet the paper. and even when wet the instructions are pretty vague.
thank goodness it's a simple process or i'd be stuffed.

Voila, one souped up skateboard, ready to maim and kill pedestrians.

Seriously if she intends to ride this thing she should at least have a helmet on.

The MC2 body reminds me of Liv, it's not that pretty nude but looks great dressed.
Her articulation consists of shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip and knee. No ankles, which is an odd choice considering some of the dolls in the line are wearing heels and some flats. Much like the new Barbie Fashionistas, seems the mc2 dolls won't be able to share shoes either.

Camryn's arm comes off, her hands come off, her LEGS come off! this is great for dressing, you don't have to try to pull things over those big flat feet, so it's a great idea having detatchable legs.
My only concern is that the plastic these dolls are made of honestly feels a bit... flimsy. They are extremely lightweight dolls and the plastic has an almost, dare I say it, cheap feel to it. The pegs that slot into the arms and legs are very thin and look very fragile to me, making me a bit nervous about how well these will hold up with a lot of redressing.

The knee peg is particularly weak looking, it's long and narrow, just perfect for snapping when force is applied.

Her poseability isn't great but it's better than nothing. Her arms honestly feel like they're hollow, which is very strange.

Anyway, she can put her hands on her head.

but she can't touch her own face, this is as far as the elbow will actually bend.

Her kness only bend enough to allow her to sit, she cannot kneel or even attempt to. Everything bends at exactly 90 degrees, not a cm more.

But at least she CAN sit and she can put her hand on her hip, that's about all I really ask of my dolls.

Lined up with other MGA dolls, she's a lot bigger than older Bratz and taller than Moxies with wider hips. Her waist is wider than the taller bratz body and she's substantially smaller than the Moxie teen.

She's shorter than a barbie or a liv, and slimmer as well. She's more Skipper sized I think.

Liv pants fit fairly well, they're a bit snug but tops swamp her (the baggy look is kinda cute though)

Barbie stuff is hit and miss, tops are a bit too big but pants seem to mostly fit.

Barbie can't fit into the boob tube or the leggings, but she can fit the outer garments comfortably. The top is a bit tight.

Taller Bratz have better luck, being able to fit into the top and bottoms (getting leggings over these rubbery legs is a special kind of torture I didn't want to do. Also, this is one of my kid's dolls, hence why she looks like she's had a rough night)

Camryn's feet are a lot bigger than a liv.

They're as long but thinner than Moxie Teen shoes. Moxie teen shoes will fit a bit big.

She may not have great articulation but it's not much worse than fashionista Barbie.

When I first saw the MC2 dolls I immediately thought of Moxie teenz, MGA's other articulated inset eye dolls. Side by side they don't really look alike at all, aside from having beautiful eyes and long lashes, in actuality, I think Camryn is prettier.
The poor Liv dolls just don't even rate, Camryn's gorgeous.

So here she is on her stand with all her stuff. Interestingly, the more I handled her, the better her hair became. Go figure?
I'm not sure it'd hold up to a lot of brushing, but just handling her and finger combing it out of the way every time I took a photo seems to have tamed it. Score!

Her wrench is safely in her handbag, but sadly nothing else fits and she can't bend her arm enough to carry her blueprints lol.

Camryn, you look ridiculous!

Because of the foot hold bits, Camryn's feet slot into the board in a really unnatural manner. No way could you keep your balance standing like that, but the board is a fraction too short for her to take a more natural skater pose. A shame, if the foot parts were a little wider spaced she'd look a lot better on this thing.

though i'm not sure strapping yourself to a board that can travel 60mph is the most genius plan ever...

So, overall thoughts?

The mc2 dolls are beautiful, really very beautiful. MGA does inset eyes very well, it's one thing they never disappoint on.
Camryn's hair is actually pretty nice and such a pretty colour, her clothing is well made and her skateboard is kinda cute if not completely impractical.
However, the plastic her body is made of feels really flimsy. Her arms and legs particularly feel hollow and cheap, like a dollar store knockoff. This bothers me a great deal, particularly for a doll that's £25.
The rest of her is SO well done, why oh why does her body feel so cheaply made? (I don't actually know what she's made of, maybe it's recycled plastic or something and that's why it feels so strange. Not sure, but she doesn't have the heft or solidness that i'd expect from a fashion doll like this)
that said, while i'm not convinced she's robust enough to withstand play, as a display doll she's gorgeous.
She has just enough posability to look natural and comfortable on a shelf, she photographs amazingly and her face... oh gosh her face. I love her face.

 I give Camryn 7 rocket skates out of 10. I wish her posability was a bit better and she looked more natural on her board. Her flimsy feeling limbs bothers me, but I still love her and want the other three in this set.
I think i'll wait till there's a special offer on though. £20 would be a far more acceptable price I think.

I like that these girls are promoting science and technology in a way that's cool and not offensively pinkified. I appreciate the fact they're not being stereotyped girls about it all. Their interests feel.. well.. realistic and not contrived to sell to that artificial "pink box" crowd, these are properly geeky dolls and that really appeals to super geeky me. As a kid I liked my science well.. you know... real. not glittery, not painted in pastel tones, not sweet smelling. While Barbie is still forced to wear a pink labcoat and goggles and paint all her equipment with nail polish, these girls are doing the real work. Ok rocket skates is ridiculous, but it's substantially cooler than bedazzled fossils and pink microscopes. This isn't "science for girls" it's "girls doing science", the way it SHOULD be.

Now we just gotta hope the show is actually good.