Capsule Chix by Moose Toys

Restock is HERE!

mostly.

We popped out to the big shopping area to see what was on shelves. No LOL OMG (argos had ONE in stock but it wasn't one I wanted) and no new Hairdorables, but the Entertainer had Capsule Chix.

At £15 each I only picked up one. Just to see what I thought of Garret Sanders' (who designed Monster High) new toy line.




There are 4 different assortments for this latest blind bag toy, Ram Rock, Ctrl Alt Magic, Giga Glam and Sweet Circuits.

Each has a different theme. Ram Rock is well, rock and punk and all that sort of thing. Magic is all mystical pastels and unicorns and such. Glam is glitter and hollywood and Sweet is erm... crazy candy inspired insanity from what I can tell lol.

I picked Ram Rock because it has the most pieces I actually like.

The boxes are freaking MASSIVE. Jules, my Barbie, shows scale.

It's a large mostly cardboard box with a plastic window and a large spinny... thing... (I'm sure these have a technical name hahah) for the capsule gimmick.

The box is supposed to be a small capsule machine which is a cute idea but at the same time, feels like a LOT of wasteful packaging.

I'm not sure about the faux japanese font, nor do I have any idea what the kanji looking text says.

I'm also not convinced there's "4 billion" mix and match looks. That feels like a stretch.

The back of the box has more funky artwork. Garret Sanders really does have quite a distinctive art style doesn't he?

There are limited edition pieces that make up one limited edition doll, though i'm a bit confused about which one IS the LE. Is it the one with the updo or the gold girl who's photo is in the corner?

I haven't a clue. It's really vuage about rarities and all that honestly. All I know from the box is that real fabric pieces are "rare". Most of the pieces will be molded plastic.

And the dolls are supposed to be poseable, which is cool.

The top of the box can be opened up to put the capsules back when you're done. Though.. i'm not totally sure how much novelty a cardboard capsule machine will retain.

Still, let's see how this works.

The bottom rounded tab thingie opens up and there's a little magazine.

I think it's supposed to be a bit like a collector check thing but it's not laid out like one, it's laid out more like a catalogue.

Each set seems to have 8 different heads.
I like the cobra one (with the black stripes) It's cool.

It looks like not every piece is RamRock, there's a couple of bits labelled from a different collection like the pink shoes there.
Wierd.

This just sort of explains the whole compartmental nature of the dolls and how they mix and match... I think.

it looks like they have removable shoes though which is really nice.

And another from a different line, and I don't really understand why.

Seriously i'm very confused.

So you spin the spinny thing and out pops a capsule. Just like a real capsule machine.

All in all there's 5 identitical little capsules in there, each filled with a pink bag concealing their contents.

I don't quite understand the point of this. I mean, they're already IN a capsule. Why not just make the capsules completely opaque and forgo the bags entirely?

The bags are plastic too and while they claim to be recyclable, COME ON Moose, they're so unneccisary with the outer packaging.

Each capsule contained a piece or two.

The head and stand were in one capsule. The torso alone. The legs and skirt, the shoes and accessories and finally hair.

These bits are pretty random. That's the thing about this line, they appear to be truely random so you can get any combination of pieces (Edit! Okay so it turns out this actually isn't the case and the "randomisation" isn't so random after all. People have reported exact duplicates, down the tiniest pieces which suggests there's set parts going in a set order). It means that theoretically while you might get duplicate pieces, a full duplicate is very unlikely. Unfortunately it also means you get some rather er... unusual mishmashed styles that don't really GO together. (The cynical part of me thinks this was intentional to force you to buy another to get a workable outfit)

The stand slots into the bottom piece of one of the capsules, though I couldn't get the stand to really slot in and twist that securely. It keeps falling out. (edit: It took a lot more force than I thought)

It's nice they found another use for the capsules but i've still got 4 capsules laying around.

The fabric of the skirt is REALLY flimsy feeling, I mean it genuinely feels incredibly fragile and i'm not really sure it'll withstand any sort of play.

likewise the wierd crown thing slots into a hole in the hair piece but didn't feel that secure. And it doesn't go with anything else.

The doll herself is really cute though. She's got pale purple skin and tiny molded details all over her body, little circuits and stuff. She reminds me a lot of Elle Eedee from Monster High.

She has strange little speaker ears too.

And some sort of spinny thing on her back like the capsule machine.

She's not a very large doll, though she's bigger than I thought she'd be. She's slightly taller than a Hairdorable.

And significantly smaller than her packaging.

I mean, I kinda understand the packaging even without the gimmick. Think about it, you have several blind bag products on shelves and they're all about the same price (£15). So you have Hairdorables in their fairly small but still overpackaged box, LOL in their balls and then you have this big bulky thing. What's going to feel like better value there in the store?

It's cunning psychology from Moose.

But I have... uncertainty about the gimmick itself.

Moose suggests you reuse the box for candy or toys but come on, is a kid really gonna do that? Also the box is made mostly of cardboard, it's not exactly going to stand up to the test of time and regular play.

I wonder if they'd have been better to have had a machine IN stores that you got the doll in a little ball all in pieces to put together.

IN FACT, you CAN fit the ENTIRE doll into ONE of the damn capsules if you take her apart again!

But how do I feel about the doll herself?

I actually like her. She's cute and she's very very articulated. She has jointed elbows, wrists, knees and ankles even! And her waist swivels.
Her head is on a ball joint so it can tilt too.
She's actually a very impressively engineered little doll.

I prefer this look for her, without the mismatching skirt and bag and crown thing.

What's really cool is that the little circuit molded symbols on her pants actually line up with the ones on her top so it looks like the pieces go together when they're from different "looks"

Her pink hair is super cute too and while this was the face I liked least of the 8, I think it works okay.

Her shoes are really nice, soft squishy and just detailed enough.

I enjoyed her as a doll enough to buy a second box to see.

The gimmick wasn't that exciting though, maybe it's fun for videos or for very young kids but I dunno, I was impatient to see the doll so I just got all five capsules out and then opened them. I can't see the machine gimmick having much staying power.

To be frank, i think i'd have preferred these to be sold in little capsules more like the LOL dolls, but without all that packaging. OR like the Off the Hook dolls where you can see what you're getting.
You could retain the mix and match while having all the figures visible after all.

I just am not convinced the blind bag thing is really that appealing.

I mean part of me likes that every doll is likely to be different (Edit: this depends on how many "variations" there really are), and I think kids will have a lot of fun mixing and matching after they have a few, but there will inevitably be a few pieces they don't like as much that get shoved to the bottom of the toy box.

Also, this is just wasteful.

The box itself was wrapped in plastic, then each capsule had a plastic wrap around it to keep it closed and each had a little bag inside as well.

That's more plastic waste than i'd like to see but sadly very common thanks to this blind bag fad.

It's not quite as bad as the LOL balls, but still, i'm not overly impressed.

I haven't a clue what i'll do with those capsules either. They're pretty solid little things but what use do I really have for small plastic capsules?

I guess I could save them up and use them for easter or something, but really? it's just more plastic tat.

Still, I think she's a cute doll. A solid design, impressive body for something at this scale and something a bit different. Small blind bag dolls are a dime a dozen now, but I think they bring something a bit different to the game in that they're not human and they're jointed.

She's hanging with my Pose Skeleton now lol.


Now of course, my opinion may change once I open a second one.

Let's see if I get any duplicated parts huh? Just HOW random is random and how unique is each one? (edit: I did. Same head piece but all other parts different. Go figure.)

Stay tuned for that. But first impression? I'm pleasantly surprised. I expected to be massively underwhelmed and while I won't say I LOVE the doll, I do like her. Enough to fork out another £15 for a second one, so ... well played Moose, well played.

I don't think i'll buy any more though, least not blind. Too much risk of getting bits I can't do anything with.