MoCB

Mistress of Ceremonies - Pivotal Body

I received my Mistress of Ceremonies this weekend. Since it is the first pivotal body doll I've got, I thought I'd write a review.

First, here are some pictures of the dressed doll. The pivotal body is indeed essentially an articulated version of the model muse body. It's very narrow-shouldered and narrow-hipped, so it makes the doll's head look big. This isn't helped by the big curly ponytail which is pretty much nothing like the sleek waves of the prototype.

She comes with a microphone and cane. And -- this really annoyed me -- they gave her a Model Muse stand. This means that when she's on the stand she pretty much has to be posed in that cocked-hip position. So much for a "straightened out" MM body. Well, I guess an order of kaiser doll stands is in my future. Grrr...

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I actually do like her face, and while I cannot say I am mad about the hair, it might work for a different style -- maybe a bohemian look. But I don't think that huge mess of curls really suits the cabaret look, or the tuxedo. Maybe straightened and pulled into a bun at the back of her neck would be better? Not sure whether to keep the hair and change the fashion, or fix the hair. I like brown-eyed blondes, and I like the Goddess face. So I see some potential for her. The cut of the jacket manages to add bulk around the neck but she's still got that really narrow-shouldered silhouette which makes her head look huge.

Her face paint is kind of on the basic side, except for the dark red lips. She's got a beauty mark just above her lip.

DollyDaily.com

Now for a look at her outfit, and what's underneath. She's got a tuxedo ensemble: jacket, shirt, trousers, cummerbund, flocked top hat and black mary jane heels. The hat is attached to her head with a plastic tag; that's why I didn't remove it in any of these photos. The jacket is lined, at least through the body. I'm not sure if the sleeves are lined with a thin fabric or if the wrong side of the fashion fabric is just really snaggy, but I could not put the jacket back on without wrapping her hands first, they kept getting caught. The wrists are pretty narrow, too, so getting it on a doll with bigger hands or a wide finger spread might be a challenge (of course, the pivotal body has practically no shoulders, so it might be a challenge getting this coat to fit on most other 1/6 scale dolls, except maybe the smaller ones like Momoko). Under the jacket, she's got a sleeveless white top with a sewn-on red bow tie.

The top and trousers (which are unlined) close with snaps, but the cummerbund closes with velcro. And guess what...the cummerbund stains! At least Mattel put a plastic strip around her waist to prevent the red stain from going onto the doll's torso.

It looks like there is a risk of the arms splitting along the seam. These arms are really quite thin, and the plastic feels rather flimsy IMO; however, I think the hand sculpt is ok. It's about 1000 times better than the old articulated body's hand sculpt. Her knee joints are also ok, nothing great but I didn't hate them either. The lower part of her legs does rotate so you can pose her with her toes pointing outward, for example. But I found this articulation a bit stiff, and again, the plastic for the legs felt somewhat brittle and flimsy, so I didn't want to force anything.

How does the pivotal body compare to other articulated bodies? Well, I have a nude “Summer Blues” Misaki laying around waiting for reroot, so I grabbed her. All my regular FRs are either still boxed from moving, or dressed and on display, so I couldn't do a comparison with a dressed FR. Proportionally, the pivotal body's torso is much closer to Misaki or the Model Behavior girls anyway.

The pivotal body's sculptural details are less defined. Proportionally, it is shorter-waisted, probably a bit narrower in the shoulder, and definitely narrower in the hip. The hands are roughly the same size, but the pivotal's arms are thinner (but I think Misaki's arms are a little bit fuller than the main FR and Model Behavior sculpts). And while I think the pivotal hand sculpt is ok, it is not as natural looking as Misaki's.

The pivotal body is able to hold many similar poses to Misaki. All in all, I'd say the new body's articulation is not bad. It is not as good as Misaki's -- compare how they fold their arms across their chests.

I can get Misaki to touch the side of her face with the opposite hand (a pose which admittedly isn't very natural!) but Mistress of Ceremonies can't quite reach. The pivotal body is better able to cross her legs than Misaki, however, due to the narrower hips/pelvis.

Overall, I'd say the quality of Mistress of Ceremonies' body feels inferior to Misaki. The plastic feels thinner and weaker, and it's got a bit of a shiny finish. Seam lines are more obvious, for example on the legs. I would still say Integrity puts out a better-made, higher quality product when it comes to articulated dolls. But then again, the pivotal Barbies are less expensive.

For a $50 doll, I'm reasonably happy overall. The hair needs work. I wish the cummerbund didn't stain, but at least they protected the doll. And I wish they gave her a stand that would allow me to take full advantage of her pose-ability, instead of that MM stand. The quality of the outfit isn't fantastically great, but it's not the worst Mattel has come out with recently, either.

I've still got the redhead to come. And I think I'll get the Lea-faced Brunette and re-root her. The pivotal body could be kind of fun to play with (and the historical costume fanatic in me is thinking, "Wait, narrow-shouldered body -- finally, this could be good for making 18th century clothes, since the corsets of that era created a narrow shouldered torso"). I'm glad to see Mattel trying to do an articulated body, and I think they did an ok job with it. I'm not about to go running out to buy up as many pivotals as I can for body swaps, but I think I'll enjoy the ones I end up getting. I just think of them as a small step up from the average vinyl low-to-mid range collector Barbie.