REVIEW: Spacepop Juno

Welcome to Spacepop Day! I thought I'd be starting this a lot earlier than 11:34pm, but FedEx did not deliver my dolls until 8:37pm. Argh.

So Spacepop is a Youtube series about five alien princesses, each from a different planet, who escape the clutches of the evil Empress Geela, who has imprisoned all their parents (or guardians, in Rhea's case) and taken over the Pentangle (the five planets). The princesses decide to fight back by spreading messages of rebellion through their music. They do nothing to change their look and just shorten their names, which are already very close to the names of their planets. It's really silly and the animation isn't very good. The style is sort of like Winx meets Monster High. I saw a couple books on Amazon and picked up the first one out of curiosity. I was pleasantly surprised, because the book is way better than the webisodes and has a couple comic book inserts drawn by Jen Bartel, who makes the characters look really great.

The dolls were made by Madame Alexander in their first real foray into fashion playline. They've had some smaller playline dolls that I wouldn't consider on the same level as these.

The release date I had heard was December 1st on ToysRUs.com. However, when telling a friend about them, she turned them up in a Google search much earlier and on sale even (they're regularly $19.99 each)! I was actually supposed to get my dolls yesterday, on the day when I'd originally thought I was only just going to be able to order them. They came a day late and a lot later in the day than I expected, but they're here now and I'm pleased.

So let's get to it. The packaging is nice. I really like the art of the girls on the sides. They looked so nice together that I was almost tempted to keep them all, but I don't have that kind of storage space! I did keep one box though, Rhea's.

Deboxing was very easy. You just slide the liner out. The dolls are held down by plastic at the hands, like the Monster High dolls, but they have a slit in the plastic so you just have to open that and slide the hand out, no cutting needed. The waists and ankles are held by thin plastic bands. Not the harder plastic, but the thin stuff like rubber bands. Juno has another of those around her neck. I think Athena might have, too. Rhea and Luna both have their long hair trapped in plastic stapled together with plastic Ts. I'll have a pic of that in Luna's review. The long-haired girls also have some thread to tie their hair down a little, but nothing hardcore like how Bratz used to be. The pets are held in place by the plastic rubber band things. All in all very easy. No plastic to be clipped off the backs of heads.

This is Junoia Atley-Wolford and her pet Skitter. She is from the planet Junoia and her name is shortened in the series to Juno. Yes, creative, huh? No one will ever figure out who these girls are!

Anyway, Juno is the tomboy warrior girl. She wears a one-sleeved, thin purple tank top underneath a darker purple jacket with a jagged collar. Her green pants are very baggy, which I like to see. You always see fitted pants on dolls when they wear pants at all. Her thick blue belt is attached to the pants, while the top and jacket are separates. She's the only character with a unique shoe mold, these completely butt-kickin; boots. I would wear these.

Juno has a couple purple stripes on her face. Her eyes are a pinky-purple with white and darker purple polka dots in the irises. Her eyeshadow is dark purple, her lipstick matches her eyes, and she has pale blue liner on her bottom lids.

The most striking thing about Juno is her hair.

She has a thick not quite mohawk, not quite lazyhawk in two shades of purple. Back and sides of her head are flocked and it's nice and soft to the touch. Her hair isn't because it's gelled to hold that style, but it still feels more like gelled hair than the helmet hair you see on Monster High dolls with short hair.

Poseability on these girls is good. They can't sit with their legs straight out and their knees bent, which is my only complaint. Their legs go out in a bit of a V instead. Their hands do come off for ease of redressing.

And Juno can put her hands in her pockets, which is something I always appreciate. Both doll pants actually having pockets AND a doll being able to use them.

Juno is the drummer for the Spacepop band. I really wish these girls came with instruments. I think they're a good value for the $19.99, based on quality and things included, but instruments would have been even better. I would have paid extra for that. Maybe they'll make an instrument pack.

All the girls have the same head and body molds.

Seeing that top and the baggy pants here really reminds me of Season 1 Winx Musa. Back when she dressed better. Now she's always in pink and dresses. I miss the old Musa, so I hope Juno never changes! Keep the short hair, too, Juno. It's so good to see two shorter-haired girls in one line.

Gah, I love these boots. The footwear is the biggest disappointment I have with this line. Juno's boots are awesome and the other shoe design works for Hera, but they could easily have made a slight modification to that mold for Athena's shoes, which have more straps, and given Luna her ankle boots. Rhea's stockings, garters, boots combo is a little harder, but I don't like that they just gave her the same heels as the other three and then painted the rest on. But we'll get to that more in Rhea's review.

Here's Skitter. The pets are really nicely-molded and heavy. They're not a cheap plastic thing. Again, my only problem is the lack of variation. Hera's pet is the only one that's a different mold. Granted, the other four do kinda look the same in the webisodes, but still.

Since Juno has the darkest body and easiest to remove outfit, she became my opening review, even though these are actually the last photos I shot. But she shows off the body best. These girls are bigger than MH and EAH. This is even the thicker reboot body here on Draculaura. The Barbie on the left is a petite one. Not a match, but some Barbie stuff might fit Spacepop.

Shoes-wise, the Spacepop girls have smaller feet than MH, so MH won't fit their stuff and vice versa. You could maybe get away with some closed-toe MH boots on the Spacepop girls. Maybe. I did not try Descendants. That might be another option.

They do, however, have one very close match and that's Project MC2. Bryden and anyone else with high-heeled feet can fit the Spacepop stuff and Juno can fit Bryden's shoes. Adrienne's open sandals are a little big on her. Juno also fits nicely into Camryn's clothes, so Spacepop are a little bit smaller than PMC2 when it comes to body and foot sizes.

I really like the Spacepop body style. I think it's a nice blend of delicate (especially the hands) and thicker than the exaggerated MH/EAH dolls.

So that takes care of body comparisons. If anyone wants me to do any others or check on clothing/shoe compatibility, just leave me a comment. With getting these so late in the day and combating a constant headache, I was already running out of steam when I did this.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.