
You probably haven't heard of Bratz for some time now (and there's good reason for that), but I bought one a couple of months ago. I wouldn't call myself a big Bratz follower, but I
do own quite a few Yasmin dolls. I felt they were geared more towards a younger audience and were a bit 'kiddy' for me. My sister loves cutesy stuff, so she collects Jade and has practically every one, as well as a few others (literally hundreds). As I said, they took a break and this was due to a bitter beef between Barbie and Bratz (well Mattel v MGA), which concluded with a massive court battle costing several hundred million dollars, that took 8 years. I'll be honest and say I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. The short version is, an employee at Mattel left and started up Bratz and Mattel felt they 'owned' the concept because the designer had thought it up when he worked for Mattel and thus they were entitled to the millions Bratz had made. That's how it started, but it escalated into stolen "secrets" and confidential information, spies (from Mattel), counter-claims, court decisions which were reversed, reversed again
and again and a whole lot of mud-slinging. My take is that Bratz were this completely new concept, as un-Barbie-ish as you could get at that point, with their exaggerated features, huge shoes and denim, black or camouflage clothing. There was nothing remotely resembling the taller, older and pinker than pink Barbie. Bratz were based around a group of friends (with different skin and hair colours) and came with pets and nicknames. They were 'cool' and hip and of the time and I think there was a little resentment there from Mattel. Anyway Bratz took a break and tweaked a few things and are back with several new releases this year.