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.
Like I say, Yasmin was always my character of choice, but Cloe is appealing to me more these days with her pastel pink hair, so I was desperate to get my hands on the Selfiesnaps doll, which *drumroll* comes with glasses! ALL DOLLS SHOULD COME WITH GLASSES! Not kidding! Glasses for me trump anything else a doll could have. They look a gazillion times cuter with them (you just need to see Monster High's Ghoulia Yelps or Clawdia Wolf as proof) and if I buy a new doll with glasses, I always try them on non-glasses wearing dolls and honestly they just look soooo much better. I should make my next post 'with or without' glasses and prove how it transforms a doll! Anyway, she comes with lots of accessories, but yeah, glasses, so exciting!
The new dolls are trying to be really current; selfies, hashtags, mobile phones etc, which is in keeping with their previous aesthetic and there's a few new webisodes, which are well worth a watch. Bratz used to have a TV show and they've also released several special DVD's and even a movie with 'real' life versions rather than cartoons. This new thing, is completely different, it's like an animated version of the actual dolls (i.e. it looks like a doll, but the facial expressions are animated over the top). They are really funny! Funnier than I think they are intended to be! The girls are scatty and sometimes catty and it's one of these 'so awful, it's actually good' scenarios. The first time you watch it, you can''t quite believe how stupid it is, but they get funnier and funnier! In the webisodes, Cloe wears her hair twisted and in a ponytail, so I attempted a similar look on my doll which came with her hair down.
My Mum exclaimed that I've bought myself in doll form! Freckles, pink hair, glasses...er yeah maybe! So I've decided Cloe is a busy blogger doing bloggy things like taking selfies, vlogging and posing for OOTD shots. She comes wearing a flimsy floral skirt and a grey slogan (selfie) top. I wasn't keen on the ragged hem, so tucked that into her skirt. She wears the most ridiculous sized pink angel wing boots (her nickname is Angel), but Bratz are renowned for their oversized feet. Though like the older dolls, their legs stop at the ankles and the boots just pull off with no feet (I find that a little gross, but it doesn't seem to put kids off). She sits really well, with visible hinged knees and slightly bent arms which move from the shoulders only.
She comes with lots of little accessories and a hairbrush for you to use on her long hair. The pink envelope clutch bag is rather annoying because it doesn't stay in her hands or under her arm. Mint emoji earrings, a bow necklace, a mint and black bow bracelet, a yellow necklace reading #wingz (Bratz put a 'Z' on the end of everythingz) and her big 'geek' glasses are clear with black rims. She also wears an oversized pale blue beanie hat, to give her that authentic blogger vibe. Alongside all that is the most adorable thing, a tiny little mobile phone with details such as buttons and a camera lens! If that's not enough, the bright pink phone has two interchangeable covers. A white one with a large black bow or a mint coloured pants wearing pig (her 'pet' is a pig). Another brilliant thing, she comes with a 'lipgloss' and it always bugs me when dolls have pale pink lips and come with bright purple gloss or red lipstick for a nude lipped girl. This one is a believable shade for the soft peach, she is wearing. Well done Bratz!
Their are some notable changes in the face, the new eyebrow shape isn't one I'm keen on (some of the other collections are really severe) though it's perfectly alright on this Cloe, but they still have their big eyes and huge lips. In the latter collections, they began lining the lips in the centre and it looked like a cut lip, so I'm glad they ditched that! Their fingers/hands seem longer now and my sister informs me Jade now has green eyes instead of brown. I found Cloe easy to remove from the box, if I remember correctly they used to be rather fiddly. My one gripe is, the phone was attached to her hand with one of those clear elastic bands and it was wound so tightly, it's left permanent indentations in her wrist. It's unsightly, though thankfully in a place that isn't too noticeable, but your doll shouldn't be ruined by box packaging. You can find Cloe along with Jade and Yasmin currently with 20% off, down to £13.60 each or the Selfiesnaps photo booth (33% off) which comes with a different Cloe doll and you insert your smartphone in it to take real photos of your dolls with the props provided. What do you think?
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I have been collecting Bratz since the first day I saw the very first ones in their cute little raver outfits in 2000 or 2001 (can't even remember now). They took the doll world by storm because then Bratz made clothing for them that people actually wore on the streets and if it was in a fashion magazine, you would see it on the Bratz. In their Tokyo A Go Go collection (my all time favorite) They had shoes that were exact John Fluevog replicas, Mary Janes with the hour glass heel.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate before that, Mattel had started to notice that Bratz was starting to take up a significant fashion doll market share, so they created a line called My generation Barbies which had much larger heads and more striking makeup and you could put big fat "shoe feet" on top of their little skinny regular Barbie feet. The big fat shoe feet looked like a shoe and a foot, so this made their feet look bigger just exactly like the Bratz.
Now I was obsessed with these dolls and I would go to the toy store at least once a week to look at them and whenever Bratz came out with a new line, within a week a copycat Barbie My Generation dolls would come out. I remember specifically one time, Bratz came out with the dolls with pets (which I didn't care because I was more interested in them for the fashions), but at any rate, less than a week later, the big headed Barbie version hit the stores. Then Bratz came out with a camping set and less than a week later, My Generation Barbie came out with a camping set. I was happy because I liked both dolls and so would buy both, but I liked Bratz better because I love dolls with disproportionately large heads and also the Bratz clothing was made better all around, faux suede and better fabrics and their purses were actually fabric and sewn and Barbie's were just molded plastic.
Well, anyone who had followed both lines would know that Mattel was ripping off Bratz left and right. Well Bratz was stupid and sued Mattel about it and we all know what happened then. Mattel won the lawsuit because they had more money and maybe the judge was just swayed by that, because anyone who followed both of them would know how bad Mattel ripped off all Bratz ideas.
But I have no pity at all for Mattel. They are a holes who ran the first Bratz into the ground. I do not like the new ones. Bratz was forced to destroy all their molds. Mattel was just evil, just evil and I hate them for it. Still I buy their Monster High dolls, because I am just a shameless cute doll whore. But I guess its a lesson, never sue someone who has much more money than you do, because they will run your butt into the ground.
So the best Bratz dolls are the ones made before 2008 when they had to take stuff off the shelves. They came back in 2010 with some different doll body molds and faces and different face paint with significantly different lips. And the ones they are out with now have saggy eyebrows and too huge shoes, too thin of legs and wider bigger butts and they are not vinyl but that is probably because everyone is winding down on vinyl leg production because vinyl is so toxic. So the dolls are all hard plastic and articulated which is nice, but I wish the legs were a little bigger and the shoes were the size they were when they first started and that they had the same faces with the same face makeup and that the clothes were what you would see in fashion magazines. The fashions with the Bratz are not as bad as Barbie, but they are starting to get a bit more toddler appeal fashions rather than fashion oriented appeal.
Totally agree, I lost any respect I had for Mattel after the lawsuits started. It was hideous to watch them rip apart a smaller company through nothing other than jealousy and greed. I don't recall the generation line of dolls, maybe we didn't get them here, but certainly My Scene and Monster High had/have elements of Bratz to them with the oversized lips, big heads and large feet.
DeleteThe DVD release every year from Mattel (around Christmas time usually) was becoming a joke, they got pinker and tackier every year. I want my dolls to be aspiring and fun, but a world of pink is just not where it's at!
Mattel are frankly running Monster High into the ground with the news of new faces and a sweeter, more pink and more like standard Barbie look. This is not why we started buying MH. Draculaura was the only one in pink and they brought more and more pink and pastel, sickly sweetness in over the past few years. They added more plastic trashy stuff like one coloured shoes, cheap necklaces/bags/headpieces and it's all just becoming the opposite of "monster". I suspect they'll phase out the likes of Operetta with her disfigured face or smooth it out completely, so she looks like the other. Even their fangs or claws are being toned down. Maybe they've had enough (EAH seems to do well) and are trying to phase the line out, the way they are going it will. It's sad, because I really didn't want to buy from them after the Bratz debacle, but MH just grabbed me, but they're going South now too.
I'm not as fond of the new Bratz. I disliked the tall versions they briefly made amidst all this, but the new ones, you're right, the eyebrows are weird and the lips aren't as cute as before. There's still some really cute ones to be found (especially if they come with a hat or scarf to cover the brows), I really like this Cloe. Tokyo A Go Go was my sisters favourite too, she got the whole line I think.
Just wanted to add that when Bratz sued, then Mattel countersued and maybe if Bratz wouldn't have sued in the first place, Mattel might not have lit into them so hard, but who knows? The whole toy industry is absolutely ruthless!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it just? The kiddies have no idea what goes on behind the scenes!
DeleteI just picked up this Chloe from a thrift shop. She was only wearing a Belle dress and some lime green boots when I found her, though.
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