Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Bratzillaz Dolls "Angelica Sound" and "Illiana Honesty"

I have been noticing that Bratz and Bratzillaz dolls are not being restocked at my local Target and Walmart (Toys R Us is still getting a few...) but Tina was the first person who explained to me what is going on.  Apparently, MGA plans to take a year-long Bratz hiatus in 2014, during which time they will remove their products from the shelves in the United States and revamp the brand for a 2015 re-release.  This is similar to what the company did after the big lawsuit with Mattel in 2010, but apparently the quality and sales of the dolls have not been up to standard since that time.

I think the original announcement of this news is the article written over at Bratz Boulevard.  It's a great article with an optimistic long-term perspective, but it leaves me with some head-scratchers.  First of all, it doesn't seem like a real hiatus if the dolls are are still being developed and sold in other countries.  Does that mean that there will be some new Bratz dolls in other parts of the world, but they'll just be harder to get in the United States...perhaps with higher shipping costs?  There's some equity here, given that the situation is usually reversed.  The other thing that doesn't make sense to me is that quality is being cited as a reason for the re-invention of the brand.  I don't know much about Bratz dolls, but I have quite a few Bratzillaz, and while the quality of these dolls was not great at first (Meygana's hair...ugh!), I have seen steady improvement over the last few years.

After hearing about MGA's decision, I'll admit that I did a bit of panicked Bratzillaz hoarding.  I went to Amazon and ordered a few dolls from the Back to Magic series and a few from the Witchy Princesses line (they're all on sale!).  All of my new dolls impressed me from inside their boxes.  It was actually quite difficult to choose a single doll to review, so I decided to show you a doll from each group.  Here are Angelica Sound (from the Witchy Princesses, $12.95) and Illiana Honesty (from Back to Magic, $13.98):

Bratzillaz, "Angelica Sound" (L) and "Illiana Honesty" (R).
First, I'll show you my Witchy Princess, Angelica Sound.  I was so excited to see these dolls hit the shelves back before Christmas, but I haven't heard much buzz about them since then.  Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.


The reason I am excited about this particular group of dolls is that they all come with bird cage hats...


...that glow in the dark.  

Bird GLOWS in the dark!  Score!
Can I just say, it's hard for me to imagine a company having trouble with sales when they're offering dolls with glowing bird cage hats.

I have always liked the style of the Bratzillaz box art.  These cartoon versions of the characters are even prettier than the dolls.  Angelica's drawing is especially nice because of the adorable little (glowing!) bird in her hat:


He looks kinda sad, though.
This wave of Bratzillaz features three princesses who were trapped inside of a book by the jealous Tona Toola.  The other Bratzillaz hear the princesses' birds crying out, and this launches them on an adventure to find and rescue the princesses.


The princesses are named Carolina Past, Siernna Calmer and Angelica Sound.  Each princess has a special power: Carolina can see into the past (I can see into the past, too, or at least the past few weeks), Siernna has the power to keep anyone calm (I wish I could do that) and Angelica has the power to manipulate sound (I frequently say "hush" to my dogs, but it doesn't do anything).

Carolina actually has side-glancing eyes that look to the right.
I have seen all of the Witchy Princess dolls in the stores, and I think Angelica and Carolina are the prettiest.  Siernna has very pale forward-glancing eyes that make her look crazed.  Also, what is up with that name?  If anyone out there is named Siernna, please accept my apologies, but to me, this sounds like the drunken pronunciation of "Sienna"...or like how people might say that name here in Maine.

The box design for Bratzillaz has not changed much over the years from what I can tell.  It is still fairly easy to pull off the plastic front of the box, which gives excellent access for removing the doll and her accessories.  Angelica does not come with a stand, which is too bad.  The Magic Night Out dolls came with stands, so I assumed that only the basic dolls like the Midnight Beach crew would be without them.  Angelica does come with the useless plastic broom brush, though:


The only difficult parts of Angelica's de-boxing were the three (three!) plastic ties in her head, and this fancy hair-control extravaganza:

Rows and rows of pink thread and plastic supports on either side of the head.  Sheesh.
Here's Angelica out of her box (I pitched the brush):


I was extremely eager to get a close look at the bird cage hat.  It's a small domed cage attached to a black headband:


Siernna's hat has a different design, with a larger cage that's missing a floor--it just sits directly on the doll's head.  Personally, I would not wear a bird cage hat unless the cage offered some line of protection between me and the bird.  I have four birds, and I've seen what kind of mess they can make.  No thank you.

Angelica and Carolina's birds have smaller, fully-enclosed cages.  There's even a molded door area (but it doesn't open):


The bird is a very pale glow-in-the-dark greenish yellow color and has no painted details.  He's a little hard to see through the chunky bars of the cage.  He has bits of black string (hair? Plastic?) stuck on him in some areas--the most obvious one is on his beak:


Fortunately, the cage comes apart very easily (without breaking anything) and so I could remove the bird for a clearer picture:


This little guy doesn't glow very much--certainly nowhere near as brightly as what is suggested in the commercial.  I tried to get some pictures of him glowing, but the light was too faint and it faded too quickly.  This was a slight disappointment, but I'm still thrilled with the fact that he glows at all.

The cage sits off to one side of the headband, so Angelica has to wear the hat on one side of her head or the other. It doesn't fit on the left side because one of her hair twists sits too far back:


But it fits perfectly on the right:


Angelica has great hair.  There's no comparison between this hair and the hair on the first wave Bratzillaz dolls.  Her hair is very long and slightly wavy, yet it's not at all difficult to manage.  The fiber is soft and smooth and has a fun two-toned sugary pink color that reminds me of Ever After High Cupid.


I love the three hair twists at the top of Angelica's head.  This is a simple style that could easily be taken down, but it doesn't get in the way of brushing the back of the hair, and it adds a quirky element of fun to the character's style.




The only problem with this hair is that each twist is tied off with a clear rubber band that leaves a short section of hair hanging down the back of Angelica's head.  Two of these sections are beautifully blended in with the longer hair, but on my doll one of the ends sticks out quite a bit and is hard to tame:


Angelica has pale pink side-glancing eyes with heavy eyeshadow.  Her eyebrows are simple black lines, but she has some additional scrolling embellishments decorating her left eye: 


Her eyeshadow has three bands: a pale outer band that starts right below her eyebrows, a thin middle band of bright pink, and a layer of dark burgundy above her eyes.


The eyes are very unique.  The irises are pale pink with darker pink spikes and squiggles.  The design almost looks like flames in some places:


Angelica's lips are painted a very dark maroon color with an overlaying clear shimmery gloss:


Angelica's black earrings have the same design as Fianna's earrings:

Recycled earrings.

Because Bratzillaz dolls have no hope of standing on their own, Angelica borrowed a Kurhn doll saddle stand so that I could get a better look at her outfit:


I think my doll came with her shoes on the wrong feet:


Angelica is wearing a very simple gold cape over her dress:


The cape is too short to be dramatic, and it's made out of a very stiff, wrinkle-prone material:


The cape has a simple, cut-out shape with unfinished edges.  There is a single tuck at the back of the cape, giving it a tiny bit of extra volume:


The cape has a velcro collar decorated with gold ribbon trim:


Under the cape, Angelica's dress is quite elaborate.  It's hard to see everything that's going on here:


The main body of the dress is made out of a thick paisley print fabric.  It has an asymmetrical neckline that is decorated with an intentionally lopsided band of lace.  The sleeves are gathered with elastic into a small puff and have ragged-cut edges:


The bulk of the skirt is made from two layers of tulle that sit on top of a very simple black underskirt.  The tulle is covered at the top with a short paisley skirt that is longer in back than it is in front.  Another band of paisley is draped across the lower part of the skirt in front, leaving a small window of visible tulle:



I love this dress, but the white lace is my least favorite part.  I think that the dress needs some kind of light-colored accent along the neck, but the lace blocks too many of the dress' great details.  It's easier to see those details with the lace tucked out of the way like this:


Notice the seamed bodice and the funky drape of the paisley skirt.  I especially like how the back of the skirt is horizontally pleated into three tiers:


The high sides of the skirt reveal the ragged layers of black and pink tulle:


Angelica is wearing silky, baggy thigh-high stockings with a patchwork print design:

Ill-fitting stockings...but they're easy to get on!

The black high-heeled shoes are made out of soft vinyl and are fairly unremarkable.


Angelica has a typical Bratzillaz body with rubbery legs and 12 points of articulation (without the dancing movement of the Magic Night Out dolls).  She has opalescent white painted underpants and no witch mark: 


Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Angelica:


You can see that pesky strand of hair that is often sticking out...


The cape really doesn't add anything to her look, but I took a few more pictures of her wearing it anyway:





The bird hat can be cumbersome (especially if Angelica is trying to keep her pet's perch flat!):


But all things considered, it's a pretty incredible fashion accessory:



The Witchy Princesses were at Toys R Us and Target for quite a while (they went on massive clearance at Target after Christmas) but I have only ever seen the newer Back to Magic Girls at Toys R Us.  In fact, these dolls only recently showed up in that store--after I had already purchased my doll on Amazon.  

The dolls from the Back to Magic series that tempted me the most were Meygana (my favorite Bratzillaz character) and the newer exchange student characters, Victoria Antique and Illiana Honesty.  Of these three, Illiana Honesty seemed the most unique:


Again, there is lovely box art showing off Illiana's sparkling face paint and fabulous purple eyes:


The back of the box has a little bit of information about Illiana.  She is an exchange student from a "different part of the world" (India), and her special power is being able to make everyone tell the truth:



This wave includes Meygana, Jade, Sashabella, Illiana and the exchange student from China, Victoria Antique.  Victoria has the power to make old things new again.  I understand Illiana's name--it's not Indian, but it's a play on, "in all honesty."  Ha ha.  Ha.  The roots of Victoria's name are not so clear to me.  Victoria is certainly not a Chinese name, and I don't see any way that it relates to her power, either.  A quick search of Chinese names revealed that Xin (sounds a bit like "seen") means "new."  That's what I'm naming my Victoria doll. 


I've seen all of these dolls in person except for Jade.  They're all nice (Meygana is amazing), but I noticed that Sashabella's outfit looks cheaper than the others, and her angle-cut bangs are a little odd.

Illiana does not come with a stand, either.  Her only accessory is that dang brush. I wish she came with her adorable elephant pet!   Sadly, this is only a cardboard cutout: 


I can't find the elephant's name anywhere, but she's so cute.  And pink:


The cutout on Illiana's left is a potion bottle with a stream of purple smoke that's supporting a book:  


The book says "Tales of Texture" or maybe, "Tales & Texture:"


Each Back to Magic doll has a different textbook displayed next to them in their box, which for some reason is fascinating to me.  I had to find out what all of the books are:

Sashabella: "Exotic Animal Languages"(fun!)
Meygana: "Broom Gymnastics." (awesome)
Victoria: "The Science of Brew and Renew." (I like science...)
Jade: "Fashion Magic" (ho-hum)

The most difficult part of getting Illiana out of her box were the two (two!) itty bitty little plastic ties hidden behind the pink elephant.

That's sneaky.
The backdrop is Bratzillaz Academy:


Here's Illiana out of her box:

She really needs an elephant to keep her company.
Illiana's witch mark is a pretend henna tattoo on her hand (she actually has this same tattoo on both hands):


I used an old Bratzillaz stand for Illiana--it works well with her bare midriff:


Illiana has very long, thick black hair with golden tinsel strands in it.  I wish the tinsel wasn't permanently part of the hair.  They could have just braided a few gold ribbons into this hairstyle and it would have had a similar effect.  The hair is pretty messy right out of the box, with scraggly flyaways going everywhere.  

Illiana also has a little gold witch had perched absurdly on the side of her head:

It looks like a sugar cone suctioned to her head.
The hat position is just ridiculous.  I mean, clearly the hairstyle doesn't accommodate a hat, so the solution is simple: scrap the hat and add an elephant instead!

Would you like sprinkles with that?
This hat clearly had to come off, but it's actually stitched into the doll's hair (probably the only way to keep it in that gravity-defying position).  I had to hunt down my super-small delicate scissors for this job..which took a while...so there'll be a few more pictures with the hat.  Sorry.


Illiana has metallic gold plastic earrings (these are the same as Magic Night Out Meygana's earrings).




I think Illiana has a wonderful face.  She has side-glancing sparkly purple eyes with five shades of eyeshadow.  In addition, she has a symmetrical design of gold dots around her eyes:


She has shimmering gold, red, pink and white layers of eyeshadow above each eye, and a turquoise accent underneath each eye:


These eyes were very difficult to photograph.  They are filled with glitter, but also have a faint white forked swirl pattern similar to what is in several of the other Bratzillaz eyes:


These eyes are not quite as amazing as Magic Night Out Meygana's eyes (which are probably my all-time favorites), but they're still pretty great.  Here is my Meygana's eye, for comparison:


And Illiana's eye again...just for fun:


Illiana has deep red lips with a large patch of pink on her lower lip.  This seems like an odd design choice, but it actually looks good from a distance, and it makes the lower lip seem shiny and less huge:


I finally found my scissors and cut the sugar cone hat off, but Illiana's hair is still a mess:


She's wearing most of her hair in a high ponytail, but there's a small section of hair that is braided and wrapped around the ponytail holder.  This looks great:


The end of the ponytail does not look so great--there are some extremely scraggly ends:


I left the small ornamental braid in place but unbraided the larger section of hair to see what the texture is like...and to neaten it up a little.


The hair was very smooth and calm at first, but when I brushed it...it came to life:


As you can see, the tinsel strands are only on the top part of the hair, and there aren't very many of them.  The tinsel actually doesn't detract from the hair very much.

Now that is impressive hair.
This hair feels coarser at the ends than Angelica's hair, but it has basically the same texture, and it's certainly nice and thick.  The volume reminds me of Zombie Rapunzel's hair.  

My re-done braid is not much better than the original:


Illiana is wearing a cute sari-inspired outfit that consists of a cropped choli-style top, red plaid pantaloons (that remind me of Arabian harem pants) and a gauzy sash.  My doll's outfit has pants that ride up higher on the left side.  I am not sure if this is intentional or not.


The sash attaches at the doll's side with a small square of black velcro:


Unlike Angelica's wrinkled cape, this sash has some nice details and it adds flair to Illiana's outfit.  It is made out of a sheer rose colored fabric, woven with gold thread accents to give it a subtle shine:


The sash wraps over Illiana's shoulder and then trails down her back.  The section in the back has several pleats, giving it a nice thickness and some shape.  The front of the sash is also pleated twice, and decorated with the familiar Academy crest that we saw with the first wave dolls:



Without the sash, you can see Illiana's pink blouse more clearly...and the impressive volume of her pants!

Hammer time!

When I removed the pants, I was able to stretch them out and pull them into a reasonably symmetric shape, so I think the lopsidedness in these pants is just a fluke--probably just how the doll was packaged.  


The pants are made out of a shiny plaid fabric with paisley accents.  The waist and pant legs are finished with gold trim:


The waistline of the pantaloons is pleated and sewn like a kilt, giving the pants their ballooning volume:


There's a small gauze strap inside the pants to keep them from riding up:


Illiana is wearing gold high-heeled sandals:


Illiana has a standard Bratzillaz body.  She is the same shade as Sashabella, and wears white painted underwear.


Here are some of my favorite pictures of Illiana.  First, she was trying to demonstrate some classical Indian dance moves...



But then just gave up and worked the camera:

Can't touch this.





I call this the "Superman" pose.

And here's one last reminder of how cute Angelica is:



Bottom line?  I was reluctant to review my first Bratzillaz doll back in 2012, and the horrendous quality of that doll's hair could have easily kept me away from this line for good.  However, I have gradually eased my way into becoming a full-blown fan of these strange witchy charmers.  A steady increase in quality and a good mix of new characters has kept the line exciting and fun for me.  Illiana and Angelica are no exception to this trend.  In my opinion, the right combination of hair, eyes and outfit is what makes a great Bratzillaz doll.  Many of my previous Bratzillaz have fallen short in at least one of these categories.  Despite tiny blips in quality here and there, Illiana and Angelica deliver quite well on all fronts. They are both easily worth their current $13-$15 price.

With all the talk of MGA's plans for this year, I have not heard anything about the specific fate of the Bratzillaz.  Perhaps they will be revamped and re-released for 2015 along with their Bratz cousins?  Who knows--maybe they will be unaffected by the hiatus completely.  It also seems possible, though, that we are seeing the end of this line.  If that turns out to be the case, count me among those who will be quite sad to see them go.


34 comments:

  1. their putting the bratz and bratzillaz on hiatus for a year!?!?!? again!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
    BTW, awesome review, as always. ;)

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    1. That's what I've heard! It's sad! That whole side of the aisle at Target is now just Monster High and Ever After High--at least where I live. It is a little exciting to think about what MGA might do to improve the brand, though, isn't it? I wonder if they're taking suggestions?? ;)
      Thank you for your nice comment!

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  2. I really adore Illiana Honesty, the only thing that bothered me was that she doesn't come with a stand. *sigh* Oh well. Anyway, I am really excited about Bratz' comeback. I hope they produce the old, realistic playsets/dollhouse that I didn't get the chance to get. (Imagine a Bratzillaz castle/academy playset! Yay!) Thank you so much for another wonderful review Emily! (^-^)/

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    1. Thank you, Toy Town! I agree about the stand--these dolls really need stands because of those rubbery legs.

      A castle playset does sound amazing! I think you have the right idea--to stay focused on how awesome the dolls and accessories might be when they are re-released. I just hope that the comeback includes the Bratzillaz. I have no reason to think it won't, but I still worry.

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  3. I bought Angelica some time ago. I remember her hair was a mess, she was the only one left, but I couldn't resist her. Your review made me discover her again. This is the first time I've seen Iliana. She's also really pretty. I was just thinking today there were no dolls that were luring me to stop by Target. (As if I needed to buy another one!) Now after reading your review, I'm sure I'll be headed there tomorrow to get an Iliana of my own. Thanks for the heads up that they may be disappearing soon.

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    1. I am not sure you'll find Illiana at Target, though! The Back to Magic girls never appeared at the Target stores in Maine, anyway. I have only seen them at Toys R Us and online. The online prices are pretty great right now, but it is risky to buy these dolls without seeing them in person.

      Isn't Angelica fun? I am so glad you rediscovered yours. I had a similar experience when I first saw her at the store: the only doll left had badly wonky eyes, but I had such a hard time not buying her anyway! That dress and hair color are just great, and of course the bird cage hat is beyond awesome. :D

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  4. Oy so many dolls on my wish list!!! I laughed SO hard here!

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  5. There was some harsh feelings between the Bratzillaz fans and MGA because the Witchy Princesses did not match their original promo photos. I think that is a large part of why they didn't sell well originally. I got Carolina when they first came out, and got Angelica when they went on super clearance at Target. They are both lovely! Great review, as always :)

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    1. That's interesting, Raye! I hadn't noticed the differences in the original promotional pictures, but after I read your comment I went back and looked more closely. There are some pretty big differences, especially in poor Siernna's outfit. Angelica seems to have the dress that is most similar to that original concept. Thank you so much for sharing this--it helps me understand the lack of enthusiasm for the dolls, and it was also really fun to go back and compare the promo pictures with the real dolls! :)

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  6. Another great review. Very strange about the hiatus. I like Bratzillaz better than Barbie.

    I have Illiana Honesty. She's so beautiful. I swapped her body with a Liv doll and steampunked her out. She looks amazing.

    Illiana has the same exact skin tone as Sashabella. I know cuz I put Sashabella's head on Illiana's body. It doesn't fit at all. Strange.

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    1. Oh wow! I'd love to see your steampunked Illiana with a Liv body! What a creative idea. Did you use an Alexis body? Some day I need to see if Bratzillaz eyes fit into Liv heads. That could be fun.

      I'm also surprised that Sashabella's head doesn't fit...never occurred to me that there had been a change in the heads or the head attachment piece. Now I need to look at some of my dolls more closely!

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    2. Liv and Bratzillaz actually have different eye shapes (Liv dolls have round eyes while Bratzillaz have oval-ish/square-ish eyes). It might be a little difficult, if it is possible at all. If you scrape away all of the plastic holding the Liv eyes in place, you can use some slightly larger eyes than the default size.

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  7. Several years ago MGA released sets of Bratz Twiins and Triiiplets (yeah, that's how the words were spelled on the box). Siernna was originally a member of a Bratz Triiiplets set. Her sisters were Valentina and Orianna, who also appeared as a set of twins...without Siernna. No explanation was given for such an unusual name.

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    1. Oh, cool! I had no idea about the Twiins and Triiiplets (that spelling! Ahhhh!). In fact, I know very little about Bratz in general. I wonder why they recycled Siernna's name, of all names? Probably the president of MGA's daughter or someone like that is named Siernna, and now I've offended her! :O
      Thank you so much for sharing this great trivia! I am off to see if I can find some pictures of those Bratz dolls...

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  8. excellent review, the two dolls are beautiful, I find it hard to choose which is the most beautiful I love them all

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    1. Thank you so much! I can't choose between them, either! At first I liked Illiana better, but now I think maybe it's Angelica (because of her hair and her dress..and of course her hat). :)

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  9. It's a miracle! The teeth are the same length as the lips, and the hair is nice,

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    1. I know, right? It does seem amazing. I was also impressed because I ordered four dolls online, and none of them have wonky eyes! :-O I did see an Angelica with bad eyes at the store, though, so it isn't all good.

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  10. I was never a fan of Bratz&co, but these two are great! Especially Illiana. I love the hair, the colour scheme and the makeup. The lip design is unique, very lifelike and 3D. Angelica's makeup is also very pretty and the dark lips are an interesting choice to go with the light hair. There's some inspiration for future doll repaints (of Barbie, I mean)!

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  11. I love the look of Illiana, she's really beautiful and has a clever outfit! Angelica is lovely too, I especially love her hair-do. Your pictures and review are great as usual :-)!!!

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  12. Great review! Informative and entertaining as usual. I think both dolls look quite pretty and mainly because of their eyses.
    On the availability of Bratz dolls: I have seen some on sale last summer here in The Netherlands (and I think these were the older, shorter dolls) but haven't seen a single Bratz doll in the toyshops since. Can't say I have ever been a fan, I much prefered the My Scene dolls. And of the Bratzillaz I have only ever seen the 4 first wave dolls and some glow in the dark swimwear dolls over here. But that's just my personal experience.
    Linda

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  13. You can barely find them in the store but they still sell them online at walmart with free instore pick up

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  14. Great review! I love the concepts that the Brazillaz use (like that glowing bird - even if it doesn't quite work, the idea behind it is so unique), but I've held off on picking any up because I've been on the fence about whether I find the face cute or creepy. I think your photos of Illiana and Meygana's eyes are making them more tempting though!

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  15. I've never been a Bratzillas person myself, but I really like the glowing birdcage hat concept (even though it didn't turn out as well in reality). The picture of Back to Magic Meygana on the box looks great - did you get her too?

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  16. I've been reading your posts for a long time now, but I've never commented before, so I just wanted to say hi!
    I never got a Witchy Princess when I could, now i'm regretting it. No stores around me have them anymore! I did however get Back to Magic Meygana, and I have to say, she is pretty!

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  17. As much as I really love MH, I have found myself with a soft spot for Bratzillaz. Yes quality is not top knotch, yes some hair is pathetic, yes some dolls have loose joints BUT I rooted for them and wanted to see the "under dog" stay on the shelves.
    I fear they will not be back which is unfortunate, it is nice to have some variety in this space. I have been researching as much as I can for answers to their fate and continually coming up empty with no information.
    Buy them while you can because this maybe it.
    A treat as always, Tina

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  18. I think both of these Bratzillaz dolls look fabulous, but Illiana is definitely the winner out of the pair in my book. Angelica's birdcage head-dress is a highly creative accessory (seems like the kind of thing Dr. Seuss would have come up with if he had designed fashion dolls). Even though they're baggy, I really love her patched stockings too; they remind me of Sally from a Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm not a fan of those tiny witch hats though, MGA should just nix them all together, or make larger, in-scale versions, ideally out of fabric rather than molded plastic (at least they gave Jade and Meygana different headwear).

    Does Victoria have serpents "straps" working up the ankles of her footwear? That's what it looks like in the photo on the back of the box.

    What kind of birds do you have? Parakeets? Finches? Something more exotic?

    Considering the Indian theme, it's possible that Illiana's pink elephant is based on Airavata, from Hindu mythology. Airavata was the mount of the god Indra, and, in some versions of the story, provided the elephantine head for Parvati's son, Ganesha (that deity's original human head was destroyed and had to be replaced, and, unfortunately for Airavata, he was selected as the donor). Given that past Bratzillaz have had pets, it's too bad that they didn't make Illiana's a reality too.

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  19. I would be very sad if this means the end of the Bratzillaz line. I don't think it is though, Bratzillaz seem to be more popular than the regular Bratz line.
    I love the pair you reviewed Emily! Especially Illiana. Despite that weird side hat (new trend?) I think her look is really pulled together and I love the bright colours. Her make-up and eyes are also really nice and I think they work well with her skintone. I was just wondering, am I the only one making a connection with MH Gigi Grant here? That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw Illiana. It would be fun to see some pics of those together. Normally I'm not a fan of companies copying each other (if that is the case here) but since they're both executed so well, I don't mind it at all.
    I hope these make it to the Netherlands before the hiatus, if that's also going to be the case in Europe I would be really dissapointed. I'd love to see these in real life!

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  20. I hope this pause is not to discontinue the line are my favorite dolls the last years.

    I own a Meygana back to magic and is just beautiful if you think about buying another bratzillaz would recommend that you be Meygana .

    I just hope I can buy more bratzillaz , especially here in mexico where I live is difficult to me to find them on sale and only own a beach Meygana midnight and Meygana Back to magic , are my Christmas present from my boyfriend.

    Both were the only ones in the store so I did not get where choose but the truth would not have to choose my favorite character even so they came up with errors ( minimum ) in your makeup and my Meygana back to magic has an arm especially weird when you I bow will break because I feel a little out of that aside excellent review I had planned to buy exactly the two dolls that I review and maybe you also to Victoria Antique

    I hope you can understand my comment, I read your reviews through translator firefox and this is in English thanks to google traducctor

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  21. lovely review! I only have two 'regular' bratzillaz myself - Siernna Calmer and Fianna - but do like them. That said, my local Toys R Us got in a single case of Bratzillaz back to magic dolls around this time last year and all 6 of those dolls are still sitting untouched, now in the clearance area but at the same price and that was after lasting through the Christmas Rush. Similarly, my TRU is the only place in my area selling any Bratz or MGA products. I'm not sure how their brands are selling elsewhere but at least in my neck of the woods the tide that was already weak in their favor seems to have turned completely. Bratz/MGAE had a lot of brilliant lines in their heyday and while I sincerely doubt this alleged 'year off' is anything but delaying the inevitable collapse of Bratz as they are now (I bought all of the Sashas last spring - and bear in mind that she isn't even put in stores so I had to chance on online orders - and a few of their ideas were at least interesting but the fall dolls didn't build any momentum) hopefully they can rebound and make quality products again. if you care to read about my opinions on why/how I feel the brand has gone down the tubes you can read it here:

    http://nocakeno.tumblr.com/post/78177189350/has-mgae-possibly-changed-leadership-at-some-point

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  22. i never liked bratzillaz, because it kinda looks like they are copying some things off MH, but i really like Illiana and i think i might get her.

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  23. I really hate the aesthetic of Bratz, but the Bratzillaz line is much more tempting with its art style and articulation. I think Illiana is probably my favorite so far, her Middle Eastern background matches the art style of the dolls really well.

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  24. I don't usually comment...but all those MC Hammer jokes! That was exactly what I was thinking!

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