Bratz Dolls by MGA Entertainment--A Guest Overview!

Bratz dolls were introduced in 2001 by MGA Entertainment (makers of Lalaloopsy, BFC Ink dolls, Novi Stars, Mooshka, and of course the Bratzillaz).  The Bratz brand has suffered considerable controversy over the last decade, including multiple criticisms of the dolls' image, and a drawn-out copyright lawsuit with Mattel.  Recently, an announcement was made that MGA will suspend Bratz production during 2014 in order to re-style the brand and improve quality.  The dolls are slated for a 2015 re-release, and I have to say that even though I have never been a huge fan of Bratz dolls myself, I am curious to see what MGA has planned.

This is a great opportunity to look back and see what Bratz dolls have been like up until this point.  However, since I know so little about this brand, I can't offer a very interesting perspective.  As it turns out, I was extremely fortunate to be contacted by a collecting friend in England who was willing to share the opinions and experiences of a Bratz super-fan.  I am thrilled to turn the rest of this post over to "Samehch," who will start things off with the portrait of a lovely custom Jade.  This doll has been re-rooted with yarn in the same pale aquamarine blue as her factory hair (which you can see here):

Custom "Chic Mystique Jade."

Hey there! I’m Samehch (of course that’s not my real name!) and I’m here typing this post (thanks to Emily for letting me!) to let you know more about Bratz dolls.  In this post, I will be overviewing seven different Bratz dolls--some from 2013 and some from 2001!  To see more of my photos, please visit my Flickr account.

So, a lot of you will know who the Bratz are.  Bratz are fashion dolls that appeared in 2001 and raised 2 billion dollars within their first 5 years.  There are a lot more Bratz girls than you might think (over 100 apparently!). Here's a list of who they are.  So, of course half of the girls in that list have only been seen once, but they're part of the #BratzPack (the original name of the Bratz website launched in 2001) and have come and gone, some with makeovers, over the past 14 years.

Now...why wait--let’s get started!  I apologize in advance if some of the pictures are a bit blurred.

The first doll I’ll be looking at is fall 2013 "Twisty Style Yasmin."  I should say up front that all hairstyles pictured here are re-created, as I like to take down and ‘fix’ almost all dolls' hair that is up in a particular style.  I got Yasmin from the United States Amazon.  I live in the United Kingdom, and this doll was never released here.  She’s around $17 in stores in the US, and is one of the ‘basic’ dolls for the fall (although, she’s more than a basic doll if I’m honest).

Twisty Style Yasmin.

Yasmin is on a 2013 body that’s 2 inches taller than the usual Bratz body has been since 2001.  Her hair is rooted light-brown--the second usual tone for Yasmin hair.  Most of the other Yasmin dolls have a darker brown.  She has a middle part with her hair in pigtails.  She has bangs, and colored strands on each side of her head- one a kinda maroon colour, the other a purple!  The brown is much better quality than the streaks, although it's all nylon hair.  As you can see, she came with a brown/pink yarn hair extension.  She actually came with two of these--they’re the theme of the line!

Here's a closer view of one of the hair extensions:

Emily says: these remind me of Cutie Pops hair!

The Twisty Style line featured all-new face-ups...and look at how gorgeous this one is!  Yasmin's eyes are a lot more detailed than usual. Her lashes are crazy and her eyebrows a lot thicker.  Her lips are smaller, and are a lighter, more “frosty” shade of pink than usual.  Her earrings are light pink.  Here's a closer look:

I don’t know where to begin with her top--look how crazy-detailed it is!  It’s real knit with holes, perfect stitching and mixed colours, with a purple paisley-patterned satin corset and a blue snakeskin belt.  Now, these pieces are all attached, but you can easily reverse the corset behind the jumper to make it seem like it’s not there.  

Look at those shorts! They’re real denim, and are detailed and hemmed to look as if they have a zipper, and have been cut by Yas herself!  Even more so, they feature actual pockets hanging down!  Although you can’t get into them, they definitely could hold something small like a mini phone!  How cool?  Also, see how detailed the jumper is in that shot! 

She also wears some thigh-length socks (stockings?) that are black-and-white striped. Her shoes are a simple boot with some studs, straps and they’re painted with gold studs at the top.  

For anyone wondering, here’s what Yas looks like on my Flickr Photostream usually, as my model Teagan!

So that’s it for this Yas! 

My next mini-review will be on "Totally Polished Sasha!" She is also from 2013 (spring) and also from Amazon US.  I believe she also retailed for $17, and was one of the bigger lines for Spring 2013.

Totally Polished Sasha.

Her hair is rooted in saran with a side-part.  This is one of the best hair qualities you can get.  It's an orangey colour (not exactly red/ginger, but it’s not brown..it’s a mixture).  This colour isn’t usually seen on Sasha, although has been seen twice previously (Spring/Fall 2012 basic lines).  She also wears a black and white striped (with some orange in there) bandana-hat-like-thing! 

Her face is quite a normal screening, and there’s nothing really special about it.  It is very pretty though, with the soft pink lip, mute eye and the bold green eyes! 

She wears this flowy top with a sort-of tribal design to it.  It bunches up at the bust and forms into an over-sized, almost dress-like, bottom.  It’s a really nice piece of clothing, and is very soft and good quality! 

She also wears floor-length white denim bell-bottoms under that.  Nothing to say about these really, they’re good quality and seem quite durable!  Under those she wears some white strap heels!

One of the main features of the Totally Polished line is that they come with a set of 12 child-sized adhesive nails for you!  Each set is designed to match the doll’s outfit, which is quite obvious in pretty much each set!

Actually, I couldn’t find Jade’s set for this picture, and my Fianna was reduced in price due to the fact she didn’t have the nails in the box, but here are the others I have:

Left to right: Meygan, Yasmin, Sasha, Cloe.

The next doll I’ll be looking at is one of the most memorable lines from Bratz (well, for me)-- "Featherageous Jade!"  She's from spring 2012.  Each girl in this line has floor-length saran hair with brightly colored streaks and a styling tool.  The styling tool is meant to be used with a styling booklet that has directions for 3 different styles (included, but not photographed).  Honestly, I’d love to see this line get a second wave in the future, featuring more of the girls, because the original 4 (Cloe, Jade, Sasha and Yasmin...) were the only girls in this line--but imagine a Meygan! Imagine the floor length red saran hair!  I'm getting excited thinking about it!  [Emily says: me, too! :D]

Featherageous Jade.

(Featherageous Jade is NOT Articulated, but is on a replacement body for photography purposes on my Flickr!) 

Jade’s outfit is (personally) one of the best from the line.  It’s a maxi dress made of a soft stretch material, and features a little pleather corset at the waist with shoulder straps.  Quite simple, but for a doll line focused on hair play, I wouldn’t want a big poofy dress to distract from her hair.  Her shoes are simple ankle boots with the little studs at the top.

 Now, let’s look at her main feature.. her hair! 

Look at how long it is!  It’s amazing quality, the blue streaks are gorgeous and it goes past her foot pegs!  There’s no complaining as it’s rooted extremely thick, too!  This is why it’s one of the best lines for me--I LOVE hair play dolls with really good hair that you can actually do something with!

She also came with 2 pink extensions with printed feather-designs on them (like Toralei’s hair stripes) but they’re both extremely frizzy bad quality nylon so I decided not to include them. 

Next doll!  

From probably one of the lowest points of Bratz quality, here's a doll from 2011 (the Bratz 10th

 Anniversary).  This is "X-Press It Jade!"
 

Granted, this was a basic collection.

Jade’s hair is middle-part rooted in really bad nylon (it’s not basic Meygana Broomstix bad, but it’s pretty bad) that’s styled into two twisted buns on top.  I tried my best to re-create those

Her rooting is kinda…dramatic:
  

Emily says: Ahhhhhhhhh!!!

It’s like this on both sides!  She has hair around her head and down the centre, but that’s it!  Not the best MGA, not the best...especially for your brand’s 10^th anniversary./. hm.  

The hair is quite long and nylon isn’t too hard to fix in this state, so that’s something.

So, this is her outfit!  

I don’t feel the top and the shorts are bad in quality, but they’re ok I guess?  The stitching on the inside of both pieces is pretty all over the place.

Her leg warmers are soft and are a nice colour so that’s ok...not sure about the shoe colour though.

Here’s her hair down and kinda sorted out!  It is very pretty so that makes up for some of her bad qualities I guess...

For the next doll, I’ll be looking at one of the most memorable lines of all time throughout Bratz fans--the "Movie Starz!"

(Despite me having two pairs of her shoes somehow, I can’t find any.  So she’ll be footless for this part, sorry!)

Here's Movie Starz Yasmin:

Emily says: it's surprising how short she looks without her feet!  Whoa!

As you can see, one of the main memorable parts of this line is the joints!  These were the first articulated Bratz to be released, and the joints are still (honestly) some of the best jointed dolls to date IMO!  Of course Monster High articulation is a bit better but this was about 3 years before, so.  

Rooted lashes, side-part brown saran hair with lighter streaks and long gold glittery maxi-dresses were also a good thing for this line--as well as the fur coats and working cameras!

Here’s a better look at the joints! They can really do a lot, although I’m not sure how to explain them! 

Emily says: the arm joints remind me of a Pullip doll,
with that rotating section of the upper arm.

They separate at each joint, too:

That’s it really for her, so let’s go onto our second-last doll, "Genie Magic Jade!"

Genie Magic Jade.

I got her on eBay over New Years, and I’m happy to say she came with almost her full original outfit, without a haircut and no scratches (well, just a small one on her lip aha).

Her face is gorgeous!  Her screening is one of my all-time favourites for Bratz.  Her hair is side parted black floor length saran, and whilst it looks frizzy/poofy in these pics, that’s because I recently waved her hair for a photo on Flickr.  Anyway!  Her top is a pink crop-top with gold dots all over.

Her skirt is also floor-length (almost) it’s a satin material with a slight paisley design to it, and her shoes are desert sandals. Her arms did originally have henna on them, but as I don’t use the non-articulated bodies they’re all in storage and this is all I had. 

Let’s hop onto our last doll now which will be a very quick facial review, as I don’t really know what line she’s from or anything really.  x)

This is a Cloe, who I believe is from 2001 or 2002, when they had their old style of facial screenings- metallic lips, huge eyes and grey eyeliner.  Her hair is a side-part saran and she originally had some thatched bangs which I simply removed.  She’s very pretty and I’m glad to have someone as unique as her in my collection!

Emily asks: could this be the original 2002 X-Press It Cloe?

Now, I'm not an absolute expert so sorry if I do get some things wrong- but here's a quick "sum up" of each year that the Bratz have been around!

2001- Launched, won the hearts of many kids and became a quick sell-out doll brand.

2002- Introduced Meygan, had the iconic "Funk 'n' Glow" line (re-made 3 times!), and continued to sell out!

2003- Several lines released, McDonald's toys produced and accessories and quality increase of each doll (eg, "Formal Funk!").

2004- Some iconic lines this year including "Treasures!", and the first Bratz twiins!

2005- A movie, video game, full album and another iconic line, "Rock Angelz," was released in this year!

2006- Some amazing dolls released this year, including movies and albums for both "Forever Diamondz" and, one of my personal favourite Bratz lines, "Genie Magic!"

2007- One of the biggest years for Bratz - Their first live-action movie was released, and along with that, a line of dolls called "Movie Starz," which introduced amazing posable arms and working cameras! This was the ONLY line with this articulation.

2008- "Passion 4 Fashion" started here-as did the lawsuit which caused their quality to decrease quite a lot.

2009- Not much happened- after the lawsuit and all. I believe it was like this year, 2014, where they tried to re-create the brand.

2010-  The Bratz big, 10th year, comeback! Featuring a new posable body (with knee joints and a bust joint) although it didn't work the best in the arms compared to the movie dolls, it was still a good year-despite the "makeover"- fish lips and nylon hair..

2011- The official 10th anniversary, they came in with a line featuring 10 NEW girls- despite how great this is, they still had the fish lips and even WORSE nylon hair. The quality wasn't so great this year.

2012- Another "rebuild" of the brand, a new face-up (without the fish lip!) better quality and several amazing lines (I believe almost all lines had saran this year!) One of my favourite years from Bratz.

2013- Yet another rebuild--not as greatly appreciated, with a whole new body that's 2 inches taller, not many people loved it as much as thought (I loved it, but I did miss the short bodies). Pretty good quality start of the year, slumped a bit with (I believe?) all fall lines with nylon (although some nylon, such as Cloe and Yasmin in Costume Bash, was amazing quality, almost better than saran!).

2014- This year Bratz have taken the year off completely (despite 2 lines being released overseas) to re-create a comeback for 2015.

Bratz Phoebe, from Samehch's Flickr Photostream.

And that’s it!  That’s a quick run-down of the highs, lows, changes and improvement of Bratz over the years.  So why did I want to do this?  I wanted to make a post showing how good Bratz actually are.  I hope people reading this will consider looking at the Bratz in the stores next time and buy one for themselves!  That is, if you can find them. Why do I say that?  They’ve taken the ENTIRE year (and a half) of 2014 off to re-build the brand from bad sales, for a big comeback during the summer of 2015! And of course, when this does happen, I want those of you reading this to consider going to a store, looking at the new Bratz in stock and considering if you want to try them out!  Trust me, I really disliked them for so long, then, during the New Years of 2012, I saved up for my first Cloe.  Even though she was a bad quality $5 Black Friday 2011 Cloe, I immediately fell in love with the brand and now am pretty much addicted!  I am excited for 2015!  Of course we don’t know what any of the dolls will look like, although trademarks have been filed for old characters such as Felicia to be brought back, and the 2013 slogan dropped--pretty much saying we’ll be getting shorter Bratz again. 

So, let me know in the comments below: will you be buying Bratz in 2015?  Will you go to a store to see if they have any left over?  Also, will you check out Amazon for any Bratz on sale?  Trust me--it’s worth it!  Thank you for reading, and thank you for Emily for letting me take this amazing opportunity to write to you all and ask that you give Bratz a second look next year!