Why I won't Purchase Another MGA (Bratz) Product

It is a fact that I have never been a Bratz fan. I was not one of those who thought the dolls were trampy or anything, they just did not really appeal to me. I did however purchase quite a few after they lost their first court battle with Mattel. I had read that the dolls were ordered off store shelves and thought I should get a couple in the unlikely even that they increased in value. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

At any rate, as the court battles went on, MGA launched a couple of "new" doll lines. Moxie Girlz and Moxie Teenz. The former bore an uncanny resemblance to 4Ever Best Friends dolls(2004-2005) which bore a striking resemblance to Mattel's Wee Three Friends line of dolls which were launched several months earlier, and the latter resembled Liv dolls.

Today, I see an ad for Bald Bratz. MGA supposedly launched these dolls to support children undergoing cancer treatments. According to their website, $1 from the sale of each doll(which retails for $19.99) will be donated to The Starlight Children's foundation. So why do I have a problem with this? This comes along only after Mattel announced they would be producing bald Barbie dolls! Mattel chose not to sell their dolls, but donated them to children's hospitals around the country. In essence, I think MGA stinks! I gave them the benefit of the doubt with that whole Carter Bryant/ who is the legal owner of Brats, yadda, yadda, yadda, thing, but not any more! After looking at their entire body of work, it appears that MGA has created a business from other people's ideas/businesses. Why not continue to mimic Mattel and donate the dolls to the children they are supposed to help? No only do I believe MGA to be copy-catting thugs, but also exploiters of sick children. They're like the folks who sell pirated DVDs in front of the grocery stores. I don't buy those bootleg movies, and I will no longer spend money on any MGA products.

Monster High Dawn of the Dance

Finally received my pre-ordered Dawn of the Dance dolls from Angelic Dreams. I am so in love with these dolls - more so than I was with the first two - Clawdeen Wolf and Draculara! From online pics, I was preparing for Clawdeen's lime green hair to be some sort of molded helmet, but I am pleasantly surprised to find that even though it has been gelled to an insane harness, it is real hair! (In time, I will be washing the goop out).

The next thing that impressed me was the ease in which they came out of the box! I spent hours last evening de-boxing some Moxies and Moxie Teenz, and it was brutal! When I decided to de-box these, I sat down with the usual tools - sharp scissors, single-edge razor, and a small paring knife. I was shocked that I only needed the scissors briefly to cut the plastic thing holding her head to the back of the box, but none of the other tools! The dolls were not plastic-tabbed to death, sewn in, with all of that stuff taped down, but all I had to do was flip a few tabs, and the dolls were free!

I love the make-up on both dolls, and the shoes - especially Cleo's are fierce! I may purchase the other 3 characters at a later date, but it certainly won't be through Angelic Dreamz!

Not a good sign for SIS- So In Style dolls....

Today as I went about my errands, I browsed to doll aisles of Target. They had nothing new, but what caught my eye were the bright red stickers on the So In Style Rocawear dolls. They were marked down to $9.08 from $12.99. This did not appear to be part of a weekly sale event, but permanent mark downs. Given that this line is less than a year old, it seems to me a bad omen of things to come.



I confess to having issues with the dolls - mainly that the dolls did not live up to the pre-release promotional hype. We were promised a new line of AA dolls with new sculpts and the promo pics of the latest releases showed the dolls with articulated bodies. The actual dolls - although pretty, were not what many collectors hoped. Instead of new face sculpts, each of the 4 characters share the Mbili face mold. I love this particular sculpt, but it is by no means, "new". None of the dolls have the articulated bodies as we were led to believe - though some do have jointed elbows.


Being a frugalista as well as a doll collector, I really wanted to purchase some of the dolls at the sale price, but I was just not inspired to do so! I had already purchased several of the dolls early on at retail prices and was disappointed with each purchase. I kept looking for the "new" but all I saw was old familiar face sculpts with old familiar bodies dressed up in new fashions.

I am certain that Stacy McBride-Irby, the designer of this line, did the best she could with what she was allotted. The facial screenings and clothing designs are current and fresh and I love that the dolls represent a variety of skin tones. I just feel that Mattel did not truly commit to the project and decided to minimize production costs by using old and familiar instead of really doing something new.

The result is that the dolls are now being discounted. Mattel will probably use this as an excuse for not releasing new ethnic dolls in the future. They will say they just don't sell - yeah, right! The truth is, many collectors were almost salivating at the prospect of something new from Mattel. Many like myself, ran out and purchased the new dolls at retail price as soon as they hit store shelves. We wanted Mattel to know that such a project would be well supported. I am certain that many people really like the dolls. The story lines are great and provide a positive message for young girls. However for collectors, I think the dolls fell a bit short of the mark.