Bratz dolls!

[maywong]

I would like to see one naked and compared to a LIV body. Does anyone have a pix of theses two bodies together?

[PaleAmethyst]

I can take shots of her nude for you, but I don't have a Liv to compare.


Also, since this quickly morphed into one, I changed the title to be a general discussion thread.

[Wardah]

I thought this was odd, but my Yasmin's hat is different than the one on all the promotional material. While hers is dark pink suede, the promos show a light pink knit.

That is typical for MGA. Their dolls often do not look exactly like the prototypes.

I found a comparison photo on Flickr. Bratz are smaller than Liv.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/egolon/5518095414/

I heard there will be some articulated Moxie Girlz out sometime this year too.

[PaleAmethyst]

Oh really? Moxie's are so cute!

As for the clothing backs, ToysRUs has four kinds currently in stock. I bought the trench (which she's pictured in) and the preppy set.

[magkelly]

Honestly in regards to the legal fight I do believe Mattel had a legitimate beef. FYI, when a designer is working for one firm their work belongs to that firm while they are employed there regardless of whether or not the firm approves a certain project or not. It's a contractual thing. The firm is buying their services for a set period of time and there's usually a no-compete clause that says they can't market a similar thing while they are working for that company. It's a little different for independent contractors but those are pretty rare in the toy industry. Once in a while a big clothing designer will do a one shot deal but usually the designer works for the toy company and anything that is produced by that designer while he or she is employed by that designer is legally theirs. The guy did show the prototype Bratz to Mattel and he supposedly used their supplies and their resources to make them besides even though he was working mostly at home. That is why Mattel got so ticked and that is why they went after him in court. I still cannot believe that the decision was reversed in court. Legally they had every right to the Bratz, albeit they would have had to have given their designer credit and regular recompense.

I've got nothing against the dolls or their designer. I think they are cute and I own a few. I'm the first one to admit that Mattel has always had some questionable business practices. They're a bit ruthless, always have been. But in this case I do think that Mattel got the bad part of the deal. He developed those dolls while under an exclusive contract to Mattel. He used their resources to get them made. He should have done the legit thing. He should have just fulfilled his contract, left the Bratz as a vague concept, not developed prototypes and shown then, then just left. Made them on his own later.

No one can own an idea that's in a designer's head. But once you do prototypes and show them off to your boss, they're no longer just an idea. That's a formal design and a submission, one that in this case got shot down, but still he was under exclusive contract while he submitted them to his bosses. He used their resources to get them made, and that means that Mattel did have a legal right to them if he went on to make them.

As far as QC with the Bratz is concerned they did and do continue to have issues from what I can tell. I don't actually tend to keep my Bratz heads on the 9" bodies. I have a few of them on the 9" bodies but I also have habit of putting them on bigger, more posable bodies because I like more of a normal head to body ratio. But I do like the heads and even if sometimes I have to cut the hair off and wig them I will continue to collect Bratz as I find them at the Goodwill, flea market and so forth. I hardly ever buy them new though and I'm not too sure I like the new Bratz as well as I like the older ones. Like the Moxie kids I'm just not all that crazy about them so far. About the only thing that the company makes that I am genuinely crazy about and will actually buy new if I can afford one is the Moxie Teenz dolls and I only have two more dolls to go there until I have a full set of the characters. I still want to get a Bijou and an Arizona but after that likely I will quit unless they introduce more new characters which isn't too likely from what I can tell. If the MT even survive into Spring 2012 I will be surprised. My impression is that they are not selling all that great so far...

[Linsilee]

There is really only one Bratz doll I like and it was the Midnight Maddess Yasmin. I named my Jasmine and put her on one of the poseable bodies a while back. It was from the movie line...the body that is. The one thing that really bugs me is the foot/shoe popping off thingy that was mentioned before. There have been many times I have thought about putting my Jasmine's head on an Obitsu, but not sure if the skintone would match.

Added: I do want to note that I do have the bare feet for her, but still don't like how her feet pop off. There have been several times I loved a pair of shoes but my Jasmine can't wear them because the skintone is different on them.