When布拉茨were released in 2001, they were the first real threat to Barbie’s fashion doll dominance, shunning model-perfect poise and stature for comically large heads and feet, splashy outfits and makeup, and a gesture toward racial and ethnic diversity.
但是，他们仍然是统一的小指紧身，并因强调志向的外表和有趣时光而受到批评，但他们也是一个巨大的打击。然后在2004年，Bratz的母公司MGA Entertainment卷入了downright Dickensian intellectual property disputewith Mattel that pulled the dolls off the shelves for a year in 2009, and only was resolved, sort of, in 2013 (MGA still has an outstanding billion-dollar suit of its own against Mattel for corporate spying).
After an unpopular comeback in 2010, MGA decided to take a breather and do some research, and a new Bratz line was relaunched last week with the original four dolls (Jade, Yasmin, Cloe, and Sasha), plus newcomer Raya, and a range of interactive tie-ins including emojis, a custom avatar creator, and a stop-motion web series by the company behindRobot Chicken, Stoopid Buddy Studios.
There’s nothing particularly earth-shattering about the new dolls themselves, other than拉雅的超兴汉堡鞋- 虽然该公司正在额外强调个性的重要性，并在其消息传递中成为自己，而且化妆品被淡化了，但它们仍然基本上像Bratz。但是，重塑的一个要素从本周的最初揭幕延迟到本周推出，可能是一个改变游戏规则的人 - ATarget.com exclusive Create-A-Bratz platformthat lets kids customize a doll, with a possible 3.5 million combinations of hair color, eyes, skin tone, and outfits (the huge number is due mostly to a broad range of wardrobe pieces to mix and match, but there are 20 different hair/skin/eye combinations available). The personalized dolls will retail for $49.99 and will arrive at a kid’s mailbox in about two weeks.
“Nobody ever in the history of toy business has done something like this,” MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian tells德赢提款. “For little girls to be able to create 3.5 million combinations of dolls is incredible.”
Even with the criticisms of Bratz’s focus on image and frivolity, Create-A-Bratz is the strongest argument that the new Bratz are the anti-Barbie, at least in terms of rejecting a single blond-haired, blue-eyed standard. They may still have thigh gap, but there’s something pretty significant about, say, a multi-racial girl with green eyes being able to buy a fashion doll who looks like her, especially given ongoing issues of价钱和availability周围的非白娃娃和related items.
“We wanted to create an experience that gives kids lots of choices, yet was easy and intuitive to create a Bratz doll that reflected their personal style,” says Scott Nygaard, Target’s senior vice president, merchandising, noting that this is Target’s first toy personalization program. “In working with the teams we built a digital experience that provides lots of options, but isn’t overwhelming. Kids these days have an incredible sense of style and they’re looking for toys and clothes that represent who they are. The whole Bratz mantra is to ‘do it your way,’ so we couldn’t think of a better brand partnership to build an experience that allows kids to customize a doll that represents their individuality.”
根据拉里安（Larian）的说法，该公司在诉讼后冲出了以前的洋娃娃行，并妥协了质量和品牌标识。他说，布拉茨最初是关于自我表达，自信的。我们认为它们是无所畏惧和自信的，令人鼓舞的创造力和个人风格。我们没有[上次]这样做。坦率地说，就像其他任何时尚玩偶一样。”
On the quality front, Bratz had ditched the expensive Japanese saran hair of the original dolls for a cheaper material in the last line. “We have brought that back into Bratz,” says Larian. “The reason for that is kids are very smart, and they pay attention to these details. You should see all the hate mail that I got from the superfans.”
The digital elements of the relaunch are also meant to meet Bratz fans where they are–in addition to the web series, downloadable emojis, mobile games, and avatar creator, one of the new playsets is called #SelfieSnaps, which includes a working selfie stick.
拉里安说：“ 6至14岁的女孩中有53％有自己的手机。”“我们的研究表明，绝对仍然想玩洋娃娃，发型，时装播放，假装游戏等，但是由于她们也是如此的数字连接，所以他们也想在那里。如果您将这两种人都聚集在一起，那么我们拥有两全其美的最好，这就是他们告诉我们想要的。”
Bratz正在以很多竞争重新进入市场 -Frozen角色娃娃冰芭比娃娃从第一名去年圣诞节的女孩礼物，以及美泰的标志性娃娃的销售上个季度下跌了19％, she will have a high-tech upgrade of her own when the conversational你好芭比娃娃is released later this year. But Create-A-Bratz is the kind of thing I would have sold my soul for as a kid, and if it’s successful, it could be a model for other toys that let kids, increasingly used to personalization in the digital realm, have more say in character design.