Honestly I have no idea what to even call this line. It's three really random Bratz boyz that seem to have been shoved into three seperate Bratz lines but... aren't. Huh?
Cameron is all formal with his silly hat.
Cade is clearly from Totally Tattooed.
Koby is Winter dream or something.
The side of the box says "the cool boys" so i'm gonna roll with that.
Each box has unique font for the character name. It's a nice touch. My only real issue with these boxes is that because they're all the same red on the outside, it's really hard to tell if the one you were looking for is on the shelf without much more scrutiny. Initially I rummaged straight past these two and thought there was only Camerons, because all the boxes including the girl boxes look the same at first glance.
More bizarrely, the girls they're pictured with on each box is different and not related to the line they're supposedly from.
Koby's made sense, he gets Winter Dream Meygan (does this suggest they're a couple or something or did they just pull names out of a hat?)
But Cade is pictured with Strut It Jade, uh.. ok? Shouldn't he have had a totally tattooed girl?
Cameron got Strut It Yasmin I believe. I didn't like his doll so much so I left him on the shelf.
Anyway,
it's been a while since Bratz Boyz were really available in stores and in the past few months i've hit the jackpot in TK Maxx. At £4:99 each, how can I resist my first dolly love: The Boyz?
Yes, Bratz Boyz were the first doll line I ever collected. From there it was a clearly very slipperly slope into downright obsession lol. But it means I have a particular fondness for them, despite their typical MGA peculiarities.
In fact, it may be partly because of those peculiarities.
For instance, the bios.
The original boyz (that z is important, makes them edgy or something. In the 90s and early 2000s everything was cooler if it had a Z or an X)
Anyway, the original boyz each had a little blurb on the back of their boxes that told us they had a nickname. I believe the girls all had nicknames as well, nicknames that got progressively more and more insane as more characters were added to the mix (Stylin' sheep for instance. Uh.. what? Honey, that ain't a compliment if the girls call you that.)
The boyz had some hilarious ones. I remember as a young teen giggling over the boxes in stores because they were SO tacky.
For instance, Cameron was "The girls call me "Blaze" because i'm HOT"
Now of course, some of these came across as a bit... iffy.
Koby's for instance was "The girls call me "the Panther" because i'm always on the PROWL" (in my head I always imagine this little rarrgh growl after that remark).
While Cade was "Viper" because he's "sly" uh... are viper renowned for their slyness?
This has been updated with these new dolls. No longer shall Koby come across as some sort of sexual predator, no no. Now he's "the Panther because he's always on the hunt for adventure.
Uh...
adventure huh? So that's what we're calling it now?
Cade's is even more of a stretch. He's no longer "sly" (whatever the hell that means), he's now "slick in sticky situations". Uh.. how is a viper slick or sticky or at all relivant to that statement? And WHAT girls call you viper? I seriously doubt the Bratz girls really call you "Viper", you totally named yourself didn't you? Admit it, looking in the mirror all "hey there hot stuff, you know what you are? you're a VIPER"
Perhaps it should be "the girls call me "viper" because I have a tendency to bite them and inject venom."
Or perhaps
"The girls call me viper because of the terrifying snake... in my pants" *cue musical riff*
*cough cough* I'm sorry... i'm so sorry.
Though at least we now get more detail than a single line proclaiming some lame clearly self granted nickname from these boys. Koby apparently wants to be a cop while Cade wants to act. Interesting. Aim high boys, aim high.
Actually I think it's kinda cute to see one of them have such a relatively normal career choice. Cop is not something often cited as an ambition in media, everyone wants to be something "cool" like actor or artist or whatever.
Anyway, let's actually look at these damn dolls already.
First up we'll look at Cade, who's rocking some sort of biker look.
So, having deboxed Cade, the first thing I notice is...
Holy helmet head! Cade didn't need a helmet! His hair is bulletproof anyway!
This is a gel nightmare, akin to the Monster high bobbed hair girls. Solid gluey gel everywhere. It's all over his face, it's smeared into his forehead. His hair is a solid mass and it's sticky.
revolting.
After a rinse it's a lot better, though some residue remains on his head from the gloop. Even run under scalding hot water, that stuff isn't shifting from his forehead. Thank goodness his hair covers the worst up.
So it's no real loss.
His hair has become shorter in production, which is a bit of a shame but it works. Actually I feel like it works better to give him this kinda 50s "bad boy" vibe.
Despite these differences, he's got a nice solid outfit. A white sleeveless tee with a leather effect jacket over the top, jeans, boots and a belt (stitched to the jeans sadly, we don't seem to get seperate belts for the Bratz these days.) with a skull and crossbone buckle.
My boy has a loose head, means he kinda has this bobblehead thing going on but it's easily fixed with an elastic band from his box wrapped around the neck knob and tucked up into his noggin.
The box pictures lie, these boyz are not in any way articulated at the elbows. They have your standard head, shoulder, hip joints with click knees. It's a shame, modern doll lines have rather spoiled me in terms of poseability and I really wish MGA had embraced it for the boyz. They gave some of the girls articulation, but the boyz got shafted and stuck with static bodies that couldn't do much.
It's always annoyed me that MGA consistantly picture their dolls on boxes doing things the doll cannot do, like posing with their hands on hips or whatever. It feels like false advertising, I think it's deceptive and deceitful and wrong.
Not that I expected these boys to have articulation, I KNOW MGA by now, i'm well aware of how little like reality their box images are.
Still, it's a shame because articulated boyz would be awesome. you listening MGA? Articulated... boyz.
So,
Cade has short choppy black hair which isn't very thickly rooted around the back. His skin is lovely and tanned and he's got big brown eyes.
His style harks back to his first ever release, which featured him astride a motercycle with long hair and a somewhat effeminate appearence.
I refuse to believe this is a coincidence, I think it's kinda cute to make that link back while still updating the look.
Man I want that moterbike. And seriously, imagine an articulated boy and that bike! It'd be fantastic!
Sadly I don't own the first version of Cade. But I do have Sunkissed Summer and Wildlife Safari.
I always found Cade's eye colour inconsitancy kind of annoying. Every version of him I have has different eyes. Wildlife Safari's eyes are more hazel while Sunkissed Summer has these strange blue and brown eyes.
I swear the new boyz have smaller heads but that's gotta be down to the eyes being smaller and the hair being less fluffy right? I mean it's the same head mould.
The new Cade actually looks shorter as well, but this is because his shoes lack the platform of the old Bratz shoes.
Actually looking at this guy, he reminds me more of Braden than Cade.
And Braden is just so gargantuan, he dwarfs the poor guy.
The 2010 boyz have an all new body which is about the same height as the original, but alot chunkier and more attractive I feel.
These boys use the same body as 10/10/10 Cameron and Dylan, but have less detailed undies. Um... I don't know why.
The original body is kinda freaky looking, while the new one bulks things out a bit and is less sinewy. The shoes are also much smaller.
Interesting note about the shoes,
Old Boyz can kinda jam into the new shoes but the older shoes will NOT fit the new boyz. Their foot pegs are too narrow. Wth?
And as you can see here, the newer shoes look strange on that original body. the proportions are just totally all over the place.
Now while they can't share shoes, they CAN share clothes. I feel like the old shirts are actually too short but otherwise it's ok. Sunkissed cade looks kinda cute in the biker outfit hahah.
Cade's a cute boy, no doubt about it and I do rather like the newer slightly chunkier body. It feels more proportionate despite the large head, it balances a little nicer I think.
Overall a nice doll and a bargain at £4:99.
Now Koby.
I should mention also, these boxes aren't a nightmare to open! Omg MGA! Boxes that don't require specialised tools to get opened? Boxes that don't need to be destroyed? they still aren't great in that the backing card and box are one and the same and glued down so hard you can't pry them apart, but you can cut the plastic around the shoes and everything else comes free with a few snips.
Koby always has such huge, doleful blue eyes to me. interestingly this version seems to have a slight purple hue to his eyes, which is an attractive variation.
like Cade, Koby is different to his prototype image. his outer jacket thing is made from thin fabric and has lost the silver reflective element. His trousers have lost the stitching and pocket detail, he has totally different shoes and he's lost his hat.
He also has shorter hair.
This is a bummer because his promo floppy hair is freaking adorable.
Unlike Cade who came with pointless gimmick tattoos, Koby actually comes with ski goggles... which is odd given he's not dressed for snow at all.
Couldn't we have had his damn hat instead?
The goggles don't even really fit his face, they look like they're meant for the girls so... what's he doing with a girl's ski goggles? Is this part of his "adventure" to woo her? some sort of swipe her stuff and she'll talk to you malarky?
Well dressed as he is, he's sure not gonna get anywhere in the snow fast.
His vest thing is made from disappointingly thin fabric, it feels flimsy and fragile. His undershirt is thin fabric as well but at least feels like it won't tear if I look at it funny.
His pants have a slightly "waterproof" feel to them and are surprisingly high waisted.
He wears hightop sneakers that fit loosely on his foot pegs. One of them constantly swivels when you pick him up, it's strange. I'll have to find something to jam into the shoe to stiffen that connection up a bit.
he has one slightly loose leg as well. So good to see MGA QC are at their usual standards here.
His hair is short and brown, cut in a choppy style with bangs. The style is pretty similar to Cade's but he has more bangs. I do wish the bangs had been just a little longer to get something more like that side sweep of his promo image but oh well.
I located him a hat. It's too big, but it'll do for now. It belonged to a liv doll and I think it really just completes Koby's look. I still would have preferred the hat to the goggles. A hat is a lot more useful as an outfit piece.
His eyes are much smaller than his original version and his hair, though gelled a fair bit, rinses out nicely and doesn't do the fluffy frizz thing the older boyz liked to do. His hair feels like an actual style rather than just randomly "hair" sticking up all over the place. And i've had original Koby from new, believe me, his hair wasn't styled in any real manner originally. It's just a floppy mess.
New Koby looks older, more mature, less of a little boy. Older Koby has ridiculous platformed boots so he looks taller.
Still new Koby is cute. I just wish that vest was made of slightly thicker fabric. It's such a flimsy piece, it kinda spoils the look. Honestly I thought it was stitched to the undershirt initially, it doesn't feel substantial enough to be an individual outfit piece.
Overall though, while the detail of clothing for Bratz both male and female has taken a nosedive in recent years (no wonder Bratz is "on hiatus") these two have gorgeous faces and their costumes are pretty nice despite being simple.
Oh sure, I really desperately miss the detail of old Bratz dolls (above image is Wildlife Safari Cade, who came with lots of teeny things eeee). The teeny chains, the belts, the itty bitty cellphones and other accessories, the bags that opened and so on, but i'm glad MGA did at least make more boyz for their relaunch. They didn't make many, not compaired with how many girls they spammed the market with, but they made some and that to me is important.
We got the 10/10/10 Dylan and Cameron, the three in this line, the three masquerade boys and the On the Mic pair. So at least 10 boys in 4 years? That's not bad really.
And four of them were new characters.
Sadly we never got a "psst i'm taller" boy. Bah.
But Cool Boys Cade and Koby are adorable and i'm pleased to have them. They're solid dolls though prone to a loose arm or leg or head here and there (so are my older Bratz though) and though basic, hey came with PANTS! (you taking note Mattel? Look! Pants! trousers! things that cover entire legs! Not shorts? omg! Witchcraft!)
I just really hope to hell MGA stop using prototypes that are SO vastly different from production dolls in their marketing. I'm so sick of pictures of dolls that look amazing, online stock photos that look incredible and then the actual doll looking like a knockoff of that idea.
Stop it MGA. When/IF Bratz comes back, you better put that crap behind you and start being more truthful in your advertising. And give us articulated boyz! (the above photo is as close to their promo image as they can actually get hahah)
I love the boyz despite their flaws, always have, always will. I always loved the idea of an entire spin off line that was JUST male dolls. And before Monster High decided to listen to the market and actually make more boys, the Bratz Boyz were somewhat unique in how many male characters there were and the way they were marketed not as "so and so's boyfriend" but more as a general "boy doll to hang with, date, just generally be friends with the girls.. whatever kids, it's your toy."
It set them apart from Ken the glorified handbag. And the fact they weren't all dressed in pink was welcome. They had as much effort put into them as the girls, their outfits were just as detailed and in several lines there were as many boys as there were girls. Wildlife Safari for instance was a line that included FIVE different boys, along with 5 girls. How many other doll lines have ever done that sort of thing?
Sadly boy dolls are still a rarity in today's toy market and I don't really understand why. I mean, i'd have loved boy dolls as a kid. A cast of all girls made for really dull drama in my Barbie games lol.
About Cade, what actually made me giggle was imagining the girls saying this after they saw Cade's "Terrifying Snake":
ReplyDelete- OMG, Cade! What's wrong with you? That's not normal, it looks bad. Go to see a doctor now!!
:D :D :D