The Collection - pt 1 - Bratz

So this will take me a while, but here's what i'm doing.

In my wardrobe there are piles upon piles of boxes

and more

and even on the floor

this represents over 10 years of collecting dolls and honestly? I've hit saturation point. I can fit literally nothing else into these cupboards.
and i'm starting to forget what I owe, what I used to own and so on.

It's time to start to go through all this methodically, pick out the things that, as Kondo would say "don't spark joy" and rehome them while I also figure out what's in what box, reuinite orphaned dolls with the correct boxes, label everything and figure out what the hell I actually own.

Today is part 1 of this madness.

the Bratz boxes.

Bratz box 1, see, I labelled it so i'll remember.

I'm a terrible doll momma, I just stack dolls in boxes all willy nilly.

though in the case of Bratz, I did take their shoes and earrings off after learning the hard way those things are a bad idea to stack. They dig into the dolls below and can cause gouges and dents.

so all the shoes and earrings are in a baggie. Problem is, I no longer remember who's shoes are whos.
oops?

The first lot to come out the box were my standard sized Bratz. Mostly 2010 ones because I really LIKED the 2010 faces.

Ciara was rebodied onto a jointed body (I think it's Yasmin's). I did this with a few of my 2010s but finding cheap "party" bodies to rebody them became a chore and it started to get way more expensive than I was willing to go. Even now, those damn jointed bodies aren't cheap to buy, especially not in the darker skin tones.

I love Ciara. She's got crimped hair done PROPERLY (as in, not burnt to a crisp like Mattel's crimped hair Monster High dolls)
and she has an owl shirt which is awesome.

She was a later 2010 era release (2011? 2012? I dunno) which means she has okay hair.

Adri unfortunately is one of the 10/10/10 girls who suffered BADLY from "shit hair" syndrome.
Her hair is a beautiful colour but it's frizzy dry nylon and really difficult to manage like ALL the 2010 launch dolls.

I still freaking adore her thought. That red hair and pale green eyes, so pretty.

She got a jointed body too, because I COULD lol.

Shadi remains I think my favourite of the 10/10/10 girls. I got a few of them at release but the costs mounted up fast and so many of them had really dull outfits (the grey knit everywhere omg) or just weren't "wow" for me.

Shadi though.. she's absolutely gorgeous I t hink. I love her.

She also got a jointed body hahaha.

Man, I must have had a LOT of party bodies at one point huh?

Aubrey is, to my knowledge, the only Bratz girl to come WITH glasses and, better yet, with short hair.

Her hair is shoulder length, which is really unusual not just for a Bratz but for a doll in general. It's a length very seldom actually represented in dolls, they either get a bob or they get long hair.

I NEEDED this geeky girl in my life. NEEDED HER.

She's one of the few early Bratz dolls I absolutely ADORE and needed to own.

See my problem with a lot of the earlier Bratz, which will become more obvious as we work through this, is their faces are often rather... unrefined feeling? A bit too simplistic?

I prefer the post 2010s because I love those smokey eyes.

but Aubrey manages to look sultry and beautiful with her very simple eyes. The heavy black helps, I don't think i've seen another doll do that at the top of the eye with this huge area of black.

Jade looks sulky here.

This girl i'm not sure about keeping. I remember loving her at the time, she's a hybrid between two dolls i bought specifically to make THIS doll. The body and outfit belong to 2010 Party Jade, the head was from featherageous Jade with blue cut into her bangs but looking at her now? I dunno, i'm not feeling her as much as I did back then.

I might give her body to another Jade...

Some of her problem might be that her hair is suffering some major storage squish but I dunno, her face isn't "sparking" anything in me.

I still freaking love this slouchy outfit though.

And it's funny because when I was going through the dolls in person, THIS was the Jade I was considering putting on the sale pile, but looking at her photo? She's got a lot more sass than featherageous. Funny how that happens isn't it?

this is On the Mic Jade, who has a jointed body too because 2011ish was a good time for articulated bratz.
I mean they pose like shit but at least they have some jointing.

I love her outfit. I also love a bratz with thick bangs.

I can't remember what Yasmin this is. She was a charity shop find and I have always found her strikingly beautiful.

She has this dark blonde hair and glittery eyeshadow.

She's a narrow eyed Pre Lawsuit Bratz which I prefer to the big eyed wierd ones of the earlier waves.

Sadly she's never really been found an outfit that's "perfect" for her.

She kinda reminds me of the 2016 character Raya. Blonde hair, dark skin, grey eyes.

So to recap: Box 1 contains

Ciara
Adri
Aubrey
Shadi
Featherageous Jade
on the Mic Jade
Blonde Yasmin

And the Taller Bratz.

Now I know there are people who HATED the taller Bratz of 2012 but I actually really liked the proportions on these. Plus they could wear skipper clothing which was nice and gave the slightly smaller Barbie family dolls some interesting clothing options.

My only real problem with them is their twig legs. Such awfully sculpted legs, they're like tubes.

Meygan actually belongs to my Husband. Sometimes a doll catches his eye and he claims it or buys it himself while I buy the others in the line or whatever.

He owns most of the EAH in this house for example. And this Meygan.

Sasha, she's gorgeous. She has kinda orangish hair which is a neat look, it reminds me of the Tiffany Taylor dolls with the black and auburn hair.

I had 2 taller Sashas, this one who is uh.. Totally Polished (I think) and a cheap open box one who wasn't as pretty. She went on the sell pile.
I have better Sashas.

I do admit, I like Sasha with hazel eyes. I think they look lovely against her skin tone.

this is Xpress it Yasmin. She was my first taller Bratz. She was a slim box budget dolll and her hair isn't great but god I just thought she was so gorgeous, she's what triggered me then buying MORE taller Bratz lol.

It's all her fault.

Her clothes are from a Mary Kate/Ashley doll with her original jeans.

this is totally polished Jade.

Another gorgeous taller bratz. I love her outfit.

and one of the more unusual lines MGA did, Twisty Style.

Not only did this line come with these awesome yarn extentions, they all have REALLY unusual faceups.

Cloe has a bajillion lashes.

Of course I wasn't keen on her original outfit. the pink romper was a bit babyish and too much pink. So she got a new outfit to contrast with it all.

Originally Yasmin was the only Twisty Style doll I was going to get. I mean she's fabulous! (I don't know where her other extention is, it wasn't in the box, i'm hoping I find it while I search through boxes)

But I decided to get all three as I was ordering them online anyway.

Jade has really strange eyes right? I mean I kinda dig these weird fish eyes but they're also very bizarre.

She has beautiful plum coloured hair but i've never liked her as much as the other two.

She might get sold as well. I dunno where her extentions are, I think a sindy doll stole them <_< heheh.

I do like her top though, it's a cute top.

So box 1 ALSO contains:

Totally Polished Meygan
Totally Polished Sasha
Totally Polished Jade
Xpress it Yasmin
Twisty Style Cloe
Twisty Style Yasmin
Twisty Style Jade

I also have a small collection of Bratz Kidz.

These at one point kinda creeped me out and the second Sasha (the one in purple) is a good example of WHY. the over made up pagent baby look just... *shudder*

the ones I actually like tend to have more sedate makeup and are less glammed up.

All these were secondhand from charity shops or ebay over the years.

I don't know what line any of them are from.

Purple Sasha is on the sell pile.


So box 1 ALSO contains:
Bratz Kidz Yasmin
Kidz Dana
Kidz Jade
Kids Meygan
Kids Sasha in purple
Kids Sasha in blue

Also in the box were these girls.

Now I have noticed on Instagram a LOT of hate for the 2016 reboot Bratz and I dunno, it kinda pisses me off. It reeks of entitlement. These dolls weren't made for YOU, they were made to try to get NEW fans, for little girls and boys to enjoy and play with.

and on that front I think they do pretty well. They tend to have good hair, really detailed outfits and are chunky and well made.

I mentioned when I reviewed my first about how hard the shoes were to get on though, and how difficult it was to get some clothing pieces on, but generally speaking, they were decently made dolls and certainly of far superior quality to the shit we're seeing on doll shelves now.

Sadly they didn't sell well. Sometimes I think i'm the only person who likes some doll lines lol. (I love Moxie girlz too and a lot of Bratz fans hate them too because they're "not bratz")

But it means they're pretty cheap secondhand, So fuck you guys, more cute dollies for me! HAH.

Most of the Metallic Madness dolls here came from a big secondhand bundle I got for very cheap.

Metallic Dance Jade has blue hair, dark dark blue hair. How cool is that?

I definitely prefer the deluxe eyebrows though. Budget 2016 dolls all had these thin arched brows I refer to as the "budget bitch brows" while the deluxe lines got thicker more detailed eyebrows for some reason.
the thicker brows I think look better in most cases.
friendlier. Less ready to shiv you.

Hello My Name is Jade is a great example of the "shiv you" bitch brows. But they kinda work on her.

I cannot express how much i fricken LOVE this doll.

She has a freaking cool hairstyle and GREEN, fucking GREEN streaks in her hair (you don't see green much in dolls) and she's just got so much damn attitude.
redressed out of her patchwork madness dress she's just absolutely glorious and one of my faves.

I think this is the dance 2 pack Yasmin. I have a thing for purple lips on dolls.

Her hair is a bit of a crazy nightmare hence why it's tied back, it gets everywhere, there's too much of it.

I still really like this doll though.

And this is the Sasha that came with her.

I didn't like either of their formal outfits because I generally just don't LIKE formal outfits on my dolls. I like them to be more casual.

This girl is pretty and her bright red lips are striking, but I fear she may be a bit too similar to Study Abroad Sasha...

who I love more.

She might go on the sale pile.

See what I mean?

Study Abroad Sasha has blue streaks in her very long black hair. She also had a great outfit but unfortunately it stained very very badly.

My complaint about this actually got MGA to send me a whole box of goodies by way of appology though, so uh.. score?

I'd love to be able to display her with her funky jacket and stockings but eugh...

the staining man... it's bad and i'm worried it'll spread to anything she touches so while she's in storage she gets no black garments.

Music Festival Sasha was another MGA freebie (thanks MGA!)

they kept advertising her on uk social media but for months we just weren't getting Sashas and being a cranky bitch like I am I was fed up of their bullshit. "available now" nonsense, she wasn't. NOWHERE was getting her in because of MGA's fucked up Sasha only cases.

So I yet again sent them a long email about representation mattering and blah blah blah and they sent me one.

About a month later the uk FINALLY started to see her but only in a few places like Amazon. I like the believe I lit a fire under MGA's ass about it. -_-

She's a gorgeous doll. I love her textured hair and I reviewed her when she arrived.

Definintely worth the wait and angry emails haha.

Cloe was one of the freebies MGA sent me to say sorry for the staining on Sasha (Man, I got a lot of nice shit from MGA back in 2016 huh? they were really good to me)

I cut her bangs in because they hide her bitch brows.

I LOVE pink haired dolls, I really do, which is funny because I don't much like the colour pink but for whatever reason pink on dolls just makes me smile.

dressed in black I love this girl. She's the right blend of cute/sweet and edgy.

Metallic Madness Rayna. I'm not sure about her outfit but I haven't got anything to really put her into atm.

I like her skin tone, hair and eye combo though, I think it's quite striking and yeah, she reminds me a lot of that blonde yasmin up there.

I don't usually like blonde dolls much but something about this Cloe appeals to me. She's music festival I THINK (she came in a HUGE bundle of random dolls)

I think it's a combination of freckles (LOVE freckles), pigtails and big thick dark brows that just combine to give this doll a bit of personality I find a lot of Cloe's rather lack.

It's rare for me to keep a blonde Cloe, but I like this girl so she's staying.

Meygan also was in the bundle of random dolls Cloe came in. She's the one from the US exclusive 5 pack I think.

She has bitch brows and they're slightly offset so it looks like one is quirked higher than the other and I think gives her a bit of a quizical "you said WHAT?" expression. It amuses me.

Her hair isn't great quality and there's way too much of it to really style that nicely but she's fun. I like her.

this girl was also in the box, she's a Bahama Beach Jade on a 2016 body.

Well I had a 2016 doll i didn't care about and a taller Jade with lovely face but shit twiglegs and I was like.. mmmm I wonder...

I really like the proportions. And I love her sassy narrow eyed face.

A lot of the taller bratz actually have REALLY nice faces.

so box 1 ALSO contains:

Metallic Madness Jade
Metallic Madness Raya
Metallic Madness Yasmin
Metallic Madness Sasha
Music festival Sasha
Study Abroad Sasha
Music Festival Cloe
Hello my name is Jade
Hello my name is Meygan
Selfie Snaps Cloe
Bahama Beach Jade on 2016 body

And these two were also in the box.

The taller girl is a Bratz Kidz head on an EAH body.

The other one is a repainted boring as shit Cloe I had laying around.

I kept this girl's eyes and lips but redid her brows and added some details to make her look a bit older and more stylised rather than babyish.

I actually really like her. She's a weird doll for sure but she's fun to play with.

My camera is UNFORGIVING with paint.

This girl was a spur of a moment repaint in the wake of that Treechange nonsense.

the tiny squinty eyes people kept trying to give the Bratz heads pissed me off because they have huge flat heads and tiny eyes made them look bizarre and wrong. You can't put a realistic face on a big flat stylised head.
Also the whole "waaah waaah bratz are too mature, we want more innocent looking Bratz" shit was fucking dumb. MGA MADE THAT! they're called Moxie Girlz you ignorant fuckwits.
go buy those!

I admit though, I did like the treechange lady's idea of drawing on a nose so I did that here (her repaints are actually often fairly cute, it's the terrible copycats that annoyed me with their fundamental misunderstanding of stylisation) . It really changes a lot about the face when there's an obvious nose.

I kinda like this girl. I mean she's a bit rough in places but I enjoyed painting her and I enjoy the personality it gave her.

I never sell my repaints because I figure nobody wants them. So she gets to stay here as an example of my repainting at one point in time. A snapshot of my skill I suppose.

But I only repainted a couple of Bratz before I decided it was WAAAAY more work than it was worth. They have fantastic blank canvas faces for sure but holy shit getting the paint off is SO HARD.

It would take me like an hour to scrub the face so yeah, nope. Not doing that again.

so yeah, box 1:

kidz/eah hybrid
blonde Bratz repaint

And these which I picked out to sell in the process. I think i'm gonna go back and take out those few others I identified in doing this so if you're interested in any of the dolls listed in Italics, hit me up yeah?

I dunno why the equestria girl was in this box lol.

these were loose in the cupboard.

Sometimes I buy a doll and then don't get around to opening them, either because I bought too much at the same time (prods Thad) or because I bought them and realised I would just be putting them straight into a storage box anyway so what was the point?

they're safer in their original boxes, so in their boxes they stay till I have the space to display my collection properly. Which could be many years down the line.

3 more boxes from the cupboard.

MORE Bratz.

this is Bratz box 2 and a small random box containing like 4 dolls and a box of bratz clothing and shoes I found.

I got this girl with a few others in a charity shop. They were in a bag together which is something only YMCA does, rather than sold individually. It's kinda annoying.

Her bicoloured eyes are really cool though.

The rest of the contents of the box should be familiar to those who follow my blog.

this is the girls from the "big box o bratz" I got a few months back.

Strut it? Meygan has those narrowed bratz eyes I love.
and very orange hair.

Cystalicious Yasmin is just stunning.

Wildlife Safari Nevra is pretty but then you put her alongside a post 2010 doll I dunno... she doesn't quite look as striking. I really DO prefer the 2010 era ones.

Which is kinda annoying as I bought her off ebay and she wasn't that cheap. *sigh*

but she might go on the sale pile anyway.

Geneva is gorgeous despite her shit hair quality.

Maybe this Jade can have Featherageous' body lol.

Totally Tattooed Meygan is striking. I got her for a great price on facebook marketplace.

Another Cloe. I know right? As I said, a Cloe has to be pretty special for me to give a shit about her and this girl has.. something. I'm not sure if it's her pale greyish blue eyes or the slightly parted lip or what but I find her quite endearing.

Pretty N Punk Cloe is a wonderful example of what I mean about the unrefined old Bratz faces. See her eyes? How kinda... blank they are?

I like this doll, don't get me wrong, but she has a VERY different vibe to her than the later Bratz. Comparing her to the Cloe just above her it's like two very different doll lines to me.

I prefer the smokey eyes of the later dolls, their narrower eyes with the more intense makeup. They look a little more.. alive?

Fiana is a beautiful doll. She and Ciara look like they could be sisters.

Lydia was another 10/10/10 release, and again, has shiiiiit hair but she's so pretty.

And it's nice to have another Sasha toned girl in the lineup.

So box 2 contains:

Lydia
Strut It Fiana
Pretty N Punk Cloe
Strut It Cloe
Totally Tattooed Meygan
Desert Jewelz Jade
Geneva
Wildlife Safari Nevra
Crystalicious Yasmin
Strut It Meygan

And also these 3 who are for sale.

and Bratz box 3? What could be in this one?

well you'll have to wait and see!

this got too long already.

tune in next time for part 2 of the fun game of "what's in the box"

and remember, if you want any of the things listed in italics, hit me up at Kill_all_the_bunnies@hotmail.com okay?