Bratz 20th anniversary reproduction Cameron

 2021 is Bratz 20th anniversary apparently, which is pretty cool. I mean I feel old but I was in my teens when Bratz launched so I lack the same level of nostelgia a lot of people who were kids back then have.

So when MGA said they were rereleasing their original dolls I was like "that's kinda cool but whatever."

Until they also mentioned they'd release one of the boyz.

Now as I said, I was a teenager when Bratz launched but when I first got into doll collecting Bratz Boyz were the first line that really grabbed my attention. It was toward the end of Bratz initial run but it meant they were pretty cheap on ebay and I fell in love with the idea of this boy only doll line. 

I really like the Bratz Boyz, they're still one of my favourite doll lines so i'm always eager to get a hold of new Boyz stuff lol. 

I ordered Cameron off Amazon on July 7th, at that point they were claiming they'd have stock in a week or so. Well that ended up being six weeks before he FINALLY came into stock. Frustrating as all four girls had been in stock for well over a month.

But he finally arrived, which was a relief because there was a period where I was wondering if MGA had simply changed their minds about releasing him at all. 

I am yet again disappointed that MGA continue to pretend Dylan doesn't exist. It's HIS 20th birthday too! But as usual he's excluded from the party. Poor Dylan, I wonder who he pissed off. 

Anyway, 

the repro boxes are plastic trapezoid? things like the original wierd shaped boxes. They don't stack neatly on a shelf so it always struck me as a strange choice. 

Now as I mentioned, I got into Bratz waaaaay late so I never had an original first wave Cameron straight out of the box. Mine is secondhand and only has one of his outfits. 

But I have had other Bratz from new and this packaging is very much the old Bratz packaging. Way too much plastic and everything. 

It's kinda cool to see the orignal logo and stuff though. 

I had forgotten the original tagline for the boys had "a passion for fashion AND the bratz" lol. the early 2000s were a different time huh?

My first encounter with Bratz Boyz was back in 2003, which must have been the second release of the boyz. I remember my friend and I laughing our asses off at the back of the boxes because they're SO cheesy. 

It reads "My name is Cameron. The Bratz call me "the Blaze" because i'm HOT!"

which of course is so tacky, so silly and absolutely had teen me and my friend rolling with laughter. 

I maintain the girls have NEVER called Cameron "the blaze", it's a nickname he totally gave himself to feel cool. 

It's wierd that it claims you can create "over 25 cutting edge fashion styles". How? What are we counting "with hat, without hat" as two totally different looks? Ahh MGA, even back in 2001 were still doing creative maths.

This caught me though. There's an image of the four girls and then Cameron but this is NOT 1st wave Cameron. This is his second release doll. Note the completely different outfit? 

So did MGA just dig out the wrong stock image from their archive or what? 

That is SO fricken weird. 

Also, I miss Dylan. I'm not gonna stop moaning about this okay?

It had been a while since i'd had to deal with a traditional MGA box. These little sharp tabs stabbed me in the finger which was a stark reminder of why I used to dread opening MGA products. It wasn't MGA unless it demanded a blood sacrifice. 

modern MGA boxes are far less flesh shredding. 

but sadly, in their efforts to retain the 2001 look of the packaging we got a return to the "blood must be shed!" style of packaging.

OUCH.

So Cam comes with two full outfits, a bag and two necklaces. As well as a comb and apparently a poster. 

Cool. 

Worth noting, his lips look kinda yellowy in photos but they aren't irl. The flash on my camera coupled with the shine of his lip paint makes them photograph this strange colour. They are actually a fleshy peach, but really really shiny.

My poor old original Cam has been through a lot in the past 20 years , but he's intact. 

He seems to have a stronger chin as well as having matte lips that photograph the correct colour. 

Repro Cameron has his hat attached to his head with FOUR fricken plastic staples. I managed to get two of them off but the other two are behind his sewn on glasses and so tightly embedded into his scalp I couldn't snip them without risking cutting his hat. 

I gave up after I nearly sliced a hole in the hat and decided he could just keep the damn hat on. -_- 

Anyway, 

Repro Cam has less of a defined chin dimple than original which is interesting. His whole face seems a teensy bit softer in fact. The original Cameron and Dylan look very very different to later Bratz Boyz, i'm fairly sure they actually use a different head mold but i'm not 100% sure. 

Repro also has darker eyebrows, slightly larger eyes and longer hair.

His accessories are different as well. His padlock necklace is darker grey and more matte than the original.

They use the same body but much like the collector line Bratz, the repro cameron uses a very different plastic to the original doll. His plastic is more matte, but also somewhat squishier. His legs especially are a lot more bendy than the original doll which can make getting his shoes on and off a bit tricky as the leg flexes as you try to pop the foot onto the peg.

The matte plastic does sort of show off a few more details of the sculpt than the original shiny plastic does, which is interesting. 

The repro body has the same markings on the middle back but also has a silver CE stamp on the upper back.

Likewise the heads are definitely different sculpts. Original Cameron has "Tm R & C 2002 MGA entertainment china" on the back of his head

while the repro only says "c 2002 MGA"

He also has a darker coloured flock that's a little more curved and higher up the back of the head than the original.

Cam's alternate outfit is the one my original Cam is wearing, so should provide a good comparison of the clothing quality. 

The outfit repro comes wearing actually has a teensy little soft faux leather wallet in his back pocket, attached to the silver thread. So early 2000s lol. It's very very difficult to get back into the pocket if you take it out.

The shirts for the second outfit are VERY different. The repro one is made from that slightly plasticky feeling printable fabric while the original is a regular cotton. 

The repro also has a poorly applied far too high pocket and the collar is wrong, it doesn't actually fold down how it's supposed to which means it looks wierd.  It's also a different colour. The original is more green and cream, the repro is red and cream.

On the inside you can see the difference of fabric. The white inner of the repro top is so common in doll clothing these days, I think it's some sort of polyester blend that they can print the pattern onto, rather than sourcing actual proper fabric. 

It doesn't sit quite right as it's too stiff and plasticky and it also feels cheap. I don't approve.

the jeans are different too. 

Cameron's original jeans are not only torn at the knee but also feature distressed fabric in the way of lighter patches on the fabric. Which is very realistic. The fabric is also a thin fashion denim while the repros are one solid darker blue and made of a substantially softer material with a wider weave.

Both do have functional pockets and decorative stitching (in different colours) but I also found that the repro jeans don't fit as well as the original. They're a little too short in the crotch so won't quite pull up over the hips. Hmmm.

Cameron's men's toilet bag always cracked me up. I mean wtf? Why would you have a toilet door symbol on your bag? it's so wierd. 

The bag is much like his original bag (Which I have somewhere but can't find right now). It's made of a plether-like material that's likely to start peeling eventually with a broad strap and it opens.

The front compartment is quite big, you can fit some bits and bobs in there.

And the back pocket also opens. I shoved the comb in there just to put it somewhere lol. 

I put original Cam into the repro version of his outfit. I don't have the original white tee that went underneath it but I did find the repro version really doesn't fit quite as well. 

the jeans are, as I said, a bit too small and the shirt doesn't sit quite right, particularly as the collar isn't pressed correctly so it sticks up. 

The poster promised is well hidden. It's actually inside the backing card. Snipping the tape allows you to slide it out but while the little orange sign that tells you there's a poster kinda points to the location, it's not really that clear and I can see a lot of people throwing the card away without realising there's a poster in there.

It's a very shiny poster, but because they had to fold it into four to get it into the box it's got deep creases so i'm not really sure would display that well.

I ended up giving original Cam repros white tee (which is a bit short in the body) and black shoes to complete his outfit. 

I'm not overly impressed with the reproduction of that outfit, though the outfit repro comes wearing is decent. The two tees are made of very thick cotton and feel very high quality. The jeans with the orange strips down the side feel like denim too, and actually fit the doll far better than his second pair do. 

In terms of a reproduction he's pretty decent though. The boxes are extremely nostelgic if you grew up in that era and Cameron himself looks pretty decent. Had I not had an original to compare he probably would have passed substantitally better but even comparing him to the original 2002 release, he holds up okay.

His shiny lips are a little wierd and photograph annoyingly yellowy but aside from that he's a pretty faithful reproduction.

I just wish they'd actually attempted to emulate the correct fabrics for his second outfit. The jeans aren't too bad, they at least look the part, but that shirt is unforgivably shit. That plasticky cheap feeling fabric coupled with how poorly constructed the garment is (how do you fuck up a collar and positioning of a pocket ffs? it's clearly way too high!) it really doesn't feel like something that belongs with a £25 collector doll you know? 

Thankfully the original clothing of the original Boyz are quite easy to find for sale, so you could always replace the shit shirt with an original but you shouldn't HAVE to. They could have used proper fabric, they could have actually made sure the shirt fit the doll correctly (it's too narrow in the body compared to the original) and they should really have doubled checked the pocket placement and pressed that damn collar so it would sit properly. 

I also can't quite wrap my head around how they fucked up the colour so badly when they were using printable fabric. I mean a slight variation in pattern or colour if they'd used actual cotton would be one thing, sourcing a 20 year old fabric would be hard, but they could literally print whatever they wanted so why the fuck did they forget the green? 

It's WIERD and feels quite half arsed. 

I mean i'm grateful the rest of the doll doesn't feel as phoned in, but still, could have been better.

And Dylan is still pissed off that he keeps getting excluded. 

Give us Dylan you bastards!