Is That Tumbleweed We're Hearing?

Related Entry:
United States Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals Halts Transfer Of Bratz Franchise To Mattel, Inc. (12.10.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=62

It has been very quiet in the Bratz universe for some time. January 21, 2010 was to have been the official "date of death" for the Bratz franchise. On that date, retailers in the United States and around the world were required to remove all Bratz merchandise entirely off store shelves. Furthermore, MGA Entertainment was to have handed over the Bratz franchise to Mattel, including its portfolio of trademarks and copyrights of the Bratz brand name. All this, resulting from a ruling on July 17, 2008, where a jury at the United States Ninth Circuit Federal Court in Riverside, California found that designer Carter Bryant had conceived the idea for Bratz while under contract with Mattel. The contract (known as an Inventions Agreement) gave Mattel the rights to anything Bryant created during his employment with the company.

However, just as Mattel was about ready to pop open the champagne and declare victory in vanquishing the Bratz empire, the United States Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals in Pasadena, California stepped in and crashed the party. On December 9, 2009, the Appellate Court suspended the order for MGA Entertainment to cease all development, manufacturing, and production of its Bratz line of consumer products and halted Mattel from taking over the Bratz franchise.

Since then, there has not been any other significant news about Bratz, whether it has to do with the ongoing litigation or information about any upcoming Bratz products and collections for Spring 2010. Everyone has seemed to move on from Bratz and return to their normal lives. Even I have returned to the normal life I was living before I was introduced to four girls named Yasmin, Cloe, Sasha, and Jade. But when I look at the very large Bratz collection that I own, there are times when I feel like I'm the only Bratz fan remaining in this mundane world we call Earth.

As much as I hate to admit it, Bratz is not a popular doll franchise anymore. The years of Bratz Funk Out!, Bratz Wild Life Safari, Bratz Tokyo A Go Go, Bratz Flashback Fever, Bratz Rock Angelz, Bratz Genie Magic, and Bratz Forever Diamondz are a long distant memory. It's difficult to experience the joy and excitement of being a Bratz fan when you visit any retailer anywhere in the United States or any country in the world and see no Bratz products on store shelves. Even when you do see any Bratz products in stock or anything with the Bratz brand name on them, they're just excess inventory (i.e., leftovers) that stores are hoping consumers will spend their money on, just so they can clear them out for good. I admit spending my money on a few of these leftover Bratz products, but they're really for a Bratz room project that I have been working on for the past ten months. And the majority of these leftover Bratz products are not dolls — they're items such as books, electronics, and home décor. Anything labeled Bratz, to show my continued support of this once phenomenally successful fashion doll empire.

Although I am trying very hard to keep abreast of the latest developments in the Bratz litigation saga between MGA Entertainment and Mattel, there really isn't any news about Bratz that's available to cover. The only news, if any, is that Mattel is preparing to launch its own version of the Bratz dolls.

Excuse me for just one moment, I have to go to the bathroom and vomit....

Okay, I'm back. Anyway, the mere fact that Mattel is planning to release its own version of Bratz is as despicable and cruel as date rape. It's the type of news that would have any ordinary human being wonder....how fucked up could this rotten toy company possibly be? Does Mattel really believe that releasing its version of Bratz will help the company reclaim all that market share it supposedly lost during 2003 through 2006, when the Bratz franchise was at its peak success? Does Mattel really believe that consumers would purchase its "Bratz" dolls? Does Mattel really believe that competition in the marketplace means putting other toy companies out of business by litigating them into bankruptcy and destruction? Does Mattel really have no shame?

Meanwhile, MGA Entertainment is at work developing and manufacturing the Bratz products and collections for Spring 2010. Both MGA Entertainment and Mattel have promised to have new Bratz dolls and other related products released as early as February. It has put retailers in an uncompromising position, as they determine which version of Bratz they are likely to sell.

Well, not all retailers: After demonstrating its complete and utter disregard toward the Bratz franchise throughout 2009 (including the fiasco involving Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden), Target has given plenty of indications that it would refuse to sell any Bratz merchandise manufactured by MGA Entertainment. Target will, however, continue to sell MGA Entertainment's other fashion doll line that hardly anyone cares about, Mockery Moxie Girlz — although, I sometimes wonder if Target played a role in influencing MGA Entertainment to change the Moxie Girlz to be all kid-friendly, so that the dolls adhere to the retailer's brutally rigorous buying standards.

And speaking of Target Corporation, this retail bureaucracy operates like the government of North Korea. What Target did to Bratz in 2009 was an eye-opener, and this retailer was very unapologetic about the unfair decisions it made in selling Bratz at all 1,700+ stores in the entire chain. From reducing shelf space, to stocking bad-quality Bratz dolls, to stocking specific Bratz characters at specific locations, to the outright cancellation of selling Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden, Target was unforgiving in its vocal oppostion to Bratz. Target can argue that there were "bottom-line" business issues behind its malicious treatment of Bratz at its stores. As a Bratz fan and consumer, I perceived these issues as a reflection of how much this retailer hated Bratz — and how much more it hated Bratz after Mattel sabotaged the litigation against MGA Entertainment.

Of course, Target is not completely anti-Bratz. Target would sell Bratz for Spring 2010....on one condition: If the dolls were developed and manufactured by Mattel. All bets are off the table if MGA Entertainment develops and manufactures Bratz. Either it's Mattel's Bratz or no Bratz at all.

But hey, at least Target will sell those Mockery Girlz....oops, sorry, Freudian slip, I meant to say Moxie Girlz! Yeah, like anyone's going to care what or where this fashion doll line will be ten years from now....

(NOTE: This is the part where you go to your local Target store and purchase all the new Moxie Girlz products and collections for Spring 2010, such as I Am... and More2Me. Then you can tell all your friends, "I purchased the Moxie Girlz, because I am fed up with Robyn Barnette's bitching and bickering about the Moxie Girlz on her Bratz Heaven Blog, as well as her consistent bashing of Target....Enough is enough.")

Even though there has not been any news about Bratz since the Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals issued its stay of the recall of all Bratz merchandise, I have been busy with my new Bratz Photography Project devoted to my Bratz Dance Crewz Jade doll. This project is intended to replace an old project I did in November 2005 featuring my Bratz Treasures Jade doll, and I am determined to make this new project vastly superior than the old one. Obviously this doesn't really count as news, but at least it's something that's related to Bratz. And that's better than nothing.

Based on what I've been told by my contacts at MGA Entertainment, all we can hope for is an update to be made sometime "within the next couple of months." My contacts would not reveal anything more than that, but the speculation is that it's a big update — whether it be any new Bratz products or collections for Spring 2010, the final decision from the Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals regarding the rights and ownership of the Bratz franchise, or....well, anything that has to do with Bratz. It has been well over a month since the Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals halted the transfer of the Bratz franchise to Mattel, so we certainly can't be far away from an update now. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.