It's difficult to comprehend how Bratz Heaven has contributed to the surprising success of the Moxie Girlz, the brand new fashion doll line developed and manufactured by MGA Entertainment. Ever since the release of the Moxie Girlz in July 2009, I think there is a logic behind the reasoning of how this fashion doll line has suddenly become very popular with children, as well as doll collectors everywhere.

The logic stems from the previous blog entries I wrote about the Moxie Girlz:

Get Your Moxie On! Introducing....Moxie Girlz (06.15.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=32

Moxie Schmoxie: Moxie Girlz Revealed.... (06.18.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=33

Moxie Girlz: What, Barbie Worry? (07.2.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=39

Moxie Girlz: How Many Licks Does It Take....? (07.16.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=42

These Girlz Got Moxie: I Found The Moxie Girlz At Target! (07.22.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=43

Robyn Barnette: "I Will Not Do A Moxie Girlz Fan Website" (08.4.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=45

In writing those blog entries, I shared my thoughts and opinions about the Moxie Girlz, as well as the reasons why I chose not to support this brand new fashion doll line. I was not in any way discouraging anyone from purchasing any Moxie Girlz merchandise. Consumers of all ages, all genders, all ethnicities, and all backgrounds are free to purchase whatever fashion doll lines satisfy their interests. I have absolutely no control over anyone's shopping preferences except my own.

However, it pains me when people state that they purchased the Moxie Girlz dolls because they were outraged and offended over what I wrote about them on my Bratz Heaven Blog. I understand how people want to strongly defend the Moxie Girlz from all the harsh criticism it generated after it was perceived as a Bratz replacement, that they feel compelled to purchase the dolls and other related products with the Moxie Girlz brand on them. Why should anyone give a damn what I think about the Moxie Girlz? Why should anyone agree with my assessment about the Moxie Girlz as a Bratz replacement that's "doomed to fail" and that would "drive MGA Entertainment out of the fashion doll market"? Citing Bratz Heaven as the reason for purchasing any Moxie Girlz merchandise is really stupid. I've read plenty of negative articles and blogs about the Bratz, but they were not the reason why I traveled 216 miles from home to a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Clearfield, Pennsylvania so I could purchase Bratz Passion 4 Fashion Spring 2009 Sabina and Dresden.

In case you are wondering, yes, I really did travel that long distance to purchase those two very rare and very hard to find Bratz dolls. I know, I'm making it sound like a major achievement, but if you only knew how difficult they were to find. You can thank Target and its Bratz-hating spokesperson Lena Michaud for everything it did in screwing around with Bratz fans who really and truly wanted this collection. Is there anyone at Target Corporation who is elated to see the demise of Bratz more than her?

It's obvious based on the initial product offerings of the Moxie Girlz that MGA Entertainment rushed through development and manufacturing of this fashion doll line, since the company knew it was going to lose the Bratz franchise to Mattel at the end of 2009. This company never really took the time and effort to create a quality doll line — all it was thinking about was creating a Bratz replacement....

Holy crap, is she at it again, that pathetic Bratz fan named Robyn Barnette saying some really awful things about the Moxie Girlz on her Bratz Heaven Blog? She must be really insecure with herself! Well, go to your local Target store and purchase a giant truckload of Moxie Girlz dolls and playsets! Since I chose not to support the Moxie Girlz, I could care less about what happens to this brand new fashion doll line. I mean, ten years down the road when somebody goes to pick up a Moxie Girlz doll, there's going to be another successful fashion doll line developed and manufactured by another toy company, and by then who knows where the Moxie Girlz are going to be....

Oops, she did it again, just like Britney! Now go to your local Wal-Mart Supercenter and purchase more Moxie Girlz merchandise, so you can tell all your friends that, "I bought the Moxie Girlz because Robyn from Bratz Heaven made fun of them on her blog....she's 'jelouse' the Moxie Girlz will be more successful than her slutty Bratz dolls ever were LOL!"

Bottom line: STOP BLAMING BRATZ HEAVEN FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE MOXIE GIRLZ.

In addition, I'm not "gellis," "jellous," or "jelouse," about the Moxie Girlz being more successful than Bratz — that is, if the Moxie Girlz ever establishes the same phenomenal success that Bratz did during its glorious eight-year tenure. Incidentally, the word is spelled j-e-a-l-o-u-s. There's a function in Microsoft Outlook called a spell-checker (known as Spelling & Grammar is you use Microsoft Office 2007). Use it before you start cussing me out in your hate E-Mails to me.

As much as MGA Entertainment denies that the Moxie Girlz is a Bratz replacement, I can see the similarities between the two fashion doll lines. For example, and perhaps one of the most apparent, there's a character in both the Moxie Girlz "core four" and the Bratz "core four" named Sasha. Same skin tone, same hair color, same eye color, same height....as far as I'm concerned, that sounds like a replacement to me. Why couldn't MGA Entertainment choose a different name, such as Tamika? And why are the doll body types for the Moxie Girlz dolls similar to those utilized in a few Bratz products and collections (e.g., Bratz Fashion Pixiez and Bratz Star Singerz, with the wide torsos)? Even the initial product offerings for the Moxie Girlz are similar to Bratz product offerings that were previously released (e.g., Magic Hair). MGA Entertainment can deny the Moxie Girlz as a Bratz replacement for as long as it wants. However, for the 10-year-old little girls that the company is marketing the Moxie Girlz to, they are not stupid enough to notice the similarities between the Moxie Girlz and Bratz.

Not too long ago, I visited a K-Mart store in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. I asked a store manager about a special promotion and sale that K-Mart was having featuring the Moxie Girlz. The promotion was, for every Moxie Girlz doll that was on sale, you get stickers, a pin, and an online access code. When I asked about the special promotion, the manager didn't know what the Moxie Girlz were, until she realized what I was talking about. "Oh, I know what that is," she informed me. "It's the new doll line that's replacing Bratz."

Gee, doesn't that sound familiar! And I thought I was the only one. Interestingly, I found a new Moxie Girlz collection in stock at that K-Mart store in Whitehall, Pennsylvania: Moxie Girlz Holiday. Each character in the Moxie Girlz Holiday collection was celebrating the Christmas holidays by wearing a festive Angel, Santa, or Elf fashion outfit. The fashions on the Moxie Girlz Holiday dolls were quite impressive, but I noticed that they looked deceptively similar to fashions worn by the characters in the Bratz Holiday collection released during Fall 2008....I suspect that people will now be purchasing those Moxie Girlz Holiday dolls at K-Mart because of what I just wrote. Bah, humbug.

If somewhere along the way you lose interest in the Moxie Girlz (okay, here it comes, this is the part where you go to your local Toys R Us store and purchase more Moxie Girlz merchandise), it will take a moment of thought to realize that, yes, you really did purchase the dolls because you were outraged and offended over what I wrote about them on my Bratz Heaven Blog. Bitch at me in all your hostile glory, point your finger at me (preferably the middle one), but all that would be a reckless waste of your time, no matter how much money you spent purchasing any dolls and/or playsets with the Moxie Girlz brand on them.

Of course, if you would like to bitch at me about purchasing the Moxie Girlz dolls because you were outraged and offended over what I wrote about them on my Bratz Heaven Blog, E-Mail me. I recommend you send me your bitching and whining through Federal Express, because it wouldn't all fit in an E-Mail.

Maybe I should start writing blog entries about the LIV dolls instead....nah, LIV is beating the hell out of Moxie Girlz. Ben Varadi and Spin Master have my work cut out for me.

Kickin' It! On the SMOOTH tip!:

http://www.bratzheaven.com/bratzheaven/photos/photos-plainjade.html

YouTube Video Direct Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgMjAr6jbU

This project is NOT the new Jade Project that I have planned involving my Bratz Dance Crewz Jade doll. That new Jade Project is currently under construction, and it is expected to be of a much larger scale. Instead, this Jade Project was a minor or interim project, since it did not introduce any new features that have become standard with my Bratz Photography Projects.

Regardless, my "Plain Jade" project was still a LOT of work to do, especially when it came to constructing the video slideshow (which took two full weeks to work on!). The project overall took three months, but it was pushed to four because of the numerous winter storms that slammed in my area, affecting locations where I captured photos of my Bratz XPress It! Jade doll.

Speaking of Bratz XPress It! Jade, that's the doll I used for my "Plain Jade" project. It has certainly become one of my favorite Bratz dolls to play with! Filming and photographing this Bratz doll was really easy to do, and much of that was because of the doll's innovative braided hairstyle. It made capturing photos of my Bratz XPress It! Jade doll very simple, even in breezy weather conditions.

And talk about expressing your passion for fashion....does this Bratz doll ever EXPRESS a passion for fashion unlike no other! I don't know which mall the designers shopped at to create those fashions; however, for a basic Bratz collection, those fashions on Bratz XPress It! Jade are off tha hook slammin'!

Bratz XPress It! is the Bratz Funk Out! before Bratz Funk Out!. Doing my "Plain Jade" project took me back to a time when Bratz meant something full of attitude, expression, originality, and just being yourself — attributes that are true about the Bratz today. I mean, who needs jewelry or makeup? Who needs all that? For this project, my Bratz XPress It! Jade doll demonstrates that to look good and feel good, it's all about going back to the old school (something which MGA Entertainment learned when the company released the Fall 2008 Bratz collections....yes, I still have nightmares about those horrible Spring 2008 Bratz collections with the Neon Pop Crap and three versions of Fashion $#!+, er, Show).

The photos in my "Plain Jade" project are nothing special or spectacular. In fact, they're just "plain" boring. But I was not aiming to create something memorable — hence, the title of this project as "Plain Jade." Since this project was all about going old school, I wanted to take it back to the old school for this project, because Bratz XPress It! is an old school Bratz collection. And for a while at least, I wanted to turn the clock back and experience the joy and excitement of being a Bratz fan when the Bratz were first released in mid- to late 2001, four years before I would launch Bratz Heaven.

Despite that Bratz XPress it! was released in 2002, I wanted the photos of my Bratz XPress It! Jade doll to look as though they were captured in 1992 — or at least the early 1990s anyways. I'm not really sure why, but I guess it's because I'm from that generation, when things were simple and anything was possible, when life felt so carefree. It was a time when youth and innocence meant so much growing up, and where teenage angst represented a special turning point in the growth of being who I am today. When I watch the video slideshow for this project, I could see those same youthful indulgences I experienced growing up.

Looking back on my "Plain Jade" project, I'm happy that I had the opportunity to do it and happy that the project spoke to a lot of Bratz fans in describing what the Bratz were all about. My "Plain Jade" project reflected what I understood about the earlier Bratz collections such as Bratz XPress It!, Bratz Funk N' Glow, Bratz Strut It!, and even the 1st Edition Bratz from 2001. But it also reflected what I understood about myself growing up. I hope to do many more Bratz Photography Projects and just like this one in the future, because even though the Bratz franchise will be retired after 2009, there is still a lot of joy and excitement in the Bratz universe that I have yet to discover.

Related entries:
Fall 2009 Bratz Products And Collections: THE HUNT IS ON! (06.27.2009):
http://cannellefraiche.bratzheaven.com/b2evolution/blog1.php?p=37

And with three months remaining before the Bratz franchise reaches the end of its glorious eight-year run, these are the final Bratz products and collections that MGA Entertainment has released for Fall 2009:

• Bratz Desert Jewelz: Yasmin, Cloe, Jade, Katia*
• Bratz Iconz: Yasmin, Cloe, Sasha, Jade
• Bratz Passion 4 Fashion: Yasmin, Cloe, Jade

NOTE: I omitted any Bratz Kidz, Bratz Babyz, or Bratz Lil' Angelz products from this list. The Bratz Babyz were discontinued after Fall 2008, and the Bratz Kidz and Bratz Lil' Angelz were renamed to 4-Ever Kidz and 4-Ever Lil' Angelz (since they were no longer to be marketed as a Bratz product).

About that Bratz Passion 4 Fashion collection: This was the collection dubbed Bratz Careerz. I was aware that this collection name was incorrect, but why this ridiculous collection name? Well, when I came across photos of this Bratz collection, there was no collection name mentioned on any on the product packages. All I saw were "Earth Girl Yasmin," "Rodeo Cowgirl Cloe" and "Artist Jade." What do an Earth Girl, a Cowgirl, and an Artist have in common? The best guess that I thought of was that they were future career paths of the characters once they've outgrown their passion for fashion — hence, the collection name.

However, according to MGA Entertainment, this collection is officially known as Bratz Passion 4 Fashion, or Bratz P4F Doll Pack.

Clearly it was not my intention to provide any false or misleading information about this Bratz collection, and I did the best I could in figuring out what the name of this collection was. I work very hard to ensure that any news or information about Bratz is accurate, but there are times when I make mistakes. For that, I sincerely apologize for any misinformation that I have conveyed or any inconvenience I may have caused.

Furthermore, there was to have been a Fall 2009 edition of the Bratz Passion 4 Fashion collection, featuring new characters similar to Spring 2009 with Sabina and Dresden. Unfortunately, such a collection has been pulled from release and forfeit to Mattel. In fact, many of the Bratz products and collections for Fall 2009 were forfeit to Mattel as illustrated in the court order during the litigation, where MGA Entertainment was ordered to turn over information about its Fall 2009 Bratz line to help Mattel develop and manufacture its imposter "Bratz" line for Spring 2010.

And speaking of that impostor "Bratz" line....according to a few unnamed sources, that impostor "Bratz" line may not be called Bratz. Instead, it may be called something else that's based on Bratz and that bears little resemblance to the Bratz dolls developed and manufactured by MGA Entertainment. Of course, nothing has been confirmed at this time, and it is WAY too early to speculate what Mattel plans to do to Bratz after it sabotaged the litigation against MGA Entertainment over the rights and ownership of the Bratz franchise. Either way you look at it, the Bratz dolls we have all loved — and in some cases, hated — for the past eight years are going to be retired at the end of 2009.

I do not anticipate between now and December 31, 2009 (or to a much lesser extent, Janaury 21, 2010) that there will be any Bratz products or collections forthcoming. Whatever Bratz products and collections currently in stock is what's available — and there are certainly not many Bratz products and collections to choose from these days. Retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart have made their buying decisions on Bratz, with many of them shunning Bratz from their stores.

Three Bratz collections, three months remaining. Not since the Bratz 1st Edition dolls from 2001 has there been a product offering as small as this. I'm sure that the many wonderful people at MGA Entertainment are sad and disappointed about what has happened to the Bratz franchise in 2009. It's a tough pill to swallow, but this is the reality with Bratz now. And regardless of the circumstances, it's a reality that I must accept, as I make my transition back to the normal life I had before four girls named Yasmin, Cloe, Sasha, and Jade changed my life in so many unexpected and unprecedented ways.

Despite what it sounds like, I'm not completely in mourning over the demise of Bratz. Actually, far from it: I'm happy that I had an opportunity to experience the joy and excitement of seeing this fashion doll line establish its legacy in the toy industry. I will continue to support the only girls with a passion for fashion long after the Bratz franchise arrives at its conclusion. And I will still travel to locations with my Bratz dolls and capture photos of them, so I can share my photos with everyone. There are plenty of Bratz memories for me to catch up on, even if Bratz itself becomes a distant memory.

* - Not Released in United States