Bratz Games and Inspiration

I’ve been inspired by the Bratz games as I’ve watched them in the stores and played with them online. The Bratz games might come under fire for things like having short skirts and alluring expressions on their faces, but I’ll admit that I’m intrigued by the dolls. I like the idea of independence, friends and the freedom of self expression. I might not personally be interested in wearing what the girls wear in the Bratz games collection, but I do like that they wear it because they want to.

Of course I realize that we’re talking about small plastic dolls, but the theory remains. The Bratz dolls are stylish, comfortable and they do what they want with their fashions. They are also good students and fast friends if the Bratz movie is to be believed. I like all of that about the dolls. Barbie is stylish as well, but she’s such as fan favorite now that it’s hard to feel inspired to love everything about Barbie – much easier to love everything about those crazy Bratz dolls instead.

Bratz Games as a Style Guide

There have always been complaints from parents and others concerned about the styles that the Bratz dolls are teaching little girls. They worry about tight skirts and short tops that show too much skin and are much too sexy for little ones. That the dolls are targeted at six to eight year olds doesn’t help much either since the parents are concerned about how the children will be affected by the influence the dolls have on them. Fortunately, parents don’t need to be concerned about Bratz dolls.

The Bratz dolls aren’t fashion icons. They are style starters. The dolls are popular because they are already reflecting the fashions that are already popular. The fashion dolls are designed with an urban look because plenty of people are already wearing urban styles and enjoy seeing dolls wearing something that seems familiar to them. Parents are concerned about children dressing like Bratz dolls. I’m not sure the concern is justified since they have been playing with Barbie forever and have never donned a peach ball gown.
 

The Disappearing Act of Bratz Games

It’s somewhat surprising how quickly all of the Bratz things have disappeared off the store shelves lately. I prefer to play Bratz games online, so I was never a big buyer or Bratz games from a toy store, but it’s still a bit disheartening to see how quickly the dolls are what not are going away.

Of course, they might be coming back once the maker of Barbie dolls, Mattel takes over, but then again – they may not. The Bratz games have been so hotly contested of late in the court system that it’s getting hard to know what will happen – no matter what anyone seems to report in the news. The Bratz games were always enjoyable online and continue to be, so personally I’m not affected, but there is a nagging part of me that wonders when the dolls will be back just so I can be sure new games will be there for me online. After all, the two are tied together a bit more closely than I’m comfortable with.

Bratz Games and the Online Community

The online community has been kind to the Bratz games. The fashion doll community was a bit shocked with the young, urban dolls came onto the scene. The dolls were edgy and controversial for parents at least and with so much shock and outrage, it’s a bit of surprise that the dolls did as well as they did for years. Within just a few years of being introduced to the market, Bratz games have caught up with Barbie and controlled about half of the fashion doll market.

Even with this great success, there was scorn and concern from parents about the suggestive clothing and pouty facial expressions of the dolls. Online fans, however, never seemed to have a problem with the Bratz games. The Bratz games online were designed to the do the same basic thing as the real-life dolls. You play fashion games by choosing clothing to try on and ultimately decide on a single outfit and create a full ensemble by adding accessories and other special items such as a background or border. All told, the online community had a much better relationship with the Bratz games than the parents shunning the plastic dolls would probably have liked.  

Beautiful Bratz Games

While they may not be the most popular of the fashion games anymore, Bratz games will always be beautiful and have a very special place for me at least in the realm of fashion dolls. After all, the Bratz games spawned a revolution in the fashion doll world giving Barbie a real run for her money, at least until the lawsuits began and made things much more challenging for the dolls and the company that made them. Bratz games were revolutionary when they arrived – not as much so as the original Barbie, perhaps, but still – Bratz games were the first of their kind – urban fashion dolls.

Today, Bratz have been all but pulled from the shelves as we all await what will happen next with the company and the lawsuits. You might not see many of the Bratz games on the shelves, any longer, but the Bratz games are certainly not gone. The games are instead online where anyone can dress up the Bratz dolls at any time without worrying about changing companies and what not. It makes it much easier for all of us at least.