can we vote neither?

Oh I'm SO glad Bratz are dead. They're terrible for girls image and self esteem. They set mile high standards. My mom buys Bratz stuff for my cousin all the time :(

I am gonna copy Dwight and buy every Bratz doll I can find, then sell them off to desperate parents at $200.

Now if only we can get eight-year-olds to stop dressing like Bratz, it'd be a double win.

im glad to hear that bratz dolls are done, but the sad reality is that another, even more disgusting toy is bound to take their place.

It's about damn time.

I vote "GI Joe."

they need a gordo barbie. That will make parents happy because its more truthful??

I'm going to defend Bratz. They are much more diverse than ANYTHING Barbie has ever been. They look more like girls all over America as opposed to being blonds & blue eyed.

I think Mattel wanted them squished because they make an inferior product & were losing market share.

Oh, how I miss She-Ra, and especially Jem and the Holograms. Sure some of the Holograms and Misfits dolls looked like hookers but it was the 80's; everyone looked like that.

And how long will it be before the same Bratz dolls are repackaged with "Mattel" on the boxes and available for sale again? I'm guessing two weeks.

@WEGGLES90: Wait, moreso than barbie, the anorexic 9-foot wonder?

@rockasocky: But will their horns pierce the sky?

I wouldn't mind them squashing all the little companies if only they'd bring back Trailer-Trash Barbie.

[i96.photobucket.com]"

@iknowrebekah: Barbie comes in a lot of different colours these days, just so you know.

Spwan...

@iknowrebekah:

No, they look like little prostitots. They are trashy and I've never even considered letting my 8 year old have any. In fact, in spite of my wishes, she's been given a few as gifts over the years and they've all found the trash bin. She doesn't crave the prostitute look and I think I've done the right thing.

Do you want your 8 year old girl to aspire to that kind of "diversity"?

I meant Spawn...

Might be an interesting comparison to see which has more lead in them ... Barbie or Bratz. Given Mattel's clamoring for profits above all else, my vote is for Barbie to win the lead content awards.

@rockasocky:

Any parent who would spend $200 on that kind of garbage for a child has no business being a parent. I would venture to say that the look disghusts most (I know some think it's cute, but I can't imagine why) parents, but they need to learn how to say NO to their children. The children will be a heck of a lot better off for it.

@rockasocky: Princess Unicorn has her own website! [www.princessunicorndoll.com]

@iknowrebekah: I just went to Barbie's website and saw what appeared to be a caucasian barbie, a hispanic barbie, and an african american barbie on the front page. Perhaps Barbie was pressured into making more diverse dolls, but however it came about, it seems they don't just have blonde, blue eyed dolls anymore.

Even if Bratz were more culturally diverse, they're still much sleazier, and I wouldn't think of it as a victory to have latinos or african americans depicted like that.

Good. I hate Bratz.

About time!!!

My youngest niece likes them. The only one I ever got her was the Bratz figure skater doll, and it was less trashy than the other ones. And that's only because her auntie is a skater.

I always liked Barbie better.

Thank you Gods for this. Bratz dolls are just... horrific. I despise them, and all the crappy spin-offs they produced.

@iknowrebekah: When I was in India I saw an Indian Barbie. But she was light skinned and cost $60 USD. I still wanted it. (No, I didn't get it. I have some restraint.)

@rockasocky: Its a good idea but I wouldn't do it because they will likely just be rebranded and sold again. Since everyone else will be doing the same, you will probably lose money. These dolls are mass-produced for the most part. The Bratz franchise is simply too big of a cash cow to just let die.

Either that or something else equally popular will take its place and Bratz dolls will just be considered a thing of the past while the new thing is what all the kids want, thus rendering your Bratz dolls useless.

Did anyone see the Bratz tv show? It wasn't that bad. Don't ask me what I was doing watching it, that was the only decent cartoon on at the time (I will forever watch Sat Morning Cartoons, even when I'm 80.)

@HogwartsAlum: Some of them are not that bad, no worse than Barbie. You have to be selective about which ones you buy. The only ones I really have a problem with are the babyz line, because having a baby or toddler walking around with their stomach hanging out of their skimpy clothes is NOT something to teach any little girl out there.

I played with barbies as a kid and those were equally trashy with their super short mini skirts of the 80s and high heels and I grew up normal and not wanting to dress like that so there is hope. But dressing a baby or toddler in skimpy clothes is just... wrong. Barbie was at least considered an adult. The barbie line never had skimpy clothes targeted at babies or small children, we had Skipper but her clothes were extremely modest and she even had flat feet so she couldn't wear heels.

@Ben Popken: Agreed. They are the last thing in the world I would buy my 6 year old daughter.

@iknowrebekah: You're only saying that because Barbie™ won't put out.

@WEGGLES90: This is America. If you don't like something you avoid it. You don't destroy it.

So, your employer owns everything you think of while you work for them? Or was he actually working on getting them made on company time, or what?

I don't know if that should be the most interesting aspect of the story...but the fact that it is not elaborated upon makes it interesting to me.

@Ninja007: Seriously...

@MercuryPDX: I wish I could give you another star.

So glad these are gone. Barbie isn't much better. Trying to find any of the dolls that actually have any role model type themes is almost impossible, the rest are still more of the call girl genre. Bratz don't look ethnic, they just look slightly like aliens. Cheap hooker aliens.

@Corporate_guy: i disgree. i hate barbie so i destroy barbie. then i sell the results. THAT'S my interpretation of the freedom of living in america - i can avoid OR destroy something i hate as long as i don't hurt anyone

Speaking as someone who worked at Mattel for about 4 years, Mattel is making the mistake of trying to litigate their way to profitability. Jill Barad was a moron. During her tenure, if it wasn't 11 1/2" tall and had blond hair, they didn't want to know about it. Somehow these twits think that Barbie is God's gift to intellectual property and that frankensteining the doll with any current piece of pop culture would sell. Hot Wheels and every other toy concept always took a back seat to Barbie (which belongs in the back seat, har har). They completely blew the concept of licensing film/toy rights. Every since Judge Dread I kept wondering if ANYONE in the company ever read the script they were about to license. Ugh. And then they totally screwed up a golden opportunity to get into the console and PC game market. I tried to interest a few of the higher-ups in it and they always wanted to know how they could license their existing IP to a third-party company for development. And there was constantly a battle between the marketing-flakes and the actual designers. The marketing-flakes always saw themselves as these enlightened individuals working on a higher intellectual plane than everyone else when in reality the designers came up with really cool stuff that marketing regularly shot down.

@iknowrebekah: the barbie line began to diversify ethnically in 1967.

@legwork: sorry i don't have a better picture
[www.catastrophegirl.com]

ugh, dolls have always freaked me out...even when i was a little girl. their fake hair gets all over the place and they're sooooo gross. i was all about the teddy bears. my ideal universe would have no dolls at all, except for many raggity ann.

i worked at toys r us for a period of time, when bratz first came out and where the HOTTEST thing. i could spot a parent who would purchase a bratz doll for their kid a mile away. they tend to look very similar to the dolls.

@TechnoDestructo: i know when i worked for disney you signed a document to that effect during the hiring process.
it was a form of intellectual property agreement that states everything creative you think of while in their employ is theirs forever.

This is fantastic news. While I think the Barbie line certainly has its... issues, the Bratz line (and especially the "Babyz" line... wtf?) is absolute trash.

Someone said "It won't be long until the line is replaced by something equally disgusting and trashy". While that's true, this will be a welcome relief, however short.

Better go lock up my niece's Bratz dolls. They'll help pay for her house in 15 years.

I agree with the parent who said the Bratz dolls look like prostitutes. They really do. They're like the Paris Hiltons of the doll world, like slut training for little girls. Not only do they look like baby tramps, the very name "bratz" implies that a snotty attitude is attractive. Not what I want my kid to emulate! Barbie has remained pretty much the same since the 50's, and has a much better image. She has a pleasant smile on her face, versus the Bratz' pouty-lipped sex-kitten gaze. WTF is up with KIDS toys getting sexier & sexier? I wonder how many little boys masturbate to their sisters' Bratz dolls?

Go Barbie!!!

@catastrophegirl: I signed the same sort of intellectual property agreement years ago when I worked for Mattel- and I was in customer service and had nothing whatsoever to do with product development.

Finally, ugliest doll ever disappears. At least for now.
Ugly, ugly, ugly.