The year is 2001. 

Mattel continues to dominate the fashion doll market with Barbie dolls. 

Quietly, a new contender sneaks into the ring; the Bratz. These dolls represented younger, teenaged characters with large shapely eyes, huge lips, small noses and oversized heads atop slim bodies. Each dressed in their own fashionable outfit, with the first four characters Yasmin, Cloe, Jade and Sasha. 

However, the girls with a passion for fashion didn?t really raise a candle to Barbie until the holiday season of 2002. The years following would see the Bratz competing at about 40% of the fashion dolls market sales against Barbie?s still impressive 60%. 

With the girls performing so well, throughout 2002 and 2003 the franchise would begin to expand into additional dolls and characters. These new releases were themed after certain things such as seasons and pop culture references as could be seen in the outfits and accessories they came in. Bratz also branched out into additional toys, such as play sets, furniture and even cars that the dolls could interact with. 

Years to follow would see a plethora of Bratz releases, both mainline and spin-off. The spin-off series would include: 

Bratz Boys. Cameron and Dylan were the first two male characters to be added to the franchise. Made to contrast the extreme fashion and glow of the girls, the boys came with open shirts and rather well toned sculpts, despite still being quite thin. 

Lil? Bratz and Lil? Boyz released in sequence and were sold as miniature versions of previously released Bratz. 

Bratz Babies represented the characters as babies. Despite them being infantile, they shared traits with their older selves, such as the shape of their eyes and even still having rather plump lips. 

Bratz Petz was an interesting experiment, given that these toys were not completely in line with the rest of the franchise as they were plush toys rather than dolls. They still followed after the Bratz endless pool of accessories. 

Bratz Kids, similarly to Bratz Babies, presented younger versions of the characters. Also similarly to the Babyz counterpart, the characters still had features such as their shapely eyes and large lips. Both they and the Babyz dolls barely have visible noses, as they are more a small bump sculpted into the face. 

Be-Bratz was an ambitious release, marketing customisation above all else. They were sold with USB keys which would allow the owner to access and create a Be-Bratz online account, in which they could play games to earn more clothes and accessories for their Bratz. 

The last notable spin-off came in the form of Bratzillaz (House of Witchez), released in 2012. It depicted ?Witch Cousins? of the Bratz. Allowing the designers to get spooky with the designs of the characters, though this line was a method of competing with Monster High dolls. 

But between all this, Bratz took a break from releasing any new dolls in 2009. 

When 2010 rolled around it celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Bratz inception! This celebration saw the first newly released Bratz dolls in a full year, as well as adding an additional 10 female characters to the roster. The original four girls were of course well celebrated with comeback collections. 

In 2013, Bratz received a makeover. Not just the girls, but the brand itself. 

They kept their key features- Their large shaped eyes and their big plump lips. The bodies were extended to make the dolls bigger, as an attempt to compete with the competition in Monster High. 

Even the motto and logo were updated. ?Unleash your passion? became the new saying that the Bratz would be accompanied by. 

However, this big renewal didn?t end particularly well, given Mattel attempting to fight back with a lawsuit against MGA for these designs getting closer to that of their Monster High dolls, likely due to the spin-off ?Bratzillaz (House of Witchez)?, which crafted witchy ?cousins? of the Bratz. 

This sent MGA on a hiatus in 2014. 

?It?s good to be a Bratz? marked the return of the Bratz in 2015, once again changing the motto of the franchise, though reverting to its older logo. The character Raya appeared in this reboot, and attempted to mix in with the original four Bratz girls. 

Unfortunately, this release was not well received and was canned after just a year. 

It wasn?t until 2018 that the Bratz returned again. 

No new logo, no new slogan. 

Just new Bratz dolls. 

These dolls took a step back in time to look much closer to the original Bratz dolls from 2001 and as a major selling point, were created in collaboration with fashion designer Hayden Williams. 

Then in 2021, near-replicas of the original 2001 releases were released. This was a celebration of 20 years of the Bratz franchise. 

In the upcoming 7th December Doll & Bear Sale at Vectis, we have a large quantity of Bratz dolls! Most of which are earlier releases, with the slogans ?The ONLY girls with a passion for fashion? and the classic ?The girls with a passion for fashion?. 

Most of these dolls are in near mint condition and unopened, with exclusive accessories for each respective release. There are themed dolls originating from the 2002-2003 releases, like the Spring Break, Princess and Winter themes. Then more specific themes like Wild West, which was the introduction of the character and doll, Kiana! 

Yasmin, Cloe, Jade and Sasha make a plethora of appearances alongside their friends in this excellent Bratz collection! 

View the catalogue here: https://www.vectis.co.uk/auction/tv-film-related-toy-sale-1028-1