Looks Like Mattel's Gonna Have A Few Less Bucks To Play With

[megocrazy]

BRATZ wins a major victory over Barbie.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...im-1346518.php

[HardyGirl]

Man, I thought they weres gonna stop making these horrible hoochies!

[Mego Magyar]

Link doesn't work.


UPDATE: It works now.

[Cmonster]

Man, I thought they weres gonna stop making these horrible hoochies!

Why?

Come to think of it, why would anyone stop doing anything that's making them a fortune? Most of us in here collect toys and are into this whole thing for the sake of the toys themselves, however to these companies, it's all about money.

Those stupid Bratz represent more of what the young female demographic is more drawn to or aspires to be like. Barbie will soon be a thing of the past. Unless of course, they make a tattooed version with piercings and accessories like the Bratz come with.

SC

[The Bat]

Why?

Come to think of it, why would anyone stop doing anything that's making them a fortune? Most of us in here collect toys and are into this whole thing for the sake of the toys themselves, however to these companies, it's all about money.

Those stupid Bratz represent more of what the young female demographic is more drawn to or aspires to be like. Barbie will soon be a thing of the past. Unless of course, they make a tattooed version with piercings and accessories like the Bratz come with.

SC

I don't disagree.

[Werewolf]

Barbie will soon be a thing of the past.

Mattel, on average, sells three Barbie dolls a second every single day. Barbie is the largest traditional toy brand in the world with sales that top over one billion dollars a year. Yes, billion. Barbie isn't going anywhere

Those stupid Bratz represent more of what the young female demographic is more drawn to or aspires to be like.

Bratz are no where near as popular as they once were.

[ODBJBG]

Bratz are no where near as popular as they once were.

Agreed, although most of that has to do with the fact that Mattel beat them up in a lawsuit and removed all their toys off the shelves for quite some time.

Now that Mattel is on the losing end of this lawsuit, the market could expand again. Bratz has been back in the toy aisle for a while and is once again putting a dent in the pink powerhouse. I'm sure $88 billion will also help them push their property more.

The real losers in all this will be us. Mattel has spent millions and millions of dollars on this lawsuit and are already blaming it among other things for recent price hikes. Tack on another $88 billion dollar loss to that and you can expect to see more price raises in our near future.

[Werewolf]

Even during the lawsuit MGA was allowed to continue to sell Bratz and were never actually recalled. Their shelf presence wasn't nearly as great as at their peak, but they were still being sold. Lawsuit aside, the market and tastes have changed a lot since 2001 when Bratz debuted. There is also a lot more competition in the Pink Isle with Liv, Tinker Bell, Monster High, My Scene, Twilight, Disney Princesses, etc.

I personally think Bratz will end up being a niche market. I don't think the dolls will be able to reinvent themselves enough to recapture their glory days. Even without the lawsuit I think they would have pretty much run their course by now.

[kingdom warrior]

Mattel's Monster High dolls out sell Bratz by a long shot now and are the trendy doll of the moment.....Bratz are a thing of the past they had their a fart in the wind moment

Barbie will always weather the storm and outsell every doll....the Barbie fan base is freeking huge!

[megocrazy]

Mattel, on average, sells three Barbie dolls a second every single day. Barbie is the largest traditional toy brand in the world with sales that top over one billion dollars a year. Yes, billion. Barbie isn't going anywhere



Bratz are no where near as popular as they once were.

Actually those numbers may have been true but Mattel alleged in the suit they lost between 300 and 550 million in sales. I'm guessing the economy caused the majority of that and not necessarily the Bratz line. They would have had to prove those numbers to claim it in court so I would presume they're correct. That could be led to believe they've lost close to 50% of their sales.

Also the 88 million dollar lawsuit is only the settlement for Mattel making claims that they were stealing the idea. MGA is planning a lost income based on Mattel "damaging" the Bratz name. It's a pretty sound guess that MGA will not sell near the amount of dolls they did prior to 4 years ago when the suit was opened. The economy alone would support that. MGA wants damages if they can't restore the sales numbers they had and that could mean Mattel possibly ends up eating their losses based on the sagging economy. Kind of a kick in the nads when you consider it looked like they were trying to do the same thing to MGA in the initial suit. They're saying the total case could top 250 million that MGA gets. That's pretty good for a small company.

[huedell]

Never saw the MONSTER HIGH figures til today... they kinda look like the BRATZ, eh?

[EMCE Hammer]

I have a soft spot for Bratz because my daughter and her friends were really into them. You won't catch me collecting them, but I'll shamelessly steal their clothes for customs. I have quite a collection stored away for my daughter. Their vehicles were hard to beat too. The purple one that's out now screams to be made into a Jokermobile.

[Werewolf]

Actually those numbers may have been true but Mattel alleged in the suit they lost between 300 and 550 million in sales.

The info I posted on Barbie is current. The property has rebounded greatly since the early 2000s when MGA was cutting into their market share.

Kind of a kick in the nads when you consider it looked like they were trying to do the same thing to MGA in the initial suit.

To be fair to Mattel, from their perspective, they did have a valid claim. The designer of Bratz was still working with Mattel when he came up with the concept. Part of MGA's defense hinged on proving they didn't know and that they (MGA) were the ones actually crucial in the sucess of Bratz by improving and refining the development of the initial Bratz concept and its promotion.

[starsky]

i'm sure mattel will pass the cost of the lawsuit onto it's customers.

[Werewolf]

Barbie will always weather the storm and outsell every doll....the Barbie fan base is freeking huge!

Exactly, Barbie is an icon with generations of fans and collector. Will the Bratz line be able reinvent itself or just be another fad remains to be seen. I personally think the market and tastes have moved on.