Bratz Dolls’ Little Sisters to Challenge Barbie

The maker of Bratz dolls -- the most successful girls’ fashion toy since Barbie was born more than 40 years ago -- is launching a younger girls’ line to challenge Mattel Inc.’s legendary bombshell.

North Hills-based MGA Entertainment Inc. said Wednesday that 4Ever Best Friends, a pair of pre-adolescent fashion dolls that hold hands and come in more than 250 variations, would be available in limited quantities at Toys R Us and Wal-Mart stores before Christmas. A full rollout is expected by spring.

“It is directly going after Barbie,” said Isaac Larian, chief executive of privately held MGA. “Bratz frankly never went after Barbie,” he added.

Bratz dolls, with their hip and edgy fashions, are for girls who don’t “want to buy Barbie anymore,” he said.

Even without taking direct aim, Bratz dolls’ enormous success prompted a full-scale counterassault by Mattel. The El Segundo-based toy maker recently introduced two doll lines, the trendy-dressing My Scene Barbies and the urban-themed Flavas, in hopes of stealing market share.

Bratz dolls have made just about every list of bestselling and most-wanted toys for girls 7 and older since their debut two years ago. They are expected to make up 80% to 90% of MGA’s annual revenue of $750 million this year.

At the same time, Barbie has continued sliding down the age range, becoming most popular with girls younger than 6.

Analysts cautioned that although Bratz are hot enough to guarantee MGA’s new dolls a spot on retail shelves, 4Ever Best Friends is far from a guaranteed hit. Barbie, with worldwide sales last year of $1.7 billion, has been one of the longest-lived toys in history and seems to have found a place as the top doll for the little-girl masses.

“The tough part is that Bratz filled a void where there was no real doll,” said Jim Silver, publisher of toy magazines for the trade and consumer markets. “Here you’re competing against something that’s very strong; Barbie for girls 3 to 6 is still a dominant force.”

What’s more, Silver added, other lines have tried to take on Barbie and lost, including a Miss America doll, a fashion doll line introduced by No. 2 toy maker Hasbro Inc. and a line of fashion-model-themed dolls.

Mattel executives could not be reached for comment.

The 4Ever Best Friends dolls initially will be sold with two themes, “Beach Party” and “Pajama Party.” Each package of two dolls will include more than 20 accessories, such as a hair dryer and fuzzy telephone for the Pajama Party dolls. The dolls, to be sold in pairs, are expected to be priced at $25.

With the MGA name the new Best Friends are all but guaranteed to create a buzz.

“When you’ve got a hot product like Bratz, you can experiment with a lot of things,” said toy industry analyst Sean McGowan of Harris Nesbitt Gerard in New York.

That hot product propelled MGA from a small hand-held videogame firm into a toy industry powerhouse.

MGA, which originally stood for Micro Games of America, began in 1979 as a consumer electronics business, entering the toy market in 1987 with the exclusive U.S. rights to sell Nintendo palm-sized LCD games.

The company added radio-control toys and robotic plush animals to the mix before introducing the suggestively dressed Bratz in 2001.

Larian said he expected 4Ever Best Friends, whose launch was first reported Wednesday by Reuters news service, to garner sales of about $300 million in their first year.