Bratzillaz Update: Midnight Beach "Meygana Broomstix"

After my Yasmina Clairvoya review,  I figured that I would never buy another Bratzillaz.  There were just too many disappointments with that doll.  However, when I was at Walmart the other day, I noticed a new line of Bratzillaz called the "Midnight Beach" collection, and my curiosity got the best of me.  First and foremost, I wanted to know if they had fixed the hair with the new Meygana.  Remember how terrible the first Meygana's hair was?  This Meygana's hair is different:

Midnight Beach Meygana, $19.99.

I was also drawn to these newcomers by a kind of fascinated horror at the sheer surface area of greenish glow-in-the-dark skin that is showing on these dolls.  They're all dressed in skimpy beach clothing and the color of their skin is a pale lime-tinged tone that makes the bare skin all the more noticeable.   Meygana is the least bare of the six available dolls and Cloetta is the worst.

The back of the box has some pictures of Meygana and Wingzy and some tiny shots of the rest of the dolls in this new collection:

There's not a lot of diversity in the outfits of this bunch.  In fact, I had a hard time keeping track of which dolls I had taken down from the shelf to inspect and which ones I hadn't.  Meygana stands out a bit because of her bright orange hair and blue outfit, and the new girl, Finanna, seems distinct because of her blue hair and cute mermaid outfit:

My store didn't have Fianna in stock or I would have bought her.  She's pretty cute in the picture and I like her seahorse pet (the pets are sold separately):

Here are Sashabella and Yasmina.  They're ok, but nothing that really grabbed my attention:

You can't really appreciate the day-glo nature of Cloetta's appearance in this tiny photo.  It was really kind of shocking to see so much strangely colored doll skin.

The portrait of Meygana on the back of the box is lovely.  She has red hair, unlike the grey hair on the first wave box pictures, and I think it looks fantastic:

The actual doll is more vibrantly colored than the graphic version, and her features are not as detailed.  And, of course, she has greenish white glowing skin:

You glow in the daytime, too, sweetie.

I have to say something about the packaging.  I absolutely hate most MGA packaging.  Yasmina and my first Meygana had awful, irritating boxes.  This box, however, is a dramatic improvement.  The plastic front pulls right off the cardboard back, and then the doll is held in place by I think only two (TWO!) plastic ties, some red thread, and a few of the clear, stretchy rubber bands.  Even though there are several molded plastic braces to keep the doll in position, it is very easy to extract the limbs from these areas:

The only slightly frustrating part of the packaging is this plastic cast that Meygana has on her left arm to keep her sunglasses in place:

This contraption was anchored to her skirt with a plastic tie, and even though I didn't pull or tug on this area at all, the plastic tie snagged the skirt really badly:

The sunglasses are cool. They're horn rimmed and have little molded rivets along the sides that are reminiscent of the flight goggles that the original Meygana came with:

Here she is removed from the box.  I like the mix of orange, blue and gold on this doll.  It is very cheerful and lively:

Meygana has a bright blue removable witch hat, but in this color, with that cross-hatch pattern, it looks more like a party hat:

Where's the party?

One of the best features of the first wave Meygana were her sparkling sapphire eyes.  This doll's eyes are slightly different, but still wonderfully detailed.  They are a striking shade of royal blue:

The irises have branching white swirls and glittery sparkles.  The eye makeup is similar to the first wave doll, with two shades of blue eyeliner, brown arched eyebrows and heavily painted eyelashes.  

  

The differences are that the new doll has darker eyebrows, less of an opalescent sheen to her eyeshadow, and slightly different shades of blue in that eyeshadow.  Also, sadly, the new doll does not have side-glancing eyes.  I think the original Meygaga's eyes look so much more alive than the new version.  Perhaps it is the green skin on the newer doll, or maybe it's just that the new Meygana isn't glancing coyly off to one side.  Below, the older Meygana's eye is on the left:

I prefer the first wave doll's eyes and eye makeup, but the new Meygana's eyes are still very cool.  

The lips on the Midnight Beach Meygana are not quite as dramatic as the original.  They are a lighter shade of burgundy, and they don't have the same high gloss shine.  Also, the edges of the lips don't seem as carefully painted on the new doll.  Again, the older Meygana is on the left:

Also, in the pictures above, is it just me, or does the pale green vinyl make the newer Meygana's nose practically disappear?

Meygana's hair is really flat in the back.  The flat hair combined with her barely-there nose gives her a very boxy profile right out of the package:

Butte head.

The braids are thick and short and somewhat sloppy in their execution:

The flattened hair in the back reveals part of the orange colored scalp:

Meygana is wearing a gold tankini with a sheer blue wrap.  She has gold hoop earrings that match her bathing suit.  These are much nicer earrings than the flimsy plastic ones that came with the first Meygana.

The wrap fastens in the front with a small square of velcro.  It has a nice yellow and red star print and the edges are finished with gold stitching.  

The wrap can be worn as a cape, too:

Here's the swimsuit without the wrap:

The gold fabric is soft and stretchy and I think it looks really good on Meygana.  The only problem is that because the fabric is stretchy, it pulls tight across her hip joints and makes them a bit too obvious:

That's a little awkward.

Meygana is wearing blue espadrille sandals with chunky yellow heals:

The heels have a molded pattern that looks like a woven jute wedge:

This is a simple outfit, but it is cute and well put-together.  

I released Meygana's hair from those short braids to get a better look at the quality.  The hair feels significantly better than the first wave hair.  It is straight and smooth and a little more orange than my other Meygana's hair.  It is also much softer than the original Yasmina's straight purple hair.

It's a little messy from being tied in braids, but that should be easy to fix.

Before I fixed Meygana's hair, I quickly confirmed that she does, indeed, glow in the dark:

The glow is really bright when she first comes out from under a light, but it fades pretty quickly.  Here's a shot that was taken less than a minute after the first one:

I'm fading!  I'm fading!

The glowing feature is a cute gimmick, but I'm not sure it's worth the price of the strange greenish vinyl.  

I dipped Meygana's hair in a cup of boiling water (for about 10 seconds) and all of the crimps and kinks came out immediately:

I think she looks really nice with wet hair, so I snapped a few pictures while I was waiting for it to dry:

The hair dried beautifully.  My hat is off to MGA for listening to the complaints about this doll's hair and actually doing something to fix it.  

The rooting is a little thin, but I don't notice it at all during regular play.  You could style this doll's hair in several different ways and have no trouble whatsoever with any bald patches.

Here's a comparison shot of my two Meygana dolls together.  Despite all of my efforts to fix the first Meygana's hair, it is still very coarse and frizzy.   I prefer the color of the original Meygana's hair, but in terms of quality and feel, there's no comparison.  The second doll is much better.  

I like the skin tone and face paint of the first doll much better.  The glow in the dark feature of the Midnight Beach doll is fun, but the greenish vinyl is not very attractive.   It takes away from the vibrant colors of her other features and makes her look a little ill.

You're looking a little green, there, sister.

The newer Meygana has pink painted underpants and also has her tattoo on the opposite arm.  Other than those details (and the obvious difference in vinyl color) the two dolls have the same exact body (the new Meygana still has those wobbly bendy lower legs).

The legs demonstrate the difference in vinyl color really well:

And I thought the first Meygana was extremely pale...

Here's the new Meygana in the original Meygana's outfit:

She is very fun to photograph, but her glowing vinyl makes the colors in the picture look a little off--as if something is wrong with the color balance:

Even though I like the flight goggles that came with the first Meygana, I think that the Midnight Beach glasses are a much more fashionable interpretation of this look:

Bottom line? The new doll has better packaging and better hair, but has lost a little something with the greenish glow-in-the-dark vinyl and less dramatic face paint.  I think all of the Bratzillaz have a strange, flattened face mold, and something about the green-tinged vinyl of the Midnight Beach dolls makes this even more obvious.  The newer Meygana looks almost like an alien to me.  Also, the newer dolls seem more basic (no stand, fewer accessories, simpler outfits) and yet the price has remained the same.  I think I said earlier that I'd gladly trade the accessories for nicer hair, though, so I won't complain about the price.  All in all, the biggest difference is in the hair, and the improvement is so dramatic that it gives me a bit of hope for this line. If MGA produces another wave of dolls with normal skin and this nice hair, I'd be very interested.  In the meantime, I recommend this newer, slightly strange doll and her silky orange hair over her more glamorous but scraggly-haired counterpart.

	First Wave Meygana	Midnight Beach Meygana
Packaging	Large box, difficult to remove the doll.  Hard to recycle.	Smaller, much easier to manage. Fairly easy to recycle.
Accessories	Stand, comb, broom, goggles, cape, earrings, hat.	Comb, bracelet, earrings, glasses, cape, hat. Difference: no stand, no broom
Articulation	12 points	12 points
Price	$19.99	$19.99
Hair	Nice red color, horrible coarse, tangled fiber.	Orange color, very soft and smooth fiber.
Face paint	Fantastic side-glancing inset eyes, wonderful dramatic face paint.	Forward-facing inset eyes, muted face paint.
Outfit	Pleated skirt and cropped top.  Simple blue cape.	Two piece tankini swimsuit with sheer cape.
Overall	Fun, dramatic doll with horrible hair.	Fun doll with good hair but a slightly strange overall look because of the glow-in-the-dark vinyl.