Bratz is the toy line of female dolls that seemed to almost make Barbie topple off her shelf. But from the get-go, the over-made faces and big pouty lips of the Bratz dolls were criticized for being too sexual and not being good role models for little girls.
One artist whose forte was to create soft dolls out of children's drawings, decided to change that perception when she repainted and re-stylized different Bratz dolls to resemble strong women from history that young women can definitely look up to.
Wendy Tsao first posted about her Mighty Dolls series on the Bored Panda website where her doll transformations were met with rave reviews.
Gone were the glittery thick lipsticked lips and drag queen-like eye shadow. Instead, her Bratz dolls make-unders sport au naturale faces and resemble women who have made stunning contributions to the world.
Tsao's Mighty Dolls series features Bratz dolls transformed into Frida Kahlo, Malala Yousafzai, Jane Goodall, J.K. Rowling, Waris Dirie and Roberta Bondar.
Taking her inspiration from another doll repaint artist, Sonja Singh, who has shared an online How-To video series on the art of Bratz doll repaints, Tsao revealed that she wanted to create dolls of real-life women heroes that children can learn about through playing and sparking conversations with children about real world heroines they are not necessarily exposed to in the media as much as pop stars or cartoon princesses.
"The dolls we find in toy stores today are often licensed [sic] DisneyTM characters or the heroines of Hollywood blockbuster movies that capitalize on the pull of fantasy, fictional characters to young consumers. But there are real-life people who are heroes too, with inspiring stories of courage, intelligence, strength and uniqueness. Could children learn about and be inspired by them through toys?" she said.
Online response to her positive role model dolls has been extremely positive with many fans wondering if she will make the dolls available for sale.
Tsao revealed on her blog that she will be auctioning off the dolls on eBay but no further details have been set yet.
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