MAKINGHEADLINES

From toy and game releases and upcoming TV content to health and beauty buys and fashion collabs, LSB rounds up the latest news from MGA Entertainment.

L.O.L. Surprise! to launch innovative Bubble Surprise line

Globally popular toy line L.O.L. Surprise! has harnessed the power of colour transformation for its latest brand extensions.

Launched in March 2023, L.O.L. Surprise! Sunshine Makeover Dolls (Tots and larger L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. dolls) reveal hair and fashion changes when exposed to daylight, while L.O.L. Surprise! Bubble Surprise Dolls, slated for release on 1 June 2023, feature an all-new innovative foaming action, 12 fan-favourite Tots and “dazzling bubble surprises” to discover. All you have to do is mix water and the provided “sugar” and “spice” in the ball, then twist and watch the bubbles fizz up and change colour to reveal the hidden doll and other items.

Blockbuster brand L.O.L. Surprise! is the #1 property in the Total UK Playset Dolls & Accessories and Collectibles categories in value sales and the #2 Doll property in value sales overall [Circana, UK POS retail tracker value sales, year to date December 2022].

Additional products (launching June 2023) that undergo this transformation include the L.O.L. Surprise! Pets line, and L.O.L. Surprise! Bubble Surprise Deluxe, which includes an exclusive Tot doll, Lil Sister, Pet, two outfits, two pairs of shoes, a bottle and colour-changing fizz.

Six new characters join the Rainbow High family

Having been named Doll of the Year by the UK Toy Retailers Association earlier this year, Rainbow High (including spin-off lines Shadow High and Junior High) continues to dominate the fashion doll market. Now, fans of MGA’s colourful brand can expand their collections following the launch of six new characters in the Spring 2023 collection. The latest range features Priscilla Perez, Michelle St Charles, Olivia Wood, Kim Nguyen, Aidan Russell and Victoria Whitman, the first doll with freckles from head to toe. Championing inclusion and diversity, each doll comes dressed in a stylish outfit –including fun accessories such as hair styling tools and mini laptops –that reflects their own unique personality, and features Rainbow High’s trademark brushable hair, glass eyes, long eyelashes and fully articulated features.

Launched just three years ago, fashionforward doll brand Rainbow High was the 11th bestselling toy in the UK overall in 2022, according to Circana POS data for January–December 2022, and is currently the #3 Doll property and the fastest-growing Fashion Doll brand.

First-ever Rainbow High console game set for autumn release

MGA Entertainment has teamed up with global video games publisher Outright Games for Rainbow High: Runway Rush, the first video game for consoles and PC based on the bestselling fashion doll line. Fans will be able to step into the colourful, immersive school environment of Rainbow High and play as one of their favourite characters –Ruby, Poppy, Sunny, Jade, Skyler or Violet –utilising their different creative skills to complete puzzles and help their classmates. In addition to the main story mode, players will be able to take on a series of quests and find collectibles to level up their characters with unlockable outfits.

“Rainbow High is largely themed around art and creativity, so we worked to integrate these elements into the game through several touchpoints, including mini games that are tailored to the target audience and allow players to illustrate and design clothes,” says Beth Goss, CEO of Outright Games. “As a company we are dedicated to creating games designed with first-time, young players in mind, and we hope this game will be an opportunity to introduce a new generation of kids to the world of gaming.”

Rainbow High: Rainbow Rush will be available this autumn on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Following its successful social media-led launch in the US, kidult-targeted brand MGA’s Miniverse debuted in the UK in April this year with two food-themed collections: Make It Mini Food Café Edition (£6.99) and Make It Mini Food Diner Edition (£8.99), priced to reflect MGA’s ongoing mission to provide smaller and more affordable toys amidst inflation.

Combining the two latest TikTok crazes –miniature items, in particular food, and crafting – the new line features tiny “ingredients”, kitchen accessories and recipe cards that come beautifully packaged in a blind ball, which can be combined to create culinary masterpieces that harden when exposed to daylight or UV light.

MGA’s Miniverse has been named #9 in Circana’s roundup of the Top 10 New Properties and ranked as the #3 Miscellaneous Toy in April in the UK market. In the US, the line has enjoyed phenomenal success, selling more than 2m balls to date and earning a place on Circana’s list of Top 5 New Toys.

The new line has racked up impressive follower numbers across social media channels, reaching more than 37m people during the first phase of the launch campaign in the UK, and has partnered with some of the biggest crafting influencers on TikTok, including Kira Goode, who boasts more than 700,000 followers and 32 million likes.

Bratz and Skinnydip team for Primark collection

In January 2023, Primark teamed with Skinnydip, the London-based “connoisseur of quirky”, for a Bratzthemed adult beauty and lifestyle range that reportedly flew off the shelves. Beauty products including face cloths, a hair detangler, eye mask, compact mirror, eyelash curlers, makeup sponges and hairclips, as well as notebooks, a phone charm, water bottle, throw blanket and pencil case, caused a major buzz on social media, with nostalgia fans professing their eagerness to get their hands on the Bratz-branded goods – and some buying up the entire collection. The launch was supported by posts on Primark’s main and beauty social channels.

New content for Rainbow High and L.O.L. Surprise!

With Season 3 of CGI animated series

Rainbow High making its Netflix debut in May 2023, MGA Entertainment has announced that the fourth season will follow later this year. “Usually we launch each season in the US first, then in other territories later, to allow time for translation into different languages,” says Alan Hilowitz, MGA Entertainment’s vice president, global corporate communications, “but for Season 4, we’ll be launching globally, which is a first and something we’re very excited about.”

The Rainbow High animated series, available on Netflix and YouTube, has had over 1bn views worldwide. Also in the works this year is the first animated series focusing solely on the Tots, the miniature blind-ball L.O.L. Surprise! dolls, produced by MGA Entertainment’s recent acquisition, Australia-based animation studio Pixel Zoo.

Rainbow High debuts Paris Hilton collector doll

Following her cameo appearance last year in the Rainbow High animated series as the headmistress of Rainbow High’s sister school Pacific Coast High, Paris Hilton was immortalised in doll form in December as the Rainbow High Premium Edition Paris Hilton Collector Doll, marking MGA’s first-ever celebrity partnership for the leading fashion doll brand.

Appealing to the burgeoning kidult market, the Rainbow High Paris Hilton Collector Doll features two outfits hand-picked by Paris herself: a chainmail pink dress with safety-pin details, and a dress embellished with pearl and rhinestone detailing worn with a pink blazer, with a matching pair of knee-high boots.

For the ultimate unboxing experience, Paris comes in a luxe pink collector box secured with a gold plaque, which opens to reveal the doll, clothing and accessories, along with a message from Paris and her autograph.

“Paris Hilton represents the confident individuality, bold fashion and entrepreneurial spirit that Rainbow High is all about,” says MGA Entertainment CEO and founder Isaac Larian.

The Rainbow High Premium Edition Paris Hilton Collector Doll is available in the US at Amazon, Walmart and Target.

ASOS x Bratz womenswear capsule has summer sorted

More than 21 years since its debut, iconic brand Bratz continues to make its presence felt in the fashion space. May 2023 saw the launch of a trend-led 18-piece

ASOS Design Bratz

womenswear collection, produced for the leading online fashion retailer by Somerbond. The festivalinspired pieces include a pink knitted tank top featuring the iconic Bratz logo and lips design, a split-front cami top co-ord with lace trim, a satin heart-shaped diamante-studded clutch, sleepwear and swimwear. Supported by extensive social media coverage, the line was released in time for all Bratz nostalgia fans to get summer-ready while showing the world their “passion for fashion”.

Licensing partnerships a sweet success for L.O.L. Surprise!

In 2022, L.O.L. Surprise! partnered with leading confectionary brands, including Hershey’s Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Chupa Chups and more, for a collectible line designed to spark sweet memories for parents and kidults alike. Launched in the US in autumn and in the UK at Smyth’s Toys in December (and at wider retailers in January 2023), L.O.L. Surprise! Loves Mini Sweets has steadily grown to be the leading segment across the brand in 2022 and 2023 to date. Featuring favourite Tots characters dressed in candyinspired looks, the line-up is available in two different series, all featuring a unique and exclusive unboxing experience: the classic L.O.L. Surprise! Loves Mini Sweets ball with compostable paper ball and the L.O.L. Surprise! Loves Mini Sweets Surprise-O-Matic capsule with vending machine reveal.