email rudy

Cheesy Toy Knockoff-- Mermaid Chikz
by Rudy Panucci

Throw it back! Throw it back!

We’re back, swimming in the deep end of the Dollar Tree pool this time, as we come face to face with a multi-tasking knockoff.  Our catch of the day, Mermaid Chikz manages to encroach on the trademarks of Bratz, Disney’s Little Mermaid, and Mattel’s Mermaidtopia.  As an added bonus, the packaging features a happy little clownfish who looks suspiciously like Nemo.  True, it only costs a buck, but sometimes you don’t even get what you pay for.  This toy is a real shrimp when it comes to value.

There are six styles of this soggy imitation of a fashion doll, each with hair color that matches her outfit: yellow, blue, pink, orange, green, and purple.  The doll itself is a sub-par Bratz knock-off with five points of articulation and an oversized noggin.  The mermaid outfit is made of very cheap material and does not cover her feet.  Also included in the package is a cheesy little hairbrush.

Of course the Bratz knockoff aspect of this toy is the figure itself and the trendy little “z” at the end of “Chikz.”  The logo for “Chikz” is also done up in the Bratz graffiti influenced style.  The packaging for Mermaid Chikz slightly mimics the asymmetrical trapezoid packaging of the Bratz line.

Disney’s Little Mermaid lends its font to the word “Mermaid” on the packaging and to the general idea that mermaids make good fashion dolls. That idea still puzzles me more than a little.

We can probably blame Mattel’s Mermaid extension of their Fairytopia line for convincing the Chinese knockoff factories that conceived this abomination to craft such an unusual little hunk ‘o plastic.

Mermaid Chikz is a particularly craptacular, yet lame example of “toymaker see, toymaker do”.  Aside from the sheer entertainment value of it being a really lame knockoff, Mermaid Chikz would probably only be good for disappointing little girls.