OPINION Bad to the bone David Smith dumps his customary white hat and tries a slick black one on for size
LET’S HEAR it for the bad guys. The supervillains, the bank robbers, the pirates and the cowboys in the black hats. Baddies are an integral part of children’s play that must never be discarded, because without context there can be no meaning. Without baddies, there can be no goodies. Without greed and selfishness there can be no nobility and sacrifice. James Bond would just be a man in a sharp suit if it wasn’t for Blofeld and his evil plans, while the police would soon all be laid off if people didn’t keep them busy by stealing things. The bad guys may not be admirable (something’s gone very wrong indeed if they are), but they have a
at The Daily Mail, who ranted about the bank robbers in Playmobil’s latest police sets and worked themselves into a frenzy over the
glamorisation of gun crime. Taken to its logical conclusion, this attitude would see the end of any kind of bad guys in children’s toys. We’d have superheroes without supervillains, government agents without enemy spies and, of course, cops without robbers. There would be no place
role, and that extends to playtime as well. Simply by splitting up into teams for any number of games, children are setting up an ‘us and them’ scenario and, as the TV
show Lostproved, there are few things as inherently sinister as ‘others’.
The bad guys recently came in for a bit of stick from the moral crusaders
for pirates, bandits, outlaws or other ne’er-do- wells. And what a bland landscape our children would be playing in. Thankfully, The Daily Mail piece did not create much of a stir, and if any parents
David Smith runs the consumer-focused toy news site ToyTalk (
www.toytalk.co.uk) and is the author of the book 100 Classic Toys. Game changer
Dominic Sacco says the rise of Near Field Communication technology means it’s only a matter of time before more compatible toys have a bigger impact on the industry
WHAT THE heck is this NFC stuff you may have heard about recently and should your firm be using it? Well, if you own an Oyster card you’ve already used Near Field Communication technology. When you press the card onto a ticket terminal, it registers the action and the money on your account is altered accordingly. Several smartphones also use NFC technology. You can position your phone next to a special reader to make a payment, or face another compatible smartphone to swap content like music and video files. If you’re familiar with Skylanders, you’ll also be
aware of the power of NFC within the toy industry. Place a figure on a special stand linked to a games console, and the technology lets the game know which character is in action, as
space between compatible devices, and lets them talk to one another. That’s the science behind it. But for children, it’s magic. There’s no doubt more and more NFC-compatible
NFC is only going to increase in prominence as the smartphone technology becomes commonplace.
well as other details like its name and any special attacks it has learnt. NFC works using magnetic induction: a reader emits a small electric current, which creates a magnetic field that bridges the physical
toys will emerge. Mattel has dabbled in this area with its Apptivity toys. Earlier this year, Disney announced its plans to enter the Skylanders-style toy/video game market this August with Disney Infinity. More recently,
video game giant Nintendo revealed that it too will enter the fray by launching Pokémon NFC toys, which are compatible with the Pokémon Rumble U game for its Wii U console. Collectable toy line Floppets is also tinkering with NFC technology. The £1.99 animal figures have the possibility to use NFC to interact with each other wirelessly.
The technology is only
going to increase in prominence as the smartphone technology becomes commonplace. And Skylandershas made over $1 billion in worldwide retail sales in just over a year. So perhaps the question should be, can
Dominic Sacco is the deputy editor of ToyNews and
Licensing.biz. To get in touch, call 01992 535646 or email
dominic.sacco@
intentmedia.co.uk.
www.toynews-online.biz May 19
you afford not to be thinking about NFC?
are genuinely concerned about the inclusion of bank robbers in a bank play-set, they can always quietly remove the guns and transform them into law- abiding customers, perhaps trying desperately to empty their accounts before Angela Merkel dips into them (who’s the bad guy now?).
But I don’t think that
would be anywhere near as much fun. Baddies are like the spice
in our food. On their own they may be unpalatable, but added in the right quantities they bring out the hidden depths of ordinary ingredients. They are part of the human condition and must remain part of our children’s play experience.
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