www.toynews-online.biz Spring forward
Key suppliers are now beginning to showcase their new ranges for the first quarter of 2012. With trade fair season fast approaching, ToyNews takes a look at what’s coming up…
MATTEL GIRLS
So far this year Barbie has grown 36 per cent in value (NPD August 2011 YTD Fashion Doll Standard Category). Throughout 2012 Barbie will
encourage girls to ‘Play With Fashion’, a theme that will link with the new Barbie Fashion Design Studio. The concept, including a starter kit and extension packs, allows girls to have total control over the fashion design process from start to finish.
In 2011, Barbie introduced a new segment – Family. New products launching in spring 2012 include Barbie Sisters dolls and play-sets, which reflect Barbie’s three sisters’ personalities and interests. Barbie Suds and Hugs Pups are new additions to the popular Barbie pet play range.
The new spring movie Barbie A Mermaid’s Tale 2 is an animated adventure sequel where Barbie plays Merliah Summers. A strong toy range includes a surfer to mermaid transformation doll. Since launch, Mattel’s Monster High
IP has gained more than half a million Facebook fans and over six million webisode views. Monster High is currently the UK’s number two fashion doll category (NPD August 2011 YTD). Fans can create new characters with the Monster High Create A Monster Lab. The product contains a Monster body with various skins and accessories for girls to pic and mix. Additional packs of skins and limbs will be available to offer more monster possibilities. Throughout 2012, Monster High toy
product will tie in with web content including 52 webisodes. Draculaura’s Sweet 1600 birthday will be the first of four additional 44-minute specials from which key moments will be brought to life through toys. The Draculaura Sweet 1600 Doll will contain a skeleton key that unlocks exclusive content on iPhone apps and the website.
Polly Pocket bursts into 2012 with CGI animated content to engage fans. An interactive destination website with regularly updated content, games and downloads supports the brand’s marketing and PR communications. ‘Stick n play’ technology will create a new way for girls to play with Polly. Leading the range is the Polly Pocket Hangout House, where all dolls and accessories in the play-set incorporate a suction cup. This means that the furniture can be rearranged to really turn things
01628 500 000
SECTOR GUIDE SPRING/SUMMER 2012 51
upside down. As with all Polly play-sets, the house contains secrets and surprises such as transforming walls. For water-play there is the Polly’s Flip
N Swim Pool Party Adventure, where girls can launch a Polly doll off the high diving platform and watch her flip off diving ramp and slide into the pool. A tire swing, snack shop, lounge chair and pool toy provide additional activity. A core collection of products inspired
by Disney’s Tangled will carry through to 2012, including the Tangled Rapunzel Doll with signature ten-inch hair and Tangled Favourite Moments Small Doll Assortment. The Sparkle Princess collection will receive refreshed detailing in spring/summer. The Fijit Friends collection will be expanded with the addition of Fijit Friends Newbies. The toys have a nurturing play pattern, performing better the more they are cared for. If two are put together, they will sing a duet and all Fijit Friends Newbies unlock exclusive content on the Fijit Friends website. Also from the Radica Girl Tech range is Password Journal, which continues to be supported throughout 2012.
BOYS
Hot Wheels’ multi-platform campaign steps up a gear in 2012 with new UK initiatives. Following the unveiling of the top secret Hot Wheels Test Facility and the introduction of the
adrenaline-fuelled Team Hot Wheels drivers in 2011, boys will now be able to extend the fun with a new range of Team Hot Wheels products. Team Hot Wheels fans can recreate the adventures of their favourite drivers with the Team Hot Wheels Crash Canyon Challenge. The track set sees two drivers face-off in a duel speeding through a hair-raising loop and over a canyon. In addition, the core Hot Wheels die-cast car line will get a Team Hot Wheels makeover. There are new additions to Wall Tracks with Mid-Air Madness which has an electric booster to send multiple cars racing around the track. Matchbox also gets a makeover with a range of ‘unstoppable’
vehicles in the die-cast and trucks ranges.
ENTERTAINMENT With The Dark Knight Rises slated for release in July, Mattel unveils its biggest ever portfolio of products. Toys range from chunky Fisher-Price vehicles and the super-size Imaginext Batcave to the Batman Stealth Strike assortment of detailed action figures, vehicles and accessories targeting boys aged four to seven. There will also be a whole range based on the new movie and an all-new segment for autumn. A new line-up of Cars toys will be launched - standout products for 2012 include new Cars Change Ups. The 1:55 scale vehicles have story-driven transformations. Watch expressions
change, race damage appear or weapons arm with the push of a button or a crashing motion. The Victory Lane track set will bring these features to life with Change Up Activation Points and wind-up booster technology for continuous racing action and fast-paced transformations. In Toy Story, Mattel’s Turbo Glo Buzz
Lightyear continues and there’s new developments in the Colour Splash range with two-inch buddy figures and the Colour Splash Slide ‘n’ Surprise Playground with colour change features. New in WWE is the FlexForce Lightning
Figure Assortment and the WWE Tornado Takedown Ring. The ring has a spinning disc in its base that will whip the action figures into a battle-ready frenzy. There are also new additions to the popular WWE Rumblers line including the WWE Money In The Bank Carrying Case, which transports up to 15 Rumblers figures and transforms into a ring for a Money In The Bank Ladder Match. The Mattel Entertainment line up will be completed with Generator Rex.
GAMES
In 2012 new games will join staples such as Scrabble, Pictionary and Uno. Phase 10 is the world’s second- biggest selling card game. It’s a rummy- style card game with a challenging twist. Mattel will unveil a new adventure for the Angry Birds. Angry Birds On Thin Ice has new features including a shaking red bird, exploding TNT and chunks of breakable ice. Also joining the portfolio will be a new Angry Birds Card Game. For details on Fisher-Price’s new lines, please see page 65.
NOVEMBER 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92