Get 'em before they're gone

Industry experts name the best toys

From left to right: Barbie Girls MP3 player; Transformers Movie Ultimate Bumblebee; Eye-Clops supermagnifier; and Hannah Montana singing doll.

Thursday, October 18, 2007 2:58 PM CDT

By Steve Arney
sarney@pantagraph.com

The real players in the debate over the hottest toys aren't the industry experts, of course, but kids.

Cost isn't the decider. Ask any parent who watches a child unwrap a high-priced toy and then play with the box.

That said, there are industry awards for creativity, quality and engineering. The 2007 awards listed below come from the Toy Industry Association, a 500-company trade group of toy producers and importers. Its membership accounts for 85 percent of the toys sold in the United States.

The winning toys and nominees were released into the market in 2006. Several of them made Toy Wishes magazine's Hot Dozen for the 2006 Christmas season. We've included this year's Hot Dozen from Toy Wishes for the coming year, followed by a list of toys judged the best in the industry.

The Hot Dozen

Toy Wishes magazine's annual choices for hot toys for the coming season.

• American Idol Talent Challenge (Tech2Go, $50) -- An interactive game combines karaoke with "American Idol" judging. A contestant sings to music played by DVD. A judge enters the performance level. The "Idol" judges, on the DVD, use that score to praise -- or rip -- the performance.

• Aqua Dots Super Studio (Spin Master, $25) -- The colored dots are little beads. Users dampen the dots. When wet, the dots come together as the user creates figures.

• Barbie Girls (Mattel, $70) -- Barbie meets the virtual word. An MP3 device enables music downloads and users give personality to Barbie online by creating avatars and designing them and the rooms in their lives. The MP3 player itself is designed as a Barbie doll.

• Eye-Clops (Jakks Pacific, $50) -- This super-magnifier plugs into a television for close-up examination of objects.

• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Red Octane, $100) -- A video game, Guitar Hero enables a user to mix guitar performance in the den with a virtual music world. The peripheral is a guitar. Available for Wii, Playstation II, PS III and Xbox 360 by the end of October.

• Hannah Montana Singing Dolls and Pop Star Stage (Doll $20, Pop star stage $60) -- The dolls sing Hannah Montana songs. The stage has working lights.

• Nerf N-Strike Disc Shot (Hasbro, $50) -- This is like skeet shooting, only with Nerf disks and foam darts.

• Rubik's Revolution (Techno Source, $20) -- Composed of six electronic games endorsed by Erno Rubik, the professor who gave us the cube.

• Smart Cycle (Fisher-Price, $100 for bike/game unit and $20 for additional programs) -- A race and obstacle videogame for children, but with quite a twist. Users ride a stationary bike to perform in the videogame.

• Spotz (Zizzle, $30 for maker; extra for accessories) -- A craft activity targeted for girls, it enables users to create decorations such as pins and buttons.

• SwypeOut Online Battle Racing (Spin Master, $20 for starter kit) -- Again, virtual world and reality gets blended. Users collect trading cards of race cars and gear. They scan the card code into a computer (PC only) to get the equivalent racing machines, weaponry and defenses for a high-intensity online racing game.

• Transformers Arm Blasters & Transformers Movie Ultimate Bumblebee (Hasbro, $30 for Blasters and $90 for Bumblebee) -- New models from the Transformer series are expected to do well on the heels of the "Transformers" movie.

Toy Industry Association awards

Toy of the Year -- T.M.X. Elmo, Fisher-Price. An Elmo that laughs harder than ever, it was a Christmas season hit with kids, where supplies held out. It was produced as an Elmo 10th anniversary edition, but a current advertising campaign shows Fisher-Price is intent on keeping interest for a second season.

Best Infant/Preschool Toy -- T.M.X. Elmo won here, too. Other nominees: Aquadoodle Sing N' Doodle (Spin Master); Cranium Sounds of the Seashore (Cranium, Inc.); Elmo Giggle and Shake Chair (Spin Master) V. Smile Baby Infant Development System (VTech Electronics North America).

Girl Toy of the Year -- FurReal Friends Butterscotch Pony, Hasbro. Life-sized, but not alive. Other nominees: Bratz Forever Diamondz Fashion Dolls (MGA Entertainment), Digi Makeover (Radica USA); Littlest Pet Shop: Biggest Littlest Pet Shop (Hasbro); Pixel Chix Love 2 Shop Mall (Mattel, Inc.).

Boy Toy of the Year -- Two awards:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Ultimate Black Pearl Pirate Ship Playset (Zizzle) -- It's a pirate ship and action figures spun from the movie series.

• Spy Video Car (Wild Planet) --This remote control car is equipped with a camera that gives a video feed to the operator up to 75 feet away.

Other Nominees: Air Hogs RC Storm Launcher (Spin Master); Fast Talkin' Lightning McQueen (Mattel); Hot Wheels Radar Gun (Mattel).

Game of the Year -- Cranium Zooreka (Cranium). A board game challenges players to build a zoo. Other nominees: Cosmic Catch (Hasbro); Designer's World (Hasbro); Khet: The Laser Game (Innovention Toys); Speed Stacks StackPack (Play Along).

Outdoor Toy of the Year-- Radio Flyer Folding Trike (Radio Flyer). Radio Flyer is the brand, not the action. But as the name implies, it folds for easy storage and portability. Other nominees: Crayola Super Brush (Binney & Smith/Crayola); Hydrogen Fuel Rocket (Estes-Cox Corp.); Phlat Ball (Spin Master); PlasmaCar (PlaSmart).

Educational Toy of the Year -- SmartGlobe 2.0 (Oregon Scientific). The desk globe goes high-tech with a keyboard and interactive games, quizzes and data from the world. Web interaction (but for PC only; no Mac compatibility) enables updating of data. Other nominees: I Can Play Piano (Fisher-Price); Leapster TV Learning System (LeapFrog Enterprises); LEGO Mindstorms NXT (LEGO Systems); V.Flash Home Edutainment System (VTech Electronics North America)

Activity Toy of the Year -- Moon Sand (Spin Master). A sculpture kit for kids. The moon sand is easier to mold than real sand and it doesn't dry out like putty and dough. Other nominees: Cranium Super Fort (Cranium); Floam (SAS Group); Gross Out Doodle Monster (Play Along); Lil Luvables Fluffy Factory (Spin Master).

Electronic Entertainment Toy of the Year -- Kid-Tough Digital Camera (Fisher-Price). A camera designed for the child's hands and, unlike a standard camera, it won't break when dropped. Other nominees: CubeWorld (Radica USA); Massively Mini Media (Hasbro); Tamagotchi Connection Version 3 (Bandai America); Zoombox (Hasbro).

Most Innovative Toy of the Year -- FurReal Friends Butterscotch Pony (Hasbro). Described above. Other nominees: Air Hogs RC Storm Launcher (Spin Master); LEGO Mindstorms NXT (LEGO Systems); Moon Sand (Spin Master); Spy Video Car (Wild Planet).

Specialty Toy of the Year -- Webkinz (Ganz). Not just another plush animal. The creature comes with a code. Online, the code is entered to enable a virtual interaction with the toy. Other nominees: Blokus (Educational Insights); Playfoam (Educational Insights); Calico Critters of Cloverleaf Corners Townhome with Lights (International Playthings); Zingo Game (ThinkFun).

Property of the Year -- Pixar's Cars (Disney). A movie branded a line of toys. Commonly done. The award represents the best job of doing it. Other nominees: Dora the Explorer (Nick Jr. a division of Viacom); Go Diego, Go! (Nick Jr. a division of Viacom); Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney); Sesame Street (Sesame Workshop).

Getting the lead out;

2007: Year of the recall

By Steve Arney | sarney@pantagraph.com

In many years, some sort of toy trend emerges. But for 2007, before getting to a toy theme, the toy industry is fighting a public relations catastrophe. It is campaigning to assure the public that toys won't poison your children.

Amid mass recalls of toys, the American public became aware that Chinese manufacturers and the Communist government haven't taken to heart what has been accepted fact in the United States since the 1970s.

Stated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: "Lead-based paint is hazardous to your health. Lead-based paint is a major source of lead poisoning for children and can also affect adults. ..." (CPSC Document 5054)

So, presumably, using lead paint in children's toys is about as wise as making pointed metal lawn darts and sending children into the yard to fling them.

In September, after a summer in which some 20 million made-in-China toys were recalled over lead paint, China agreed to ban use of lead paint on toys being exported to America. The announcement didn't address China's domestic products or its exports to other nations.

Consumer advocates remained wary, as the measure involves trusting China's government and requires China ramping up its inspections ability. American companies are going farther, saying they are testing and retesting toys themselves.

Mattel Chairman and CEO Robert Eckert has issued apologies, pledged a full investigation and supported improved testing.

The largest trade association, the Toy Industry Association, represents makers, distributors and retailers. TIA's president, Carter Keithley, advocates mandatory testing for safety regardless of assembly plant location. He advocates a labeling of certified, inspected toys.

In the wake of the recall news, however, research showed that lead paint isn't the major problem in toy safety, nor is the export of manufacturing jobs oversees. In writing about study results, University of Manitoba business professor Hari Bapuji said he detected no rise in toy recalls associated with a shift in manufacturing from the United States to China.

The main hazards -- causing 76 percent of recalls -- are design flaws, primarily those that create choking hazards, but also in the inventing of toys with inherent danger, he found. Those designs are from the company, not the production plant.

Ten percent of recalls, Bapuji added, are from manufacturing problems, such as use of lead paint.