2006 Dream Toys

Earlier this month the UK Toy Retailers Association (TRA) released their official Top Toys for Christmas predictions. Ignoring the fact that the word "official" is becoming increasingly meaningless, I have reproduced the list in full below in alphabetical order.

Baby Born with magic eyes, Zapf (RRP £39.99)
Bratz Forever Diamondz Assortment, Vivid (£24.99)
Cars Fast Talkin’ McQueen, Mattel (RRP £39.99)
Deal or No Deal Electronic Board Game, Drumond Park (RRP £29.99)
Dr Who Cyberman Mask, Character Options (RRP £29.99)
Let’s Dance Barbie Doll, Mattel (RRP £39.99)
Paper FX, Flair (RRP £19.99)
Pixel Chix Mall, Mattel (RRP £29.99)
Tamagotchi Connexion V3, Bandai (RRP £12.99)
Thomas Aquadraw, Tomy (RRP £29.99)
Trivial Pursuit 90’s, Hasbro (RRP £29.99)
V.Smile Baby, VTech (RRP £39.99)

The Top 12 is selected from the TRA’s ‘Top 72’ covering six popular categories: Pre-school, Boys, Girls, Hip ‘n’ Kool, Games and Creative. Given that or clients frequently agonise over the meaning of cool, let's look at the list of "Hip'n'Kool" toys (a new list for 2006 apparently) ...

Cube World Packs Series 2 Radica £19.99
Digi Makeover Radica £59.99
Dr Who RC K-9 Character £39.99
Fur Real Cuddle Chimp Hasbro £34.99
Littlest Pet Shop Digipet Hasbro £12.99
Magnetix-Specials 90pcs Clear Light Cubes MegaBrands £24.99
Mindstorms NXT Lego £179.99
NSECT Mattel £89.99
Pixel Chix Mall Mattel £29.99
Roboreptile 1 Character £89.99
Tamagotchi Connexion V3 Bandai £12.99
Teksta Vivid £39.99

I'm not sure why some of these are worthy of being called "Hip'n'Kool". For example, this is the Hasbro Fur Real Cuddle Chimp:

The Radica Digi Make Over is pretty interesting though. Aimed at girls it allows them to upload pictures of themselves and their friends and carry out virtual makovers, changing hair and make-up using the touchpad. The device then allows you to show the finished images on your TV. That could get nasty....

At the moment I still think of kid's toys as unwelcome clutter. I wonder if I will ever really get over that. By the way note that we still unashamedly call that holiday that takes place at the end of the year Christmas in the UK. I wonder how long that will last.

Comments

[doug]

that is one creepy chimp