Buzz Lightyear new toy
A new Buzz Lightyear toy has been released onto the market to coincide with the film Toy Story 3. Many retailers are anticipating that this is going to be one of the most popular Christmas toys this season and have bought a large amount of stock. The Toy Story world has been a very successful franchise for Pixar and they have made a great deal of toys to go along with the films.
In the films the toys come to life and they all want to be played with by the child who owns them, Andy. The main characters in the film are Buzz Lightyear and Woody the Cowboy. The film promotes a positive message for children and tells them of the value of friendship.
The third film has come a long time after the release of the second but it picks up where the originals left off and it was released last year. The film was one of the first children’s films to utilise the new 3-D technology that has since become very popular.
The film was a financial hit, much like the previous toy story films, and it was also very popular with critics. Much of the money from the franchise has not come from the films however, but through the toys that have been franchised out.
It is expected that $1 billion of merchandising will be sold around Toy Story 3 alone. Many toy manufacturers have been keen to capitalise on the incredible success of the film and many think that this latest Buzz Lightyear toy is going to be a huge hit. Many retailers have said that despite stocking up on numbers of the toys they are probably going to run out. To avoid disappointment parents have been urged to buy the toy early.
tweetsfortoys from Refuge and Freestyle Interactive
tweetsfortoys from Refuge and Freestyle Interactive
An innovative campaign for Christmas has been created by the digital agency Freestyle Interactive called #tweetsfortoys. The aim of the campaign is to give support to Refuge , the charity that is dedicated to providing shelter and support for women and children who have suffered from the devastating effects of domestic violence.
This campaign has come about as a result of the decision Freestyle made to replace their usual Secret Santa with something that was altogether more meaningful and worthy. The aim of #tweetsfortoys is for presents to be donated to the children who are spending Christmas in the refuges in the Midlands and in Warwickshire.
To be involved, all you have to do is to tweet a message using the gift tag #tweetsfortoys. Every day until Christmas, Freestyle will pick the best 20 messages and donate a toy to Refuge on behalf of the tweeter.
Refuge Chief Executive Sandra Horley CBE says: “#tweetsfortoys and Freestyle’s campaign gives people a great way to support Refuge’s work whilst giving some of the country’s most vulnerable and isolated young people some joy at what can be a difficult time of year. Thank you to all those who show their support.”
She adds: “Domestic violence is a serious crime that takes place all year round and kills two women every week. Domestic violence has been happening for centuries, to all races, all classes and at all times of the year.
Thousands of women and children are living in daily fear and terror and Christmas is no exception. It is perhaps at Christmas that women experiencing domestic violence feel, most acutely, a sense of isolation and despair. Christmas is meant to be a time of joy, a time of generosity, a time of love. Yet many of the women and children in our refuges have given up everything as they face their first Christmas away from home. “
Hamleys sexist colours are gone
The traditional pink for girls and blue for girls no longer exists at toy superstore Hamleys after they were accused by feminists if sexist stereotyping, so they are now organising their toys in categories instead of gender.
The world famous store in London have removed the pink and blue signs to indicate the floors selling boys and girls toys have been removed from their flagship store in Regent Street, and replaced with neutral red and white ones. Toys can now be found in categories such as dress up, dolls and arts and crafts, and none are for a specific gender.
34 year old Laura Nelson is a political blogger who hails from Ealing in West London, and she has described this move as a major victory after earlier accusing Hamleys of gender apartheid. She has said that she was shocked when she visited the store to see the signs that separated the girls and boys sections, as this indicated that they should be playing with different toys.
She added that she was even more shocked when she went up to the floors and saw that a the girls toys were mostly pink, and all seemed to have something to do with make up, hair and looking pretty or toys tied to domestic activities. There was nothing wrong with the toys per se, but she was unhappy that they were solely targetted at girls.
She was similarly horrified whereupon visiting the boys floor, she found that the majority of the boys toys were to do with wars or being aggressive, and the arts and crafts section was extremely small. Ms Nelson also said that she fell that the different activities encouraged by this labelling added to the childrens’ differential development.
LeapFrog Christmas Toys
Parents, get ready for some difficult choices when buying Christmas presents for your toddlers this year. First there’s the high-tech category, in which two competitors are presenting kid-style iPads, both retailing for around £80.00. Dream Toys has an annual event in which they spotlight the Christmas-for-kids offerings that look like being best-sellers for the season, and suppliers are already sold out of a couple of the top contenders.
LeapFrog Toys came out with the LeapPad Explorer, a tablet device that comes with built-in camera and video recorder, a 5-inch touch screen and heaps of additional apps that can be uploaded from an adult’s personal computer. According to all reports, LeapPads are selling faster than retailers can get them into stock; LeapFrog has stopped taking bulk orders for them, but expects to sell 100,000 before Christmas in the UK alone.
The competitor is this case is from Vtech; it’s the InnoTab, very similar in design (as is the LeapPad) to Apple’s iPad, and offering most of the same goodies including e-book reader, music, videos and educational games. Vtech is still filling orders from toy retailers, but the InnoTab is also in short supply so you’d better hurry with your Christmas basket.
A report from the insurance company Legal & General has indicated that six out of ten toddlers are picking up the gadgets their parents leave within reach and presumably teaching themselves how to use them – at least the touch screens. Kids at the age of four or five are already ‘computer-savvy’ to an extent that defies belief, unless of course they’re your kids. A large percentage of the Christmas toys currently on the market are in what’s considered the high-tech category.
However, if an iPad is not in your budget there’s always an alternative. For only about £20.00 you can have another of the top ten most-wanted, the Doggie Doo Game. Yes, and it’s educational; it comes with a pooper-scooper to teach your child responsibility when walking the family dog. The game involves a contest to see who can scoop three poops first, and comes with doggie treats to feed the pooper so he can keep on performing. The manufacturers say its really a howl on Christmas morning.
Another item high on the list is Spin Masters collaboration with Disney and Apple in Cars, a new version of racing cars that will have parents wondering what happened to their own iPad, since the kids will be using it as a race track. And for kids older than three years, there’s a remote-controlled Great White Shark that swims through the air to any room in your house.
If in doubt, parents can check out several ‘top ten’ lists of popular kid’s stuff, and not all of it is high-tech. There is also a wave of anti-tech sentiment amongst some toy manufacturers; they are advocating a return to old-time toys like rocking horses and building blocks – maybe even some radical divergence such as cuddly toys that don’t talk, or colouring books with real crayons.