New Consumer Survey Puts Playthings in Their Place: ‘Toy Box’ or ‘Trash Box’

After surveying more than 2,000 toys in the last year, the Americans for Democratic Action this week listed toys they would keep in their “Toy Box” and others they relegated to their “Trash Box.”

The selection process wasn’t very scientific. Some of the criteria are hard to measure. For example, a toy can get tossed in the ADA’s “Trash Box” for such reasons as misleading advertising, lack of play value (“Is it boring?”), or being messy and unsanitary, highly frustrating, poorly constructed or, of course, dangerous.

“Toy Box” recommendations were based on safety, realistic packaging and advertising, sturdiness and durability, good play value and fun.

“It is a survey conducted by consumers for consumers, and I think that’s what gives the survey its special spirit,” said Ann Brown, who chairs the ADA Consumer Affairs Committee that runs the survey. “It is conducted by 15 to 20 volunteers. The only paid people are a coordinator and a secretary. Most of the volunteers have worked from 10 to 12 years each on the (annual) study.”

The survey cites potentially dangerous baby equipment: portable hook-on baby seats that attach to tables and counters, baby walkers, and certain baby gates used to keep children from falling downstairs or going through a doorway. It also questions safety aspects of a collar used on a popular doll.

Most of the survey, however, is devoted to assigning toys to the ADA’s “Toy Box” and “Trash Box.”

Nine landed in the “Toy Box:”

Tap-A-Tune, made by Little Tikes, is a sturdy, one-piece piano/xylophone with no parts to lose, no hammer with which to bonk other kids. Color-coded keys match color-coded notes in a songbook that comes with this toy that costs about $20. “At last,” said the ADA, “someone has made a preschool instrument that sounds like music! This kind of toy has been made poorly by almost everyone for years. The Tap-A-Tune is different . . . This is a real winner.”

Chubbles, made by Animal Fair, is the “surprise hit” of this year’s survey and winner of the ADA’s “Most Loveable Toy” award. “People of all ages, literally from 3 to 49, responded to the funny shape and friendly sound of this huggable plush imaginary animal,” the survey said of the toy that sells for about $18 or $20. Chubbles responds to changes of light by illuminating its battery-operated nose and “chiggling,” which in Chubbles language means making a noise something like a giggle. Many persons surveyed called it “the best new toy of the year.” Carole Seymour, co-owner of Star Toys in West Los Angeles, singled it out as one of her best sellers, attributing its popularity as much to the fact that it is cuddly as to its ability to “chiggle.”

Working Microphone

Fisher-Price’s AM/FM Radio for about $35 made the “Toy Box” list because it is sturdy, durable, easy to use, has a working microphone so kids can sing along with the radio, offers a one-year warranty “under normal play conditions,” and “it sounds good too!” the survey said.

Robo Strux, made by Tomy, are dinosaur-like monster kits that landed in the “Toy Box” despite complicated assembly instructions and numerous parts. “We thought the Robo Strux would surely end up in our “Trash Box,” noted the survey. “But our kids proved us wrong: they loved this toy--thought the instructions were easy to understand--and the 45 minutes it took to construct Robo Strux was part of the fun of the toy.” They come in different sizes and for different prices. Gordox and Radox, for example, will set you back between about $20 and $25.

Stomper Speedsters Twistrack Challenger Set, made by Schaper for about $28, is an auto racing set whose battery-operated cars race along tracks that look like spaghetti, so kids can arrange and rearrange them to their liking. Both boys and girls liked this “Toy Box” set.

Teddy Ruxpin, made by Worlds of Wonder, won the ADA’s “Most Innovative Toy” award. It is a natural for the “Toy Box” despite its $80 price tag. The survey describes the cuddly animal as “an animated, talking stuffed teddy bear whose mouth, nose and eye movements are perfectly synchronized to his voice when specially programmed cassettes are put inside of his body,” adding that it represents “the newest, most advanced technology in the toy industry.”

Strategic Thinking

Milton Bradley’s Last Word is a board game requiring strategic abilities. Letters are placed on the board, along with “pawns” for up to four players. A player moves his or her pawn from letter to letter, spelling out words and then removing from the board the letters used in the words. Removing letters around an opponent’s pawns isolates them, and prevents them from scoring. The survey notes that “an 11-year-old was a bit intimidated by all the letters at first--and ended up loving the game--especially after she beat all the adults playing against her.” Last Word sells for about $15.

For about $16 to $18, Picture Perfect, made by Tomy, allows a child to enlarge or reduce drawings and then project them on the wall. The child can use negatives that come with the toy, or personal slides, or drawings he or she makes--or a combination of all three. The survey found that “this is an item that the children as well as the parents loved.”

“Questron makes learning fun,” commented the survey on this toy made by Price/Stern/Sloan-Random House, and sold for about $15. Questron is “a small, pen-like wand with a microchip which senses correct or incorrect answers to questions in the accompanying question books.” Correct answers result in a green light and a pleasant warble, wrong answers cause a red light and a buzz; completing some games produces a blinking light and a “victory sound.” Extra question books geared to early childhood, grades 1 through 5, and the entire family are available for about $3 or $4 each.

Misleading Package

Toys thrown in the “Trash Box” by the ADA include Bookville Schoolhouse, made by Lakeside, a division of Leisure Dynamics Inc.. The $10 preschool play set holds the ADA’s “Most Misleading Packaging” award. The set comes with pieces stored in a container that looks like a book in a box. The container--which unfolds to become a model of a school house--turns out to be only half the size of the box although, as the survey pointed out, “Lakeside has packaged this toy in such a deceptive way that it looks like the play set takes up the whole box.” Moreover, the survey notes, the schoolhouse furniture is out of proportion to the room, there are two student figures but no teacher, and there are no chairs for the table.

Bob Jackman, president of Leisure Dynamics, Inc. said he does not consider the Bookville Schoolhouse packaging to be deceptive, noting that consumer tests indicated the book-like appearance of the toy would create in interest in books among children, and “the reason for the package design was to show the size of the ‘book.’ Another form of packaging would not show that the playset was within the ‘book.’ We wanted to be sure the book feel and look got across in the package.” As to the ADA’s comments the figures and furniture in the set, Jackman said, “We show on the package all the contents of the product.”

‘Biggest Rip-Off’

The Voltron Skull Tank, made by Panosh Place Inc., got the ADA’s “Biggest Rip-Off of the Year” award. The survey called the toy, which sells for about $19 to $25, “an overpriced, misleading piece of junk.” It is a plastic military-type tank with a long-necked skull attached. Pushing a slide on the neck mechanically opens and closes the skull’s jaws. Pushing the tank does the same thing, plus creating a ratchet sound. “When you push the skull in,” warned the survey, “be careful not to get your hand caught. It doesn’t grasp anything except your fingers--and it hurts!”

“I think the ADA ought to stick to politics,” said Peter Kolevzon, executive vice president of Panosh Place Inc.

“I disagree with their analysis (of the Voltron Skull Tank). The toy has passed all applicable U.S. safety tests. Our Voltron line consists of 8 or 9 different units, and they’re all selling reasonably well and some are selling great. The markup on (the Voltron Skull Tank) doesn’t seem out of line to us.”

Modulok is a member of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe family that got a “Trash Box” rating. The toy, which sells for about $10, comes with 22 body parts that can be put together in numerous configurations. “Create over 1,000 different monsters,” urges a blurb on the box. But, according to the survey, “the problem is, nobody could make it work . . . Modulok is simply a pile of red plastic body parts that don’t do anything.” It did win the survey’s “Most Frustrating Toy” award, and a place in the “Trash Box.”

Dave Capper, Mattel’s director of marketing for boys’ toys, said that “Initial (Modulok) shipments were a little stiff in terms of the pieces connecting. The plastic stretches over time, making it easier to play with the figures. In addition, the problem was corrected as of October shipments.”

Just Plain Stupid

Rocks & Bugs & Things by Ideal won the ADA’s “Just Plain Stupidest” award. The toy consists of plastic rocks and bugs with “buttons” on them that make things happen, like “arms” on a rock opening and closing over a “horrible” painted face. “For (about) $9, who needs it?” asked the survey. Kindles are another toy made by Ideal that got tossed in the “Trash Box.” The survey describes Kindles as “a 6-inch hard plastic doll vaguely shaped like a candle . . . a night light in doll’s clothing--a $10 night light with a bloated face, sparse hair and tiny 1 1/2 inch bobby pins. The on-off switch is hard to find and difficult to operate. This toy appealed to nobody.”

‘Gross and Disgusting’

Christopher Byrne, a spokesman for CBS Toys which makes the Ideal toy line, responded to the survey by saying, “I don’t wish to comment on the Kindles. But I will comment on the Rocks & Bugs. We anticipated that ADA would put them in the ‘Trash Box’ this year because of their gross and disgusting nature. I really think that they will appeal to a certain kind of child just for the fun and yuckiness of them.”

At about $30, Upsy Baby by Kenner Products Co. ranked as the most expensive “Trash Box” toy. It also won the ADA’s “First to Break” award. Wind Upsy Baby by pulling a string in her back, set her down and push a button on her side. She gets up by herself. It’s a cute doll, but a boring one, the survey said, adding that “Upsy Baby is now broken. She lasted for about 2 weeks and roughly 20 pulls. Caveat Emptor--let the buyer beware.”

Gary Jones, director of product safety at Kenner, answered the survey’s criticism by commenting, “Every product we manufacture is extensively tested by our laboratories to meet or exceed all applicable quality standards. We also test for reliability, and we perform function testing through more than 600 cycles. All our toys have to meet the requirement that they function as we intend before they go on the market. We would expect Upsy Baby to last a minimum of one year.”

Rub-A-Rounds is the first Fisher-Price toy to land in the “Trash Box” in the survey’s 14-year history. The colorful, solidly made toy, which sells for about $10 to $13, “just doesn’t work very well,” according to the ADA. Using crayons and a piece of paper over changeable raised plastic forms attached to a disc, Rub-A-Rounds employs the same principle as penny rubbing--the process of putting paper over a penny and rubbing it with the side of a pencil lead and watching Abraham Lincoln’s face appear. But with Rub-A-Rounds “The image that is created is not clean--in fact, it is very blurry,” the survey found.

“The only comment I would like to make is that Rub-A-Rounds is an arts and crafts item, and as with any such item there is a learning curve to using it,” said Carol Blackley, manager of public relations at Fisher-Price. “As a child gets better at it, and masters Rub-A-Rounds, it can be a rewarding, fun toy. Just like a weaving loom or a stitchery kit, it takes a while for a child to get good at it.

Voltron Motorized Lion Force by LJN Toys Ltd. earned “Trash Box” ratings because the tested toy, which sells for about $7 to $10, turned out to be only one leg and one arm of a complete Voltron Motorized Lion Force Robot. The entire robot is sold together for about $20 to $25. But the “Trash Box” item is only a couple of plastic lions that indeed can be used as two Voltron limbs. The survey describes them as “a red clump of unidentifiable plastic with moveable pieces of silver, and a blue clump of plastic vaguely resembling some sort of creature.” In fact, they both are models of lions. “The pull-back motorized action worked on one. The other one didn’t work at all,” complained the survey.

Wrestling Superstars, also made by LJN, got a “Trash Box” rating despite being one of the nation’s best-selling toys. The Superstars are 8-inch plastic figures that, noted the survey, don’t live up to the claim on their package. “Twist and turn ‘em into all kinds of wrestling holds,” says the package of these toys that sell for about $7 to $9 each. But, as the survey points out, the figures don’t twist and turn much. Surveyors tested a Superstar called Big John, and concluded, “All our Big John could do was cross his ankles.”

Andy Gatto, senior vice president of LJN Toys, said that the basic concept of the Voltron Motorized Lion Force involves playing with the lions both as individual toys and, when five are connected together, as a large robot. “The essence of the concept is that a group of lion warriors acts individually to defend what’s right and proper in the universe,” he said. “Occasionally they find an adversary that is so powerful that a single lion can’t deal with it. Then five lions join forces and come together as a giant robot that has super powers.” Gatto noted that children understand the concept because it is used on a Voltron television series.

Commenting on the Wrestling Superstars, Gatto said that “They do, in fact, twist and turn. They don’t necessarily hold a pose unless they’re intertwined with another Wrestling Superstar, in which case they do hold the pose.”

Linkits by Matchbox Toys USA is a construction set whose main components link together in various configurations. The 90-piece version sells for about $8 to $10. The survey calls this toy “the most difficult to put together and the most frustrating one we’ve ever played with. (Another toy won the survey’s “Most Frustrating Toy” award.) Want to feel stupid? Try following the directions . . . “

George Volanakis, president of Matchbox, said, “Whoever analyzed the item may have compared it with one of the popular construction toys for younger children. Linkits is designed for older children--5, 6 to perhaps 9 years old. We’ve tested the toy and found no usage problem with the age group for which it is designed.”

Potentially Dangerous

In its section on “Potentially Dangerous Toys,” the ADA alleged that “the design of the collar on SOME of the ‘Koosas’ (the stuffed animal in the Cabbage Patch line of toys), makes this a potentially dangerous toy.”

According to the ADA, children can remove collars on some of the dolls and put them tightly around their own necks, hooking them with clasps that are difficult to undo.

Newer collars have been redesigned, making them shorter and easier to unhook, the survey said.

Barbara Wruck, vice president of Coleco Industries Inc., which makes the toy, said “The Koosas in their entirety, including both the original and updated collars, comply with all the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Canadian safety regulations. There have been no injuries as a result of the use or misuse of the product.

“Around May, Coleco changed the collar design to enhance the play value of the product. We changed the clasp so it’s easier to take off and put back on the Koosa. It was completely safe to begin with.”

In considering baby seats that hook onto tables and counters, the ADA said children can climb out of some the seats, some are likely to fall off the table, and at least one has a metal coating that flakes off.

Particular Criticism

The survey singled out two hook-on seats for particular criticism: The Sassy Seat Portable High Chair made by Sassy Inc., and My Chair made by Pansy Ellen Products.

Children can disengage Sassy Seat “set locks,” and metal pieces flake off My Chair, according to the survey. The ADA tested a third hook-on seat called Babydiner, made by Babydiner Ltd. of Scotland, and had nothing negative to say about it.

Fritz Hirsch, chief executive officer of Sassy Inc. in Northfield, Ill., told The Times his chair is among the safest on the market. “The survey mentioned our set locks (which lock the chair to the table). No other chair that I know of even has such a secondary locking device. We feel our set locks are both satisfactory and safe,” Hirsch said.

Bill Martin, vice president of marketing for Pansy Ellen Products Inc. in Atlanta, Ga., which makes My Chair, said his company found the metal flaking “to be an isolated problem. We have only one such complaint that I know about. We are, of course, checking into it.”

The survey cited no specific baby walkers, but noted that the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 15,623 injuries due to the walkers.

Involved in Accidents

“Not only is there no evidence that walkers are of any use in helping babies learn to walk, but there is mounting evidence that baby walkers are involved in enormous numbers of accidents,” declared the survey.

A Canadian study showed that 40% of children using baby walkers “are involved in some type of mishap, ranging from finger entrapment to tipovers to falls downstairs producing head injury.”

When it came to baby gates, the ADA objected to those that attach to walls with suction cups that don’t adjust for variations in width of a door or stairway opening. Such width variations often are caused by baseboards protruding from the walls at floor level.

The survey praised a bathtub safety aid that covers faucets, lessening the chance of injury to a child that bumps into the spigot, and protecting a child from burns from a hot spigot. The product, Safety Bath Whale made by Sassy Inc., is a molded, spongy plastic item that can be cut down to fit different sized faucets. Retailing for about $9, the product comes with non-skid treads that adhere to the bottom of the bathtub.