A Kinder, Gentler Hot Toy List

Coming to a Christmas tree near you this holiday season: mostly wholesome, nonviolent, creative toys, including new Lego products and old-fashioned Lincoln Logs, retailers said Monday.

And although the toy sellers’ pick for this year’s top toy, Lego’s Bionicle, is a line of more traditional action fighters, one of the toy’s selling points is the child’s role in building the characters, not just the characters’ ability to beat the bad guys.

Also on the list of toy retailers’ top picks, scheduled to be released today by private marketing group PlayDate: Mattel’s Jam ‘n Glam Barbie doll, Fisher-Price’s Rescue Heroes line of vehicles and public-safety characters, Hasbro’s Tonka Dusty My Talkin’ Tool Bench, Playskool’s Bob the Builder Electronic Talking Scoop, Mattel’s Polly Pocket doll, and last year’s educational toy powerhouse, LeapFrog’s LeapPad electronic reading toy.

The lists reflect expectations for the holiday’s bestselling products, as determined by retailers, including Toys R Us, KB Toys, Zany Brainy, Electronics Boutique and other national and local independent toy stores.

“What the list shows me is a move toward toys that foster creativity and learning,” said Sean McGowan, one of PlayDate’s principals and a longtime toy industry analyst for investment firm Gerard Klauer Mattison in New York. “I think it’s also interesting that even as some of the toys become more wholesome, there still is an increasing use of electronics.”

The retailers estimated that the bestselling video game console would be Sony’s PlayStation 2, rather than this year’s more media-hyped Nintendo GameCube or Microsoft Xbox, probably because of retailers’ worries about being able to satisfy demand.

Hot games, the retailers said, would likely be led by “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,” a stealth shooter game for PlayStation. But also on the list are titles based on older and nonviolent properties, including maze-game “Super Mario Advance,” movie-linked “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” puzzle game “Luigi’s Mansion” and football game “Madden 2002.”

The survey, which retailers filled out in August and September, also probably reflects the change in popular opinion about toys since the terrorist attacks, McGowan said. Some of the toys that might have made the lists, such as a video game featuring Spiderman scaling the World Trade Center, were quickly pulled after Sept. 11.

Other toys, such as Rescue Heroes, might not have made retailers’ top lists, McGowan said, but have since become shoo-ins.

In the days since the attacks, toy retailers such as Toys R Us and KB Toys have reported a sharp increase in traditional family games, such as Monopoly and Candy Land, as Americans canceled plans to travel and ensconced themselves at home with their families.

The attack also prompted children to look at real-life heroes, rather than imaginary ones, a toy industry veteran said.

“I expect some action figures to take a hit because 3-and 4-year-olds want the real action heroes, and the real action heroes are the firefighters and police,” said Jim Silver, publisher of the trade magazine Toy Wishes, which, even before the attacks, put Rescue Heroes at the top of its February top toy list. “Rescue Heroes have gone through the roof since Sept. 11.”

PlayDate’s bestsellers for smaller specialty stores, which also puts Bionicle at the top and includes LeapPad and Talking Scoop, rounds out the list with Intel Play’s Digital Movie Creator, Cranium’s Cranium Cadoo board game and Lego’s Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle, among others.

And on the list of toys to watch--those that didn’t make the top group but could still turn out to be popular--are several old-time favorites and familiar brands or ideas, including: Uncle Milton’s Xtreme Ants Live Ant Habitat; Spin Master Toys’ Incredible Shrinky Dinks Maker, a plastic keepsakes maker; Toymax’s Popples dolls; K’Nex’s Lincoln Logs Sawmill Express; and Imagiix’s Marble Madness construction toy and marble racing game.

The retro toy trend, some said, is also likely to build. “This is something you’re giving your kids at a time you want to feel safe,” said publisher Silver of Toy Wishes. “So you’re going to choose the brands and toys you are most familiar with and most comfortable with.”

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Top Toys

What retailers think will be the best-selling toys this holiday season:

* Top seller: Bionicle, build-and-play action figures by Lego

Other best sellers in alphabetical order:

* Bob the Builder Electronic Talking Scoop by Playskool

* Dragonball Z Figures by Irwin Toy

* Dusty My Talkin’ Tool Bench by Hasbro

* Jam ‘n Glam Barbie by Mattel

* LeapPad by LeapFrog

* Play TV Sports by Radica Games

* Polly Pocket by Mattel

* Rescue Heroes by Fisher-Price

* Rumble Robots by Trendmasters

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Source: PlayDate