Hoping for New Twist on Old Spinning Tops

Spinning into a toy store near you this year: battling tops. Several U.S. toy makers and major retailers are betting that the Japanese craze will be the next kids’ sensation.

The new toys, unveiled this week at the annual International Toy Fair here, are to traditional spinners what Razor scooters were to the wheeled wooden platforms that came before them.

With rip-cord launchers, interchangeable “battle armor” and plastic arenas to contain the spinning, most of the new metal and plastic tops hark back to their traditional forebears while adding more modern features.

The goal in most of the new top games is the same as ever: to be the last one standing. What’s different now are the added features and accessories to help get the tops going, keep them spinning and aid in their ability to knock down other players’ tops.

So far, the tops have all the makings of a well-orchestrated fad.

They include a Japanese pedigree, a battle motif, a variety of styles within each line and a low-enough retail price (many for about $5 to $10) for children to start a tops collection.

But the various campaigns also could have the opposite effect, canceling out one another in the minds of already overwhelmed buyers, toy industry veterans say.

“This could be an example of where the biggest company, with the biggest muscle, wins. Or it could be that they all fail--you just don’t know,” said Sean McGowan, a longtime toy industry analyst for Gerard Klauer Mattison in New York.

“The companies are also thinking that because this worked in Japan, it should work here, which isn’t always the case,” he said.

If battling tops catch on in America, they would be the latest in a string of hit toys coming out of Japan, after such blockbusters as Pokemon, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and virtual pets.

The first battling tops, called Beyblade, were introduced in 1999, and they became the top-selling toy in Japan last year. Beyblade also won top prize at this year’s Hong Kong Toy Fair.

The tops are part of a larger retro trend in this year’s toys. More than ever, the biggest hits are revivals of older products.

After a year of recession, terrorist attacks and war, risk-averse toy makers are betting that parents will reach for comfort toys the way some reach for comfort food--buying gifts for their children that remind them of simpler times, especially from their own youths.

New Versions Come in Many Variations

So at the Toy Fair, relaunches abounded. There was Malibu Barbie. Mr. Potato Head celebrated his 50th anniversary. Board game Trivial Pursuit launched a 20th-year edition. And commemorative Matchbox cars sported 50 state license plates and a special U.S. map in which to house them, to mark that product’s 50th year.

The new tops, however, were able to generate more excitement. Although they are based on an age-old concept, they have been more dramatically updated.

The big muscle in this arena, toy buyers and others say, is Hasbro Inc. The company has the rights to sell Beyblade in the U.S. and has made it the only new top line already in big stores. The toy also was test marketed in Los Angeles and Chicago in December, with favorable results.

Beyblade tops--among the most customizable of the group, with four interchangeable pieces that affect appearance and performance--sell for about $7 each. A deluxe launcher is available for better spin power. Beystadiums, sloped differently for strategic kinds of play, will hit stores this spring.

Among the other offerings:

* Bandai America Inc.’s Cyclonians E.G.G. Bots, with well- defined characters and comic book stories for its tops, which come as snap-together pieces.

* Trendmasters Inc.’s Rumble Rippers, an extension of the company’s popular Rumble Robots, with pins to control spin and a heavier base and gyroscope center; the company promises they will spin longer and better than other tops.

* Sport Fun Inc.’s Stingerz, a bigger top with a single snap-on piece, with three different battle belts that affect spin and battle powers.

* Toymax Inc.’s Spinjas, with flashing lights and launcher.

* Playmates Toys Inc.’s World Top Wonders for girls, a flower with a pop-out spinning fairy.

* Micro Top and Gryo Top, from Re:Play, a division of Playmates. The former will be sold in packs of five with optional accessories such as multiple and rapid launchers. The Gyro, a spinning disk with different battling tops, also comes with an optional Extreme Track, to send the top on something like a pinball machine ride.

Hasbro’s lead with Beyblade will be hard to beat, many in the toy industry say.

Toys R Us Inc., the nation’s largest chain of toy stores, has placed its biggest bets on Beyblade in terms of dollars and floor space. But the company says it is carefully choosing and watching some of the other brands as well.

Manufacturers say Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other toy sellers also have placed orders.

So far, Toys R Us and Hasbro say, children are responding well to the toys.

At a Beyblade tournament last weekend at the new Toys R Us flagship store in Manhattan’s Times Square, Ami Kachalia, 9, spent two hours testing and battling top combinations and ended up winning her round of play.

“I like building stuff,” said Ami, who came into the city from New Jersey with her parents and cousin to visit the store--only to spend most of her time playing with the tops. “It’s fun because it’s really suspenseful seeing who’s going to win.”

Animated TV Series Seen as Advantage

Like Pokemon and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers before them, Beyblade also has the advantage of a TV series.

Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana Ltd. of Toronto hopes to find its animated Beyblade series a broadcast home by this fall. Corus granted the Hasbro license after buying rights from Japanese creator D-Rights, a division of Mitsubishi.

But in the entertainment realm, Bandai hopes to give Beyblade some competition. Bandai, the force behind the now decade-old Power Rangers shows and products, is shopping around its own animated series, based on its tops’ characters.

And Toymax, to be acquired by Malibu-based Jakks Pacific Inc., is hoping that price, rather than brand, will move parents to choose its tops, which sell for about $3 each.

Features aside, Beyblade’s biggest advantage may come from being first.

“Whenever you have a fad like this, being the first out is important,” said Jim Silver, the publisher of industry magazine Toy Book and consumer magazine Toy Wishes. “Others could be successful, but the first one out usually wins.”