Category Archives: Toys

Warren Buffett’s Squishmallows firm sues Build-A-Bear amid ‘knock-off’ claims

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Jazwares claims that rival has created its own pillow-like toys to cash in on its viral success

The company behind Squishmallows, the squidgy pillows-with-a-face that count Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian among their fans, has filed a lawsuit against Build-A-Bear over claims it has produced a “knock-off” to cash in on its success.

Jazwares, which Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway acquired two years ago as Squishmallows became a global TikTok sensation, said that Build-A-Bear Workshop’s new Skoosherz toys look too similar to its own plush, huggable toy.

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AI Pictionary and a ‘robo-dog’ make UK shops’ hottest Christmas toy lists

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Retailers hope new version of top-selling board game plus Dog-E will help fuel festive sales recovery

A new version of Pictionary that pits artist against artificial intelligence and a pet “robo-dog” with a wagging tail are among the toys destined to appear on Christmas lists this year as retailers pray for better sales during the key festive trading period.

With the cost of living crisis looming large over another year’s celebrations, the Toy Retailers Association’s annual DreamToys list of the 20 “hottest” gifts includes a dozen that are under £50. Among them is Pictionary vs AI (£24), a new version of the classic board game that pitches (terrible) human sketches against the might of AI processing power.

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Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney the Dinosaur film to be ‘adult’ and ‘lean into millennial angst’

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Mattel says the Barney movie will be inspired by Charlie Kaufman, while Barbie director Greta Gerwig is planning two Narnia movies for Netflix

The Daniel Kaluuya-produced movie featuring Barney the Dinosaur will be an “adult”, “surrealistic” and “A24-type” film inspired by Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze, it has been revealed.

In a wide-ranging report on the film-making plans of toymaker Mattel in the New Yorker, Mattel Films executive Kevin McKeon said of the project: “We’re leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids. It’s really a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, but it’ll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, growing up with Barney – just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”

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Barbie doll with Down’s syndrome launched by Mattel

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Firm partnered with US charity and medical experts to create part of ‘most diverse and inclusive doll line’

Barbie is launching its first doll with Down’s syndrome in an effort to help more children find a toy that represents them.

Mattel bosses said they wanted to bring out the doll to “enable all children to see themselves in Barbie”. They partnered with the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) in the US to bring the product to market.

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End of an era as London’s famed Sylvanian Families shop shuts

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Magnet for thousands of collectors of furry toys will close doors next week

Nineteen-year-old Molly Bell arrived in London early last week from Brisbane. By Wednesday, she had found her way to a tiny toy emporium in a nondescript street in north London to fulfil a dream. She needed to move fast as the Sylvanian Families shop, selling the eponymous toy animals and their habitats, closes on 22 April after more than 30 years.

Since 1992, the charming Highbury shop has been a magnet for thousands of collectors of the anthropomorphic animals – a magical grotto reminiscent of a bygone idyll.

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Festive rush for Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot as 70,000 queue online for ad toys

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Merchandise linked to supermarket’s latest Christmas campaign sells out online hours after going on sale

More than 70,000 shoppers have queued online and hundreds lined up outside UK stores to get their hands on Aldi’s toys and merchandise based around its Kevin the Carrot adverts.

By 10am, several versions of the soft toys had already sold out online amid high demand for merchandise linked to the hero of the discount grocery store’s festive campaign.

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Lively guinea pig and giraffe toys flagged as ‘Christmas bestsellers’

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Toy Retailers Association selects likely ‘must-haves’ for British market with eye on strained budgets

An interactive guinea pig which has babies and a “booty shaking” disco giraffe are predicted to be among the bestselling toys this Christmas as retailers battle for custom with toy ranges tailored to suit “every budget”.

With the cost of living crisis looming large, the DreamToys list drawn up by the Toy Retailers Association (TRA), features a selection of cheaper toys this year, with eight of the top 12 under £35. The cheapest item on the list is an £8 Squishmallow, a cuddly toy expected to be a popular stocking filler.

Barbie Cutie reveal doll £33

Gabby’s Purrfect Dollhouse £80

Goo Jit Zu figurine £11

GiGi the Giraffe £28

Mama Surprise £65

Magic Mixies Mixlings Magic Castle £30

Paw Patrol Big Truck Pups vehicle £18

Pokémon Elite Trainer set £42.50

Rainbow High fashion doll £32

Sink N’ Sand game £20

Original 7.5in Squishmallows £8

Lego Star Wars Hoth AT-ST £45

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Covid lockdown boredom inspires New Zealand teenager to build world-record 25-metre Lego train

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Alexander Blong smashed the previous world record for the most carriages in a Lego train

A New Zealand teenager has broken a Guinness World Record for the most carriages in a Lego toy train, beating the previous record by 32 carriages, after he was inspired to break a record during boring Covid lockdowns.

It took 14-year-old Aucklander Alexander Blong roughly 50 hours to build the 101-carriage locomotive. When finished, it measured 25 metres long.

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Lego to end all operations in Russia after earlier halt to deliveries

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Most of toymaker’s staff in Moscow to lose jobs and partnership with retailer to be wound up due to invasion of Ukraine

Lego is to cease all operations in Russia “indefinitely” after pausing deliveries to its 81 stores in the country in March.

The world’s largest toymaker said it was ending the employment of most of its staff in Moscow and terminating a partnership with Inventive Retail Group, the company that runs stores on its behalf in the country.

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Saudi authorities seize rainbow toys in crackdown on homosexuality

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Pencil cases, skirts and hats among items targeted for ‘contradicting Islamic faith and public morals’

Saudi officials have been seizing rainbow-coloured toys and clothing from shops in the capital as part of a crackdown on homosexuality, state media has reported.

The kingdom opened to tourism in 2019 but, like other Gulf countries, it is frequently criticised for its human rights record, including its outlawing of homosexuality, a potential capital offence.

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Platinum jubilee Queen Barbie sells out in three seconds

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Now online traders are asking for at least twice the original £95 asking price of the special commemorative doll

The Queen and Barbie are both icons, so the combination was sure to be hot property – now a special platinum jubilee doll has sold out and become the subject of fierce bidding on eBay.

John Lewis said its stock of the £95 doll sold out in three seconds, and most eBay sellers are now hoping to sell the sought-after collectible for at least double that.

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Playing with dolls helps children talk about how others feel, says study

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Research suggests playing imaginary games can aid development of social skills and empathy

Playing with dolls encourages children to talk more about others’ thoughts and emotions, a study has found.

The research suggests that playing imaginary games with dolls could help children develop social skills, theory of mind and empathy. The neuroscientist who led the work said that the educational value of playing with Lego and construction toys was widely accepted, but the benefits of playing with dolls sometimes appeared to have been overlooked.

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Playing to win: are Mattel movies about to take over Hollywood?

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The toy company has recruited Lena Dunham, Greta Gerwig and Tom Hanks to help usher in a new slate of films based on kids’ favourites

Deep down, everyone wishes they were Marvel. Armed with nothing but B-grade IP and heroic levels of pluck, a lowly comic book company slowly went about wrestling the film industry into an inescapable stranglehold. But a decade and a half on, Marvel has become the established order. It is time for a new plucky upstart to stage another revolution. That upstart?

Mattel. You know, Mattel. The toy people. No, really.

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T Mark Taylor, He-Man and Masters of the Universe toy designer, dies aged 80

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The California native also helped create the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in a lifetime working for Mattel

T Mark Taylor, artist and toy designer for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has died of heart failure at his home in southern California. He was 80.

He-Man was the muscled frontman for toy manufacturer Mattel’s Masters of the Universe franchise, which would later spawn an animated series that became a staple for children.

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Prickly present: dancing cactus toy that raps in Polish about cocaine goes viral

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Walmart removes listing by third-party seller after Ontario woman discovers one of toy’s songs is about cocaine and hopelessness

A word of warning before you go toy shopping this Christmas: beware the rapping cactus.

The toy, marketed as educational, may teach your children more than you want them to know, as a woman in Brampton, Ontario, discovered the hard way. The miniature, bright-green dancing cactus Ania Tanner bought sings in English, Spanish and Polish while squirming to the beat. After buying it for her granddaughter, Tanner discovered that one of the songs in its repertoire was an explicit tune about cocaine and hopelessness.

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Lego doubles profits as demand soars beyond Covid-19 lockdown

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Brick brand says it does not not expect problems with Christmas stock despite global supply crisis

Lego profits more than doubled in the first six months of the year as brick fans stayed home to build Star Wars and Harry Potter models even after the Covid-19 lockdown ended.

The Danish toymaker was one of the winners from Covid restrictions as children and adults turned to its model kits to occupy themselves – and that trend has continued. Sales jumped 43% to DKr23bn (£2.6bn) in the first six months of 2021 while net profits surged 140% to DKr6.3bn.

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Doctors in London report fivefold increase in children swallowing magnets

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Button batteries and magnets found in certain types of children’s toys associated with complications

There has been a fivefold increase in magnet ingestion over the past five years in young children amid a steady rise in hospital admissions in London caused by the swallowing of foreign objects, doctors have said.

While most of the time objects pass out of the body naturally without incident, button batteries and small permanent magnets found in cordless tools, hard disk drives, magnetic fasteners and certain types of children’s toys have been associated with complications.

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How a Spanish town pioneered dolls with Down’s syndrome

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The town of Onil has changed the lives of children everywhere

The first time Kelle Hampton glimpsed a doll with Down’s syndrome, anger boiled up inside her. Its exaggerated features bore little resemblance to the sweet facial characteristics that she loved about her daughter Nella, who was born with the genetic disorder.

The experience set the US blogger and author firmly against such dolls. But to her surprise, years later she found herself smitten with another doll. This time it had been carefully crafted to subtly capture the characteristics that made Nella unique. “This one was simply a beautiful doll any child would want to play with,” she said.

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Purrfect match: cats and their human doubles

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We all know someone who looks like their dog, but what about our feline friends? Photographer Gerrard Gethings set out to match moggies with their lookalikes – with uncanny results. By Kathryn Bromwich

If you’ve spent much time on the internet over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen some cats on there. Cats chasing their own tails. Cats attempting ill-judged jumps from one piece of furniture to another. Or, in the case of Gerrard Gethings, a cat who looked exactly like the actor David Schwimmer. “There’s something about the shape of Schwimmer’s face that’s quite interesting,” says the London-based photographer, “and the cat had exactly the same face. That pushed me over the edge, into thinking there was something in it.”

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