Earlier today, I attended the Time to Play Spring Showcase, one of my favorite toy showcases each year. Every season, there are a variety of toys that are included on their “Most Wanted List” and that are featured throughout the showcase. This year, three things stood out to me:
1. Let’s hear it for the boys! There were a lot more toys that were geared towards boys than in the past. In fact, all of the toys (but one) on the 2011 Most Wanted List were geared towards boys or unisex. (Mattel’s Monster High Dawn of the Dance was the only traditionally “girl” toy that made the list.) Squinkies has even come out with a boy-themed Marvel line (that my boys happened to love!)…
2. Movie tie-ins are major. There are several movies that will be in the theatres this year. The accompanying toys are already here. There were a lot of promotional links to Cars, Green Lantern, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stronger Tides and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The Smurfs and Kung Fu Panda also had some related merchandise…but to a lesser degree.
3. Small is the new big thing. Many brands are coming out with small products and/or are making tinier versions of their original products. This makes the toys less expensive. As a result, they are more collectible and easier to trade with friends. Gomu erasers, Squinkies, Sqwishland caps, Hasbro’s Cyberverse (smaller action figures), MEGA’s Microdragons, miniature PetCakes and even Razor Pocket Scooters are just some of the items that fall under this trend. Mini is major. (Personally, I would be very wary of having toys that are smaller than the opening of a toilet paper roll around if I had very young kids. I would be concerned about choking hazards!)
In any event, below are photos of all the toys that I took. There is also a short video clip that I took of the toy that stood out the most to me: the Cars 2 Finn McMissile Zero Gravity car. It literally rode up the wall!
Did any of the toys catch your interest on first glance?
(Thanks to Time to Play for the showcase and the gifting suite where several of the smaller toys were distributed for review purposes.)
