An Own Goal - Football and the Toy market?

Football is a big big BIG business and selling product within the market is primarily done via the clubs, through exclusive licencing deals, and the majority of products produced generally don't fall in to the 'toy' market. I know you can buy stationery, clothing, balls, and plush, but most of these items fall under the practical or mascot element of the industry rather than playability and 'toy' we like to deal with.

The Bear league range is looking pretty neat and I know Build-a-Bear has licenced several bear sized outfits from the major clubs, which obviously cover the plush / bear side of the market, but its still not action enough for me!

Trading cards - fall into playground grazes and games, and the Match Attax Cards have been hugely popular particularly in the UK with the strength of the Premiership Brand. And i know these are considered in toy retailing, but for me cards are not traditionally 'toys'.

There have been several attempts to break into pure toys within this market and the now defunct Corinthians 'ProStars' range proved popular and collectable but still remained a collect and play 'game' toy rather than a 'action' based play toy.

I suspect the market for Action Figure style toys based upon footballers has proven difficult to market, as there are several barriers to playability. 

Firstly, loyalty. In Star Wars, for example, you buy all the products to create an environment to play, but 99% of football fans will only buy their own team that's is Club Crest branded. So, only ranges of major successful clubs are marketable for a start. Although Corinthians had a limited success at selling all top clubs. No offence to Stoke or Wigan but their top players are only going to sell to a small % of the relatively small number of fans that they have, unlike the small % of a much larger fan base, that clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea have.

Secondly, is playability. What can you do with a toy that comes in one just outfit? Which is designed for just one purpose, and is part of a larger team who all wear the same outfit? Unlike Armies for example, like Action Man, they fight, die, play in various scenarios and the scenario can be created over and over against enemies and such like, but if you've only got a collection of one or two single football characters all wearing the same kit its not a playable toy, its a display figure. Hey even Action Man released a footballer range and even some Kits (Clothing) when they celebrated their 40th Anniversary.

Thirdly, is choice of peripheral accessories. Usually, boys action figures come with vehicles, playsets, and much more, including different outfits, and accessories like weapons. Footballers can come in one outfit for HOME team, and possibly and way colour. Fans don't tend to buy the casual dressed footballer, or even the footballer in pre-match tracksuit. They want the player to arrive fully dressed in the team strip. Even a 'football' accessory is not totally necessary. There is no playset, a stadium diorama is way too big - and realistically you'd need 22 action figures and a set of linesmen and refs, and managers.... Subbuteo did this on a smaller scale for many years, and that's a game, rather than a toy, specifically (not that i'm knocking Subbuteo which is a superb action game, as is standard table football / fusball). And it appears Total Soccer are replicating this with some similar to Subbuteo sets (see below)

Anyhow, I'm not sure kids would want players to drive up in their Bentley Toy Car in a Ken styled suit and get 'dressed' for Training, then change into the official kit. (see Ashely with Wag and car below - would you buy the lot?)

So where does this leave us, with action figure type sports toys? I remember back in my day - the 1980's - we used to have a range of statue style figures approx 6" high of the starts of the day, but they were simply situated on a green base with a solid ball and no points of articulation. I loved my figures I had but they did just sit on a shelf. Tonka also produced a range in the late 80's early 90's as well, again these were simply for display.


And I know over the years similar products have been produced, to varying degrees of success... and ports star collectables of this type are pretty big business in the USA, with pro stars being immortalised in all sorts of ways, in various sports, from American Football, Baseball, Basketball and Nascar. 

So this brings us up to date with today's new toy which is Pattni-Imaginations 'Match-Stars' series of blister packed action figure styled footballers, featuring the Stars from Chelsea, Man United, Liverpool , Arsenal & Barcelona.


These are fully articulated action figures in full licenced kits, with pretty good likenesses of the players. Retailing at £9.99 they come on club crested cards.

from the official Pattni-Imaginations website comes this detail:

MATCH-STARS is a new and exciting range of fully authentic action figures that will feature the world's best players including Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas to name a few. 

Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester United and FC Barcelona are all signed up for the debut Match-Stars range. Players from each team will feature in the official home kit of the new season, complete with club sponsors and the official Premier League name and numbering print for all English teams.

Combined with incredible detail and multiple points of
articulation, is a unique kicking leg feature.

Take multiple types of shots by adjusting the pose and
pass the ball to another team mate by lowering
the intensity.

Pull out a top performance to become a Match-Star.

It does sound like these figures will work well together, with the ball included in each pack, it may have some great playability whereby you will be able to pass and kick to your friends. 

Obviously this is the best we can hope for really, in terms of Action Figures and sports stars, only the likes of David Beckham, could probably pull off a range that includes a WAG, (after all there is a Posh Spice doll - going back a few years) - would anyone buy a playeset or sports car, as well as the action figure, the Beckham kids, the trendy outfits, or do boys, who will buy these Match-Stars, just want the players in the Home Kit?

There is obvious potential for away kits, and other teams, including Internationals, but that's down to Licenecing from official Associations, which I know can be difficult. Its an interesting development, but I suspect its down to how well this intial set of figures go and who buys what. 

Maybe it'll be the start of something new, i'll try and get some of these in stock - especially as the new season has just kicked off and footy is back on the radar again. Let me kno what you think.

POP goes the Toy Biz...

So the X-factor is back on UK TV screens and no doubt across all media, with the tabloids picking up on every story going already. Its a non stop marketing machine for Simon Cowell and his Syco Production house... but its also bonanza time for savvy toy makers. 

The biggest stars from previous X-Factors, JLS and One Direction from last year, are previous top sellers, and future top sellers. With one Direction merchandise in the form of Posters, Magazines and such like already being clambered for since the sell out X-Factor tour in the Spring. This is even before the band have released any real material, and with Vivid behind licencing for dolls similar to their JLS range already scheduled and set to hit by Christmas, I think that the One Direction toys will be massive hits come Christmas for all girls aged 5 and over!

Not ones to miss a trick either, are the current reigning young boy band, The Wanted, who have also been licenced  to Vivid - with a deal to market Dolls as well, although these are not expected to hit until January 2012, probably to give space for the One Direction dolls to hit.

In a battle of the boy bands, i think rather than in the charts the success will be measured on the toy shelves, with individual battles between band members and the two bands themselves... I predict that like the Aston doll, the Harry One Direction figure will be most popular with the girls!

That's not forgetting the single artists like Justin Bieber who also has a range of 12" sized dolls too. The market for pop stars is getting over crowded, and I hope it doesn't end with buyer fatigue.

Bearing in mind all these toys are aimed at girls, who love Boy Bands (and Boys - like Bieber), there's no room for more is there? Well, it appears so, with Barbie releasing a Saturdays Fashionista tie in, not entirely a range of dolls - just yet - but an on pack promotion with a dedicated website to publicise the promotion and to push the Fashionista ranges, the doll market this year will be a jostling environment.

That's also coupled with the new Barbie superstar style advertising due to hit movie theatres and TV over the coming months, promoting Barbie as a real life star, with no product on display just the number one girl herself being papped on a red carpet - look out for it.

Not only are these ranges all about the dolls, we have Monster High dolls also being heavily promoted by Mattel the home of Barbie, and also some new exclusive Toy Story products from the short that preceded Cars 2 - entitled Hawaiian Vacation, which sees Barbie, Ken and the rest of the Toy Story gang all dressed up in Hula gear...

It's certainly going to be an interesting few months within the Doll market as these boys and girls scrap it out for attention, and I'm sure the fever that the X-Factor will generate for bands like , JLS & One Direction will help generate good sales for Vivid and encourage girls to get playing with their Dolls again.

Movies & Toys

Been catching up on a few movies in recent weeks, some new some not so... and was just wondering what decisions go into deciding in advance what toys come out from these movies?

I'm not gonna review the movies, as such or issue any spoilers, so you can rest easy reading on, but I'm here to talk about the toy opportunities and the likes, that stem from these films... go to a movie website or catch the movie yourself if you want to know what happens, after all - many movies are about personal opinions, and what you like and don't like, I mean - I'm not expecting the Smurfs to be anything but a movie about the Smurfs... its not award winning material and should never be seen as such.... anyway, I'm not here to critic the critics who really get my goat sometimes...but that's another blog.

Anyway, so, last week we went to see Cowboys & Aliens at the movieplex - without the kids - which was nice and also cheap - 241 Orange Wednesdays!

I loved it, being a huge Bond and Star Wars fan, it had two leads that I could easily relate to, with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford fighting Aliens in the wild west. It strikes me that this kind of movie, with Cowboys, and Indians and Aliens and a super wrist gadget, deployed by Craig, and loads of space ships, lends itself to a toy franchise.

Now i know its a 12A, but hey that's not stopped a who heap of Halo Wars toys, Transformer Toys, and more from movies with ratings beyond the target audience for play figures, hey even Revenge of the Sith was a 12A rated movie, and that's from George Lucas who gave us, Jar Jar Binks and Ewoks. So who made the decision or not to licence the toys from this.

It struck me that toys similar to those released for Independence Day or Iron Man would go down well... a whole bunch of Cowboy Characters and a Whole heap of Aliens.... I know kids can now create the whole environment of this movie themselves by buying a load of Cowboys (Woody?) and using any Aliens (Ben 10?) they have - because its been created in a movie (albeit a comic book transfer).

Mr Favreau, CvsA director and who directed Iron Man - another movie with a higher rating than the toy buying audience, again a 12A - surely likes marketing of this kind, as I know Iron man had a load of action figures cars, etc. which were very popular with even the younger audience too young to go see the film.

It just seems an odd decision, but i think its down to the number of marketable movies coming out this year, but I'd have liked to have seen some action figures anyway....and its possible the film producers maybe have another movie coming out or already out with figures likely to sell even better...

Still, whilst were on Daniel Craig and Bond surely there is a licensee out there to make some Action Figure sized Bond Characters. I know action man released a whole collection of collectable 12" Doll sized exclusive figures a few years back, but it'd be awesome to have to scale Bond figures to ride in Cars from all of the movies. Hey, I'd even buy the Octopussy all-girl rowing boat playset.

Seriously, though, I think Bond does lend it self to a range of Star Wars like action figures. I know there have been funding issues for the most recent bond movie, and i think this would raise a few bob for future movies. Boys and adults alike would clamber for these. There must be reasons for not doing it, because I cannot see any other movie franchise since Star Wars that has NOT had action figures attached to them.

Also saw Super 8, another Alien movie - which I suspect like ET, which it pays a lot of homage, and the Producer of Super 8 is Spielberg, would lend itself to a toy franchise - even a train set, see the movie and you'll understand. Maybe they are intent on selling handheld cameras off the back of this instead.

Another movie I caught was again another Alien based movie in Battle Los Angeles (12A), I said I was catching up...again it kind of lends itself to a toy franchise in the same vein as Transformers, with soldiers, tanks and aliens all in the mix, it certainly would go down with the 8-12 year olds.

My kids have both seen Cars 2 & the Smurfs, which both obviously have been marketed well, with the Smurf tie in with McDonald's running right now, and Cars being promoted everywhere, from Toys R Us to Argos and beyond...

I'm wondering if studios who have game producing arms are channeling all of their toy output into games marketing, what with Halo Wars and NFS (Need For Speed) both hitching rides on the ever growing popularity of Mega Bloks, and I'm wondering if the tie in to these multi million dollar businesses are better value, and better audiences for toys especially for boys.

Maybe when Real Steel pops out in October my toy prayers will be answered, as I saw some great figures and playsets for this way back at Toy Fair in January 2011, and am looking forward to these Robot fighting action figures. Lets just hope they hold up to play fighting action.

I know there will also be a lot of Tintin related merchandise later in the year, and perhaps that's the Spielberg movie that will get people more excited than the probably too dark for toys, Super 8, although I do recommend it, as it is a great movie...!

Maybe its that too many major toy manufacturers have been burnt by movies in the recent past, with poor cinematic responses, and shelf warming toys. I'm not sure either the Green Lantern nor Thor have been that popular both at the box office or at the Toy Shop, and toys from movies in the recent past, have not really done well either, due to poor ratings of the movies, including the dreadful Avatar: The Last Airbender (did anyone buy any Avatar, Airbender Lego?) and the exceedingly much better Golden Compass which left a lot of Toys unsold.with more and more comic book conversions happening as well, and in the near future, studios and companies willing to tie in are perhaps being much more cautious. 

I'm also thinking that the toy retailers are also unsure of where to put their stock and what to invest in. Think of all the action figure related movies of the recent past, Iron Man, Pirates, Potter, Star Wars, Green Lantern, Green Hornet, Thor, Captain America, X-Men, Wolverine, Star Trek, etc. the choice in the past few years has been overwhelming, its no wonder that Action figure sales specifically have declined in an overall growing toy market. 

There will never be a time when a movie like Captain America or Iron Man doesn't have action figures and toys associated with it, but it does appear that some franchises, film studios or whatever are not choosing to spend out on excessive but ultimately expensive and loss making marketing via toys. Lucas back in 1977 lead the way, but I think the times have changed and people are overloaded, and its probably Lucas's fault were in this situation what with his over marketing of Episode I. (see Star Wars comments in blog further below).

Being a boy myself its sad to see the state of the Action Figure Market. Its been a bit of overkill with so many 'action / comic' style movies coming out recently and in the near future. 

I'm sure the new Spider-Man movie will be great, but its totally unnecessary, its not part four its a new origin story which we've already had! It certainly will have loads of toys, toys of which will be not much different to those released in the past and still available on the 2ndary market from the previous 3 Spider-Man movies. 

Heck, we've had 3 Hulk movies, all with toys, all of which have had limited success and shelf warming products that have not moved. Cinema and toy manufacturers have got lazy, and are fleecing consumers for inferior products. I know that even being a massive Star Wars fan, Mr Lucas will do the usual when Episode I - 3D appears next year. 

As consumers we need to keep up and with so much product its hard for boys (and girls) to invest time in a product when a new one appears the next week or month. Back in the day star wars was the only action figure line, and it lasted from 1978 to 1985 before dieing out. Even the latest range has been going strong since 1995, but other film related toy lines have moved off the shelves, only a range like Cars / Toy Story have had recent longevity. Even a series like Harry Potter has seen dwindling returns in toys as the movies have got older and more adult themed (only Lego have kept the playability with these ranges).

I suspect its down to a great toy manufacturer like Hasbro who have had years of success selling Star Wars that they keep the line going. These new band wagon jumping toy makers and film franchises are trying to swim in increasingly crowded waters.

I think this coming festive season will be the make or break for many big movies and toy makers, action figures in particular are likely to be heading towards a watershed moment, because I think other companies, like Playmobil & Lego and the playground crazes are likely to be more important to boys and girls looking to spend their pocket money and adding to their Xmas lists over the next few months.

Here's hoping some better choices and better decisions are made concerning movie toys over the next few months and into 2012... because I fear for some major players banking on the next big thing and being sucked under....

Star Wars looking healthier already

 

following my previous post last week regarding Star Wars and looking forward I popped down to my local Toys 'R' Us at the weekend and was pleased to see a better selection of Star Wars product adorning the shelves... it seems that the build up to the Blu Ray release, Christmas and the forthcoming 3-D releases are already being felt with loads of New Lego re-issues, the Millenium Falcon is back, a new Hoth Echo Base with three new exclusive figures is out (see above). Plus a few more decent sets for Xmas. 

There is also the vintage style release starting to come out with large ships (including the Tie Fighter again), and other great sets hitting our shores. Its good to see. Also like the lightsaber vehcile launchers, which have just landed.

Star Wars NEW Style Toys

Following my post last week about loving Star Wars, and looking forward to potential new toys, the Bi-Monthly edition of Star Wars Insider arrived and it showcased some future toys that will certainly be worth tracking down. Aside from the latest (third) wave of the Vintage Carded collectors figures with a new Barriss Offee and Han Solo sculpts, there is an awesome new range of preschool (as they call it in the states) Toys. Playskool Heroes, which are similar in style to the older Playskool released products have been updated and made even cuter, featuring easy to handle toys, vehicles and playsets these fun charcaters and vehciles will have kids of preskool and probably much older ages smiling. Some of the characters scheduled for first release include, Anakin & R2 with Jedi Starfighter, Obi-wan & Freeco Speeder & Luke and Han with Snowspeeder. Due in the autumn expect the bigger sets, to sell for around £19.99.

Nothing Basic about Barbie

Just found got in stock some hard to find Collectable Barbie Basic Dolls - 12" supermodel figures, which I thought would go down well, seeing as we've started a new season of Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model, with Elle Macphearson on Sky Living. These basic dolls come in various model looks - all sporting the classic LBD, and are highly collectable, get them all for a fashion show or your own Britain's or America's or Australia's Next Top Model show!!

check them out here

always sourcing rarer hard to find figures and collectables as well as new season lines... Piggy Bank Toys

New Landing Page

ok, so its kinda irrelevant with no content as yet, but we have a holding / landing page for www.piggybanktoys.com, which re-directs back to the blog and all our outlets (amazon, facebook, twitter)

please keep checking all the sites for new stock every day and updates on the official site's progress...

Piggy Bank Toys, where toys won't break the bank!

Pig is the word

Being as we are Piggy Bank Toys, and there seems to be more than a mild interest in pigs these days, we are going to be doing our bit to help promote these little cuddly creatures, with some old and new toys over the next few months. See our Piggy Section on the site when it launches...to include none other than Peppa, our favourite TV pig, and all the pigs you can think of...including a Certain muppet pig when the new Muppets movie launches next year!

Until then we have obviously sourced some of the loveable Teacup Piggies Toys and these have just arrived in stock, with a range of 6 First Series Pigs to collect, plus outfits and the Awesome light and sounds Showtime Limo, all available at our store .

Piggy Bank Toys, not just specialising in Pigs but loving them nonetheless... Piggy Thoughts and Love always appreciated...

Lite Sprites

New in this week at Piggy Bank Toys, from WowWee we have a great toy for Girls Lite Sprites, wonderful light up colour dolls / figures which interact with Wands and Pods, 4 sprites in at the moment, including the Dark light Lite Sprite 'Bleak', and the more cheerful sounding Meadow, Brooke, and Astra, plus the Wands and Pod sets....All sisterhood of light figures live in Lite-Opia and a magical world of colour and light....

these look set to sell really well over the next few months...

click the link to see and buy the products

Still Loving the 'Wars

Many of my friends know that what really got me into the toy biz, was Star Wars. 

I was fortunate enough to be born before the original Star Wars era, and remember, more specifically going to see the Empire Strikes back with my dad and sister, at aged 10, at the ABC in Brighton, having to queue to get it, with the line wrapping round the block. It was awesome. 

Now, I had lots of toys when I was young, but by the time the Empire Strikes back came out I didn't get as many of the figures as some kids did, and was a bit envious of the boys who got the lot, and sadly the ones I did have were 'got rid of' as I grew out of them. That's generally what happened to kids toys back then, you got them, out grew them and moved on...but we did play with toys until a much older age, because we didn't have video games. Maybe a friend with a PC had Fred or Manic Miner or Asteroids... but not me, toys lasted to 13-14 until bikes took over...

So, it wasn't until the re-release of the re-vamped Kenner range in 1995, with the buff Wrestlemania style Power Of The Force 2 figures that were released. I'd just finished University and was out working - earning my own money, and as a consequence could afford to buy my own things - I bought a whole heap of the new Star Wars toys and figures. It was great being able to buy and collect again, i kept the figures in boxes, because we knew that those who'd saved them before in the 1970's and 1980's in boxes now had collections worth £1000's.  

Ok, the dream didn't come completely true, and there are many more figures in mint packets still in the market from 1995, 16 years down the line, which sadly don't fetch as much as figures released 20 years prior to their release in 1985 do, but that's the way the market changed. Lucas, a canny dude, managed to over populate the market with Star Wars, once he knew the franchise was rejuvenated. And boy what rejuvenation....

After the launch of the 1995 figures and tie ins with books, Shadows of the Empire a spin off was a massive success, Lucas announced that the movies would be revisited and repolished, to create the Special Editions, this undoubtedly generated new interest, more toys and more money for Mr Lucas. We as fans loved it, especially me, I had no kids only disposable income to spend, and boy did I.

The success of the Special Editions and their subsequent release on VHS Video - remember them - allowed for Lucas to announce the news that he was going to release the back story in a series of three prequel movies starting with Episode I - A Phantom Menace.

well that was it - fandom in Star Wars went into meltdown. And George Lucas sat rubbing his hands as everyone and everything wanted a piece of the Star Wars Pie, and boy was the pie big... there was so much stuff, in fact so much that there was more than some companies could cope with and the Licencing cause a number to fold soon after with stock piles of Jar Jar and Darth Maul embossed stock not shifting, there was only so much us fans could carry!

In fact with the launch of the second prequel in 2002, Attack of The Clones, licences were scarcer and less products were issued, but that's not to say they didn't continue to make toys and games. The release of the final ever live action movie was scheduled for 2005, with the Revenge of the Sith, and it tied the whole saga together, there were several key lines released during this movie as well.

We as collectors and fans thought that was probably it but we were wrong, the toys from Hasbro who have been with Star Wars since taking over Kenner, have kept coming with new ranges variations, anniversary releases and more.

The Clone Wars off-shoot movie, released in 2008 and subsequent cartoon series on Cartoon Network, now about to embark on its 4th Series, based upon a previous cartoon series, propelled Star Wars back into the domain of the kids, and the Clone Wars toys have been sought out by a new army of fans - some not even old enough to have been alive when Revenge of the Sith came out, let alone the Original Trilogy. 

There are hundreds of Clone Wars products in the market, almost too many for the more hard core adult fans to bear, but Mr Lucas has all along said it was a kids movie, and has kept true to that, although the Revenge of the Sith did have its too dark for kids moments, at the heart of it all has been the kids, and the deal Lucas did to keep the merchandising rights was not only a canny one, but also a wide ranging one for the current toy industry. Its hard to differentiate between weather some movies today are made to sell toys, or to sell DVDs / theatre tickets. Take the two Pixar Franchises, Cars & Toy Story, and Transformers, all are based upon selling a secondary product, and in the case of Transformers, a cartoon based upon a toy, based upon a film remoulded back into a toy - its come full circle almost! I don't deny Toy Story was a success without the toys, but Pixar / Disney must have made more out of merchandise than the films, I know Lucas has! I mean look at the craze over the first Buzz Lightyear Toy!

So where does that leave us with Star Wars? With no movies to promote new product (see Cars 2 - there is Episode I Levels of products about for the latest Cars Movie) can Star Wars toys get back on the lists of kids this year?

Well in the last couple of years, I feel that the toys have dried up a bit, the Clone Wars products are still out there and these are boosted by Lego's continued involvement since 1999's The Phantom Menace, whereby they are releasing new and older movie sets, but other than that, the toys are a bit indifferent and thin on the ground, even if they are better quality and better styled these days.

It just seems Star Wars has slipped from people's minds recently, there are no big campaigns at the moment, because too many other big movies are competing for the space in stores, we've had Pirates, Potter and Transformers, Cars, Toys Story and Smurfs and Spider-man and Batman and more are coming...

but fear not because Lucas has more to let loose and I feel this will see the release a new wave of toys and collectors and collections. 

Later this year the Blu Ray release of the entire Star Wars Series will hit the shelves, and in crisper high def, people will definitely want to renew their  interest with everything Star Wars, which is why I'm doing my bit now to get some products shifted!

2012 also sees the release of all 6 movies, in order of Chronology, and firstly of the Phantom Menace (Episode I) again but in all new 3-D!!! 

With that will come the launch of toys and more... and big promotional - I'm sure some majors will be on board to promote this, including McDonald's, and others....

so all is not dark with the force, there are some interesting events happening, and even if the long proposed live action TV series, doesn't materialise for another year or so, we will be celebrating the Wars for the foreseeable future...

so if you are looking for a few ideas, feel free to pop over to the Piggy Bank Toys store at Amazon, where we have a lot of new in - but mainly older Star Wars items from All six movies and cartoons, everything from Figures, to Trading Cards to Mouse mats and more....

 
all of the Star Wars items shown here are for sale on the site, (except the Blu Rays!) and much much more....


Star Wars here