I've decided to do a regular Friday Blog, as well as the usual random blogs through the week.
This is mainly because on Fridays the weekend is coming and the kids and parents hit the stores and the Internet, and go shop.
Kids get to see the cartoons they want on a Saturday and Sunday morning, go to the cinema on Friday night, and so are subject to all the media they need to enable toy buying over the weekend, advertising and more, and they will go out and spend their hard earned pocket money in our toy stores. Hopefully!
After all they have been at school all week, swapping and bragging about what they have - which Moshling is best, which Match Attax formation is working, and they want to go in fresh on Monday mornings with more to tell their friends about and show off the new Minifigures they snagged with their hard earned moolah.
The PFB - Piggy Friday Blog, will simply be about whatever takes my fancy, obviously it'll mainly be about toys...
So this week, I'll be talking about Nostalgia and Toys and forthcoming ranges.
Yesterday, I managed to grab a sneaky preview of the new Cartoon Network version of Warner Brothers Animation Thundercats (2011), and have acquired the first 6 episodes before they debut on CN in the UK, tomorrow morning (11.00hrs).
Now, you may not believe it, but I was just a bit too old to be into Thundercats when they first hit our screens way back in 1985, but I knew of them, and their popularity back then, as there was a lot of toys and merchandise and has been a lot of retro Merchandise produced since. In fact, like Transformers, of old, again I missed the boat on these, but as the toys have become collectors items I've been kept up to date over the years on their popularity - and which is why we're here talking about a new series of Thundercats
The new series does not link to the old, its not a follow-on - probably what we call a re-boot. So along with the show, will be re-booted toys - kids today won't be interested in collectors figures from a series they don't know about, so this Thundercats series is all fresh, including its merchandise.
Animated using traditional Japanese animation its fresh and its modern, but has the same feel, and imagery as before, the Thundercats Logo is the same and the main characters remain. Lion-O Mumm-Ra, the Sword of Omens and the rest are all back
So in keeping with the new theme of the Thundercats, our friends over at Ban Dai - home of Ben 10, have launched an entirely new toy range to go with the new series. Potentially a risky venture, should the series be a flop, but trust me having seen episodes 1&2, it certainly looks good, and the kids are gonna snap up the toys, of which sneaky peaks were previewed at Toy Fair 2011, in London.
There will be the obvious collection of Action figures, and playsets and vehicles, including the what looks to be awesome, Thundertank (above), plus what I believe all the boys will be after is the Sword of Omens (see below), plus costumes and much much more.
I have a good feeling that this range could take a few retailers by surprise, if they don't stock it, as obviously the Nostalgic elements of this will inspire mums and dads who were 8,9,10 back in 1985, to buy their kids the latest stuff from this range. Its unlike anything on at the moment, where kids and adults can watch together. (Figures from the show which started in July in the States are indicating good numbers for the target audience but also high peaks of Nostalgic adults).
Which parents didn't take their kids to see the Smurfs, Transformers, X-Men and going back Spider-Man, etc., all with a little bit of Nostalgic memory in their hearts. Which parent doesn't buy a toy for their kids thinking, I wish I had that when I was little?
Savvy Film, TV and Toy execs and manufacturers know this. Now, some lines work and some don't. Transformers has been hugely popular, but the toys of old surely win out for nostalgic reasons with 30 somethings, but the kids don't know what went before, so they only know the now, and now its the movie toys, for Transformers - which is keeping things going. The new toy line for Thundercats, to go with the new fresh cartoon will be the same.
More memories seem to be coming later this year with Tintin. I wasn't particularly a fan, was more into Asterix, than the quiffed boy, but I'm sure there will be a few Dad's dragging their kids along to see what Speilberg has done with the nosey detective kid, with the white dog, and I'm sure this will be topped up by some toy ranges. I know Meccano has a vehicle range already lined up - two nostalgic lines in one, old style (Dad's favourite construction sets) Meccano & comic book favourite Tintin - surely a winner.
Providing the toy line is good solid and playable and links nicely to the series or movie, the products will work and sell. Thundercats is hitting at the right time, there's nothing like this at the moment, and its a series that kids will love regardless of the fact its been on before. Some revamps don't seem to appeal, but that's because they make them badly, rather than the idea being bad - see Knight Rider, for example, this remake could and should have been much better, and if it had lasted would have reaped great toy based rewards - it failed and the toys were unrealised.
Still I'm tipping this new Thundercats series to be very popular, and that both old-school Dad collectors and their kids will be fighting for the toys when they come along in the late Autumn, like they did when they made a couple of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtle movies a few years back. The movies were popular with the kids, even if the nostalgic parents didn't appreciate them as much as the cartoons they loved, kids still lapped them up and bought the toys in their millions, as did parents wanting to relive days gone by.
So, assuming that the line and series for Thundercats does do well, which I think it should, toy and film & TV peeps should keep making nostalgic based event movies that bring in both box office / TV advertising revenues and toy sales dollar, providing they are well made - and that being in conjunction with making new and fresh movies and TV shows. For what is a favourite with our children today, will probably be revamped, repackaged and resold in 20 years time to their own kids, Ban Dai must be signed up for the 2031 release of Ben 10 (I'm thinking Ben 30 - for a title!).
Many older brands and names have been revived based solely upon this urge for nostalgia. Traditional Fisher-Price Toys are being repackaged to be resold to cash rich parents to share with their kids as Retro Classics (above), as are old skool versions of Frisbee, Hula Hoop, and versions of Scalectrix and other toys and games are being remade, last year we even saw the Big Trak programmable vehicle. Not sure if that was as popular and sought after as retailers had hoped, because there seemed to be plenty left in January this year. Picking the right toys to sell and the right retro products to sell to the i-kids generation may be getting harder, but as long as parents are there to buy products from around 30 years past, we retailers will be stocking them and manufacturers will always be keen to supply them.
Nostalgia gets to us all in the end, do you remember the Flumps...? time for a remake...
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