Feature - Playground Crazes & Pocket Money Collectibles

Finger on the impulse

It’s no secret that over the previous 18 months, collectibles, pocket money and impulse toys have suffered perhaps more than any other category due to the marked change in consumer purchasing habits brought on by the pandemic. However, there’s an increasingly strong whiff of normality in the air, and we may be about to witness a major reversal of fortunes. Rachael Simpson-Jones speaks to a selection of suppliers to find out what’s on the way in the months ahead and which trends are driving sales.

For MGA, whose L.O.L. Surprise! brand has arguably been the queen of the collectibles space for several years, September marks a turning point – the moment when kids, many of whom enjoyed just a brief taste of school before the summer, return in earnest for a new year in the classroom. Neil Bandtock, MD UK & Ireland, MGA Entertainment, explains: “There’s no doubt the playground marketplace can make or break a brand. We have a tonne of lines launching this month to coincide with the back-to-school period, which makes a lot of sense from a strategic viewpoint. It’s also great that retailers are properly back in business now too. Consumers love to see product on-shelf. We all know the convenience offered by online, but there’s nothing better than going into your local toy shop and seeing all your favourite toys right there in front of you. Impulse purchasing drops off when you’re dealing entirely in online channels, but that element of the sales landscape has returned now, and sales are really picking up.”

Paul Dearlove, trade marketing manager at Schleich, is likewise enthusiastic about the retail landscape now lockdown has been eased, telling Toy World that it’s ‘great to see kids and their families returning to stores and enjoying shopping for toys again, particularly for collectibles which rely so heavily on that footfall’. While multiple other collectible brands suffered from the closure of stores last year, Schleich very much bucked the trend, with strong sales throughout the period of upheaval.

“Schleich has grown into an evergreen brand and is a hugely well-trusted amongst consumers, who have come to expect high-quality, detailed figures across the seven core franchises,” explains Paul, when asked what lies at the heart of Schleich’s success in this space. “Coupled with a strong programme of new products and innovation, the transition into more traditional blind bag collectibles is a logical extension, with consumers already having a good idea of what to expect.”

Here, Paul’s referring to Schleich’s collectible bayala unicorn foals, now on Series 2, and Mini Creatures, the latest addition to the company’s Eldrador world. Both these new collectible concepts perfectly complement the existing worlds of bayala and Eldrador Creatures and offer lower price points, as well as different purchasing opportunities. There are 17 Eldrador Mini Creatures to collect, all offering an additional element of surprise courtesy of the blind-bag packaging, while there are 12 unicorn foals to collect in each bayala series. Both ranges include a golden figure and small collectible poster, therefore providing a slightly more structured element of collectability and additional ‘chase’ anticipation. Series 3 of bayala unicorn foals launches in January, while Series 2 of Eldrador Mini Creatures is also slated for release next year.

As readers will be all too aware, the blind bag format has helped fuel huge sales of collectibles in recent years. For those brands that have been embracing the surprise unveil for a number of years, the key to continued success lies in offering fans something just that little bit different, time after time. At MGA, which Neil says boasts an ‘army of product and packaging designers’, every toy created draws inspiration from what is happening in the here and now, so kids can really relate to it. The company also aims to offer something unexpected and unattainable elsewhere, focusing on the whole play experience; with L.O.L., that means the packaging and unboxing right through to the toys inside and the play value they offer.

“L.O.L. Surprise! Colour Change Little Sisters launched a few weeks ago and very much occupies that core pocket money sweet spot, while the Colour Change Dolls offer a larger size at just under £10,” adds Neil. “These offer a very new and exciting unboxing experience; not only does the doll change colour, the ball it comes in does too. Then we have the L.O.L. Surprise All Star Sports Summer Games. The characters features glitter detail and lots of surprises. I’d love to think the launch of All Star Sports Summer Games was timed to coincide with the summer Olympics, but in truth there’s always a major sports event going on and I think that was just good luck. We’ve also got L.O.L. Surprise! Present Surprise dolls, which come hidden inside a gift box. From this month, we have some major new tentpole lines landing. We have launches timed to support the October release of L.O.L. Surprise: The Movie, and these will introduce something completely different to the brand’s current portfolio. You can actually make movies with some of these toys, and - as seen across so many other lines - the packaging is integral to the play.”

MGA Entertainment’s Zapf brand entered the pocket money collectibles space in 2019 with Baby born Surprise, introducing nine cute babies with lifelike functions such as drinking and nappy wetting, plus a special eye colour reveal. When bringing these lifelike features to the collectibles market, Zapf harnessed its expertise in creating market leading nurturing dolls, and since the original range launched, Zapf has introduced a further five series including Animal Babies and Butterfly Babies, plus multiple series of Baby born Surprise Pets. The company’s latest launch, Baby born Surprise Mini Babies, has allowed the brand to expand into something new and even more engaging, with multiple babies to collect in each pack and the added element of not knowing if twins or triplets lie within the swaddle.

“Our collectible ranges allow Zapf’s retail partners to capitalise on our heritage and expertise in the dolls market,” explains Kasia Leskow, Zapf Creation marketing manager, when asked how Baby born Surprise differs from other collectibles in the marketplace. “We have a large and loyal customer base, and over the years we’ve built some exceptionally strong brands which have given us the confidence and impetus to move into what is a competitive and busy category. We also have a lot of knowledge about what consumers want, parents and children alike; we know that the rest of 2021 will see the focus remain on play within the home, and believe that traditional, nurturing play will be a big part of that. We pride ourselves on our ability to reflect the everyday lives and routines of children in our toys, and on the amount of cutting-edge design we bring to the market too.”

Kasia adds: “Our collectible ranges offer the elements kids would expect to see – unboxing, surprises, lifelike features and so on – but it goes beyond that. Zapf creates truly beautiful dolls. They have adorable faces, and the attention to detail is second to none, from the eye-colour reveals to the patterned swaddles. The company ensures that all its products offer amazing quality, and our customers appreciate this. We also want to make sure our toys offer real, enjoyable, engaging play opportunities, not just a fast unboxing that’s over in seconds. Each of our Baby born Surprise collectibles comes with a collector’s sheet, inside which is a fun game they can play to reveal their baby’s date of birth, star sign, favourite vegetable and more. Our toys get kids’ imaginations going and allow play to shine through.”

Zapf isn’t the only company dealing in blind bag babies. IMC Toys’ Cry Babies Magic Tears Dress Me Up and Cry Babies Magic Tears Storyland are both available now, with the former providing collectors with new opportunities to dress and accessorise their cute character. The latter range includes six Fairytale characters complete with a removeable outfit and matching pet, plus a rare Christmas Claus doll.

Blind collectibles aren’t the only thing kids are spending their pocket money on. In our August issue, we examined the spectacular resurgence of the fidget toy, particularly poppers. While some retailers are reporting that sales of these products have slowed a little, they were so high before that ‘slow’ arguably still means ‘very good’ – just not as good. HGL, Foxmind (distributed by Asmodee), Tangle, Fat Brain (distributed by Tomy), Hunter Price and many more reacted quickly to the emerging craze, though for some, the closure of schools initially proved a major hurdle.

“A key example of this is our Magni Rings, powered By Fingears,” says Richard Belford, sales director at Hunter Price. “We were confident this would be a key trend and initially had strong interest across the market, but with the whistle being blown on playground games due to the pandemic, the buzz factor soon slowed. However, we were primed and ready for schools to return earlier this year and have seen a significant rise in orders since. Fidget Pops have of course been a big winner this year. A key to our success as a business was our speed to market, but also we were continuously offering fresh and exclusive designs, shapes, formats and licences to our customers.”

Alongside fidgets, we’ve also been seeing strong sales of trading cards, long a staple of the playground marketplace. Konami, the publisher of the hugely successful Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, says demand is so high it’s struggling to keep stock on retailers’ shelves, but with a raft of new releases on the way for Q4, fans still have plenty to look forward to. Dawn of Majesty launched last month, swiftly followed by Egyptian God Deck: Slifer the Sky Dragon and Egyptian God Deck: Obelisk the Tormentor, and the Tin of Ancient Battles, a goldcoloured tin case featuring the middle section of the mysterious Pharaonic tablet, will be available at the end of this month, further fuelling already sky-high demand. Other Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG products on the way this year include collector’s sets, tournament packs, structure decks and accessories.

The back-to-school season this year is clearly going to provide a major boost to the collectibles and pocket money space, and there’s no shortage of new product coming through – but Neil at MGA nevertheless tempers his optimism with a note of caution.

“If it wasn’t for operational issues this would probably be a bumper year,” muses Neil. “It feels like people have money in their pockets; not going abroad and saving money in other ways has given finances a little boost for many, and we’re noticing that. Just imagine what the market would be like if we didn’t have these shipping issues. At MGA, we’re using planes, trains and automobiles to get product in. Train freight costs the same as shipping now. It used to be around four times as expensive as sea transport, but at least it wasn’t ten times as expensive, like air freight was. Nowadays, trains take four weeks and the price is similar. We’re investigating every option available to us to ensure kids have all the collectibles they could want this Q4.”

Over the next few pages, Toy World takes a look at the newest pocket money, craze and collectible toys to hit shelves (and playgrounds) this year.