Video Barbie, unicorns vie for little girls' hearts (News Feature)

By Jean-Baptiste Piggin Feb 3, 2010, 18:04 GMT

Nuremberg, Germany - Soft hearts are not so common these days in dolls and furry toys for little girls: many of the newer toys at this week's Nuremberg Toy Fair have silicon chips pulsing at the centre.

But outwardly, the toys radiate wholesome charm. Right now, much of the toy industry seems to be edging away from anything that could seem brattish or smutty.

The Bella Sara trading card game, which has been captivating girls aged 5 to 12 in North America and Europe for the past three years, has put its aspirational messages squarely on the cards in the form of maxims, such as, 'Be honest and do things with love.'

The cards, figurines and a website introduce girls to a fantasy world of magic horses which live in royal palaces, have babies, hold masquerade balls and meet with fairies.

Girls need the cards to 'activate' special features on the website and learn more of the gossip about this magic realm.

George Stetar, an executive at Hidden City Entertainment, the US company behind the game, said at the Toy Fair in Germany, 'All the cards have positive affirmations on them. They are teaching self- esteem.

'We get a ton of e-mails and letters from moms to say they are so thankful,' he added. The wholesome values of the stories were what attracted Hidden City to the Danish-authored series in the first place.

'After we started with the positive messages, even grandmothers started getting involved with children in the game.'

Hidden City is working with a partner on possibly launching a Bella Sara animated cartoon series this year.

'We are close to a TV deal,' Stetar said.

Horsey characters are one of the constants of the little-girl fantasy market.

One of the 23 finalists for this year's Nuremberg toy innovation awards is Story Teller, a unicorn doll for girls aged 3 to 6 from Hong Kong toy company W A Jacobs Toymaker, which begins telling a story when touched on the forehead with a 'magic' wand.

It is one of the generation of toys that blend new electronic tricks with old story lines. The doll is the ninth product in Jacobs' Sparkle the Unicorn series.

The company's Australian-born chief, Wayne Jacobs, said the business was growing fast, and had passed 10 million dollars in annual sales.

Story Teller comes with a matching book and has only one story to tell, but Jacobs says that connects with younger children's need for repetition.

'They can read the same page over and over again. Children like to to do that,' he explained. 'Let it suit the age group you make it for.'

The Nuremberg innovation award is only open to toys which have not yet appeared on the market in their current incarnation.

Another of the finalists was Barbie Video Girl, a makeover of the US fashion doll (now 51 years old) with a tiny but genuine video camera fitted into her cleavage and a video display between her shoulder blades.

That may seem bizarre, but Julia Jensen, spokeswoman for manufacturer Mattel explained that it allows a child to film themselves while playing with Barbie, then watch the playback.

'They can then download the video to a computer. Girls love to be able to see themselves through the eyes of their Barbie doll,' said Jensen at the fair. The product is due for release in early autumn 2010.

Mattel says the Barbie does not just focus on fashion, but also on girls' aspirations as 'a way for girls to dream,' in Jensen's words.

The spokeswoman said the US company was confident the Video Girl would work. 'Obviously Mattel does a lot of testing with kids,' she added.

Also flagged for a release sometime in the autumn is The Perfect Puppy from the robot toy company Wowwee.

The life-sized furry dog is a new generation of Wowwee's Alive series of electronic soft toys, which are in the form of pets or wild animal cubs. The toys have electronic sensors which respond to touching, voices and changes in position.

Patrick Gigase, Wowwee's European chief, said the robots keep moving to a 'higher level.'

The Perfect Puppy is to take the idea a step further with more advanced sensors that will make the toy seem even more responsive.

'The dog 'knows' when it has been good or bad. It differentiates between a hard and soft voice, and between a hard and soft touch,' a French sales executive explained as he showed a boxed prototype.

Italian company Giochi Preziosi said at the fair it would be launching licensed sales next month in Europe of the Zhu Zhu Pets series, a family of robotic hamsters which were a huge success in December in the United States.

Packed with electronics, the toys, devised by US company Cepia, resemble real, live hamsters, but without the smell, and scuttle around on the floor or through plastic tunnels, responding to stroking with squeaks of pleasure.

The annual toy fair, which is being attended by 2,625 exhibitors from 64 nations, opens its doors to visitors on Thursday and continues till February 9.