DAVID DARMANIN speaks to toy importers and retailers, who expect action figures to be among their fastest selling items this Christmas
Three major toy importers and retailers say that Ben 10 and Gormiti figures are expected to be among the fastest selling items for boys this Christmas.
Ben 10 figures, targeting boys aged five or older, are alien figurines that have landed on earth, and as Pedigree Toyshops managing director Mario Balzan Demajo puts it: “they roam around the world destroying the bad guys”.
Ben 10 figures replicate the characters of the eponymous Cartoon Network production which started in 2006.
The story of Ben 10 centres around Ben Tennyson, who finds an alien pod as he goes stomping off to the woods. When he examines it, he discovers a mysterious, watch-like device, called the Omnitrix, stored inside. The device attaches permanently to his wrist and gives him the ability to transform into a variety of alien life-forms, each with their own unique powers, quite similar to DC Comics’ Dial H for Hero.
A spokesperson for Junior’s toyshop in San Gwann said that although Ben 10 figures have been popular in the market for quite a while now, “Alien Force (the sequel) has just come out, so the figures have been improved and so has the demand for them”.
Gormiti figures, on the other hand, are robot-like. Unlike Ben 10, the concept and the storyline of Gormiti was born out of the toy itself rather than being inspired from an animated series.
First developed in 2005 by Italian toy giants Giochi Preziosi, Gormiti are also referred to as Gli invincibili signori della natura (‘The invincible lords of nature’). The toy comes in a package containing a two-inch minifigure and a corresponding trading card. In toy stores, Gormiti come in blind packs – meaning that you never know what figure is contained inside. The figure and card represent characters belonging to one of four different tribes: Lava/Magma (Nerd Mountain); Forest (Forest refuge); Air (Peak of the deagle); Sea (The penuis den). In case a child opens the pack to find a figure and card he already owns, repeats are traded among peers. The craze of trading repeat Gormiti cards and figures has caught on like wildfire in school playgrounds, starting a trend that is somewhat reminiscent of the trading of Calciatori album stickers that have proved to be highly popular throughout the last decades.
To play Gormiti, every figure has a number printed on the back of the foot (1-9). Cards also come with a power number. Players simply add the power number to the number on the figure. Opponents compare the addition and the higher number wins.
Gormiti target an older age group that Ben 10 – normally boys aged seven or older – at a time when children are expected to start making a strong shift of preference towards electronic toys – Playstation, PSP, Wii, X-Box and the like.
Model Shop owner John Camilleri says that although electronic toys have proved to be “a growing segment in Malta, there seems to be a shift back to traditional toys in many other countries throughout the world.”
Reputable industry magazines such as Toy Trade also give indications of this new phenomenon, Camilleri explained.
“It does not mean that electronic toys will not remain strong,” he said, “but their craze has peaked and there seems to be a renewed interest in traditional figures.”
Camilleri acknowledges Gormiti as being “very strong” in the market, while he said he expects toys and games from the ‘Bakugan’ anime series as also being fast sellers this Christmas. “Bakugan is very popular,” he said. “It has featured as number one around the world for the past three years.”
Balzan Demajo also mentions Hanna Montana and High School musical pop stars as among the most popular toys for girls. “Hello Kitty cats are also really loved by girls,” he said. The said products are sold in the form of action dolls, bags or other merchandise.
Balzan Demajo expects the fast selling items this Christmas “to compare in a very similar way to other European countries,” as these toys “are relatively new to the market, say over the past 24 months.”
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