Share this on

Spin doctors

Array of play patterns, not me-too-ism marks tops trend

Dave Gerardi -- Gifts and Dec, 4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

In Japanese, the word is 'Koma.' The cone-shaped variety is called the 'Begoma,' from which 'Beyblade' is derived. These gyroscopic instruments are just 'tops' in the United States, and more than one manufacturer is counting on their success.

Hasbro is banking on the Beyblade phenomenon in Japan. Nelvana has the U.S. rights to distribute the animated property while the Rhode Island-based toymaker brings the collectible spinners to market. Beyblade Stadium is the deluxe SKU where kids will battle their highly customizable tops. "It's a proven play pattern," says Samantha Lomow, Hasbro's vice president of marketing, boys toys. "It has everything kids love: collectibility, skill and strategy."

Each company is pushing a different play pattern. For Hasbro, tops are custom, high performance machines. Bandai's Cyclonians are offbeat characters with removable arms and legs. Playmates' Z-Keez from Re: Play are designed to compete in maze races. On the high end, Micro Logic's laser precision Quark is modeled in brass, tungsten or gold.

Bandai Vice President of Marketing Michael Riley is positioning Cyclonians slightly younger than Beyblade's core 10- to 12-year-old boy market. "They're quirky robots: good guys and bad guys with a comic book in each package," he says. Z-Keez, on the other hand, are what Re: Play President Paul Demty calls, "tops with an attitude." Divided into two sub-brands, Micro Spinnerz are 65 collectible mini tops with varying performance characteristics depending on the tip; Gyro Spinnerz corner the extreme sports angle. Yes, there's an arena, but the key driver is the Gyro Spinnerz Thrashin' Park, ostensibly a stunt track—think if Tony Hawk eschewed nose grinds for spinning tops. Players must navigate their tops through the obstacles in the fastest time. "It's battling but battling in skill," Demty says.

But what's a girl to do? Playmates is targeting that market with a fantasy motif for its Whirl Top Wonders line. Depending on the SKU, a small fairy or dragonfly pops out of the top and spins alongside. "At Toy Fair, people said it reminded them of Sky Dancers," says the company's vice president of girls toys, Lori Farbanish. The line has a softer look than the boys' lines and Farbanish hopes the "magical blooming feature" will hook girls in the small doll aisle where they will be merchandised.

Duncan's Tetra Tops, meanwhile, boast austere scientific names such as octahedron and icosahedron. They're the fruit of inventor Kurt Przybilla's fascination with Buckminster Fuller, the architect and mathematician best known for inventing the geodesic dome. Tetra Tops are unique in that, unlike typical tops, they have multiple axes of spin. "That part surprised me the most during the patent search," says Przybilla, a part-time English teacher in Manhattan. His spheres are also educational (he held a recent demo for Duncan at the National Science Teachers Convention). "It's about how nature builds on an atomic level," he adds. Teacher's guides are available through Duncan. The line has potential to skew much older than its competitors, but that doesn't mean littler kids are left out. "They can match the (included) trading card to the shape," Przybilla says. "You'd be surprised how good they are—better than adults."

If nothing else, tops, at heart, rely on a traditional play pattern. They've even been found in Egyptian pyramids. This time around, however, they're intended for the living.

Share this on

Talkback

We would love your feedback!

Bandai preps for push into new categories

May 5, 2009

House of Cards

Nov 1, 2004

Up Close: 2008 Forecast

Jan 1, 2008

Mattel takes a spin with 'RollBots'

Sep 4, 2007

Hasbro gets digitized with EA deal

Aug 10, 2007

Also by this author

»MORE

Featured Company

FurnitureCore.com

FurnitureCore.com is a dynamic web application aimed at the furniture industry. Retailers and manufacturers alike will find our deep reserve of tools to be exactly what their furniture business needs.www.furniturecore.com... more