Amy's Xmas list for 2007

I finally got a good connection of the internet at my house so now I can write weekly. Tis the season to start thinking about gifts. Gifts for friends, family, associates , you name it.

I am going to give you my own list of the toys I just KNOW are going to be hot this holiday season. Most people would use the word "prediction". I wont use that word because predictions can be wrong. I believe 100% in what I am saying and in what I know, so here is my list of " Toys that will be HOT during the 2007 Holiday Season".

" Toys that will be HOT during the 2007 Holiday Season":

1. The Fisher-Price Digital Arts and Crafts Studio- this thing is amazing. I HAVE TO GET ONE FOR XMAS!!! Who is going to get one for me?Hopefully my dear, lovely, doctor sister will because I love her with all of my heart. This studio is amazing!! It allows you to draw, color, everything- it hooks up to your computer and you can save your art. Do you guys remember the guy on PBS who had the afro- he painted "Happy Trees" - he would start with a blank slate and end up with a canvas that was absolutely amazing. Sometimes , while painting, he would dip his brush in some paint, and you'd be like," Hey man, what are you doing, now you KNOW that color isnt right!". BUt somehow, at the end of the show, everything would blend and his canvas would be amazing- he always drew landscapes. So having the Arts and Crafts Studio is like having your own PBS show.You can print and save everything you've created. Mark my world AMERICA- this WILL Be the best selling toy this season. Its only $44.

2. Aqua Dots - This is a device that allows you to create items using dots, then the dots bind and you have your masterpiece, voila. This is really neat too. Im going to buy this for myself. This will be a big seller.

3. The Fisher Price Light Sketcher - This is so COOL!!! Maybe somebody working for Fisher Price will send me one of these. This is like the Magna Doodle, but only better. It allows you to draw with light. So when you are in a car, and its dark, and you're bored, you can take out your Light Sketcher and draw-I love it!!! This is $29.99 at Target.You can draw in 3 different patterns - line, dotted line, or dashes. This is going to be a top seller.

So Fisher Price will definitely have at least 2 of the top 5 toys this season. Wow, Fisher Price is on a roll. They always are. F-P and the Sesame Street gang- I wonder what type of Elmo will be invented this season??

Now the rest are just dashed because I think they are interesting but I have not ranked them yet and I dont know if they deserve to be ranked.

- GI JOE Collection box- For all of us between the ages of 20-35, we all remember GI JOE. G.I Joe, American Hero. Hasbro has created a GI JOE Anniversary Collectors box that commemorates the 25th anniversary of GI JOE. The "gift box" is nice and simple. I like it. BUt if I got one , I wouldnt play with it. I would keep it nice and closed so it would be worth money at the 50th anniversary celebration. So if anyone buys one of these, I think they will have to buy 2: one they can play with and one they would reserve. This might make Hasbro some money. But not as much money as F-P's going to be making with that Art Studio.

- Nerf: Nerf has come up with a NERF Disk Shot that has 6 darts and 6 foam discs that can be shot through the air. The concept is neat but I dont know how safe it is. What happens if I shoot my sister in the face with it. Is the foam soft enough that it wont hurt anyone? Thats my only concern. But Nerf has really come out with some great products this season.

- Transformers- Transformers are a brand, not a company. Walking into the toy store, you would think it was the opposite.There are WAY too many Transformer toys. With the release of the Transformers on DVD, it will spark an interest in their toys. Lots of money has been spent on the trasnformer Toys. The Optimus Prime Voice Changer is cool. You know whats even cooler? The Transformers Projector System which allows you to project a stencil drawing on a sheet of paper, and then you can stand at your big piece of paper and draw whats being projected. This is really neat. You see how arts and crafts are really big this season? Kids like to do things with their hands and use their imagination. The F-P arts and Crafts studio uses the imagination more than this Transformers Projector System, but yet this Projector system is neat.

- Rose Art: Rose Art needs to be bought by Hasbro. They are always doing great things. I dont know how many times I need to say this. If Hasbro doesnt buy them, Mattel will. Mattel makes their money from acquisitions. This is what Hasbro needs to start doing. Rose Art creates a lot of "do it yourself" toys. I have their cotton candy machine, which works quite well. Rose Art now has a "Hover & Spin Paint Machine". This is so cool. You stick your paper on the machine. The paper spins and you drop paint on the spinning paper, different colored paint, which eventually creates a painted masterpiece. State fairs usually have this spinning art thing. Now you can have one in your own home, and its only $14.99. This is going to be a hot toy once people see it. Rose art toys dont get good diplays in toy stores. I should rank this- this is my 4th top pick.

Rose Art also has a deluxe pottery wheel and a on the Go Art cup which is ideal for little kids.

-- SpinMaster - another company that needs to be acquired. Spin Master is really making their mark, coming up with innovative technologies. The Spin Master Tech Deck and skateboards are quite nifty. So is the Girl Crush Air Brush Tattoo system, which allows you to airbrush a fake tattoo onto your skin or your friends skin. No longer do you have to rub fake tatoos on.

The following toys are interesting to look at and may interest you:

The Spider Man and friends toy collection. The toys have soft upper bodies, which make them ideal for little kids.

Action Command Spider Man- doesnt really do anything but the packaging is quite extraordinary.

Playskool's Spider Man Sing Along - Now when I think of Spider Man , I think of a big tough guy. Who in the world created a sing along spider man?? HUH?? Thats like creating a sing along BatMan or a sing along Transformer?? Im surprised this toy made it through quality control at Hasbro. However, this toy is intended for kids 5 and below, in my opinion. At that age, kids dont know that Spider Man is supposed to be tough. So in actuality, this toy may work. All the kid wants to do is sing, so I think this toy may sell well, but the age group that likes this toy will be very specific- I say 5 and below.No 9 year old kid is going to want this toy. This Spider Man even has a soft soothing voice. When is Hasbro going to make a GloWorm that talks and can say goodnight in English and Spanish??

If I had a baby, I would buy the kid a Fisher Price learning DJ. The Dj has moving eyes and rocks to the beat of ABCS and 123. This toy is HOT!!! IF you know any kids below the age of 7, you really need to get them the F-P Learning DJ. Its interactive as well. Ill rank this as #5, especially for kids below the age of 7.

I like the Wish with Me little Cinderella & Little ARiel. It doesnt do anything. I just like the sounds it makes and the way the crown lights up. I really like the way the crown lights up. The Barbie Glamour Pup toy is okay too, if youre into Barbie. Im not.

Barbie is for Mattel what Transformers may be for Hasbro this season.

The Hannah Montana CD BOard game may do well too. DIsney knows how to make their money.

Toys that are just dangerous: The F-P Jeff Gordon Shake N Go. What happens if the car shoots into someone's face??

Summary: Buy the Arts and Crafts Studio for your young ones. And the light sketcher . Fisher-Price (which is owned my Mattel) will be the biggest money maker this season unless other toy companies come out with something between now and Xmas.Rose Art and Spinmaster will also do quite well. Transformers will give Hasbro a little boost and the GI JOe commemorative box needs better marketing so that people my age know about it. Put a commercial on MTV,VH1, and ESPN and then people will know about it. Do a commercial during "Dancing with the Stars" and have an ad at the baseball field where the baseball playoffs are occurring. Try placing them in the men's section instead of in the toy section.

There you have it, my picks for Winter 2007- AMY

TAGGIES - New toy,New Hazard

I was just doing what I love to do best: looking for toy news.

I was on PLAYTHINGS website because they are a toy magazine. They had an article on their site about a new toy called "TAGGIES". If you google it, it will pop up. Its a new toy that will be sold at Babies R Us, I believe. The idea is that babies love tags. So the company has created teddy bears that have tags on them. Its created blankets that have tags on them. See the picture below. The creators say that babies love to play with tags and somehow someway this will help the baby's coordination.



Now do u want to know what I think about it? The truth of the matter is, babies love to play with anything. Anything you give them they will play with. Some lady is going to make millions of dollars off of something so simple: connecting tags to toys?? Are you serious??

Here is my concern: I honestly believe that this toy will eventually be taken off the shelves- recalled.

Here is why: When you have a baby playing with a toy, they dont know what they are doing. So I KNOW that a baby will get this toy, stick their finger in one of the "tags" and start twisting it. As they twist the tag around their finger, the tag wil get tighter and tighter and tighter. What happens when something is too tight? It cuts off your circulation. What happens when circulation is cut off? There is no blood flow and it can lead to amputation.

So this toy idea is okay but I truly believe that it will eventually be recalled. So remember this article when you see that it is being recalled. The thing is, babies dont know the concept of twisting and untwisting, so thats what makes this toy dangerous.





Taggies, picture taken from the Taggie website.www.taggies.com

Results:Disney Princess Cool Oven

The Cool Oven: Remember how I bought the Cool Bake oven by Funrise?? Instead of using heat to cook, it uses" cool air". I had to buy it and try it to see if the results were worth bragging about and to see if HASBRO had any competition, Cool Bake Oven versus the Easy Bake Oven.

Result: The Cool Bake Oven did not work at all.

I actually RETURNED it back to the store I bought it from.

Why is this toy so bad? I thought you would never ask.

1) The food did NOT BAKE! AT All. I put my ice in the cubicle, mixed the food the way I was supposed to, with warm water I believe, stuck the food in the oven and waited for it to cook.

I sat there, for 15 minutes, opened the door and NOTHING happened.

So I made a new mix and tried it again. Maybe the ice melted some while I was mixing, I thought.

Waited exactly 12 minutes, as directed in the manual. Used my cell phone to time the 12 minutes.

When I heard the bing, bing, bing of the alarm, I opened up my pretty pink Disney Cool Oven and surprise, surprise, NOTHING!

Nothing! Its like that song in CHORUS LINE - Nothing , I'm feeling Nothing... I had been bragging to my parents about this gadget and how I was going to make dinner using this oven and NOTHING HAPPENED.

2) So I thought ," Hmm, maybe the food is cooked but doesn't rise. Maybe it truly is cooked.

So I took my cake mix out of the container it was in ( I didn't have to use oven mits to take it out because I used "cool technology") and bit into it.

I took one bite and nearly threw up. GROSS! The cake tasted like acid. No, I have a better analogy. You know that taste you get in your mouth when you lick an envelope??? Imagine that taste times 100-- that is EXACTLY what the Cool Bake oven uncooked cake tasted like. JUST GROSS!! Not only was it GROSS, but that taste stayed in my mouth until the next morning and I had cooked the cake around 6pm.

I eat raw cake mix all the time- like Duncan Hines and even THAT tastes better then my supposedly " cooked" coll technology cake.

I was so dissatisfied with this gadget, that I boxed it and returned it to the store .

Only one good thing came out of this: The cashier looked at the toy and stated that it looked like the Easy Bake Oven. I was like, 'Yeah, but the Easy Bake Oven is better. Go get one for your kid.' He replied, " I cant, those ovens have been recalled lately. " I informed him that it was the stove top ovens that were recently recalled, and not the original EZ bake ovens or the Real Bake Eazy Bake Ovens. He seemed happy to hear that. So I'm happy that I helped someone understand the toy recall and hopefully he'll be buying an EZ Bake Oven for his daughter.

Summary: This Cool Bake oven does not work quite well.
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The Cool Oven: Remember how I bought the Cool Bake oven by Funrise?? Instead of using heat to cook, it uses" cool air". I had to buy it and try it to see if the results were worth bragging about and to see if HASBRO had any competition, Cool Bake Oven versus the Easy Bake Oven.

Result: The Cool Bake Oven did not work at all.

I actually RETURNED it back to the store I bought it from.

Why is this toy so bad? I thought you would never ask.

1) The food did NOT BAKE! AT All. I put my ice in the cubicle, mixed the food the way I was supposed to, with warm water I believe, stuck the food in the oven and waited for it to cook.

I sat there, for 15 minutes, opened the door and NOTHING happened.

So I made a new mix and tried it again. Maybe the ice melted some while I was mixing, I thought.

Waited exactly 12 minutes, as directed in the manual. Used my cell phone to time the 12 minutes.

When I heard the bing, bing, bing of the alarm, I opened up my pretty pink Disney Cool Oven and surprise, surprise, NOTHING!

Nothing! Its like that song in CHORUS LINE - Nothing , I'm feeling Nothing... I had been bragging to my parents about this gadget and how I was going to make dinner using this oven and NOTHING HAPPENED.

2) So I thought ," Hmm, maybe the food is cooked but doesn't rise. Maybe it truly is cooked.

So I took my cake mix out of the container it was in ( I didn't have to use oven mits to take it out because I used "cool technology") and bit into it.

I took one bite and nearly threw up. GROSS! The cake tasted like acid. No, I have a better analogy. You know that taste you get in your mouth when you lick an envelope??? Imagine that taste times 100-- that is EXACTLY what the Cool Bake oven uncooked cake tasted like. JUST GROSS!! Not only was it GROSS, but that taste stayed in my mouth until the next morning and I had cooked the cake around 6pm.

I eat raw cake mix all the time- like Duncan Hines and even THAT tastes better then my supposedly " cooked" coll technology cake.

I was so dissatisfied with this gadget, that I boxed it and returned it to the store .

Only one good thing came out of this: The cashier looked at the toy and stated that it looked like the Easy Bake Oven. I was like, 'Yeah, but the Easy Bake Oven is better. Go get one for your kid.' He replied, " I cant, those ovens have been recalled lately. " I informed him that it was the stove top ovens that were recently recalled, and not the original EZ bake ovens or the Real Bake Eazy Bake Ovens. He seemed happy to hear that. So I'm happy that I helped someone understand the toy recall and hopefully he'll be buying an EZ Bake Oven for his daughter.

Summary: This Cool Bake oven does not work quite well.

Third World Countries and Toy Recall

There is so much news occurring about toys and how bad they are. They have lead, they have small magnets, they are just bad,bad , bad.

They are so bad that all of the toys have been recalled and stores are taking them off their shelves and allowing parents to return them all over the country.

These toys are so bad and dangerous that you would think people would be having bon fires to celebrate the destruction of these dangerous creations. However, I have never heard of anyone having a toy bon fire, which is kind of odd. When Milli Vanilla was discovered to be lip synching, there were bon fires everywhere across America, destroying their CDs. Is Milli Vanilli worse than toys that are laded with lead and small magnets – toys that can lead ( pun not intentional) to death??

So my question is: what is happening to these recalled toys?? Millions of these toys are being recalled!!! I take my toys to Toys R us and say ,"these toys are bad". Then I guess Toys R US sends the toys to the manufacturer- Mattel. Once Mattel gets the bad toys back, what do they do with them??? Are they burning the toys and having a private bon fire, releasing all of the burnt lead particles into the air???

Where are all of the recalled toys going??

Based on my experience, it always seems that all bad things get sent to third world countries-Africa,India, etc.

Is it possible that these "bad toys" are being sent to 3^rd world countries??? After all, third world kids are poor and needy and should feel privileged to receive dolls and toys, right?? But should they be receiving tainted toys? What if the toys were being sent to 3^rd world countries—who is checking? Im not checking, and you are not checking, so who is checking??If I buy a bunch of lead infested toys , box them up and ship them to Africa, will the port authority prohibit me from doing it? I doubt it.

When there is a story in the media, you need to follow it thru. There are bad toys- ok. They've been recalled- ok. But where do they go??

If the toys are being sent to third world countries, it will be a shame. Many of the children in third world countries are poor, dying from malaria, malnutrition, yellow fever, guinea worm, etc. Is it fair to intentionally send deadly toys to third world countries under the disguise of a "donation", " welfare", "gifts", "good will"?

It's not. So I encourage all of you to contact you Senators and ask them what their state/toy manufacturers are doing about the disposal of recalled toys. I contacted my senator last week and Im still waiting for a reply.I also contacted the Senator on the committe that questioned the Mattel President- still waiting. Because I seriously doubt that they are simply throwing them away. I'll be calling Mattel tonight since its a 3 hour difference.Children are children, no matter where they live. And being that only 3-5% of the world s children live in the US, this is a serious matter that needs to be addressed.

Looks like Mattel is in Trouble......

Uh oh!! I love toys but I never knew they'd be in the news like this. Mattel has once again had another recall. Now when someone says " Mattel", I hope you aren't just thinking about Barbie. When someone says Mattel, you should also think about the View Master, Fisher-Price (all those infant toys you have around your house and buy for baby showers), Sesame Street Toys (all those Tickle Me Elmos), Dora, Uno, Hot Wheels, and See n Say, because they all fall under the Mattel Brand.

Yep, how many of you have Mattel toys in your home?? I have a bunch. I have a bunch of Dora items, have the latest View Masters (yes, that's plural), have the Elmo Says your Name toy, and I have some Hot Wheels. So what's a girl like me to do??

Mattel has recalled more than 10 million toys during the past 1-2 months. 10 million. Do you know how much 10 million is?? Its a lot. I don't get it, if you're making toys for babies and kids, wouldn't you always take the extra precaution to ensure that your products were safe?? Why is it that now they are taking the precautions to ensure that their products are safe?? Isn't that backwards thinking?? Isn't that what they should have always been doing all along????

Can you imagine taking a vaccination, and then 20 yrs later, the manufacturers tell you that the vaccination was altered . Well, I personally think that some vaccinations lead to autism, but that's another story for another time. I'm talking about toys.

Ok, let's look at the problem: Mattel makes their toys in China because its cheap to do so. Now they have had to recall 10 million toys. Is it good that Mattel did another recall after the first one? Yes.

Did the president, Bob Eckert, know another recall was coming? OF COURSE HE DID. But he covered himself after the first recall by saying , "Parents, if I come across any other problems with our toys, I will make sure we let you know." Then what happened- there was another recall soon after. Its all politics. That's all the President of Mattel is doing. This way he can say, " yes, we had another recall, but its okay because I promised all the parents in the world that I would inform them." So he comes across looking like a good guy even though any recall in any industry is not good. Its reverse psychology. Plain and simple. And I'm sure other toy companies, such as Hasbro and MGA Entertainment are probably going through their inventory to double check their supplies. I wouldn't be surprised if toy companies stop shipping toys out to retailers such as Wal-Mart and Toys R US until they are 100% sure that the toy is safe.

What do I think about the recall.? I think its awful for toy companies in general because now NO ONE will buy a toy that was made in China. When I buy a toy, I always look at the back of the box, to see who the company is and to check out their products online because I'm a toy geek. No one else ever did that. But now, everyone is turning that box over, to see where the toys are made. If they are made in China, the items goes back on the shelf and the parent continues to look for a toy that is made in the U.S. Lets just say that a lot of kids are going to be receiving books and clothing this holiday season. I expect Scholastic Books to do quite well this holiday season.

I think that the toy company that makes most of their products in non-Asian countries will make the most money this holiday season. Trust me. No parent will buy a Made in China toy for their child and noone will accept Made in China items as gifts for their children. First it was food, and now its toys. What next- medication, bottled water containers, contact lenses, what???

Does any one know what kind of paint is used for Etch A Sketch? Because that big red toy is either painted or a chunk of big red plastic. Who's going to check???

Look at this site: http://www.mattel.com/safety/us/

Competitor: Easy Bake Oven's Cold Competition

Oh my goodness !!! You are never going to believe what I saw in the toy store the other day. Last week, I went to KB Toy Stores because I was strolling through the Mall. As I approached KB toy stores, I saw a new gadget through the window. “ Hmm, whats this”, I asked myself. I approached this “ thing” and upon closer inspection I discovered what it was: An Oven.

Its an Oven little kids can use to bake goods. And its Pink. Hmm, doesn’t this sound familiar?? Doesn’t this sound like the Easy Bake Oven??

Here’s the difference : This oven , the Disney Princess Cool Bake Magic Oven, uses COOL air to bake the goods. That’s right, its not a misprint, it uses COOL air , ice cubes to be exact, to cook the goods. So you mix the baking mix, put it in a tray, put your ice cube in the tray below and wait for the cold air to cook your cookie. So instead of getting a hot pie, you get a cool pie. Isn’t this interesting?? I wonder what the pie / cookie tastes like. I’m going to try it. How many of you really think that the cool air cookie will taste better than the hot air cookie??? I don’t think it will taste good, do you??

Do you think Hasbro knows about this copycat invention?? Well, I guess its not really copycat because the technology is different: cool air versus hot air.

The good thing about this Disney Princess Cool Bake Magic Oven is that no one will be able to say that they burned themselves. But yet, can’t a kid choke on an ice cube. Cant a kid get ice burn? Can’t a kid mistakenly smash their finger in the tray that holds the ice? Seems like this toy can be as equally dangerous as Hasbro’s Easy Bake Oven that uses heat, right???

At the end of the day, parents are responsible for the toys they buy. Any thing can be dangerous, that’s why supervision is needed. Don’t buy a toy for your kids if you don’t have time to supervise them. If you want to buy your kid a toy that does not require supervision, buy them one of those big plastic balls, and hopefully it wont have lead paint on it.

Easy Bake Oven

Hi Guys!! I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long for a new update. Wow, toys are in the spotlight this month!!! What is going on !!!Everyone always thought I was wasting my time being a toy fanatic, but now it is evident how important toys are in our society.

Let’s talk about the Easy Bake Oven.

Who reading this does not have an Easy Bake overn? If you have never owned one, shame on you. The Easy Bake oven is a miniature oven that was created to occupy the time of young girls. It allows girls to “bake” cakes and oven like creations. Its great at a sleep over, birthday party. There is even a boys version of the EASY BAKE OVEN because boys don’t like pink. The Boy Version is called the “Creepy Crawler Oven” something like that, it allows guys to make creepy crawly baked goods.

Over the years, the Easy Bake oven has become iconic. I don’t know if its because of its “Barbie Pink” color or because of its use. I think its both. Hasbro has witnessed the popularity of this oven, and has adapted it over time. The Easy Bake oven, which looks like a microwave, has been adapted to look like a little stove top oven. It has four burners on the top and has a slot where you, the consumer, can stick your pies into and wait for them to bake.

The new stovetop Easy Bake oven was recalled this year because kids were sticking their fingers into the slots and getting burned/injured. My question is: What adult lets their kid play with a “toy” oven unsupervised? Would you let your kids play with scissors unsupervised?? No, and that’s exactly why scissors have not been recalled. Do you let your kids play with your pointy keys unsupervised? No, and that’s why keys have not been recalled.

So why are parents letting their kids play with Easy Bake Ovens unsupervised? I’m assuming that the kids are playing unsupervised. If they were supervised, the adult would have helped the child stick the pie in the oven and I do believe that there would have been less injuries.

So my friends, HASBRO is NOT a dangerous company. The Easy Bake oven is a great product. Maybe, in some cases, the parents should have been recalled, for not supervising their offspring.