Toy makers are always praying for the next Cabbage Patch Kid, Tickle Me Elmo or Mutant Ninja Turtle.
But at this year’s 96th American International Toy Fair, which opens tomorrow, they’ll be praying just a little harder.
“The toy industry badly needs a hit,” said Seth Siegel of the Beanstalk Group, a licensing company. “It needs a big toy to drive consumers into toy departments and toy stores.”
Last year, even Furby couldn’t rescue the industry from a slump that left toy sales virtually unchanged from 1997.
“There weren’t many hot items that drove people into the stores the way Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers did in previous years,” noted Andy Krinner, associate publisher of The Toy Book, an industry trade publication. “It wasn’t until late in the year that Furby emerged as 1998’s hot ticket.”
While there is no clear savior so far, brace for the second coming of Furby – and many other favorites from last year.
*Furby returns for an encore with new fur colors and features like stripes and polka dots. He will also have some furry companions.
*Rock-‘n’-Roll Elmo, who plays the guitar, is another variation on the tried and true.
*Despite soft sales as she heads into middle age, Barbie’s special 40th anniversary doll is expected to make a big splash.
*Microsoft’s Teletubbies ActiMates are Furby-style “smart toys” that talk and sing songs when you squeeze their hands and feet. Their TV tummies display pictures, and some even chat along with Teletubby videos.
“Technology is one of the biggest trends,” said toy analyst Christopher Byrne. “Furby has the same chip that powered the Apple [computer] years ago.”
In the gross-out category, Harry Hairball debuts this year from Rumpus, the maker of the 2-year-old but still wildly popular Gus Gutz.
Like the plush Gus, whose gaping mouth enables kids to reach in and yank out his intestines, spleen and heart, Harry has removable innards that include a mouse, parakeet and a hairball.
Oddly, the toys that are expected to be the biggest hits this year won’t even show up at Toy Fair, which attracts 1,600 manufacturers from 30 countries to the International Toy Center at 200 Fifth Ave. and showrooms throughout the Flatiron District.
Hasbro and Lego have the licenses for the “Star Wars” prequel toys, but won’t release them until the film opens at the end of May.
Both companies are coming to Toy Fair armed with plenty of “classic” Star Wars action figures and set replicas from the Trilogy, and buyers from big stores like Kmart say they’ll bite.