FrequencyCast At Toy Fair 2015
FrequencyCast visited the Toy Fair 2015 in London show SHow 108. Here is a transcript of our feature on this popular annual toy industry trade show.
Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 108 (31 mins) |
Toy Fair 2015 Report:
Kelly and Pete visited London's Toy Fair 2015 - Here's a transcript:
Pete:
Here we are at the Toy Fair. What have we seen today, Kelly? We've seen all sorts of exciting things, haven't we? You've been like a kid in a toy shop!
Kelly:
Well, I have been, I really, really have been, and there's just so many great things – obviously some of your favourites, the good old drones. There's been a fair few of them around. They've got Connect, there's just so many different things.
Pete:
It's also some of the weird stuff you see here that got me. Risk, the board game, I remember playing as a kid; they've got The Walking Dead version of Risk, which I thought was a little bit odd; a Downton Abbey board game, which is a little bit on the random side; all sorts of weird sort of Doctor Who retro-y stuff, which is rather good; and quite a lot of tech stuff as well. So what we'll do is, we'll play you a few extracts of things we've discovered while we sit back and enjoy our cups of coffee – how's that?
Kelly:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that would be great.
Pete:
I'm talking to Adam, what's your company from, Adam?
Adam:
From Animin.
Pete:
Excellent, and this is a 21st century virtual pet. Can you just talk us through what we're looking at here?
Adam:
Well, everybody remembers Tamagotchi fondly, and everybody remembers getting in trouble at school for having a Tamagotchi, but nobody's really updated the sort of digital pet in a way that we were very happy with. So we've sort of taken the digital pet concept, and we've introduced a lot of pretty cool new technology and loads of fun gameplay, and we've put them all together in Animin, which we think is the digital pet for the 21st century.
Pete:
So what we're looking at is what looks like a credit card with a picture of the character on it, and an iPad there. So if I get this right, I use the camera to hover over the card, and I can then start interacting with the character – is that the jist?
Adam:
Yeah, that's the jist really. You buy the game card from a supermarket, from a gaming store, or from our website, for example, and you point your smartphone or your tablet at your character card, and your character will effectively come to life on the table top in front of you.
Pete:
So we are looking at augmented reality here, and obviously you can't see this on the radio, but I'm turning the card, and the character is turning on the screen. I can see the front, the back of the character, so I have full interaction here. It's also talking, isn't it? – or squeaking? – yeah, a chatty little chap. What's this guy's name?
Adam:
This one is Ti-bo, so we have four characters at launch. We've got Ti-bo, Kelsi, Pi and Mandi, so these characters will have slightly different personalities, different animations, and each of those four characters will have four stages of evolution. They'll start as a baby, and as you play the game, you'll score more points in the mini games, and you then evolve.
Pete:
I have to ask – do they pass away?
Adam:
No, that's one thing they don't do, and we've made a conscious decision to not let them die, because it's not a very nice thing to happen.
Pete:
I killed my Tamagotchi a few times, I remember that.
Adam:
Yeah, I think everybody did.
Pete:
Any kind of story element to this?
Adam:
Yeah, there will be a sort of quest element to the game in the longer term. Right now, the version that you can play at launch will have two mini games, which we're pretty proud of. You've got Box Land and Cannon Clash, and these are kind of inspired by classic Sega and Nintendo-style arcade games, so you can see here, Box Land, for example, is clearly a nod to all the best of Nintendo.
Pete:
Best of Nintendo jumping over boxes here, 3D boxes – yeah, okay, that's fair enough. I'm assuming that the model for selling these is, you download the free app, and you buy the card, each one has a character?
Adam:
Yeah, you can download the free app, which is available now on Google Play on the Apple App Store, and there's a free version, so you can a really good taster of the game by playing the baby Ti-bo character, and if you want to continue, if you want to buy a game card, then you can either purchase one within the app, or you can order one directly from our website, and then later this spring, we're launching an Animin gift card deal, so you'll see Animin game cards at the tills in your local supermarket or your local game or toy store.
Pete:
Brilliant, and if you go to the App Store, what would we be looking for?
Adam:
Just search for Animin, so it's A-n-i-m-i-n.
* * * * *
Pete:
We were walking around, and we saw a guy lobbing a sort of a three-pronged boomerang around. He was good fun, wasn't he?
Kelly:
Oh, that was great, and to be honest, I was incredibly nervous, having a go myself, because I am really, really bad at throwing and catching, but he made it look so easy that it seemed a little bit sad not to give it a try, so I did!
Pete:
Before we walked up to the stand, I said, oh, they're a nightmare to learn how to use those, but you've done it – the third go!
Kelly:
Yes absolutely – and you too!
Pete:
I did – I couldn't quite catch it on the third go, but yeah, not bad. So what is it we're looking at here?
Man:
You are looking at a Wicked Boomer.
Pete:
So it is literally, you throw it, sort of like a boomerang. It does a little loop and comes straight back to your hand. It takes two or three goes to practise. Where can you get these things from?
Man:
You literally get them online, from most stores, but you're looking mainly at Hamleys. We sell hundreds per day. You've got Harrods, you've got the Science Museum, Toys R Us, lots of on-street retailers, and obviously online. If you actually went in online and just put "Wicked Boomer", you would find a retailer that sells our products. We've been going now fifteen years, and all our boomers are manufactured here in the UK.
Pete:
A good, British product – good stuff. Wicked, Kelly?
Kelly:
Oh absolutely – I'm sold!
Pete:
All sorts of weird and wonderful things. A little bit earlier, we found a huge ball, about two foot off the ground, a circular ball to bounce around, and the lady that was demoing it said, you can sit on that, and you did, and you went whoompf!
Kelly:
Yeah, well that was definitely my faux pas of the day, I'm not going to lie. I sat on it as though it was going to hold my weight like an exercise ball, and instead I fell to the ground, ended up with incredibly static hair, and had my legs akimbo. It was absolutely atrocious.
Pete:
All I can say is, I'm really glad I was there with my camera. That will be on the website.
Kelly:
Ah, thank you very much.
* * * * *
Pete:
I'm talking to Katie, who's in charge of the bubbles here, and there's a couple of them bouncing around the show. What are we looking at here?
Katie:
Well, this is the Wubble Bubble ball.
Pete:
Could you say that again for me?
Katie:
It's easy for me to say – the Wubble Bubble ball, so it's just an inflatable ball. It takes two minutes to inflate, and you can deflate it, and then reuse it again. All of the products are online at Draco.co.uk.
Pete:
Great fun – we want one, don't we, Kelly?
Kelly:
Oh, absolutely.
Pete:
Tell you what, you sit down in that one, I'll go round and finish the show.
Kelly:
Thanks! Are you sure?
* * * * *
Pete:
Well Kelly, I'm in my element, aren't I?
Kelly:
Oh, you are, and you have been waiting for this all day.
Pete:
I've found the gadget that I must have. It's a drone. Now, we've looked at these big drones, but this – can you hear that? This is a little hand-held drone. It's pretty tiny, a little bit bigger than the palm of the hand, fully remote-controlled, and boy, does it shift. This has been whooshing around the centre here. I'm talking to Vernon – hello, Vernon.
Vernon:
Hey.
Pete:
Show me what we've got here. What is this little product?
Vernon:
So this is Micro Drone 3.0. This is the debut of this new product. We're here at the Toy Fair launching this, and really excited about the new features.
Pete:
So this is a proper quad-copter, isn't it? It's got the four blades on there. It's got a camera on it, which is where it starts getting really exciting.
Vernon:
Yeah, so it's a modular drone, so you can put a camera on it, an HD camera, a live stream camera, and also a micro-gimble. So it's a palm-sized drone which is a personal drone. It's affordable, but it's also got really high-tech with its plug-and-play accessories.
Pete:
Now, I've seen you flying this thing around the show, and you're a master at this. Is this something that a mere mortal like me could master? – or does it need years of practise?
Vernon:
It's very easy to fly a drone. It's got a lot of initial sensors, so when you're flying it, it always stabilises. It doesn't drift off like these little helicopters do. That means when you're flying forwards and backwards, it goes in a straight line. It doesn't deviate off its fixed axis. Whereas in the past, these little things had a lot of learning curve, and you had to be a professional to fly it, now you can just pick it up and fly it pretty much straight out of the box. Within five, ten minutes, you'll be whizzing forwards and backwards.
Pete:
Excellent. Now, we've had a play with, I think it's the Phantom II, which is an awesome bit of kit, but huge, and incredibly pricy. That has the ability to sort of hover and take HD. Is that something that this can eventually do?
Vernon:
Well, DGI Phantom is a professional drone, and this is a personal drone. So it doesn't have GPS or sensors like that, or broadcast-quality cameras, but the HD camera is really crisp. It's like a cellphone camera, so you get really high-quality HD cameras. So this is a good sort of starter drone, for example, if you want a drone to practise that works straight out of the box, and then move onto a professional drone. A lot of people who buy the Micro Drone then go onto buy a DGI Phantom, and a lot of people who buy the Phantoms then say, hey, check out Micro Drone, because it's a really good one to fly first, and you'll get the hang of it, rather than risk crashing a thousand-dollar drone.
Pete:
How does this compare, price-wise?
Vernon:
So the Micro Drone's £79.99.
Pete:
Wow, okay. So you can actually get a drone that takes photos for that price? – or is the camera in addition to that?
Vernon:
That's just the drone. The cameras range from £30 up to £65, so it's £30 for the 640, £40 for the HD 720, and £65 for the 1080 high-definition modules. All those modules snap on and off with magnets, so you snap it on, and then you can just make videos and photos from your handset, or from the iPhone. It's also multiple device-controlled, so you can fly it with your iPhone, smart watch or handset.
Pete:
You've thought of everything, haven't you?
Vernon:
We're going to make it a drone which everybody can fly. With the gimble, you can make panoramic views that you can pan across, and get cinematic shots, and it's really customisable – it's a personal drone.
Pete:
Very, very impressive. And if I wanted to get hold of one of these, are they out now, or are they still in development?
Vernon:
We're launching a kick-starter campaign in April, and you'll be able to get it from Microdrone.co.uk. Just sign up there, and we'll email you when that goes out, and we'll be shipping this in August.
* * * * *
Pete:
Who are we with today, Kelly?
Kelly:
We're with Sooty and Sweep.
Pete:
Now, this is great. This is probably slightly before your time, because I'm a little bit older than you.
Kelly:
No, I had the puppets actually, when I was a child, so yes, you may be older than me, but I've still got the classics.
Pete:
Right, I'm going to talk to this gentleman here, who's a very famous chap with a very famous colleague here. Who are we talking to today?
Richard:
My name is Richard Cadell, and I present The Sooty Show on stage and television. I've done it for nearly fourteen years now. I've succeeded the Corbett family, so I've got that lovely honour of looking after Sooty and Sweep and Soo, on a daily basis.
Pete:
Lucky, lucky you, and they're great, aren't they? They're such classic characters, and so recognisable around the world.
Richard:
Yeah, I think it's one of the few children's characters that grandma will remember, and will take their three-year-old to watch at a theatre, or sit with them and watch it on TV, and they can obviously remember watching it, and they'll enjoy watching their grandchildren love it, so it does span all the generations, and they're just three great little characters. In fact, Sooty and Sweep are here – would you like to meet Sooty and Sweep?
Kelly:
Oh, can I?
Richard:
I'll just get Sweep up here first. Sweep, will you come up here, please?
Sweep:
(squeaks)
Richard:
Say hello to Kelly.
Sweep:
Hello, Kelly.
Kelly:
Hello.
Sweep:
(squeaks)
Kelly:
Are you enjoying the show?
Sweep:
Yes, very much!
Kelly:
Oh, amazing – I'm having a great time.
Sweep:
(squeaks)
Richard:
Can you understand him, Kelly?
Kelly:
Erm, ish!
Richard:
You have to be able to understand Sweep, don't you?
Sweep:
Yes, here's a little test.
Richard:
A little test?
Sweep:
I'll say a word, you guess what it is.
Richard:
He's going to say a word, you have to guess what it is.
Sweep:
That's correct.
Richard:
Are you ready, Sweep?
Sweep:
Yes. (squeaks)
Kelly:
I haven't got a clue.
Pete:
Sausages.
Richard:
Yes!
Sweep:
Well done!
Kelly:
I didn't get that at all!
Richard:
Well done, Pete – you see, you need to get out more, but there we are.
Pete:
And just before we started recording, Sooty was a bit of a naughty boy, wasn't he?
Richard:
He squirted you with the water, didn't he, Kelly?
Kelly:
He did, and I'm still drenched.
Richard:
It's only bleach, you're all right. You'll dry off.
Kelly:
No, it was good fun. I'll take it in good humour this time.
Sweep:
Oh, bye bye.
Richard:
Off you go, now. And tell Sooty's in trouble.
Sweep:
Right, okay then.
* * * * *
Pete:
We were talking earlier about some of the more serious products here, that aren't overly gadget-y, but might be of interest to some of the parents, and you found an interesting one that helps babies get fed.
Kelly:
Yeah, I did, and it was one that jumped out straight away, because I really like a gadget that solves a problem more than just something to kind of have fun with, and this really, really did, and it was nice to see it here actually. I got to speak to a guy called Steven, all about it.
Steven:
I'm working for a company called Cicada, who's the UK-exclusive distributor for our brand, which is called Kidsme. In essence, it is a silicone sac. You can put fresh food in it, so you can slice a banana, an apple, an orange, put it into this silicone sac, and literally hand it to the baby. The baby then has control over its own feeding habits, control over its own destiny of how much food it intakes, and guess what? – the baby then starts to enjoy feeding time, as much as it did when it was being given the bottle when it was a baby.
Kelly:
I think it's fantastic. I mean, it almost looks like a dummy, so for a lot of children that have been given something like that before, they've learnt to pick it up, and how to put it in their mouth, and it saves all the mess.
Pete:
A very nice little product. How can we find one of these? Have you got a website, we can look at these in more detail?
Steven:
Yes, you can have a look on the website – www.kidsmebaby.com. It's also available in Boots the Chemist, John Lewis, Babies R Us, and hopefully soon Mothercare.
Pete:
Excellent. I have one final question for you – can you get a pizza in there?
Steven:
You could try!
* * * * *
Pete:
I'm talking to Mike. What are we looking at?
Mike:
We've developed a range of science products, trying to engage kids to do activities that are interesting, fun and educational, and also involve your mum or your dad to enter into play with you, because so much these days is iPads in your bedroom, or playing on your phone in the corner of the room, which is not interacting with your parents, and not necessarily that educational.
Pete:
We want to encourage a new generation of engineers as well, don't we, that can sort of get hands on, make things, interact with the real world, rather than the virtual world. So this range, is this a fairly new range?
Mike:
It is. It's been in Portugal now for six years, and it's now the biggest brand of toys, never mind science toys. It's the biggest toy company in Portugal, so we're launching here this year. We've got a collaboration with Oxford University, so they have looked at all the sets, they have endorsed them. They've written the educational booklet which goes with each product, which is about 36 pages long – it's not an instruction book, it's a leaflet that talks about, for instance, if it's candles, it talks about, how do you make wax, where does it come from, what else is it used for? – that mini science book in each set.
Pete:
A very, very impressive range. You've got a few scientists here building various kits, and putting their rubber gloves on, and doing experimentation, which is all slightly scary, but there you go. If someone wants to find out more about this range, or perhaps go and get one for their family, where would they go?
Mike:
Have a look on www.science4youtoys.com, where we have all the products, but we also have activities, fun activities that you can do, and all the products will lead you to the website, so that once you've bought a product, you can further the experience by interacting on the website.
Pete:
Excellent, and Kelly, it looks like you're about to make a perfume kit, a new FrequencyCast fragrance, perhaps?
Kelly:
No, I told you, I'm going for the solar car.
Pete:
Well, while you're playing with the solar car, I'm off with the sweet factory over here. Cola-flavoured jelly tots – I'm sold.
Kelly:
All of those fitness apps, and you're going for the sweet kit – I see.
Listen to, or download, FrequencyCast Show 108 (31 mins) |
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