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New York Toy Fair brings high-tech Barbie to life and more

By
Social Links for Richard Morgan
Published Feb. 16, 2015, 1:15 a.m. ET

Toy Fair’s in town, but with so many high-tech diversions, it might as well be the Consumer Electronics Show.

From drones to self-driving cars to a Barbie capable of having “real conversations with kids,” New York Toy Fair’s 112th iteration at the Javits Convention Center is a far cry from the exhibition that introduced the original Barbie and Mr. Potato Head.

The goal, though, is still the same: to thrill and chill in a US toy industry in which retail sales gained 4 percent to $18.1 billion last year, according to the NPD Group, with such categories as action figures, building sets, games and youth electronics all posting double-digit gains.

Based on new products on display, most of which are aiming for retail distribution leading into the holiday season, those gains will continue.

“There’s a lot of robotics and a lot of hybridization between traditional toys and the online world,” said Ken Seiter, VP of marketing communications for the Toy Industry Association, which owns and runs the fair.

Take, for example, Anki Overdrive — a 3-inch-long car that uses sensors to drive itself around a slotless track. Its prototype actually debuted at an Apple developers conference.

WowWee’s new MiPosaurs, robotic prehistoric creatures, can be programmed to all chase after the same ball or simply follow your kid around.

This year’s version of Odyssey’s palm-size drones boast first-person-view capability. Sal and Steven Irigoyen, the father-and-son team behind Odyssey, dispatched drones all over the convention center to send video back to a hand-held viewer observable in real time.

Not every entry was for kids, however. The world’s raunchiest teddy bear, Ted, made an appearance in preparation for his movie sequel, “Ted 2,” to be released June 26.

Lisa Shamus of Ted maker Commonwealth told The Post she now knows better than to ship the dirty-talking toy through standard channels: “It took Toys ’R’ Us all of one day to get back to us last time and say, ‘Get those things out of here.’ ”