Seemingly driving aimlessly across Los Angeles en route to the
airport is a man known simply by the name
”
The Toy Guy.
”
A cell phone in his hand while he tries to navigate traffic and
highways, he is on a mission.
Seemingly driving aimlessly across Los Angeles en route to the airport is a man known simply by the name “The Toy Guy.” A cell phone in his hand while he tries to navigate traffic and highways, he is on a mission.
During the next six weeks, he will do nothing more than zigzag back and forth across the country – from New York to the West Coast to Detroit to Phoenix and Denver and on to Chicago and so on – all in the name of toys. He will spend the next month and a half speaking on talk shows, morning news channels and at conventions about the newest, hottest toys of the summer – and he’s having a blast doing it.
“I’m lost, but I don’t care,” laughs Chris Byrnes as he puts down the cell phone to try and figure out where just he’s going – he has no time to get used to the roads as he spends just one day in each city he visits.
And it’s easy to believe that Byrnes really isn’t bothered by the confusion of Los Angeles traffic. It would take a lot more than that to rattle a guy lives a life that most people couldn’t imagine – a guy who has spent at least part of every day for the last 23 years playing with toys. The only way to even think about what he does reminds many of the 1980 Tom Hanks movie, “Big,” when the kid in the movie gets a job working for a Toy company.
“It is like the movie, ‘Big,’ the 46-year-old said. “Except that he was a kid living in an adult world, while I’m an adult who tries to stay in touch with the kids’ world.”
Regardless, playing with toys all day is a job most can only dream about.
“I love what I do,” Byrnes said. “Where else can you go into the president’s office and say ‘look what I got,’ and shoot him with a water gun?’ ”
So just how does someone get a job like this? Well, it wasn’t what Byrnes was expecting
“I started out writing copy and instructions, and I just moved into it,” said Byrnes, who was a young student from Delaware who had just graduated with a theater degree before signing on with a toy company to write in New York in 1979. “Once it started going, I started planning.”
Byrnes continued to work in the toy business, and started doing research and analysis of toys in 1988. He recently released his first book, which chronicles the 100 most influential toys of the 1900s. He said that he worked hard to get to where he is now, but he thinks that his attitude is what got him where he is now.
“I really believe that we all make up out lives,” he said. “If there’s one sentence that makes up my life, it is ‘I’ll try that.’ I’m willing to make a fool out of myself.”
But just how did he get the title “The Toy Guy.” Well, if you ask him, he’ll blame it all on game show host Chuck Woolery.
“He used to have a show called ‘Home and Family,’ ” said Byrnes, who was a guest on the show three or four times during its run. “He couldn’t remember my name, so he said ‘we have the Toy Guy on today.’ I thought, that’s not bad, and I trademarked the name.”
Now the Toy Guy and two other full-time workers spend their time trying out new toy products each year. His office consists of a computer, a huge pile of toys and a television with every video game system hooked up to it and a pile of games to play.
“It’s like visiting the North Pole,” he laughed.
He talks with toy companies about their products, and he tests them himself and with kids. What he finds out is that sometimes the toys that toy-makers are really pushing aren’t what kids find fun.
“They’re pushing certain products, but you say, ‘Great, thanks for that … let’s see what happens …’ ” Byrnes said. “What we find is that each year the toys change, but the kids stay the same. Today’s kids are more sophisticated, but it doesn’t take high-tech toys to keep them happy.”
In the end, Byrnes said that it doesn’t matter how hard a toy company pushes a product, it won’t do well if kids get bored with it quickly. Toy companies depend on word-of-mouth.
“It really comes down to what kids want,” he said. “You can get any consumer to buy something once, but if the kids don’t play with it, they won’t talk about it and it’ll end up in the closet a few days later. If the kids talk about it, other people will find out about it.”
Byrnes said that this summer, there are several products that kids will be begging their parents to buy.
“I don’t think there is one hip toy that ever kid has to have the way the market has been lately,” he said. “That said, there are several things that are hot. Obviously, in the summer, water toys are hot.”
The following are toys that Byrnes is touting as the hottest toys of the summer:
a.r.m. 4000 XL Aquatic Revenge Machine
From Ohio Art
$24.42 at Wal-Mart
Taking water guns to the next level, the a.r.m. is more than a water gun – it looks like the arm of a robot. You strap the gun onto your arm and put on a backpack that holds the water.
“It looks like a cyborg arm,” Byrnes said. “Normally you have to pump your Super Soaker with two hands. With this, you just bend your arm.”
My Scene
From Mattel
Ages 6 and up
$13.67 at Wal-Mart; $13.99, $5.99 for extra clothing sets at Target.
According to Byrnes, “playing with dolls is about the hipness of the fashion.” If that’s the case, then parents can’t go wrong with My Scene. The dolls, which come From the makers of Barbie, are dressed in the latest fashions that young people are wearing right now. Girls can keep track of those fashions and see the latest clothing available for each doll on the My Scene Web site.
NakNaks
From Hasbro
Ages 5 and up
$6.59 at Target, with some marked as low as $3.49.
These block-shaped figures, which seemed to explode into popularity when they were included in Happy Meals at McDonalds, can be contorted into more than 80 different stacking poses. Kids can spend hours trying to build creative stacks by bending the arms of each figure or by playing a game with them. Each pack comes with five different figures, challenge dice and cross-sell booklet.
Neopets
From Hasbro
Ages 6 and up
$14.99
Teach your children how to care for their own pet by giving them Pocket Neopets – toys you play with, feed and care for. Kids play games to earn neopoints they use to care for your pet. The toys come complete with a 3D figure and collector card about your species of Neopet. Each pet comes with an item code, which can be entered at www.neopets.com/code to earn extra neopoints to care for your own online pet. It turns out there’s a huge community — nearing 70 million — logging daily onto the Web site to care for their virtual pets.
Hot Wheels T-Wrecks Playset
From Mattel
$54.00 (Won’t be released until the end of June.)
Hot Wheels is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year and the new playsets are a far cry from the simple box of yellow track pieces you used to whip your kid brother with. Battle the giant tyrannosaurus rex with a playset looks like an ancient excavation site. A kid-controlled booster lets players launch their Hot Wheels cars (priced anywhere from $1 to $3) up a mountain, avoiding dangerous falling boulders, toward the growling T. Rex. If they succeed in their battle, the dinosaur, which stands nearly 3 feet tall, opens his mouth and any cars captured there fall out for more play.
Beyblades
From Hasbro
Ages 9 and up
$6.99 to $9.99 (usually priced from $6.74 to $9.89 at Target, but we found them on sale for $3.37)
These fast-spinning, high-performance tops are custom-built by kids for battle. Beyblade has been a permanent part of Japan’s top toys all year, and it’s popularity in America is just beginning.
My First LeapPad
Ages 3 and up
($14.97 at Wal-Mart; $14.99 at Target)
This toy, based on the very popular LeapPad interactive book system, is designed for even younger kids. The books are a little smaller and open up and down rather than left to right. Children use a magic touch pen to activate hotspots on each of the book’s pages. The basic unit comes with one book, “Leap’s Big Day,” but there are a number of extra books available and sold separately. Each page of the books offer things like songs, words that are read aloud when pressed on (an excellent pre-reading exercise), find-it games, and more.
Bounce ‘Round
From Spin Master
$199
Available at Toys “R” Us stores
The Bounce ‘Round is a small scale jumphouse that parents can set up and inflate in less than a minute. The jumphouse can be deflated and fits into a portable case so it can be taken wherever you want to go. While the price may seem very high, Byrnes said it’s actually pretty good when you think about it.
“Yes, it’s a lot of money, but if you consider what it takes to rent one of those, it’s not bad,” he said.
Super Soakers
From Hasbro
Ages 5 and up
A huge selection ranges from $9.83 to $28.88 at Wal-Mart; we could only find one Super Soaker at Target.
The name Super Soakers have become synonymous with water guns. This year it seems there are more different versions of guns out there than ever before. It’s probably best to bring your child with you to pick out which one they want because they all look a little different and are different colors, but they all do the same thing.
Wet ‘N Wild Outdoor Products
From Wham-O
Ages 5 and Up
Original Slip ‘N Slide Splash Dunk – $19.99
Splash Tangle – $12.99 (9.84 at Wal-Mart)
Splash Pass – $6.99 – $8.99
Battle Boogie – $16.99
If you like summertime fun you are going to love any of these new Wham-O products.
“Wham-O has some wonderful slip and slide toys,” Byrnes said.
Chances are good that you have played with a Wham-O toy at some point in your life. Wham-O brought us the Frisbee, Hula Hoop and Slip ‘N Slide.
The Original Slip ‘N Slide Splash Dunk features an 18-foot-long water slide with an adjustable hoop that arc’s over the slide at one end with a “splash zone” just beyond.
Splash Tangle is played just like the game “Twister,” except water shoots out of the colored circles.
Hot Potato gets a Wham-O makeover with Splash Pass, a new alternative to water balloons. Just fill the soft-shelled ball with water, set the timer and start passing it as quickly as possible. Whoever is left holding the ball when the time runs out is in for a soaking surprise.
Battle Boogie is a boogie board with a water cannon built in the top, drawing water directly from a swimming pool. The guns can blast water as far as 20 feet.
