It's been 13 years since the first Harry Potter book came out in America, and ten years since the first Potter film debuted. Since Potter books and films were enormous money makers almost right from the start, you have to wonder why Warners was so slow to license toys from the stories. Oh, there were notebooks and scarves and wands, but little else for years. What happened? Why did Warners drag its feet for so long when there were hundreds of millions of dollars to be made?
The toy I wanted to buy was a tree...just a nicely designed evil tree with flexible arms. The one above is from an illustration in a Lord of the Rings calendar.
Potter toys were so slow coming out that fans took to making their own Potter toys...like the toy of this triple-decker "Knight Bus" that Harry rode after the Muggles kicked him out. Eventually Lego put out a bus toy, but it was a case of too little too late. Also, the Lego toys cost too much.
Set designs in the films (above) suggested lots of interesting toy possibilities, but Warners wasn't interested. You get the feeling that no one in the Warners hierarchy really liked toys.
Too bad Weasley used an ordinary car to rescue Harry from the Muggles. Using a neat old car (above) would have opened up a nice toy possibility. Come to think of it though, you could still sell toys like this in a Potter store.
I'd like to see what posters (above) are available in the Potter theme park...the park that opened up for the first time in the Summer of this year, 10 years after the first movie. By the time it opened the last book in the series had come out.
Talking about posters, I'd like to have seen posters which speculated on what other wizard schools around the world (above) might have looked like.
You used to be able to buy terrific maps (above) of the British Isles. Potter fans would love to get hold of maps like that. Can you get those in the Park?
It would be nice to have a building block set (above) that you could actually make Hogwarts-type stuff with, and that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.
Maybe the ghosts that roam through the school (above) need their own action figures.
I love steam punk watches. The Park could clean up by selling inexpensive ones with great design and with secret compartments.
You could sell plastic mad scientist equipment in a Potter store. Get somebody good to design them. The mad scientist gear you see in Halloween stores is terrible.
How about funny Muggle masks?
I like the idea of doing up a corner of a kids room like Voldemort's cave in the "Prince" story. Cardboard or painted styrofoam kits could do the trick.
Computer and keyboard skins?
It;s fun to imagine what Potter bookshelves (above)might look like.
Toy Hogwarts Express trains will need trestle kits.
The right window shades could add moody, Potteresque color to a bedroom.
I have a ton more pictures which cover a lot more territory than I was able to touch on here. Maybe sometime in the future I'll do a follow up post.
One of the things I like about the Potter stories is that they attract bright and imaginative kids, and making toys and media for a quality audience like that is an interesting challenge. The Potter books touch on architecture, magic, English history and tradition, engineering, mythology and monsters. The toy possibilities are endless!
BTW, the Mayan wall above is there because it reminds me of the moving bricks in the first two Potter films. There must be some way to get a decent toy out of those bricks!
Also BTW, an anonymous commenter who seems to be in the know about selling toys had this to say about my criticism of Warners:
- "It wasn't Warner Brothers---they wanted to license and tried like crazy. There were more toys licensed for the very first film than people might remember, but they didn't sell.
- it was the distributors and stores. They were spooked by the new Star Wars films debacle. Although Lucas got paid up front, a majority of the toys were unsold, and the distributors had to eat the cost. Lots of cost.
- The window for selling these toys/shelf space is also very, VERY short.
- I don't agree with all the short term thinking a company like WalMart (the largest distributor in the word) has, but it's their business.
- Movie toys mostly just don't sell very well. The lead time is long, and films are no sure but. Remember The Simpsons? When it first came out...no toys. Same with Toy Story. Few toys (until later)
- While specialty toy makers make wonderful stuff, they're often expensive, and have a very limited market."
Eddie, you are completely right. I've never hardly noticed any, if at all, Harry Potter toys prominently on the market, except if you go somewhere like Wal-Mart and see the same gloomy looking, kid-unfriendly merchandise.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, now I actually want to read the last two Harry Potter books because of this post. I read them all the time when I was younger and liked the stories really much, and how much depth each character had.
Can you please do something on SpongeBob SquarePants, in terms of toy marketing? IMO, those toys could look a lot better with your input on them, because you clearly love cartoons more than most people in the world, even though there are already a billion toys of the little sponge all over the globe.
I think perhaps toy manufacturers got spooked after that whole vibrating broom debacle. It does seem odd that there aren't at least more toys/action figures. It seems like the HP world has enough of a bestiary and friendly ghosts and such to warrant it. I would say that perhaps Rowling didn't want too much HP merchandise and commercialization, and wanted to some extent to limit the world to the books and movies, but there's a ton of licensed video games so I'm not sure.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think an awesome toy would be something like the Hulk Hands from a while back, a Hagrid beard. A solid foam beard styled after the Hagrid of the movies that kids strap to their face. They will be able to feel the awesome grown-up power of facial hair well before their time, and can run around being the giant gentle guardian and mentor of their friends. The beard will make their friends instinctively recognize the appropriateness of this division of roles.
Eddie, Ron saving Harry in the flying car was in "Chamber of Secrets," not "Goblet of Fire."
ReplyDeleteBut I think your right, Warner Bros. needs to get their butts moving with the merchandise.
It wasn't Warner Brothers---they wanted to license and tried like crazy. There were more toys licensed for the very first film than people might remember, but they didn't sell.
ReplyDeleteit was the distributors and stores. They were spooked by the new Star Wars films debacle. Although Lucas got paid up front, a majority of the toys were unsold, and the distributors had to eat the cost. Lots of cost.
The window for selling these toys/shelf space is also very, VERY short.
I don't agree with all the short term thinking a company like WalMart (the largest distributor in the word) has, but it's their business.
Movie toys mostly just don't sell very well. The lead time is long, and films are no sure but. Remember The Simpsons? When it first came out...no toys. Same with Toy Story. Few toys (until later)
While specialty toy makers make wonderful stuff, they're often expensive, and have a very limited market.
That's "no sure BET," not "but"
ReplyDeleteAnon: Many thanks for the interesting comment! I'll add it to the bottom of the article!
ReplyDeleteSigh, sigh! The possibilities... X( I'd give anything for HP "cute" stuff. Those little toys such as minimates or simply some good "Hellboyish" like toys (imagine Harry Potter toys with Mike's style bladgh brlagh bdlagh yum)
ReplyDeleteCompletely true Eddie. Unfair, unfair.
P.S. Have to tell you though that the actual HP toys are repulsive.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad to hear that toy makers had cold feet when the first Harry Potter movie came out... but we've had SEVEN movies already!! How long does this franchise have to stay at the top for toy making to be considered a safe venture? It's no wonder I see a proliferation of fan-made merchandise floating around.
ReplyDeleteI guess that's some consolation: even if the toy companies are going to sit around, the fans will fill the world with their own brand of merchandise.
Anon, Severin: Thanks again for the interesting points about selling HP toys. It sounds like I was too hasty when I blamed Warner executives for everything. Severin still made a good point, though. It took seven successful films before a Potter Park was able to open its doors. That's way too slow!
ReplyDeleteIs there anything we can learn from the Japanese here? They seem to get movie related toys into the stores at a more brisk pace than we do. Or do they?
She doesn't owe you toys :)
ReplyDeleteJ.K. Rowling keeps very tight control of her brand. She does not sign off on reams of junk. She is why the HP movies are British everyone productions, with no US actors even though the studio howled endlessly about it.
I just watched all 6 on dvd and the 7th on IMAX. The DVDs I watched in my Harry Potter bathrobe: 10 years old, beautiful Gryffindor heraldry, polarweight and warm as hell.
I know someone who worked at the marketing company that designed harrypotter.com. At a big meeting for some part of it, she noticed this oddly familiar middle-aged blond sitting in the back of the room. George Lucas does not show up at Star Wars marketing meetings.
I have great respect for her in keeping control of the HP universe.