Toy Fair 2001: The Big Hits To Come

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.12 - MARCH 2001

Toy Fair 2001: The Big Hits To Come

by Jacquie Kubin

The characters of Dragonball Z seen out and about the city in a Humvee. All photos courtesy of Jacquie Kubin.

New York City...Whether the toy spins into a cartoon or the cartoon evolves into a toy, this year's 98th American International Toy Fair was the place to find out what's hot in upcoming animated properties. For those who look beyond the packaging, the annual Toy Fair allows a sneak peek into what franchises might hold possibilities for theatrical, cartoon and video game work as toys grow into multi-media franchises.

Taking Gaming to the Big Screen
Video gaming represents one of the greatest liaisons between the toy license and animated property. According to a communications industry report released by New York merchant bank Veronis Suhler last summer, interactive game sales will grow 21.7%, reaching $13.8 billion in sales by 2004 leading video games to be one of the number one license growers.

This year's most popular video game turned licensee franchise will be the Lara Croft Tomb Raider universe being brought to national attention through the summer release of Paramount's live-action, theatrical release starring Angelina Jolie (June 15, 2001). The venerable Lara Croft first put video game developer Eidos Interactive on the map with the release of the Playstation game Tomb Raider I in 1996. That one game has led to hours of interactive animation with multiple editions for Playstation including Tomb Raider II: Classic, Tomb Raider III: Classic and Tomb Raider: Chronicles. For PC play is Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Chronicles and The Lost Artifact. Tomb Raider game play has also been developed for GameBoy Color and the Macintosh platforms.

THQ's Tomb Raider starring Lara Croft for GameBoy Color from Eidos Interactive's enormous Tomb Raider franchise.

Found ready for retailer's shelves when the movie is released this summer are Tomb Raider inspired apparel, collectibles, novelties, books, stationary and action figures by Playmates Toys. Though they have released Tomb Raider figures in the past, new releases are based on the character as portrayed by Jolie. Fans can collect three different 9" Lara dolls dressed in either a wet suit, jungle or Area 51 outfit. Plus, they can create adventures with the 6" Lara Croft figure assortment featuring scenes from the movie, including Lara with a Bengal tiger, on her street assault motorbike, facing down a deadly white shark or battling a legendary yeti in the forests, a crocodile in the South Pacific or a Doberman on the rooftops of London town. With partners such as Sony and Viacom, as well as the highly successful video game franchise, one would have to imagine that a Tomb Raider cartoon will not lag too far behind the movie.

Trying to edge their way into the collectible card game market is Seattle-based Interactive Imagination and the Magi-Nation franchise that begins with a role-playing card game, Magi-Nation Duel, that began shipping last Fall. The card game has been followed by a GameBoy Color video game and by Christmas this year, Magi-Nation will reach storybooks, comic books, action figures and toys. In addition, SEGA, Nickelodeon and Konami have all signed up to help grow the Magi-Nation animated properties.

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