The holiday season is so crucial for Toys ‘R’ Us that the toy mega-chain made sure to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy well before the shopping season kicks off, yet promised not to close any stores before the end of that crucial season. However, in its quarterly earnings report, Hasbro, the country’s second-largest toymaker, says that the retailer’s bankruptcy will affect its own earnings for the rest of this year. [More]
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Toymakers Owed Millions Brace For Hit After Toys ‘R’ Us Bankruptcy
By 9.29.17
Many toymakers say they won’t let Toys ‘R’ Us die after filing for bankruptcy, noting that doing so would be bad for their own businesses. After all, the chain is typically their biggest client. However, it appears there’s more at stake, namely, the millions of dollars the manufacturers are owed. [More]
Toymakers Won’t Let Toys ‘R’ Us Die Because That Would Be Bad For Their Business
By 9.20.17
Although the news of the Toys ‘R’ Us bankruptcy may have thrown some shoppers into a pre-holidays panic at first, the company will be keeping its stores open and its shelves stocked with toys. Not only because it wants to cash in during its biggest season, but because its suppliers need it to stick around. [More]
No More Wheelbarrow Or Shoe For Monopoly Players
By 3.17.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Monopoly is doing away with two more pieces of its history, with the announcement that the wheelbarrow and shoe are the latest of Monopoly’s original game pieces to be lost to the couch cushions of history. [More]
Monopoly Fans Vote The Thimble Off The Game Board
By 2.16.17 — Updated: 2.17.17
Although it was once a common sight around many American homes, odds are, unless you’re an avid sewer, the only thimble you’ve come into contact with recently is the Monopoly game piece. Perhaps it was that lack of relevancy that led to the silver token’s demise: Hasbro announced today that the thimble will no longer pass “Go” in the next generation of Monopoly. [More]
Hasbro Putting The Fate Of 8 Monopoly Tokens In Hands Of The Masses
By 1.10.17
Three years ago, we as a nation of board game players voted, and told Hasbro to ditch Monopoly’s classic iron token in favor of a cat. Now, with 50 new contenders — including a hashtag (what the heck?!), bunny slipper, and monster truck –bearing down on them, the fate of the eight current Monopoly tokens is once more hanging in the balance. [More]
Pokemon Go, Iron Man Play-Doh, Game Of Life: Empire Among 2016 Tasteless Toys Nominees
By 11.21.16
Many of us will be out shopping (or at least rolling over in bed to shop on our phones) this holiday weekend, and more than a few of us will be picking up toys for the youngsters we love (or are obligated to be near at least twice each year). In advance of this retail rush, the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood has put out its list of kids’ toys that will warm the cockles of marketing executives around the world, and make other folks long for the days of wooden trains on pull strings. [More]
Fox News Anchor’s Toy Hamster Lawsuit Quietly Scampers Away
By 10.6.16
Just over a year ago, a very odd lawsuit made the news: a Fox News anchor was suing toy maker Hasbro over a toy hamster. Harris Faulkner objected to the existence of a Littlest Toy Shop collection toy hamster named… Harris Faulkner. This was either a really weird coincidence or some very niche cross-marketing on Hasbro’s part. The case has now ended, though we don’t know whether there was a financial settlement. [More]
Mattel, Viacom, Hasbro Accused Of Tracking Kids’ Online Behavior
By 9.13.16
When your child uses a kid-targeted website for Barbie, Dora the Explorer, Neopets, Nerf, or Nickelodeon, federal law limits what information can be collected. But an investigation by the New York state attorney general found that some of the biggest names in toys and kids’ entertainment were violating that law by collecting information from their young users without authorization, and by allowing third parties to track users’ behavior across the internet. [More]
Doll Creator Taking Hasbro To Court Over “My Little Pony” Designs Files Another Lawsuit
By 8.4.16
A doll creator who’s already going to court with Hasbro for allegedly stealing her designs for new versions of My Little Pony and other toys filed an additional lawsuit this week. [More]
Hasbro, Mattel Reportedly Talking About Making One Big Toy Company To End All Others
By 2.4.16
Imagine a world where G.I. Joe marries Barbie (or Ken) and then they both drive off in their Hot Wheels car to their My Little Pony ranch — and all these products come from the same company. It’s a possibility, with Mattel and Hasbro reportedly chatting about merging the contents of their respective toy chests.
[More]
Star Wars Monopoly Game Getting Female Character After All
By 1.6.16
Hasbro recently explained that the reason it didn’t include the main character from Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its new Star Wars-themed Monopoly game wasn’t because she was a female, but because it didn’t want to spoil info about her character that was already quite obvious from the trailers. But now that everyone and their goldfish has done their mandatory 135-minute duty and watched the movie, Hasbro is going to add a woman to the Monopoly mix. [More]
Monopoly Games Omit Star Wars’ Lead Female, Relocate Des Moines To Ohio
By 1.5.16
It’s not a good week for Hasbro’s long-running (and apparently inexhaustible) Monopoly franchise. First, the company has to explain why its new Star Wars-themed game leaves out the new film’s female lead character, and now comes news that Hasbro has decided that Iowa’s capital city is actually located hundreds of miles away in Ohio. [More]
Hasbro’s Latest Venture Brings Toy Cats To Life To Be Companions To The Elderly
By 11.19.15
If you’re still searching for the purr-fect gift for your grandparents (or other elderly loved ones) and think they might enjoy a little four-legged company, without the hassle of scooping kitty litter, then you might be the perfect candidate for Hasbro’s new line of “companion pets.” [More]
Hasbro Goes After Bronies With High-Priced Line Of “My Little Pony” Toys Marketed To Adults
By 9.25.15
Even if you’re not aware of a group of folks called “Bronies” — mostly male* adult fans who really love My Little Pony — Hasbro is totally clued into the potentially lucrative market. As such, it’s releasing a new line of My Little Pony toys designed specifically to appeal to Bronies, with a price to match. [More]
Fox News Anchor Sues Hasbro Over Toy Hamster With Her Name
By 9.2.15 — Updated: 10.6.16
Harris Faulkner, an anchor on the Fox News cable network, is a human and has been on TV for decades. Yet the toy company Hasbro sells a tiny plastic hamster as part of its Littlest Pet Shop line which is named Harris Faulkner. How did the hamster get its name? Is it intended to insult or honor Ms. Faulkner, or just a very strange coincidence? She has sued the company for $5 million, either way. [More]
Dinosaur Experts In Uproar After Hasbro Referred To ‘Jurassic World’ Raptor Toys As Male
By 6.26.15
Anyone who’s familiar with Jurassic Park knows that all the dinosaurs in the park were engineered to be female — this, to control the animals from making their own dino babies and overwhelming the humans. So then why did Hasbro rewrite the Jurassic Park canon by rebranding its Jurassic World dinosaur toys as males in product descriptions for its raptor toys? [More]
Hasbro Celebrates Monopoly Anniversary By Putting Real Money In The Game, But Only In France
By 2.4.15
When sitting down to a rousing game of Monopoly, one might daydream about opening the box to find the colorful fake money replaced with genuine bills. While that’s just a pipe dream for most of us, Hasbro – the maker of the iconic board game – is making it a reality for 80 lucky consumers…in France.
