Toys: Last News

When Stephen Graham's latest TV series, Adolescence, hit Netflix, it made waves in a way no one could have anticipated. Its raw and authentic depiction of a teenager's shocking act of violence and the ripple effects on a school, community, and family has led to calls for it to be shown in schools and sparked conversations within families about their own children's online habits.

If you're hunting for a cracking Lego set for yourself or the perfect present for a Harry Potter fan this Christmas, you won't want to miss out on this Amazon sale offering 25% off a Harry Potter Lego set.The movable Lego model of everyone's favourite House Elf, Dobby, usually costs £25, but a handy discount has brought the price down to £18.99 in the run-up to Christmas. With an impressive rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from Amazon reviewers, this Lego set has been dubbed "a perfect gift for any Potter fan" by delighted customers who have snapped it up.

link to a pornographic website on packaging for dolls tied to the blockbuster movie “Wicked.”In a proposed class action filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Holly Ricketson said she bought a “Wicked” doll for her daughter, who then visited an adult entertainment website through the link provided by the toymaker.Ricketson said her daughter showed her hardcore photographs from the website and both were “horrified” by what they saw, suffering emotional distress.The plaintiff said she would not have bought the doll had she known of the mistake, and Mattel has not offered refunds despite recalling the dolls on Nov. 11.Mattel did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but has expressed regret for the error.The El Segundo, California-based toymaker had intended to link purchasers to the WickedMovie.com website, not to a similarly named website for people at least 18 years old.Mattel recommends the dolls for children aged 4 and up.Tuesday’s lawsuit seeks at least $5 million of damages for anyone in the United States who bought “Wicked” dolls whose packaging included the errant link.It accuses Mattel of negligence, selling products unfit for sale, and violating California consumer protection laws.Other products from Mattel include Barbie and Hot Wheels.“Wicked,” from Universal Pictures, stars Cynthia Arivo and Ariana Grande.It has grossed $263.2 million in the United States and $360.3 million worldwide since its Nov.

Popular,” thanks to “Wicked.”A skin site is seeing surging levels of traffic after its URL was accidentally printed on the packaging of “Wicked” doll boxes.Toy giant Mattel has manufactured merch for “Wicked,” the upcoming movie adaptation of the beloved Broadway play, including two dolls based on protagonists Glinda and Elphaba.On the back of those boxes is a link to Wicked.com, a website for Wicked Pictures — a porn production company established back in 1993.The real site for the film, which was supposed to be on the packaging, is wickedmovie.com.The blunder was first spotted late last week, with the X-rated site now experiencing viewership unseen since mid-2012 due to the snafu, Variety reported. Wicked Pictures produces porn parody movies including “Captain Marvel XXX.” It’s unclear whether they plan to capitalize on the unfortunate Mattel mix-up by making an X-rated version of “Wicked.”The awkward blunder was first spotted by eagle-eyed social media users.

dolled up, thanks to this pretty, plastic plaything. Black Barbie stormed onto the toy scene as the “dynamite” antithesis to her Malibu sun-kissed, pink-obsessed predecessor, Barbie, in 1980. With richly brown skin and a cutely curly coif, the African-American doll not only became the first figurine of color to bear the blond’s buzzy name, but the unsung heroine also kicked open the door for black powerhouses to be forever immortalized in her haute image.

It sounds like the fantasy career plan of a doll-loving child with a big imagination, Barbie's stylist. But before you break the news to your little one that this isn't actually a job, think again - because Barbie has her own Instagram account, and every fashion influencer needs a good wardrobe. Fresh from the blockbuster success of last year's Barbie movie, the doll launched on March 9, 1959 has never been more on trend.

blockbuster first release, “Barbie,” Mattel Films is prepping some 14 live-action films, including movies based on Hot Wheels, Magic 8 Ball, Polly Pocket, Rock ‘Em Sock ’Em Robots and UNO.“Saturday Night Live” has already spoofed the idea of an American Girl doll movie. In April, the NBC sketch comedy show aired a parody trailer with Ana de Armas in which a handful of American Girl dolls from disparate eras of history are brought into modern day but keep dying of cholera.“Come for the fun,” the trailer announces.

Cabbage Patch Kid had such a bloodless introduction to their loving homes.In a new documentary out Friday, “Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids,” director Andrew Jenks peels back the layers of cabbage leaves to tell the zany story how these baby sized cuddly dolls became a pop-culture juggernaut — and ushered in an era of Black Friday retail violence.Forty years ago, adults flooded malls and toy stores, physically brawling to get their hands on this “It” toy. In November 1983, the stories — and the injuries — racked up quickly.

Barbie” movie has inspired a cultural phenomenon, contributing to a pink paint shortage and inspiring a fabulously feminine fashion trend, dubbed “Barbiecore.”More than just an aesthetic fad, the Greta Gerwig-directed flick, starring Margot Robbie as the titular Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, has also sparked conversations around mental health and the power of nostalgia.Since the film’s release, Barbie doll sales have reportedly spiked — much of which could be thanks to adult viewers on a search for their “emotional support Barbies,” reported CNN on Tuesday.Recently, adults on social media have shared their newly purchased Mattel dolls, touting the toy in a bid to reconnect with their childhood, reported CNN on Tuesday.The hashtag emotionalsupportbarbie has more than 1.9 million views on TikTok, featuring videos of girls and women — and even men — buying Barbies that look like them, represent their careers or inspire them to be their authentic selves.Many TikTok users in the comments section of these posts rued on the impact of their own emotional support Barbies, as well as other beloved dolls.“My daughter bought me an American girl doll because I never had one as a child. It definitely heals something,” one person wrote.“My parents couldn’t afford to buy me a Barbie.

Ty Warner, the reclusive billionaire who founded Beanie Babies, breaks his silence in the wake of the harsh portrayal of the mogul in the recent movie, “The Beanie Bubble.” Warner, who has not done a media interview since the 1990s, takes issue with how he was depicted and wishes a more handsome actor than Zach Galifianakis was cast to play him. The film credits former workers — based on Patricia Roche and Lina Trivedi — for fueling the craze for the plush toy.The Post: What would you like people to know about you?Warner: I think several adjectives apply: Creative, collaborative, competitive, critical, analytical, disciplined, focused, perfectionist, driven, caring, kind, sincere. Also, I am both extroverted and private, which I admit is a bit of a paradox.The Post: How did you come up with the Beanie Baby idea? How similar is it to what was shown in the movie?Warner: It was nothing like the movie – not remotely. I envisioned a product that kids could afford with their allowance money.

Greta Gerwig’s bubblegum fever dream “Barbie” gave clever nod to ill-fated Barbie Land dolls — such as pregnant Midge, Ken’s BFF Allan, Tanner the pooping pup and Growing Up Skipper, to name a few.“I think I got most of them in there,” Gerwig, 39, told IndieWire of brushing off the decades of dust on the misfit toys for the new summer flick.“There’s like a million of them.”Among the many popular iterations of Barbie over the last 64 years, these unfortunate few fell flat.The “weird,” as “Barbie” narrator Helen Mirren says, concept of the pregnant figurine was born into Mattel lore in 2002.Midge — whose full name is Margaret Hadley Sherwood in the Barbieverse — was originally billed as Barbie’s best friend, but was meant to be the “ugly sidekick” to Barbie’s “dream girl” persona, M.G. Lord, the author of “Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll,” told Buzzfeed News.When Midge, played by Emerald Fennell in the summer blockbuster, was launched in 1963, the redhead could fit in all of her bestie’s outfits.But that ended when she was re-released with her magnetic bump that revealed an infant inside — nevermind the anatomical logistics.

While many are questioning the sexual identity of Ken in the new “Barbie” movie, there’s one studly disco-era male doll whose sexual identity has never been in doubt, a very gay male doll name Gay Bob. The Gay Bob doll came out of his closet in 1977 much to the displeasure of the right-wing culture warriors of the time, not just because Bob was out and proud but also because he came with a penis. Photo: Museum of the City of New York

While many are questioning the sexual identity of Ken in the new “Barbie” movie, there’s one studly disco-era male doll whose sexual identity has never been in doubt, a very gay male doll name Gay Bob. The Gay Bob doll came out of his closet in 1977 much to the displeasure of the right-wing culture warriors of the time, not just because Bob was out and proud but also because he came with a penis. Photo: Museum of the City of New York

Barbie movie marketing.Surely, I’d rather be at some protest or another, adding my substantial decibels to the righteous ruckus as we collectively shout, “No justice, no peace!” or “This is what democracy looks like!” or a dozen other cheery chestnuts.My go-to for news and pop-culture takes, The Guardian, offered a critique that might echo my own. Natasha Walter, author of Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, therein wrote, “Mattel’s dedication to using feminist language to sell more and more plastic flotsam to women seems to me to be a poor return on our former dreams of thoroughgoing social change.”Certainly, I have not seen Barbie. But I might.

channel your Ken-ergy and strap on your roller skates my babies, we’re in the midst of a Barbie summer.Greta Gerwig’s hotly anticipated fantasy comedy “Barbie,” premieres July 21 with Cancer queen Margot Robbie playing the titular role alongside Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Emerald Fennell, America Ferrera, Will Farrell, Dua Lipa, Helen Mirren and Ryan Gosling as the hot, hapless, beach venerating, Ken.In honor of the film’s release and six decades of the doll’s domination we are taking a look at Barbie’s birth chart.Standing pert on tip toes with the modern equivalent of a Mona Lisa smile, Barbie, full name Barbara Millicent Roberts was introduced by Mattel Inc. at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959.Fun fact; astrology applies not only to human beings but to global events, animals, the incorporation of cities, and the introduction of iconic toys.

new study found that an overwhelming 82% of the 1,000 multi-generational, female case studies think Barbie dolls — which take center stage in a highly anticipated Margot Robbie movie premiering Friday, July 21 — promote unrealistic body expectations to girls and women.Female dolls have historically featured slender figures with long, straight blond or brunette hair — and shockingly perky bosoms, especially for the 1950s, when they first hit the market.“They didn’t think that the public would accept a doll with breasts for children,” the late Ruth Handler, who invented the figure in 1959 after seeing her daughter play with paper cutouts of adult dolls, once said. “I knew they were wrong,” the co-founder and former president of Mattel, who died at 85 in 2022, bragged of the then-controversial endowment.Fast-forward to 2023: The new research from Harmony Healthcare IT further found that 69% of women think Barbie can actually lead to dangerous body image issues.

Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated “Barbie” movie — which opens in theaters on Friday — “Insecure” actress Issa Rae brings some black power to the iconic doll’s pink world as President Barbie.But it was another African-American woman, Louvenia “Kitty” Black Perkins, who designed the first black Barbie — released in 1980 in a box that touted “She’s black! She’s beautiful! She’s dynamite!”Rather than the long, straight blond tresses and pastel-colored fashions of the traditional white Barbie, the brown-skinned beauty rocked short, curly black hair and a glittering red dress complete with matching dangling earrings.“Everything Barbie [typically] was, I wanted to do the opposite,” Black Perkins, now 75 and based in Los Angeles, told The Post. “I knew exactly how black women wear their hair, how their clothes were different from … all of Barbie’s ball gowns.“Basically,” she continued, “I wanted my black Barbie doll to look more like me.” Although Mattel had introduced a black Christie doll as Barbie’s friend in 1968 — and Cara would follow her in the ’70s — this was the first time an African-American bore the name of the leading lady herself.Not relegated to being an “accessory to Barbie,” this was a main-character creation that Black Perkins made on her way to becoming chief designer of the fashion doll line in the mid-’80s.Coming 21 years after Barbie made her debut in 1959, it was a barrier-breaking move for Mattel as doll demand was changing.“The collectors are the ones that really made a difference because every convention that they had, they were looking for black dolls,” said Black Perkins.

plays the real-life Barbie in the $100 million live-action “Barbie” movie coming to theaters on July 21.Depending on who a Barbie fan believes, however, the genuine, in-the-flesh Barbie who inspired the doll is either the late Barbie Ryan or the now 82-year-old Barbara Handler Segal.The two origin stories could not be more different. Either Barbie exists thanks to one man’s obsession with the “perfect woman” — or because of an apparently sweet story revolving around a mother’s love for her two children.But both come with far darker sides than the innocent child’s toy would suggest, including orgies, sex toys, embezzlement, AIDS, and suicide.The battle over who really inspired Barbie only exploded into the open decades after the doll made her debut at the International Toy Fair in New York in 1959.She was an immediate hit: 11 inches tall, long-legged, slim-waisted, perky-breasted and either blonde or brunette, dressed in a hand-made black and white swimsuit, and soon after advertised on The Mickey Mouse Club.

company website.Grant also admitted that, although he stars in the movie, he’s never actually played “Dungeons & Dragons” — but not for Pine’s lack of trying to convince his costar to join in on the nearly 50-year-old role-playing game while on set. Grant previously claimed on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” that the behind-the-scenes aspect of filming is no longer as fun as is once was.“Films are so weird now.

filming “Barbie” for Simu Liu.The “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star, 33, revealed he underwent a painful beauty regimen for the upcoming movie, confessing that he had to wax all of his body hair.“Waxing has been an education, to say the least,” Liu told the Independent in a new profile. “It was one of the most painful experiences of my life.”The Canadian native continued, “I have such a newfound admiration for the incredibly brave women who go through this on a monthly basis.”Warner Bros.

As the United Kingdom and the world gear up for Queen Elizabeth’s big Platinum Jubilee celebrations, one company is honoring the 96-year-old monarch in a small, but grand, way.Babbacombe Model Village in Devon, England, unveiled a tiny model of HRH and her Jubilee Trooping the Colour parade ahead of the ceremony, which is set for June 2.The intricately detailed figurines feature small-scale horse guards, the Yeomen Warders (the sentries for the Tower of London) and the sovereign herself.In photos, designer Wayne Stott is seen putting the final touches on the queen, who’s seated in a red carriage and escorted by her royal guards on horseback, marching in the parade with their unmistakable black bearskin helmets.The minuscule monarch is sized to be barely larger than one’s thumb, however, it’s chock-full of details resembling the real queen.Eighteen of her Majesty’s Yeomen Warders guards have been spread throughout the model village for the exhibit, which is open for the Jubilee celebrations now through June 19.“Join us to celebrate the marking of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee and enjoy our Miniature Beefeater Hunt,” the model village wrote on Instagram. “Try and find all 18 miniature Beefeaters hidden in and around the gardens and all successful young explorers will receive their very own Union Jack flag to take home.”The Jubilee will be held from June 2 to June 5 and celebrates the British ruler’s astonishing 70 years on the throne.