The Toys That Will Drive Parents Nuts

The Holiday Toy Popularity Contest

To Be More Interactive, Dolls Tell Jokes, Answer Kids; No 'Watch Me' Toys

By ANN ZIMMERMAN

It used to be that Elmo just wanted to be tickled. This Christmas, he wants kids to hand him musical instruments so that he can play and sing along with them.

It used to be that Elmo just wanted to be tickled. Now, kids have to hand him one of three instruments so he can play rock songs. Toys are getting more complicated but are these toys that kids really enjoy? Ann Zimmerman has details on Lunch Break.

Toys are getting increasingly complex, responding to voices or touches and mimicking human behavior. Mattel's Fijit doll utters 125 phrases and responds, via voice recognition, to 30 commands. When you tell the doll to dance, she will ask whether you want her to groove to your music or her own. My Keepon, a round-eyed robot that looks like two oranges fused together, coos when touched on the head and bobs and twists rhythmically to music.

Since the 1930s introduction of Betsy Wetsy, a doll that drank from a bottle and then wet its diaper, the toy industry has long sought to create lifelike dolls. But the latest toys take interactivity to new levels. While parents love to hate talking toys, the new sophistication, in part, aims to blunt a common parental objection: that electronic toys make children too passive.

Also driving the complexity is a simple quest. In recent years, the must-have toy of the holiday season has often been a cute—and innovative—electronic toy. There hasn't been a toy blockbuster since 2009, when parents went mad trying to track down scarce Zhu Zhu Pets, motorized pet hamsters that could propel themselves through elaborate hamster habitats. For manufacturers and stores, a hot toy can be the difference between a decent and great Christmas selling season.

The Strong, Rochester, NY

The 1996 Tickle Me Elmo giggled.

Interactive toys also appeal to a valuable demographic, says independent toy analyst Chris Byrne. Grandparents buy a large number of children's toys—even more since the economy has remained sluggish, he says. "Grandparents tend to gravitate toward the toys with lots of bells and whistles, the ones that are met with an explosion of joy on Christmas morning," Mr. Byrne says. "Let's face it, we're buying love here."

Mattel says Fijit is selling as well as TMX Elmo—a 2006 version that fell to the ground in convulsive laughter—did when it premiered. Fijit, aimed at girls 6 to 9 years old, was sold out at most retailers before Black Friday, but shipments are starting to trickle back in. Sales also are reportedly brisk for Let's Rock! Elmo, geared for children 18 months and up, and for My Keepon. The latter is sold exclusively at Toys "R" Us, which says adults also are buying it to keep on their own desks.

Interactive toys landed on lists of the season's hot holiday gifts issued by retailers and assorted toy experts. Let's Rock! Elmo and Fijit also are in contention for the Toy Industry Association's hot product of the year.

Increasing Technology

"The technology in these toys increases every year," says Patricia Hogan, a curator of toys and dolls at The Strong's National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y. "Elmo's progression alone over the last 15 years is pretty impressive."

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Of course, talking electronic toys don't always arouse enthusiasm from parents, who have to listen to them all day. Some parents also wonder whether the "wow" is worth it, as the toys don't come cheap, ranging from $50 for Fijit and My Keepon to $60 for Elmo (and an extra $20 a pop for three additional instruments sold separately).

Kim Tracy Pierce of Los Angeles has two boys, ages 4 and 6, whose past experience with an interactive Elmo doll didn't go well. "They played with him for a few minutes and then just smashed it," she said. "The new Elmo toy looks like they would play it with a little longer—and then still smash it."

With the newest generation of toys, "I think they take the fun out of what a toy is, which is to get you imagining what a creature or item is all about," says Rebecca Wolf, a Los Angeles mother of four children under the age of seven. "When [toys] come with voices of their own, what is the point?"

Hasbro Inc. said it listened to the concerns of parents before it embarked on creating Let's Rock! Elmo two years ago. Above all, mothers said they didn't want "watch me toys" that made their children simply spectators, says Jerry Perez, Hasbro's senior vice president for preschool toys.

So Hasbro says it made sure children could play with the toy in more than one way. They can use Elmo's instruments themselves. Kids can also play with additional toys—a keyboard, guitar and microphone, all sold separately—that prompt Elmo to harmonize.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal; The Strong, Rochester, N.Y. (6)

Technological advances can raise the potential for hiccups. For example, Mattel packaged Fijit so that parents could activate it on the toy shelf—but used batteries that didn't last long. Unaware that they were supposed to replace the batteries upon purchase, parents complained that Fijit didn't work when they got home. Mattel says it since has put a sticker on the package alerting customers to install new batteries.

How-To Video

Parents also complained that Fijit was hard to operate, so Mattel created an instructional video for YouTube explaining how to get the doll to interact by pushing her belly when it lights up, using one of 30 phrases printed on a card in the package, speaking clearly, and standing no more than two feet away from the doll.

The video has had been viewed more than 200,000 times and "has changed the conversation to a very positive one," says Sara Rosales, a Mattel spokeswoman. However, parents still wish she came with volume control, according to Internet reviews on Amazon and Toys "R" Us.

My Keepon—a contraction of the Japanese words for yellow and bounce—is also a YouTube sensation. The toy began life as a $30,000 robot in Japan used as a therapeutic tool with autistic children to encourage interaction.

Keepon's Famous Dance

In 2007, its creators made a video of Keepon dancing and posted it on YouTube. The video has drawn more than two million views since then—as well as the attention of British toy maker Wow! Stuff, who convinced the scientists to let them make a commercial version. Though it has a simpler construction than the therapeutic model, My Keepon still has many sensors and four motors that allow it to react to touch and the sound of music. It doesn't always respond with the same movements to a song.

Deb Boline, a single mother of girls ages 6 and 8, has been watching her daughters make lists for Santa since October. While the girls have crossed off some toys, the Fijit has remained on the list, so she bought one last week. Ms. Boline, of Wichita, Kan., is aware that the Fijit might get noisy but doesn't mind. "If it is something my children enjoy, I am willing to put up with it to a certain extent, or ask them to leave the room."

Write to Ann Zimmerman at ann.zimmerman@wsj.com

Note: When we were young, my dad thought it would be funny to buy my cousin David, age 5, a snare drum set, thinking it would drive his sister "Toots" nuts.  However, by the end of the evening, the drum set disappeared until folks started to leave.  Dad had hid it cuz it was driving him nuts...  This is the same guy, may he rest in relative peace, who would give our kids ice cream cones as we were leaving their home, "for the drive home".