Fannish blog for scaramouche, aka Annie D.
Merchandise trawling

Not sure if I'm more impressed by this thing's existence, or its name.
Here is a thing about me: I love browsing toy stores. It's partially to be distracted by shiny things as is typical of window shopping, and it's partially to see the trends in marketing and brand commercialization. I was enthralled by the whole Bratz phenomenon, for example (and how it differentiated and competed with Barbie), and later there was the rise of friendship bracelet looms and other home activity sets where kids could make their own "customized" decorative jewelery and mock food sets.
Right now it's the Shopkins series that has me interested, in that it seems to be designed to tap into the collect-them-all and miniaturized worlds niches (alas I will always miss you, Polly Pocket) with a cute aesthetic that anthropomorphizes freaking groceries, which is a genius move away from the more common anthropomorphizing of animals and cars. It hasn't seemed to catch on to the toy zeitgeist, but it's a really interesting strategy.



