Beyblade The Next Big Thing

Mukesh Gupta - Televisionpoint.com
Take a bow and step aside Pokemon. Beyblade has just spun its way into children's imagination, bagging the coveted status of new toy on the kid bloc.

What is Beyblade? Quite simply, just a spinning top. The toy originates from a cartoon series by the same name that started airing on a toon channel in May. The wow factor emerged following that, its subsequent adverts on television, and its war cry like catchline: Let it RIP.

"Yes, Beyblade is the next big thing," says Renu Singal, a toy dealer at Andheri. "Though a contemporary version of the old-fashioned spinning top, sale figures show how tops can be easily updated to catch a child's fancy as any other toy."

In the telly episodes, the tops fight each other out of the ring. In the toy version, the top that keeps spinning the longest without get ting knocked out of the ring triumphs. Available in a number of colours with interchangeable parts, the tops have different weights, bases and spin gear to help kids win the battle. The electronic edition has flashing lights' display when the top spins, and battle sounds when they collide.

The Beyblade animation series revolves around a young teen martial arts student, Tyson, and other characters like Kai, Ming Ming, Max and Kay, who try and perfect the technique of beyblading by harnessing the power of beyblade, a potent spinning top made with spirits of mythical and powerful creatures.

"My son and his friends get together and by turns play 'Tyson and friends'. 'Be a Beyblader' was the theme of his recent birthday party too," tells Harina Seth, from Juhu Beach. Already a rage abroad, Beyblade merchandise like Tshirts, caps, mugs, stationary items are fastmovers. In Japan, ads of Toyota and National have Beyblade characters in them. Some Tokyo department stores, according to reports, hold Beyblade weekend tournaments where up to 1,500 kids have turned up. The cyberworld too throws up numerous sites. Beyblade.com high lights the current world champion.

Sallies Vasundhara Moudgil, a marketing executive, "It's a craze, courtesy television. My 5-year-old son Yash loves the top. Though over priced, seeing his excitement, I bought him four sets and now I can't get him to put them down." Chips in Aditya Bassi of Modern School, "It is action-packed and very engrossing. I manage to defeat my friends often." 'Battling Tops' hugely popular in the US in the 70s are supposedly the forerunners of Beyblades.

However, the Japanese claim they launched the 'Beyblade' telly series, which is derived from their 50s toy 'Beigoma'. In India, the tops have always been around, except we, unlike the West, never thought of adding some extra spin to its basic form.