ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

A recent message board post by David Horvath seems to have thrown a bit of confusion in the air regarding the future of designer toys. David posted “…we can’t continue ‘designer toy’ projects unless the producers get each item, and each colorway of each item, safety tested and certified. It’s our own new personal policy.”

Kidrobot boardie Schunard [see thread] found a copy of the actual law regarding toy testing, and this seemed to raise more questions. So here’s the straight dope:
David mixed a great deal of personal opinion in that post, which kinda fuzzed up the lines around the actual legal part. Uglydolls’ decision to discontinue production of collectible vinyl figures considered for “adult collectors” is a personal decision. This is not the “end of designer toys” as a few have surmised, nor will it really affect any companies that are currently manufacturing such toys.

That was a mouthful, eh? How about this: Fear not, fellow nerds! It’s cool. Don’t sweat it. Product testing for toys is not mandatory, unless you are marketing them to children under 15 years of age.

EN-71 testing (for the US) and CE testing (Europe) are used to determine the safety of a toy, make sure that all materials are compliant with EPA regulations and determine the appropriate age rating. Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and all major retail outlets require these tests to be done, usually quarterly. Separate tests must be done for each variation: colorways, different graphics, etc. It’s expensive, but relatively quick and easy. You have to submit 4-6 pieces of each variant, and they are all tested individually. It gets really expensive, really quickly. Then you get a huge report telling you what aspects passed, what aspects failed, what the correct age rating is, etc. etc.

Even when your products don’t change (for example, Uglydoll Babo) you still have to get it re-tested quarterly in order to maintain a place in Target or Wal-Mart or whatever. So Uglydolls taking this line is not only bold, but it’s also expensive. They’re willing to the spend the money to maintain this testing on their entire product line to stick to their beliefs….and that’s pretty damn cool.

Personally, I applaud Uglydolls for deciding to focus on putting kid-safe designer toys on the market. I think everyone can agree they would rather see a kid trundling around the grocery store with a 24″ Babo in tow than some crappy plush of whatever awful super hero movie came out that week.

Now the real question is: How will this affect the upcoming line of Uglydoll “action figure” toys? Honestly, it probably won’t. From the images we’ve seen, there don’t appear to be any choking hazards or fancy paint jobs. EN71 testing will most likely go smoothly on these, and David will be able to release these neat little figures to the delight of hard-core collectors and weird little kids alike with no problems or hassles. [Ed. Note: See this story from The Consumerist, which ridiculously used an image of one of Horvath's Dunnys to accompany an article on toy-related deaths, before eventually removing the misleading picture.]

Don’t sweat it, fellow collectors…there will be plenty more Detolf-fodder in the future from all your favorite artists and companies.