The latest PJ Masks toys from Just Play use wearable lights and sound along with retro super-hero themes to match the toy-line with children’s imaginative play.
With the rising popularity of the PJ Masks show (on Disney Junior and Disney Channel created by Entertainment One, Frog Box and TeamTO), there continues to be a strong line up of toys, video games and activities. Joining recent updates to the PJ Masks How to be a Hero games and the new PJ Masks R/C Light-Up Cars are a range of brand new toys from Just Play.
Nothing surprising here, except that the toys offer new ways to play with the pyjama clad young heroes not seen before in the TV show. The PJ Masks Turbo Blast racers take the classic heroes from the show and add rockets to their vehicles and silver masks to the characters. The PJ Masks Hero Boost characters and cars pull a similar trick although with a rugged off-road feel.
With other toys sticking to a verbatim interpretation of the show’s characters and vehicles in plastic-electronic form, these latests product offer some fresh thinking into how brands can work with on-screen franchises.
It’s the kind of innovation that matches how children play with their toys. They happily mix and match products, introducing elements to their imaginative play that strays from the script or strict characterisation of their favourite TV shows. The Turbo Blast and Hero Boost range embrace this and are likely to be popular with kids because of this.
The new Die Cast Track Set Jump is also a welcome addition. Although younger children may need a little assistance putting it together, once complete kids of any age will enjoy launching die-cast cars up the ramp. The set comes with a die-cast Cat Car and other PJ Masks die cast vehicles are available. It’s also compatible with the PJ Masks Spiral Die Cast Set previously available.
What’s more likely is that children will use their existing collection of die cast cars to play with the ramp. For this it works well – accommodating a range of styles. You can also adjust the angle of the ramp to account for different weights of car.
Finally, arriving this month are the light up PJ Masks amulets. These can be worn by children along with the PJ Masks costume. When pressed they light up and make PJ Masks sounds and music. The amulets could do with an additional strap to better fit them to the body, but youngsters really won’t notice this while acting out favourite scenes from the show.
In an increasingly crowded marketplace of PJ Masks toys, Just Play continues to offer some innovations that will attract the attention of children. In particular the extension of the PJ Masks brand into rocket-powered and off-road hero play is a welcome one. The toys are available in stores this month.
It will be interesting to see how this develops over the course of the year and what new products will be revealed at this year’s New York Toy Fair. I will be sure to report back in due course from the show floor.
