Anarchy. That’s what you get when you mix the launch of a new Elmo toy, a ton of media types looking to snack, schmooze, and cover the event, and most importantly, about fifty children. Actually, to be honest, it was mainly the mix of Elmo – the lovable, popular Sesame Street character – and the children that made things go over the top… But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Earlier this week, Playskool welcomed press and their families to the swanky Empire Hotel in New York to preview Let’s Rock Elmo, the latest iteration of the moving, talking Elmo toy line that will eventually result in the little red robots enslaving their human masters, forcing us to sing and learn all day until we die.
You’re probably familiar with Tickle Me Elmo, of course, which launched this whole craze? Well, the new doll doesn’t respond to tickling, but he does have a piano (well, keytar), guitar, drums, and microphone that let you sing along and interact with the fuzzy red Muppet. Basically, think Rock Band if you could play with Elmo, and you’re set. It’s a fun toy, well designed, and is easily going to be THE hot item this Holiday season, I have no doubt of that.
Before we got to the toy, though, myself, my wife, and my 21-month-old daughter, who is an Elmo fan because, you know, she’s a human child winded our way through a display of Sesame Street action figures and cookie monster toys. We were one of the first people in, and the room was already completely packed. I snapped a few pictures, and we quickly moved out of the way into the next room… Where we were greeted by the sight of a giant, fuzzy walk around version of Cookie Monster on a very cool Sesame Street set. He was giving out hugs, high fives, and taking pictures, which was delightful as my daughter loves Cookie Monster only second to Elmo. Basically, all I’ve been hearing since the event is “Cookie! High-Five!” over and over. So that was nice.
After that, we moved to the main room, which was full of snacks, and a little set made to look like a tour bus. You could take pictures in the windows, of course, but the main draw was the – I kid you not – PILE of Let’s Rock Elmos inside. Here’s the thing: Playskool could release a toy called “Blob of Elmo” and kids would be just fine. But as they need to not gross everyone out, the Let’s Rock Elmo seems to do just fine. The kids I spotted playing with the toys knew just what to do with it, and how it worked, without looking at any instructions – and they seemed to have as much fun just picking up microphones and singing into them, as interacting with the Elmo doll.
While there, we chatted a bit with the designer of the toys, who was just hanging out on the side watching the kids play. The interesting bits? The very unassuming designer lves watching the kids play, and playing with the kids, but she’s actually been done with this toy for about nine months – she’s already on to the next toy, for NEXT holiday season.
Anyway, the other big hit – at least for the 21-month-old set – was a Cookie Monster toy which flaps its mouth, eating cookies. You stuff the cookies in his mouth, he says, “Amm, amm, amm,” or however you spell that, and then you can take the cookies out of his backpack. Repeat until your arm falls off. It’s a simple toy, but easy for the littler ones to use, and like the Let’s Rock Elmo, intuitive for kids and engaging.
At some point – about halfway through the Event – the walk around Cookie Monster was replaced with a walk around Elmo… And things went nuts. Think about your favorite rock star entering, and then multiply that by fifty screaming children. Even the organizers weren’t prepared, as they desperately tried to organize the attendees into something resembling a line. After a few harried minutes, things did calm down a bit, and even my daughter got a turn to sit down and take a picture with Elmo. I think its fair to say that I will never, ever be able to make her as happy as she was at that moment, but you know, I can live with that.
So remember how I said things went nuts when walk around Elmo entered? Soon after that, we were ushered into yet another room, set up with a stage, and red chairs in the audience, as well as beanbag chairs for the kids. After an intro from the Playskool brass, out popped… Actual Elmo. Meaning, Kevin Clash, the guy who does the voice of Elmo, actually performing Elmo live on stage.
Anarchy.
Actually, pretty controlled anarchy, with kids shouting, “Elmo! Hi Elmo! Hello!” and generally staying in their seats. What followed was a short, fun presentation, with Elmo interacting with Randy Jackson of American Idol fame. They chatted about singing, and being a rock star, and generally Clash proved why he deserves all the success Elmo has gotten: he is a hilarious improviser, great at making kids and adults laugh at the same time, while also manipulating a puppet. The best moment came right after, though, as Clash emerged, still with Elmo on hand, and gave all the kids kisses with the puppet. It was adorable, and chatting with him later, I found that he was also a very, very nice guy. Cool.
After that, we were given our gift bags full of swag and ushered out. One of those pieces of swag was the Let’s Rock Elmo microphone accessory… And my daughter hasn’t put it down since. I think Playskool is going to do okay with this toy line.
Check out some pics of the new "Let's Rock" line here:
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