Evil toilets, terror food and billionaire Squishmallows: my eye-popping day at the UK’s giant toy fair
Evil toilets, terror food and billionaire Squishmallows: my eye-popping day at the UK’s giant toy fair
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With the UK toy market now worth £3.4bn, we storm the high-security world of fun – and find possessed loos, creepy-crawlies in sushi rolls and more plastic than a petrochemical convention. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
![[Oliver Wainwright]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Oliver-Wainwright,-L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
A chubby baby dinosaur waddles down a pink carpeted aisle, narrowly avoiding an army of Care Bears tramping in the other direction. Nearby, a sales rep shows off a collection of insect-breeding habitats, just as Pikachu scampers around the corner, bumping into her neat display. Across the hall, inventors show off their fiendish new board games, magicians demonstrate glowing plastic thumbs, while others grapple with instructions by a table covered with thousands of tiny plastic bricks.
![[Lego Dungeons and Dragons minifigures.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9732cc7a1d2aff6fdbcedb2c86953eb3f7bdcd51/0_0_2400_1582/master/2400.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Welcome to the Toy Fair, in London’s Kensington Olympia, the UK’s biggest bonanza of toys, games and hobbies, where the world’s manufacturers converge to pedal their latest wares, as retailers scour the endless stands for the hottest new trends. It’s a mind-boggling place of plushies and puzzles, remote-control cars and mud kitchens, and more plastic than you would find at a petrochemical convention. Here, the £3.4bn business of fun is taken very seriously indeed, with NDAs galore and not a child in sight. So where is the toy world heading in 2025?.
![[Fuzzy friends … the toy character parade that opens the fair.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2b8bb3fb697fabb61be967fb99e88dcd511f523/0_0_4062_2708/master/4062.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“We’re seeing a real boom in micro collectibles,” says Kerri Atherton, head of public affairs at the British Toy & Hobby Association, which organises the fair, now in its 71st year. “They have all of the cuteness without the big price tag, and they’re also popular with adults, who like to display them rather than play with them.”.
![[Wear your fandom… Squishmallows FigBands.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/968570d4066d8b10adb08b24aa1ee7fc37cd74c5/0_0_2156_2156/master/2156.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
