New toy warning: ‘Moana 2’ arrives

Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Dealers

As the site’s resident toy expert – I am the author behind it the strategist’s “toy shop” and gifts for all ages — I get an early look at the latest and greatest new toys, often before they hit store shelves. There are dozens of new releases each month, so heading into the holiday season I’ll be doing a toy-centric edition of the “Leave Dillydally.” Here are the launches I’m particularly excited about right now, including a Star Wars marble run, chapter books for the Toniebox audio player, and a spooky new edition of Exploding Kittens.

The sequel to Moana is coming out over Thanksgiving, and there are tons of tie-dye dolls, dress-up toys, and playsets on the way — including one American Girl Moana doll now available for pre-sale. Of all the stuff right now ready to ship, I’m most excited about Mattel’s Moana doll singing an excerpt from the new song “We’re Back”; a LEGO set that comes with everything you need to build Moana’s raft and a transforming island that holds the heart of Te Fiti; and a Squishmallow version of her chicken friend Heihei.

This new addition to the Exploding Kittens universe features a whole new set of cards, including zombie kitten cards that let previously exploded players come back to life. But even dead players can continue to play to torment living players from the grave.

Gravitrax, maker of the intricate modular marble runners we’ve recommended for years, just released its first ever licensed toy. The action set, which is modeled after the Battle of Yavin from Star Warshas a base plate shaped like the Death Star; bullets printed with the faces of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Darth Vader; and the X-Wing Fighter and TIE Fighter figures to incorporate into the track.

Wondery’s new line of STEM toys is inspired by the popular children’s podcast Wow in the world and created by strategist-approved toy brand Thames and Kosmos. Each set explores different science concepts such as phosphorescence, geology and physics. In the box you will find both printed instructions and access to step-by-step audio guides recorded by podcast hosts Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas.

The third and final Bratz x Wild girls collaboration dolls — a two-pack of Gretchen and Karen — launch this week on Halloween at 11 Eastern. Each character in the collection comes packaged in a Burn Book-shaped box with their daytime outfits and sexy Halloween costumes from the movie. Compared to most of the toys I write about, these nostalgic Y2K dolls are aimed more at adult collectors than actual children. And even though I’m not a doll collector, if I were to buy any of it Wild girls Bratz dolls, it would be this couple because they are the comic backbone of the original movie. Like Regina and Cady before them, they are expected to sell out within minutes.

For even more nostalgia, Little Tikes has just released a set of Fraggle Rock story books for use with the very popular Story Dream Machine – a retro-looking projector and audio player. My almost 2 year old son loves his Story Dream Machine and it’s been a nice little step towards letting him watch TV that doesn’t actually count as screen time. I love the weirdness of it Fraggle Rock grades and can still sing most things theme songso this is big news for me.

Finally, a big launch of the Toniebox audio player aimed at older children: chapter books included Captain Underpants, Ramona Quimby, Great Nateand the questions, aka Rosie Revere, Ada Twist and their crew. Each set contains four unabridged chapter books shaped like actual books instead of toy figures.

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