• Los Angeles Times, Monday, February 15, 2010 10:21 AM

Retail buyers, licensers and myriad toy professionals and gawkers converged at the American International Toy Fair in New York yesterday as the four-day event opened at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. It is expected to draw more than 32,000 attendees and feature 100,000 products, Andrea Chang reports.

Among the action figures, stuffed animals, remote-controlled cars, board games, costumes and jewelry-making kits were a moonwalking Mickey Mouse, Bubber, a non-sticky modeling dough with the consistency of stale marshmallows, and Mattel's three-month-old toy golden retriever that posts pre-written tweets to Twitter.

Buyers are generally optimistic although many say they are still interested in products that stress affordability. "I just can't quite move fast enough," says Matt Hannifin, manager of a toy store in Fort Collins, Colo. "I've been buying so much."

Meanwhile, Mattel says that Barbie's newest careers -- chosen for the first time by the public -- will be news anchor and computer engineer, MSNBC reports via Reuters.

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