Re: I need your opinions HARRY FANS!!!

In article <4CKRf.39067$915.34207@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
DM <dm1498@{REMOVE}gmail.com> wrote:
harryfan wrote:

SORRY... I should clarify... by adult market, I mean adults who enjoy
the Harry Potter series!!! Although there are some very creative
ideas... I highly doubt my prof will appreciate the products. lol

Thank you for the ideas though!! I'm looking for something more PG!!

How about items that are functional? Like, there are tons of plastic
Harry Potter glasses, but how about *real* frames? I doubt many adults
would buy them for themselves but I bet parents would.

The only problem with that is that the glasses Harry wears are supposed
to be the detested style, the cheapest frames available free from the
national health. They're utterly generic, unless you put the warner
bros HP logo on them, or lightning bolts or something like that, and then
they go the other way into the overly-addicted-movie-fan-look.

See, I never
understood non-functioning toys. For instance, there's a toy vacuum
cleaner, little beans dance around inside under the transparent cover
and there's a "rrrrr"ing sound for the motor... Why? I'm sure parents
would shell out a few more bucks if the vacuum actually cleaned the
carpets. The kid has fun, the carpets get cleaned... everyone's happy.
If your going to make adult Harry Potter toys, make them functionable
and with quality.

What is particularly Potterian that is functional? The only computer
mentioned is Dudley's. Dean does artwork but I doubt that sticking
a HP logo onto a set of watercolors will add much. The elegant chess
set is a nice idea, or maybe they could license the old Battle Chess
computer game with a slight revamping to make it closer to Wizard Chess.

The translucent glass chess set is available in the usual form; making
one in wizard chess-piece form might be interesting, though since the
books have no pictures, we don't know what the pieces ought to look
like; that could be another WB movie-image item.

I recall being disappointed when the first batch of HP tie-ins came
out and the bathrobes were sized for tiny children; I'd have bought
an adult-sized wizard bathrobe, especially if it had resembled the
school robes in the first movie. Actually, the robes with functional
hoods in the third movie were a pretty good design too.

Similarly, it was ages before they finally began to produce the scarves,
and that was almost the first thing people thought of (and the scarves
now being sold still aren't like the movie ones, but many independent
knitters have worked up patterns). I've gotten over the initial urge,
so I don't know whether they've finally begun selling the neckties,
which don't need to have a logo on them at all; just getting the colors
and stripes right would be enough. (There oculd be a tiny logo on the
back, just to make WB happy.)

See, what I'm getting at is subtlety. Adults are easily embarrassed.
They will wear a fun bathrobe in private, but the necktie should be
"coincidentally" the same colors with no immediately obvious logo to
announce the fact. Those who see it and know will know, the rest
need not know.

I do like the tiny laprobes or nap blankets with an HP logo on them,
that can be buttoned into a temporary cape for a small child. They
qualify as a toy that has a potential ordinary use as well.

I would like to see a very good quality china teacup and saucer
with the Hogwarts coat of arms on it - but I want the one JKR herself
drew, or at least the best, most fully-developed movie one, not the
over-simplified ones that look like they were made up for the eventual
WB saturday-morning cartoon. I don't want it to say Warner Bros all
over it, either; that logo can be on the bottom, but true Hogwarts
china would not have a muggle movie company logo on it. The idea is
that it's from the teacher's room; it isn't necessarily the same
stuff that the kids use.

I saw the McGonagall plaid deerstalker-with-a-point - that was very
cute, though I think it was less pointed in the movie. It was
done right - no splashy logo, just a hat that had the essential
element that it was something a Potterverse witch would have worn.

The daily agenda or organizer notebook sounds like something that
a MoM wizard might use. It wouldn't have a picture of Harry on it.
Instead, it would be made so that it looked like an antique book,
maybe with hinge-straps and some interesting leather-tooling.
The interior could be light-parchment-colored instead of blank
white. Another option could be cordovan red, or other classic
leather colors. An _inside_ page could have the notation that
it was "Ministry of Magic Standard Issue".
A student version, like the nagging schedule planners that
Hermione gave the boys, could have a similarly discreet
Hogwarts coat of arms, with a place to write in your House
on the _inside_, where the owner writes in their name and
contact information.
Go for something with a slightly medieval-to-19th century
feeling to the style, so it's unusual without being blatant.
Keep the corporate logo stuff as tiny as possible, so that
it isn't the first thing you notice. I don't want to advertise
WB, I want to play in the Potterverse.

For casual fun, maybe a t-shirt that promotes Ron Weasley's
favorite team, or Dumbledore's - the ones that will never be
seen in a movie but add to the convincingly detailed universe.
The Chudley Cannons or Puddlemere United have some appeal to
those of us who cheer the underdog. A Puddlemere United
sports bag (of good quality) with no more than a very tiny
line of type acknowledging the connection with WB would
appeal to me. A Chudley Cannons bookbag might find some
takers, especially as the bright orange color would make it
easy to find.

=Tamar
.

Loading