Inside Out

San Francisco-based Pokonobe Associates, owners of Jenga, and licensing firm Dimensional Branding Group are working with FOG Studios on a multi-year, multi-title agreement to bring the wooden balancing game into the interactive age. FOG will be working with two game developers—Venan Entertainment, a PC and mobile developer, and Humagade, a mobile, handheld and interactive television development group—to prepare Jenga for publishers and other potential partners…Toy Industry Association has launched the official Web site for Toy Fair 2007, which will take place at the Jacob Javits Center in New York and showroom space in the surrounding vicinity February 11-14. Interested exhibitors or attendees can access travel, registration, exhibiting and other information at www.toyfairny.com...Lela Lee's Angry Little Girls books, targeted for ages 13 to 30, will be supported by a licensing and merchandising program beginning next year under the guidance of Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based The Sharpe Company. The property features mouthy little girls who address some girly issues, from clueless boyfriends to racism, with humor. Lee has also signed a deal with women's cable network Oxygen to produce a series based on the Girls along with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt…Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, Timonium, Md., will expand its Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel lines with prop replicas from the Fox properties. The initial product launch will be the Urn of Osiris, from Buffy, this September. The 9-inch replica comes in a clear, plexiglass display box with hand-numbered base and certificate of authenticity…Small World Toys, Los Angeles, will release a line of toys for ages 0 to 18 months in the IQ Baby line based on the folksy children's stories by Karen Katz, author of infant and young children's books. Characters from Katz's more popular titles like Where is Baby's Belly Button? and Counting Kisses will be featured as soft and/or plush baby toys, stacking cubes, blocks (wood, soft and sound), puzzles, playsets and interactive storytelling items. The toys will debut in 2007. New licenses for Small World Toys also include Eric Carle and Dr. Seuss.

Upper Deck, Miami, has produced 1,000, first-edition 12-inch vinyl figurines of all four The Lebrons characters based on basketball player Lebron James' Nike ads. James is the youngest player in NBA history to score 1,000 points—thus, the 1,000-count figurines. In addition to the vinyls, Nike will also offer 100 limited-edition Zoom LeBron III shoes featuring artist proofs of each of the four figurines on the insole. The figurines will retail for $45 and will be made available online at AllStarVinyl.com and to hobby shops nationwide.

Upper Deck plans to unveil All-Star Vinyl lines in different sports later this year, including football, basketball, hockey and baseball for contemporary and legendary players, including: Sidney Crosby, Michael Jordan, Ben Roethlisberger (November); Alexander Ovechkin, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady (December); and Babe Ruth (January)…And there are more basketball player-inspired toys coming to market. Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ty will introduce a ShaqBear Beanie based on NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal. The 10-inch Beanie Baby wears a white jersey and shorts with red and yellow trim. The jersey's front is embroidered with “SHAQ” and the back reads “O'NEAL” with the number 32 in red lettering. The ShaqBear also dons Dunkman athletic shoes and has three different hang tags, each with a different Shaq fact and an inspirational message from O'Neal to kids. The Beanies will be available at Ty retail stores and online at www.ty.com/Shaq while supplies last, for a suggested retail price of about $6.00.