Price: £11.89£13.89 Availability: 1 Longevity: 4
They're plump, they've big ears, they're virtually unintelligible. Yet the Teletubbies have taken the Irish - if not international - toy market by storm. The biggest sellers by a mile this Christmas, Tinky Winky, Lala, Dipsy and Po can be bought individually or as a set. That's the theory anyway. The reality is if you haven't got one at this stage, forget it. In their absence, Teletubbies jigsaws, posters, footballs and watches are flying off the shelves.
Price: £3.99£169 Availability: 9 Longevity: 9
Barbie has gone through something of a renaissance this year with the chart-topping single Barbie Girl giving her street-cred among the over-12s. In her core pre-teen market, she remains tops, her position strengthened by new additions such as: Teacher Barbie (£20.95), Barbie and Ginger (£26.99) and Pet Doctor Barbie (£17.89). Popular accessories this year include Barbie Sports Car at £8.99 and Barbie Motorhome at £49.99.
Action Man
Price: from £8; accessories up to £60. Availability: 9 Longevity: 9
Action Man, the unreconstructed superhero continues to blast his way into the hearts and bedrooms of thousands of boys. Each toy features a different Action Man function, from the eagle-eyes of Urban Ninja (£9.25) to the quick-draw of Hands Up (£14). Best-sellers this Christmas include Moonraker and Crimebuster and Raid (£27).
Action Man Street Commander (£33), on which you can record your own voice, is expected to fare best when it is released later this month.
Sony PlayStation
Price: £130, plus games at £10£50 each. Availability: 8 Longevity: 8
Although its nearest competitor, the Nintendo 64, contains twice its memory and costs less, the Sony PlayStation leads the electronic toys market. Its success is based on the popularity of its games, which retail at about £10 less than those for the Nintendo 64. The most popular games at present are Formula One '97 (£50), already sold out in many stores; and Total Drivin' (£50), another racing game. For younger children, the bestseller is Disney's Action Game featuring Hercules (£40).
Vtech PreComputer Unlimited
Price: £150 Availability: 9 Longevity: 7
The nearest thing to a children's PC, the PreComputer Unlimited is the latest addition to the Vtech electronic learning range. Suitable for children aged 9 and upwards, it contains more than 40 applications including word processing, spreadsheets and database. The mini-computer can be used with a standard PC printer or a Vtech printer, priced £50. A limited range of additional cartridges, with new learning aids and games, can also be purchased.
Top selling toys for Christmas 1997
Availability and longevity are graded on a scale of 1 to 10 - 1 being the toy is extremely hard to get your hands on and if you do your child will probably only love it for as long as the fad lasts.
