The Licensing Awards are now in their 6th year, and were hosted by Greg Davies (one of the stars of The Inbetweeners) at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

Robyn Morgan, Licensing Director commented, “We are thrilled to have won such an important industry award for our Star Wars talking plush range.  We are very proud of the items and excited about the range moving forward into 2012 with Star Wars: Episode I (The Phantom Menace) being released in 3D in February.  2012 is going to be another strong year for us in the talking plush market with new licenses agreed on properties such as such as Sonic the Hedgehog , Doctor Who and Worms, joining our existing portfolio, which includes Ghostbusters and of course, Star Wars.”

Managing Director, Andy Oddie added, “Winning this category is important for Underground because the retail trade have chosen our line as their favourite. It hopefully means the one or two retailers left who are still not buying the range will be in touch!  We have big global plans and many new lines for 2012, all of which will be exhibited at Dallas, Hong Kong and New York Toy Fairs. In addition our UK distributor, Gear for Games, will be showing at the London Toy Fair in January”

The award-winning line from Underground Toys includes classic characters such as Yoda, Chewbacca, Darth Vader and R2-D2 sized from 4 inches & 9 inches through to the giant Chewbacca at 24 inches tall!

This fantastic Doctor Who mini talking plush clip-on assortment includes all your favorite characters as 4″ soft toys with sounds – Red Dalek, Blue Dalek, TARDIS (with light up lamp!) and Cyberman.

Phrases include but are not limited to :
TARDIS Materialisation Sound
Cyberman “You will become like us or you will be deleted”
Cyberman “Upgrading is compulsory”
Daleks “Exterminate, exterminate!”
Daleks “You would make a good Dalek.”

Great news, Underground Toys have been nominated for The Licensing Awards 2011 within the ‘Best Licensed Toys or Games Range’ for our Star Wars talking plush.  We are really looking forward to the results being published in September!

· Mini Darth Vader Talking Plush (4”)
· Medium R2 Talking Plush (9”)
· Medium Jawa Talking Plush with light up eyes(9”)
· Deluxe Yoda Talking Plush (15”)
· Super Deluxe Chewbacca Talking Plush (24”)

Series 1 will include Medium TARDIS (with a flashing lamp and sound) and Medium Talking Daleks – they stand approximately 9” tall and ship in branded gift boxes.  The cute mini talking plush assortment also includes the Cyberman – they stand 4” tall and have plastic clips on so they can be attached to keys, bags etc!

Phrases include the TARDIS Materialisation, “Exterminate, Exterminate!” and many more.

If you have any questions about this Press Release then please contact Robyn Morgan via email robyn@underground-toys.com

This item will be available for sale at Underground Toys’ booth # 3849 and also on BBC America’s booth #3629 for $30.00

RIVER SONG
Of all the people who have traveled or will travel with the Doctor, River Song is the most enigmatic of them all. She always seems to be one step ahead of the Doctor, even when he is in her past. Nobody has been able to figure out how River knows the Doctor so well, although there have been plenty of guesses! Although River is a force to be reckoned with, she sometimes needs the Doctor’s help – whether it’s against the Vashta Nerada or the Weeping Angels, or any of the other foes they have faced, or even will face in future. Confused? It will all become clear… one day…

THE PANDORICA
Legend has it that the Pandorica is a prison, a cage to contain the most feared warrior in the universe. But it is all a lie – the Pandorica is a box created to contain just one person – the Doctor. When his TARDIS exploded, all parts of time and space were wiped out, never having existed. The massed armies of all the Doctor’s foes – Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and others banded together and created the legends of the Pandorica, and then locked him inside it. But the Pandorica energy was a restorative, it could bring things back to life, and the Doctor piloted the Pandorica into the heart of his exploding TARDIS and set off Big Bang 2, rebooting the entire universe.

The range will incorporate characters from the current Doctor Who series and also a separate program featuring characters from the Classic series’ of Doctor Who, which are sure to appeal to collectors and fans of these series’. The characters produce unique noises tailored to each model, and will be released in several sizes.

Commenting on the new deal Robyn Morgan, Licensing Director at Underground Toys said “We have had great success in bringing to life popular television characters as plush toys.  The experience we have accumulated on both character detail and the importance of sound quality will mean we can finally do the Doctor Who brand justice as a plush concept.”

Richard Hollis, Head of UK Licensing at BBC Worldwide added “We are delighted to build on our existing relationship with Underground Toys.  This new category for Doctor Who will appeal to a wide range of fans and collector alike, and Underground are the perfect partner given their experience in this area.”

Underground Toys will begin shipping the toy line worldwide from June 2011 and the items will be previewed at London Toy Fair via their UK Distributor Gear 4 Games on booth E160.  They will also be shown at New York Toy Fair on Underground Toys on booth 4933.

The firms deal includes : singing plush (plays the theme tune!), mugs, cuff links, stress balls and key chains.

The movie – which opens in the UK on 1st July – is the third movie released in the series, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg.

Underground’s deal covers both the US and UK markets.

In the UK, the firm will be producing animated phone spinners, talking plush, mugs, talking pens, cuff links, animated flip books, travel pass holders, iPhone & iPad skins as well as other gift categories. Meanwhile, in the US it will produce stress balls to compliment their Star Wars stress balls also launching in 2011.