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Building Character--One Bonz at a Time

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Creative characters are the heart of great animation, so it's no wonder today's most creative character-building construction sets were developed by an offshoot of one of the nation's largest animation studios.

Several years ago, partners at the animation company Curious Pictures decided to venture into the toy making world with an eye toward retaining the rights to toys based on the characters in their films and television shows. They connected with toy developer Byron Glaser, who had a prototype of a new construction toy ready to market, and launched an innovative character-based construction set -- Bonz -- and a new company, Curious Toys.

Over the first few years, Curious Toys launched other product lines as well, but profits from their toy sales weren't enough to maintain a full-fledged corporation. Curious Pictures Managing Partner Susan Holden decided it was time to shut things down, but when she started reviewing the toy company's sales and inventory, she saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

"At that time we had about 45 SKUs," says Holden, "and I really found traction on the Bonz SKUs. People really liked them and they were all award winning, so I said maybe we should cut the company down and just do Bonz. Since then, that's what we've been doing and it's been really successful."

Bonz is unique in the world of construction sets. Where most construction toys focus on buildings, vehicles and mechanical contraptions, for example, Bonz focuses on characters. Each set provides a variety of body-type parts, including eyes, and the interconnecting pieces mean you can actually play with the characters you create. "It's like building your own doll," says Holden.

Bonz designs include SeaBonz underwater characters, SkyBonz space alien creatures, and wonderful winged DragonBonz as well as insect-like ExoBonz and "prehistoric" DinoBonz. Many of the pieces glow in the dark, even in color, and the pieces from all the sets are compatible with one another.

While the original idea was to create toys with connections to Curious Pictures animation projects, the Bonz line turned out to have a life of its own. After over ten years on the market, the company is launching its first set with a tie-in to a Curious Pictures film in June 2009. The new set, DogBonz, is based on the television movie Little Spirit, starring the voices of Danny DeVito, Lucy Liu, and news anchor Brian Williams. It's the story of a boy who moves to New York City and loses his beloved dog in Central Park. The film follows the boy on his quest to be reunited with his dog. While most of the Bonz sets encourage you to create your own characters, the DogBonz set is a bit different. It includes a plush dog, like the one in the film, with the Bonz pieces designed to build accessories for your dog. "You can build a bed, a bowl, a house, a leash, a collar, a jump," says Holden. "It's all things you can do with your dog."

Perhaps what makes Bonz sets most unique is their universal appeal, which extends to creative types of all ages. "It's art," says Holden. "It has an eclectic, very cool design, like high art." Holden's daughter, now 14, is still drawn to the Bonz sets, which she's played with since the line came out in 1998.

"She still sometimes takes out all the sets and builds what she calls her museum," says Holden. "She builds sculptures and sets them out on the counters around the family room. It's sort of an art installation."

The Bonz sets are popular gifts for Curious Pictures' creative clients, too.

"I was up at someone's office at MTV the other day and they had all the SeaBonz pieces with the suction cups attached to their window," says Holden. "It was up in Times Square and they had this creature coming off the window in their office."

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