Modarri: The Toy Car Reinvented
Santa Cruz, CA (December 3, 2013) Thoughtfull Toys, a new company launched by longtime toy pros who have worked on dozens of successful toys and product lines, has begun a fundraising drive on Kickstarter for its first toy line, Modarri toy cars.
A trio of toy inventors and professionals—David Silverglate, whose former Rhino Toys developed the stunningly successful Oball; Brian Gulassa, who has worked for a who’s who of major toy companies and designed over 200 toys in his 25-year career; and Trevor Hite, an operations specialist with over 20 years of experience in multiple fields managing lean and profitable companies—have launched a drive to raise $80,000 or more at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1344682921/modarri-the-toy-car-reinvented?ref=live
Silverglate sold Rhino Toys to Kids II Inc. in 2010 and worked to develop new products for them through 2012 under a management transition agreement. The products developed by Silverglate and his team are currently sold by the millions each year in all major retailers, and some are currently still under development by Kids II.
Although he could have drifted off into retirement, David wasn’t done playing and wasn’t done inventing. He assembled the trio that is now Thoughtfull Toys and started cranking out new ideas and products. But this time, no more baby toys! Silverglate has a taste for cool cars and wanted to create toys that he and his cohorts would enjoy—hence, Modarri.
Modarri is a new kind of miniature car line that you drive with your fingers using realistic steering and suspension. The cool modular design of Modarri allows the owner to create a car with unique looks and performance by swapping parts from one vehicle to another using the included Hex Tool. Modarri cars aren’t only for kids (recommended for ages 6+ and not for ages 0-3 due to small parts).
“We took care to design beautiful cars that teens and adults would also love and want to collect,” Silverglate said. “Like lots of guys, we love cars and often find ourselves surfing the internet for cool car designs, drooling over muscle cars, race cars, concept cars, toy cars, playing with our kids’ cars and adding to their (or our) collections. We think and hope that a lot of you are like us and never really ‘grew up.’ Our goal was to create toy cars that are sleek, gorgeous, fun, durable, drivable, buildable and interchangeable.”
A group of investors who previously backed Rhino Toys has ponied up to help the trio launch Thoughtfull Toys, but Silverglate thought it would be excellent to tap into other “kidults,” as the term has been coined, and seek the support of hundreds of average Joes and Janes, so he hatched the idea to launch Modarri on Kickstarter.
The campaign seeks to raise $80,000, to bolster the company’s start-up funds. A host of Rewards ranging from being the first to own one or all three cars when they roll off the assembly line, to 3D printed cars or ones signed by designer Gulassa, or “face-time” with the toy biz gurus, including at Toy Fair, are offered in the Kickstarter campaign. “Stretch goals” are also outlined that would allow the company to more aggressively launch, if more funds are raised.
Modarri will be shown at a sleek, modern booth at the American International Toy Fair in February in New York, where Thoughtfull Toys will take orders on its new line, expected to ship in the spring.
Silverglate sneak-previewed the Modarri concept to key industry contacts at the Toy Show in Dallas in October, and met with resounding approval. Since then, he’s forged ahead with the Kickstarter launch, designing retail packaging, their Toy Fair booth, and assembling a team for sales, marketing, public relations, and logistics.
“I hope some of our old friends and acquaintances in the business will jump in to the Kickstarter campaign and help us launch Modarri with broad-based support,” Gulassa said. “It would be such fun to have true toy fans be among the first to receive our cars in the spring.”
About Thoughtfull Toys
Thoughtfull Toys is a small toy company based in Santa Cruz, CA. Started in early 2013 by David Silverglate, formerly of Rhino Toys which developed the stunningly successful Oball and Woosh toys, the company is dedicated to creating and selling beautiful, functional, durable toys. When the group studied the toy car market and found space for innovation, they decided to create modular cars that weren’t made of wood, bricks, sticks or blocks. Although Thoughtfull Toys is new, the group behind it has deep experience creating toys that sell, bringing new toys to market, and selling them to both “mom and pop” and “big box” retailers. The group is excited by the challenge of sharing their vision of a unique toy car line with the toy industry.
