Elmo Clones Fill Store Shelves The Hottest-Selling Toy From Last Christmas Has Lots Of Imitators This Holiday Season

Tickle Me Elmo was the hit of Christmas past, but the legacy of the giggling, plush doll lives on this holiday season.

At toy stores nationwide, shelves are stocked with dolls that laugh, sing or talk with just a pinch of a hand, foot or tummy. Among this year’s favorites are characters tied to Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh, Arthur and Barney.

“Elmo was such a hit last year that everyone wanted to get into the action this Christmas,” said Frank Reysen, editor of Playthings magazine, a New York-based trade publication. “Look in any toy store, they are filled with interactive, plush dolls.”

Also on store shelves (while supplies lasts) are video games, Barbie, action figures, virtual pets and anything tied to Arthur or Pooh.

Tickle Me Elmo stole the show last Christmas, with parents using guerrilla-shopper tactics to get the doll based on the Sesame Street character. Over 1 million dolls sold during last year’s holiday season, according to manufacturer Tyco Toys Inc.

This year, panicked parents are already buying up what they think will be the hot holiday toys. That’s a good sign for the industry, which depends on the last three months of the year for about 50 percent of all its sales. Annual toy sales were $20.7 billion last year.

Stocks are already running low on Tyco’s $30 Sing & Snore Ernie, a doll based on the Sesame Street character that sings “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” before it fades off to sleep and starts snoring.

Another big seller is Microsoft’s Actimates Barney, a $100 purple dinosaur with an internal computer chip that can sing 17 songs and play peek-a-boo and 11 other activities. There’s also a CD-ROM and video attachment, $60 each, that the doll can play along with.

“We all learned from last year not to wait for Christmas to buy our kids gifts,” said Marlene Lawrence, who was checking out Ernie at Toys R Us in Manhattan. “If you wait, you better have a backup … because it will probably be gone.”

In addition to plush dolls, demand is also strong for video games. While Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation sold out last year, players now yearn for new games, including Nintendo’s much-hyped “Diddy Kong Racing” and Sony’s “Final Fantasy VII.”

“Last year, we had a new generation of video game players but very few games,” said Margaret Whitfield, an analyst at Hancock Institutional Equity. “This year, everyone is after the explosion of new games.”

Also gaining popularity are computer games, an outgrowth of the flourishing market of home PCs. Mattel has a number of new titles, including its $90 “Talk With Me Barbie.” Hasbro now sells many of its popular board games, like Sorry, Pictionary and Boggle, on $20 CD-ROMs.

For those looking for smaller electronic gifts, Tiger Electronics’ game.com is a $70 hand-held game player and electronic organizer, with e-mail capability. Virtual pets continue to sell well, now available for $10 to $20.

Mattel’s Barbie still reigns as the top-selling doll, and she’s parading this year as a dentist and Marilyn Monroe. Inventories are already low in parts of the country for the $35 Happy Holidays Barbie, who went brunette for the first time.

As usual, toys with movie and television tie-ins are expected to be on many shopping lists. Jamming store shelves are toys based on the PBS animated series “Arthur”, Nickelodeon’s “Rugrats” and the legendary “Winnie the Pooh.”

Parents aren’t wasting any time buying their gifts.

“My advice: Get out there early,” said Allison Pizzani, who is already looking for gifts for her 5-year-old son, Dennis. “The toy stores are already jammed. You wait too long, chances are it will be sold out.”