Toy collectors both young and old can be among the toughest customers to shop for, due to their unique and discerning tastes. But what if there were an entirely new collectible figure line, steeped in toy history to please longtime collectors, and with an incredibly unique visual style to wow younger ones? Such a gift may be just the thing to please the serious hobbyist in your life. Enter Ancientz, the passion project of one Howard “Quiggly” Chang – the key artist behind the classic 1980s TMNT toy aesthetic, and a name worthy of toy royalty!

  Hi Andrew! I look forward to seeing you during POP Week and thank you for Duracell's big presence—literally! ! Welcome to The Bloom Report. For our readers, who are you and what do you do? I’m Vice President, Head of Global OEM, Ingredient Marketing and Licensing at Duracell.   … and what does all of that mean? I work with toy inventors to explore what’s possible with battery technology, help manufacturers find the right power solution, and create marketing and licensing partnerships that bring our brands together. We like to think we bring energy to the industry as the heart of many toys! And there’s no shortage of great ideas in the toy industry.   You’ve been at Duracell for almost 11 years, but you’re somewhat new to toys. How did you get here? By a very long route!   I started at Procter & Gamble in Johannesburg, working on brands like Pampers, then moved to Nairobi to lead P&G’s East Africa business. From there I headed to Cape Town to run sales and marketing for one of the world's largest canned fish brands, enjoyed by more than three million people every day. When Berkshire Hathaway bought Duracell I was recruited to build our Sub-Saharan Africa business, and moved to Frankfurt to run the business in Northern & Central Europe and am now based in London.   As somebody who comes from fast-moving consumer goods, I’m still amazed at how “fast moving” the toy industry is. How much can change in a year, how quickly supply chains pivot, how the designer community keeps moving things forward. CPG may move a lot of units, but the toy industry really knows the importance of fast! And as you’ve known since you were a kid, Duracell makes things go even faster!   What trends in toys excite or worry you? I’m overwhelmingly in the excited camp!   I love seeing the industry finally move beyond redesigning the shelf and the character while keeping decades-old electronics under the skin, and innovate from the bottom up instead. New categories like Puppetronics are doing really well, both at the awards and in sales.   I’m also fascinated by how kids and parents discover toys nowadays. A great idea no longer needs a front window at the toy store to get noticed, which is good news for independent inventors and designers. That’s one reason we’re partnering with The Toy Insider on its 2026 Holiday Gift Guide this year.   From a Duracell perspective, I’m very proud of our child-safety innovations in coin cells. Safety has to stay central as toys and their electronics evolve, and it will let designers use smaller batteries in the future.   If one thing concerns me, it’s price driving decisions at the expense of performance. As more toys are bought online, the in-store “try me” moment is changing, which makes it even more important that the toy delivers when a child opens the box.   What are you working on now? Right now, we’re getting ready for ChiTAG, my first year attending. I’m bringing experts from our R&D, marketing and commercial teams.   We’ll join our friends at Jazwares for a panel on Thursday, November 5. We’ll also have our Mobile Innovation Center on-site, where you can get a closer look at what’s possible with Duracell technology.   Most toy designers aren’t electronics or chemical engineers, and that’s where we come in. We want to be a partner you can turn to when you’re developing something new or trying to solve a technical challenge. If you’ve got an idea, come talk to us. We’d love to hear it.   To connect with our OEM team any time, visit Global OEM Battery Sales | Duracell.     What advice do you have for inventors pitching you? Be brave. You don’t have to be limited to the same old electronics you used before.   Start by telling us what you’re trying to create. What do you want the toy to do? How do you want a child to experience it? You don’t need to come with all the technical answers, and we’ll advise you on the right battery for the heart of your device. Our “power boost” ingredients aren’t just marketing speak. Our engineers are here to help.   What do you do outside of work? Since moving to Europe, I love traveling and exploring the history and cuisines with my family. I love getting out into the forests and mountains to de-stress.   If we were in a zombie apocalypse, where would you hide? What do you mean “if”?!   I’d go home to Cape Town. Sun, sea, mountains, wildlife, good wine. I have everything I need to hide out for as long as it takes. And I’d bring a few extra packs of Duracell, just in case!   But seriously… what do you mean, “if”?!

Lock. Build. Unlock. Reimagine. BederCube is a patented modular construction system available for licensing. Connect cubes into rigid three-dimensional structures, unlock the mechanical connections with a key, and rebuild the same parts into a new creation. Working physical prototypes demonstrate the connection mechanism in several assembled objects. The demo includes the inventor standing on a small stool built from the cubes, illustrating the rigidity of that particular prototype assembly. A smaller cube version combines a structural core with interchangeable face panels for character building. Two panel types provide key access from the opposite side or directly through an opening in the face. A wheel integrated into one face of a cube adds possibilities for vehicle-based play. Potential development directions include open-ended construction sets, buildable characters and vehicles, and activities exploring structures and mechanisms. BederCube is currently a prototype system seeking a commercial partner. U.S. Patent No. 12,741,228 was issued on September 22, 2026. Co-inventors: Yury Bederov and Sergei Bederov. Sole patent owner and licensing contact: Yury Bederov. Toy and construction-set partners are invited to discuss licensing, prototype demonstrations, or acquisition of the U.S. patent. Contact: yb@bedercube.com Website: https://bedercube.com/ Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBBAAZqGCjg