Merchandising

Boring title, but it gets right to the point. Merchandise. Every major book or movie series creates something extra to sell to go along with it, whether the motives are strictly for profitable purposes or just for fun. Harry Potter merchandise is definitely one of the best-selling categories.

So many types of merchandise exists with the Harry Potter name on it that it would be absurd for me to try and analyze them all. If only I had that much free time. Instead, I'm going to pick a few different ones and talk a little bit about them.

Harry Potter Video Games

Even that heading is broad. Computer/video games have all been created throughout the development of the Harry Potter series. Games for all 7 books exist for Playstation 2, Xbox, Wii, and Nintendo, the newest game being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Now, I will not even try to pretend to be an expert on these games; I personally only own Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Windows 97. I will say, however, that I have played a few of the games on Playstation 2. The video games themselves incorporate challenges from the movies/books that characters went through and allow for the player to go through them. It virtually re-creates the world of Harry Potter and creates different tasks the players have to achieve in order to move through the game. Though they claim to be "fun for all ages", most of these are geared towards the preteen/teen crowd.

Harry Potter Board Games

The classic tradition of sitting down to play a board game may be slightly lost, but Harry Potter board games still exist!  From adding on to the traditional board game Clue, to Harry Potter Chess, to creating a Harry Potter Scene-It, games for the series have multi-faceted backgrounds.

Personally, I played the first edition of Harry Potter Scene-It a few years ago and absolutely loved it. It gave me a chance to play a game that all my Harry Potter-loving friends could enjoy, and we could show off just how much information we retained from reading the books/watching the movies. I would definitely say that creating this game was a great addition to the Harry Potter world.

Harry Potter Accessories

Like I said before, MANY types of merchandise exist in the world. What I mean to encompass under this section are the random trinkets; wands, t-shirts, posters, necklaces, and other artifacts duplicated from the series.

Many outlets sell these items, but one of the more popular places is at the Warner Brothers site. Since Warner Brothers has a copyright on Harry Potter, the more reliable merchandising comes from there. I have never ordered any merchandise from this website, but I have bought merchandise from Hot Topic. This store only sells merchandise after movies release in theaters, but I included a link to the site anyway. Currently I own 3 Harry Potter tshirts, a few posters, a Deathly Hallows necklace, and a Gryffindor Snuggie from this store. Yes. I do indeed own a snuggie. Moving on...

Harry Potter Legos

We all remember the childhood classic Legos. Harry Potter within the past few years has added a spin onto this classic toy, creating scenes from the books and movies you can build and collect, including Hogwarts, the Forbidden Forrest, the Quidditch Pitch and many more.  Though I cannot say I have ever played with these, my friend Chanda collects them avidly and loves to build them.

From diehard fan to mild supporter, Harry Potter merchandising has taken the world by storm, creating a place inside many fans' homes. I have personally supported a few of these outlets through my purchasing of the merchandise; have you?

Coming up next...

Going to take a step away from the physical aspects of Harry Potter and go in a different direction: Have you been wondering what J.K. Rowling and the rest of the cast have been up to since the end of the films? I'll be summing up a few of the cast's newest ventures. Have any requests on people to read about? Let me know! I'm always up for suggestions!