Merchandise for Harry Potter Fanatics

Over a decade ago, a book was published by the name Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It was later re-published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Nobody knew it at the time, but this book (and the six others that were already planned) would be the beginning of a major phenomenon, resulting in a total of 7 movies, 8 video games, toys, clothing, and so much more. J.K. Rowling was lucky to have already planned seven books, because these seven books have made her the first billionaire whose source of income was writing.

The toys and games that carry the Harry Potter name can range from extremely simple to play with to complicated to play with. The most simple of the Harry Potter toys are the wands that you can wave around and they light up. The most complex Harry Potter toy is the collector's card game, which is something like the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh card games.

There are many different types of toys, but one of the most famous Harry Potter toys have to be the Lego sets. These sets can also range from simple to complex. The most simple I have seen is the troll in the bathroom one, which is only 3" X 3" X 4" when it is all put together. The biggest I have seen it the Durmstrang ship, which is huge. The other really famous Harry Potter toy is the Nimbus 2000 broomstick .

My favorite Harry Potter toy is the Levitation Challenge, where you build a course and you have to use a lever and a wheel to float a small ball through the course. It's much more difficult than it looks.

There are several video games, one for each movie and one called Quidditch cup. The Quidditch cup and the first five games are already out, the last 2 games will be released when their movies do. I havn't played any of these games yet, they are next on my list after I'm finished with both the Spyro and Jak series.

There are a few costumes from the Harry Potter series as well. You can buy school uniforms, wands, Harry's glasses, a wig that looks like Harry's hair, etc. The most common uses for these costumes are Halloween and parties.

You can also buy a comforter set-most are red and gold, Gryiffindor's colors. You can buy curtains, sheet sets, and just about anything for a bedroom.

There are many collectibles that a person can buy. There are several wands: Harry's, Ron's , Hermoine's, etc. You can get the time turner from Prisoner of Azkaban (it won't take you back in time, though, it was made by muggles). There is even a chess set that's a miniature of the chess set used in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

But through all the merchandise, the toys, clothes, videogames, etc., the movies and books are still the stars of the show. You can buy any book by itself or in a box set. Same goes with the movies. Millions of copies of Harry Potter books are sold every year, and that's just the re-prints. The most current book, Deathly Hallows,, which will be released on July 21^st, 2007, has a first edition printing of almost 10 million books and at last count, there were 1.6 million books pre-ordered. I ordered one myself. The business of selling Harry Potter books is so big that retailers actually sell them almost at cost in the hopes that the millions of people buying the new book will also buy another book they see in the store. Consequentially, any day that a Harry potter book is released is a high- earnings day for any company selling the book.

Of course, as with all big thing like this, There are people who are against the Harry Potter series. People hold book burnings when ever a new one comes out, which is kind of stupid, because someone has to buy the books first. Most of these people believe that these books and movies are teaching children to be evil or to be witches. I personally don't see how these people can begin to think that way about a made- up story, but as Dumbledore said, "If you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you are going to be waiting for a very long time."