[ericthered]

I don't foresee sticking full AI's into smart toys at TL10, at least not for the children's market: its just too expensive. Also, I consider the genius option to be cinematic and I generally don't use it.

merely automated action figures with low level AI that might not be stored in the toys themselves are quite likely as a high-end toy. I'm not so sure what age bracket you'd aim them at. They could end up being part of an iteration of the miniatures tradition. I worry about them competing with purely digital entities though.

The $200k (or whatever) smart toy I would assume is a surveillance tool, with occasional dabbling in sabotage or assassination. The toy-like appearance is a form of misdirection. When I see an unfamiliar high-tech device stuck to the ceiling, alarm bells go off. When I see a toy spiderman stuck to the ceiling, I think "What kid pulled that off, and how did they do it?"