Hasbro and Toys "R" Us "LET IT RIP" With New BEYBLADE Tops in Stores Nationwide -- Kids Learn To Build And Battle Customizable Tops -- Japan's Number One Toy and Highly Popular Sports Entertainment Brand -- At All Toys "R" Us Stores

Beyblade Event at Times Square TRU
Pictures of Beyblade Toys for 2002

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Feb. 22, 2002 -- Following a successful national launch at the Toys "R" Us Times Square store in New York City this month, Hasbro, Inc. is teaming up again with Toys "R" Us to give kids the opportunity to LET IT RIP! with its new BEYBLADE line of high performance tops that kids can build and battle.

Starting today and continuing for three consecutive weekends, BEYBLADE tops will be demonstrated in all Toys "R" Us stores nationwide. Kids will learn to build, customize, and battle their favorite BEYBLADE tops at in-store demonstrations. The demo dates are February 22nd-24th, March 1st-3rd, and March 9th-10th. Customers should check with local Toys "R" Us stores for demonstration times.

"We're very pleased to offer kids Hasbro's new BEYBLADE tops," said Manny Francione, Divisional Merchandise Manager for Toys "R" Us. "We know what a sensation BEYBLADE has been in Japan, and we've seen how much kids love it once they've tried it. These demos at all Toys "R" Us stores are the ideal way to get kids excited about BEYBLADE right now."

Hasbro showed its BEYBLADE line at the American International Toy Fair earlier this month, winning rave reviews from industry experts.

"Spinning tops are expected to be a big trend with kids this year," said Chris Byrne, a leading independent toy analyst also known as THE TOY GUY. "The BEYBLADE line has a proven track record with kids in Japan and has all the ingredients for success in the U.S., including strategy, customization, collectibility, competition, and of course, excitement."

About BEYBLADE

Hasbro's BEYBLADE line is all about custom-building high-performance tops that battle against other BEYBLADE tops. Kids can interchange parts from various tops in their collection for ultimate performance and battle, then launch them into action in the BEYSTADIUM, a self-contained arena. With a pull of the ripcord launcher, two BEYBLADE tops are sent into battle. The last one standing emerges victorious.

Hasbro, through d-rights, Inc., and Corus Entertainment's Nelvana, worldwide licensing and merchandising agent, has the rights to manufacture tops and other toys based on the BEYBLADE brand. Nelvana is the worldwide merchandising agent for BEYBLADE (excluding Italy, Greece, Turkey and Arabic-speaking countries).

A "BEYBLADE" animated series, geared towards "tweens," is scheduled to "spin" in from Nelvana. In the series, the Japanese toy phenomenon will come to life in an edgy anime cartoon that unites an international team of heroes on a globetrotting quest. The series, acquired by Nelvana from d-rights, Inc., is packed with kid appeal, as the show directly emulates the excitement of the BEYBLADE toy line. Nelvana has plans to develop live entertainment, publishing, video, music and fashion apparel. In addition, Nelvana will work with Hasbro to launch the BEYBLADE Battle Association (BBA), the American counterpart to Japan's wildly successful BEYBLADE events. Millions of Japanese kids have launched their BEYBLADE tops into the ring already.

Hasbro is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play experiences in the world.

Nelvana, one of the world's leading animation production and distribution companies, is a Corus Entertainment Company. Corus is one of Canada's leading entertainment companies with additional interests in radio, television, music production and publishing, digital music distribution and advertising sales. Through Nelvana Limited, Corus also specializes in children's publishing and consumer products. A publicly traded company, Corus is listed on the Toronto (CJR.B) and New York (CJR) Exchanges. The company's web site is at www.corusentertainment.com.

d-rights is a 100% owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation handling entertainment content for a variety of media and currently focusing on production and licensing of animation. Mitsubishi Corporation is the world's biggest general trading company, whose turnover is US $130 billion and net profit is US $1 billion. d-rights is the company that produced the animated series of BEYBLADE and is taking care of all licensing related to the property, BEYBLADE.

Toys "R" Us - The world's leading resource for kids, families and fun currently operates 1596 stores; 698 toy stores in the United States, 507 international toy stores, including franchise stores, 183 Kids "R" Us children's clothing stores, 166 Babies "R" Us stores and 42 Imaginarium stores. Toysrus.com sells merchandise on its Internet sites at www.toysrus.com, www.babiesrus.com and www.imaginarium.com.

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