The toy that's back to Transform Christmas 2007.

Byline: Sean Poulter

THEY first muscled their way into the nation's toyboxes in the 1980s.

Now the Transformers are on their way back and are tipped to be one of themust-have toys for Christmas 2007.

The popularity of the first generation of the trucks and other vehicles whichcould be manipulated into heroic robots was helped by a TV cartoon seriesfeaturing their adventures.

This time round, the more sophisticated range of toys are spin-offs from afilm, called simply Transformers, which reaches cinemas this week. They includethe Transformers Movie Arm Blaster, which children can put on their arms, andOptimus Prime (pictured), which turns from a robot into a fire engine.

Woolworths - which yesterday published a list of its top ten toys for Christmas- also believes some new characters in Doctor Who will ensure the BBC show'sspin-offs are a lucrative toy franchise for a second year running.

Last Christmas, Cybermen models and helmets were among the bestsellers.

This year, a helmet which enables the wearer to talk like a

Dalek could take their place. A Doctor Who Christmas special featuring KylieMinogue will help fuel demand.

Woolworths believes that characters from In The Night Garden, another BBC show,which is produced by the makers of the Teletubbies, will also be much soughtafter.

Toys from In The Night Garden include Dancing Iggle Piggle, Makka Pakka andUpsy Daisy.

Also on the chain's list is The Fur- Real Parrot, an electronic bird thatrepeats any words spoken to it, responds to instructions and dances..

Woolworths believes Eternity II will be this year's big board game.

Invented by Christopher Monckton, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher, it is apuzzle-based game where the object is to arrange 256 pieces in a square so thecolours and patterns of every square are aligned across the whole puzzle.

The player who can arrange the pieces first will win a [pounds sterling]1million prize.

Also making a comeback is Robosapien, the must-have toy from 2004.

But this year he's turned into Homer Simpson and Spiderman - 'Homersapien' and'Spidersapien'.

Barbie makes another appearance in the top ten, this time as a talking andsinging styling head.

The UK market for toys and games is worth [pounds sterling]2.1billion a year, with half ofthose sales taking place in the last quarter.

Woolworths, Britain's biggest toy retailer, has released its top ten in Julybecause it hopes getting the top products into the minds of parents andchildren early will boost sales.

It has struggled for the past two years because of competition from thesupermarkets and the Internet.

s.poulter@dailymail.co.uk

TEN MUSTS FOR THE TOYBOX Transformers Movie Arm Blaster: [pounds sterling]29.99 Doctor WhoDalek Sec voice changer helmet: [pounds sterling]29.99 Roary remote control car: [pounds sterling]24.99 FurRealparrot: [pounds sterling]69.99 Spiderman ultimate web browser: [pounds sterling]39.99 FlyTech dragonfly: [pounds sterling]39.99Eternity II: [pounds sterling]34.99 Dancing Iggle Piggle: [pounds sterling]34.99 Spidersapien: [pounds sterling]69.99 BarbieIsland Princess talk and sing styling head: [pounds sterling]39.99 Christmas 2007