Ignore your teenager's whacked-out underground culture at your own risk, for there may lie the next Big Idea. Just ask Steve Varner of Torrance, California, who took a gothic pitch from his son, Stefan. Though Stefan, now 16, didn't himself sport nose rings and black mascara, he saw in his high school Goth scene a craze his father could really toy with.
The elder Varner had developed toys for companies since the '80s, when he helped create the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle line (during which, he remembers, "The only pets we had at home were turtles"). But he says, "I was always looking for my own property."
Four years ago, he got his feet wet buying licenses to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, for which he created figurines. "But when you buy licenses from people like Disney, you have to do exactly what they want, the way they want it," he sighs.
Then last year, Varner brought Stefan to a pitch meeting. "We were talking about licensing the rights to Latina singers," says Varner. Afterward, Stefan told his dad, "Just make Goth figures." Varner's reaction: "I thought that was really cool. I'd been aware of Goth, but never knew how popular it was."
The next day, Varner had his studio artists conceptualizing Goth Kids-- complete with black fingernails and pierced tongues. Stefan took part, too, sketching "Zero," a freakish, green, stitched-up baby with a skulls-adorned collar.
Half a million hemorrhaged dollars later, in January 2003, the Varners introduced the Bleeding Edge Goth dolls and created instant buzz. Since going on the market internationally in July, over 70,000 of the Goth Kids have sold--at 14 to 24 bucks a pop, depending on the model. A second series hits stores next month.
"Now I'm encouraging Stefan to bring his Goth friends by the house," says Varner. "A couple of his girlfriends don't look much different from my dolls." Next, Varner plans on grooming Stefan to become his business partner
