Faith-based toys to hit US stores

As for their appeal to children? "Like everything else, if the toys have 'play value' and you put them in front of a child, they will do well," she said

Most are in Wal-Mart's heartlands in America's South and Mid West, although a few stores in California and north-east Pennsylvania will also stock the figures, which are aimed at three- to 12-year-olds and all come with a book telling their story

There, the Tales of Glory dolls will take on what their makers are calling "the battle for the toy box" with some of the nation's most popular action figures

The Bible-based action figures will initially be given two feet of shelf space in 425 of the company's 3,300 stores nationwide

From the middle of August, Wal-Mart, the biggest toy retailer in the US, will for the first time stock a full line of faith-based toys

Instead of Spiderman or Bratz dolls, children in the US could soon be clutching a talking Jesus toy, a bearded Moses or a muscle-bound figure of Goliath