Coming soon...

Yes, I'm reviewing it, just hold your horses!

New York Toy Fair Day 4: Spin Master

So, the time has come at last to post the final pictures from Toy Fair. I wowed some people, I got wowed BY people, and I generally did some crazy stuff. I also confronted my old foe Spin Master to see if I could get some answers on Bakugan...

More from Texas Company Hexbug and their new Hexbug Nano V2. These Hexbugs can travel vertically and through special passages! I think they might still be the same price, though.

Magformers! Form of....PSY!! They had a pretty clever modeller there: he also had some hearts, he made a camera and a church using a light-up brick, and he had Mr. Gangnam Style himself here, complete with those best legs.

DC Little Mates! There have been several attempts to downsize the various characters of the DC Universe, and I think these Little Mates hit just the right spot and have some good character to them.

Yeah, this is a photo of the Myachi bags from the Toys R Us in Times Square to remind me to look at them, but these things are sort of like Hacky-sacks, only you can catch them anywhere except in the palm of your hand (Top of hand okay, palm not so much)

I don't even know what this is, but I think this oversized display was a sized-up version of an i-phone toy device. All I know is that it said a lot of things that were really depressing. Ya know, you'd think with the findings of This Wall Street Journal article(Which I can corroborate) saying that "App-toys" absolutely flopped last year, that you wouldn't find so many things at Toy Fair that act as a replacement for your thumb, replacements for graphics, replacements for cases, or toys that use an iPhone as its screen, as the scope of a gun, or as a toy's face! What is it that makes these companies think that this year will be any different from last year?! Seriously, enough is enough.


Oh well, at least these guys are trying to make something that properly captures an experience that only the merging of a toy and iPhone can create. "Scanimalz" are critters with a QR code on them for use in an app. After unlocking them with a special code printed in a card on the bottom, you can scan the QR code on their stomach daily to gain "Scantz", the in-game currency, as well as gain bonus Scantz after clearing a level in a game. This one here is an Easter Bunny special as a part of 10,000 which will be given out at Simon malls across the country. I snagged myself a copy of the 1-in-1,000 Beta Bears that this Easter Bunny is sitting on.

Wedgits: a stacking toy that involves concentric squared that can be stacked upwards or downwards. I got creative and made a little "Space Flower" here. They are coming out with a robot set soon called "Switchbotz"

Geez, a lot of building sets today. This is "Snapo", a peg bulding set that can also be snapped on sideways. I experimented with all of the different Snapo parts and ended up creating "Snapo-Man" here. The folks at the booth loved it. I mean, REALLY loved it. They made me take all-angles shots of him and everything in case they wanted to adapt him into something. I imagine my story with this company is far from finished.

And now comes the final battle, the confrontation with Spin Master! After heading to their booth, I was wondering if there would be anything of interest...

They had these "Kawaii"(Japanese for "Cute") dolls which are like the little dolls seen around, like Pinypon and such.

La-Dee-Da is getting a fairy-tale lineup.

 

With a Horse

 They "Sew Cool" sewing machine which sort of lashes cloth together without thread.

 

A sort of robotic doggy which could react to verbal commands such as playing dead (or even taking a piss)

 

A Spy-Gear 360-degree camera

And this expensive, yet tiny Air Hogs quad-copter.

But what of Bakugan? Ironically enough, it was the Spin Master rep who brought them up. When showing me the Monsters University toys(Which I couldn't photograph), there were some Zooble-ish Monsters U toys out there which she compared to Bakugan. When I asked if Bakugan would be coming back, I got no conclusive answer; I got excuses like "To Be Determined" and "Hiatus".

I imagine Bakugan's decline and Redakai's absolute failure has spooked Spin Master, as I did not see a speck of anything similar there, just licensed stuff, Air Hogs, and Tech Decks (Nano Speed, too; what's with that?). Honestly, I wish Spin Master would quit jerking us around about Bakugan; If you're not bringing it back, stop talking about it!!

Oh well, and thus Toy Fair 2013 comes to a close. I think I managed to make some progress towards my goal of eventually breaking into the business of the toy world, and I did talk to some folks such as those from Alibaba.com who really understand the business side. Alibaba.com is sort of Google for anyone trying to develop a product; they have a catalog of companies who can do it (did you know that there are still 1,000+ companies willing to make POGS?!)

Hopefully some reviews will come out of this and, if I'm lucky, a potential career. I'll put together a highlight reel later so that you can see some of these things in action! I have a lot of footage to pour over, so it might be a while, but I guarantee you'll love it!

Until then, this is Kohdok signing off!

New York Toy Fair: Day 3, Part 3: Moose and others

Wow, Almost forgot to do these. I also realized I forgot to mention the 20th anniversary Classic Megazord relaunch built in a style that works with the Zordbuilder system! Anyway, here is more from Day 3.

Day 3 started at the Moose room tucked away on the 2nd floor. I got a look at the new Trash Pack. Series four will be sold in large, rectangular dump bins and wave 5 will be in toilets!

 

 New and improved Trashies on wheels! Thanks to the plastic undercarriage, I doubt these would survive being run over by my truck the way regular Trashies do.

 

I was also introduced to new "UFT" or "Ultimate Fighting Trashies" which is...

Eeyup, a Ninjago clone. There was a startling amount of Ninjago clones this year: Hasbro has one(Tied to Shogun Steel), Mattel has one(For Max Steel), Mega Brands has one(For Skylanders), Bandai sort of has one(For Pac-Man (?!)). Sheesh.

 

Along with Micro Chargers that light up (but couldn't be photographed), there was this one, the Uggly. "Ugglys" are Pug dogs in severe gastrointestinal distress that make different gassy sounds depending on how they are held. Not as disturbing as something I found later called "Badonka-Donkey", but still pretty gross.

 

 Stepping outside the Moose booth, we have some new construction models from the foam-company Bloco. They recently introduced a lower price point with creatures like Dragon Darko and a Minotaur. They also had a Wind Dragon, an Orc, a Centaur, and Dinosaurs! Good, since their regular animal kits tend to warm shelves.

 

At last, K'nex put out a Princess Peach figure! I've been waiting for this one. There is also a Daisy figure! The new Mario Kart 7 carts are battery-powered and still work with the Mario Kart Wii tracks for continuous motion! There is also a roller-coaster that operates more like a hot-wheels track with a booster engine, a return to form with more classic building sets, and a relaunch of Tinker Toys in plastic. Judging by how my talk has gone, I'll be having a K'Nex review really soon!

 I decided to check out a company called "Fairy Dust" which had made the highlight reel last year. "Fairy Dust" provides stations where one can mix their own soap products and add glitter and other stuff, such as this multi-layered body wash bottle. There was also a setup for boys with sludgy-looking soap and a display called "Sugar Scrub Sundae" which looked like Ice-Cream. They had some fun stories of people trying to eat it(Only adults did, not children)

Astro Jax! A sort of juggling toy involving three weights on a string that do Yo-yo-ish stunts.

 These are the Ninja Cards you see me holding in the first post of Day 3; credit-card based cards that stick to a foam target like Shurikens.

 Speaking of Cards, not too far away was a booth for "Skallops", which are little wooden discs with notches in them for playing cards so you can make stuff like a hause of cards that stays together and a hat! Sadly, the Ninja Cards were too thick, so I can't makea replacement ninja hat for my lucky headband :(

And finally Sidekix, little critters with magnetic paws who could be tucked into a little ball form to be hung on a backpack or other accoutrement. 

That's all for Day 3! I'll post the Day 4 pics where we face-down an old foe soon enough!

New York Toy Fair, Day 3: Playmates

 

I managed to sneak into Playmates and get a look at some Turtle Power! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was one of the biggest properties of 2012 and won two TOTY awards!

 

 

An exciting addition to the Role-Play lineup, a wearable shell!

 

We got the Classics line, featuring Beebop and Rocksteady!

Next, Mikey on one of those three-wheeled motorcycles. I am told the final version features Raph, but Mikey just fits it so much better, right?

Like the Anchovy Alley transforming pizza box, we now have Shredder's Lair!

And, the grand-daddy of them all, the absolutely enormous Sewer Playset! Don't be fooled by the box, this sucker's huge!

 

Wow, it's 2am. I need to get some shut-eye for tomorrow. Moose and others will arrive once I arrive back in Dallas tomorrow.

 

Until then, enjoy what I've got up so far!

New York Toy Fair Day 3: Mattel/Bandai

TONS of appointments today: Mattel, Bandai, Moose, and I managed to sneak into Playmates! Bandai forbade photos, but I got a look at the new Power Rangers Megaforce, Pac-Man, Ben-10 (Including Ben-10 Gundam-style model kits) and a series called "LBX", which has an adjoining cartoon that Bandai is seeking North American distribution for (My prediction is Cartoon Network, or maybe 4Kids).

Part of the display for Max Steel; Max is a hero who produces an energy called "Turbo Power"

However, the Turbo Power is almost impossible to control in its raw state, so Max fuses with a robot called "Steel", who absorbs and can properly focus the energy into a variable battle suit. (Steel is the device that isn't the sword)

Together, they...fight crime... Line includes basic figures like this, larger, more articulated figures, and a spinning battle figure game.

 

Max Steel wasn't the only Man of Steel present in the Mattel Booth. Unfortunately, photos of the new Superman toys was off-limits. However, there is the ability to shoot Superman at people. Keep an eye out.

 

Now for some Monster High. I see a Genie! I also see standard Howleen and another figure using the Howleen body type.

 

And finally, some Hot Wheels! There's a Mold your own Hot Wheels set:

 

A target game of Hot Wheels-Pinball. Pinwheels? WheelsPong? Hotball?

And a triple loop set that uses *sigh* an augmented reality app(Really? Nobody's gotten that right yet. Nuko's come close, but...).

 

Other notables include the move of Imaginext back into its City-ish lineup, a new show and new look for Little People, and more app-powered things.

 

There will be more parts to this update! Coming soon, Playmates!