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.
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!
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