Toy Fair 2012 has come and gone and we’ve all had a chance to digest what was shown. Look back on the happenings with Troy.
This was my second year going to Toy Fair. The misconception is that it’s like a convention.
In the ways that really matter, it’s not, it’s a Trade Show. A trade show is all about selling to the retailer, not the consumer. It’s about making the retailer want to carry that product. A convention is all about selling to the consumer, making us want to go to the retailer to buy.
Anyways, this year Toy Fair was almost a letdown. There didn’t seem to be as much “oh my god I need that” stuff as there was last year. That’s not to say there weren’t cool things, there always is, but there just didn’t seem to be many “wow” moments.
Hasbro starts things off on Saturday with a private media presentation (TF officially starts on Sunday). We’d seen images of the Retaliation first wave prior to Toy Fair, but the presentation showed more figures.
I have to say that the figures looked better in person then they did in the images, even the first wave ones. The later wave figures shown were cooler then the first wave. Ninja fans will be happy as there is alot of new ninjas added.
For me, out of all the toy companies, Playmates had the biggest wow factor. I was impressed with their offerings for the upcoming TMNT line (and from the snippets of the cartoon I saw in their booth, that looks good as well). The detailing on the Turtles was great and the other figures were all good. I may still only get the 4 Turtles and April, but I’ll be tempted by the others. They’re also taking a risk with the playset, but I admire the guts. It’s a nice playset too. Large with lots of play features.
I think this line will do well for Playmates.
This was the first year we got invited to Lego’s event on Sunday morning. Early Sunday morning. I’ve been looking forward to, and excited for, the Lord of the Rings sets since I first heard about them. I’m still excited.
I had hoped for an Orc or Uruk-Hai army builder. The Uruk-Hai have one, kind of. Four Uruks, 1 Rohirrim and Eomer come with a wall piece that can be added to Helm’s Deep to make a longer wall. That’s a great idea, but it will be fairly expensive to create a massive army of Uruks. A seperate 4 mini-fig pack would have been awesome. Everyone had thought the Orc Forge set would be an army builder, but it’s not. Personally I don’t need the orcs as much as I need more Uruk-Hai, but an Orc army builder would be nice to help fill out the Moira set.
And yes, you need to get all the sets in order to get all the Fellowship. Is that really surprising? I was going to get all the sets anyways so doesn’t bother me and I’m sure the secondary market will be able to supply the mini-figs for those that want only them.
Diamond Select had alot of cool things to show off. I’m hoping that some retailer picks up the Lara Croft/Tomb Raider line from them. Would be great to get some nice action figures and the minimate looked great. The Expendables line looked great as well. The minimates were fairly plain and generic but the larger figures will carry the line. They didn’t allow pictures of the 7″ figures, but those were impressive.
Mega Blok picked up the World of Warcraft license. Pictures weren’t allowed, but the mini-figures looked great. Very detailed. More like small statues instead of mini-figs. The whole line looks more statuesque then building block. It looks great. I’ll pick up a couple of the figures at least, but was a little disappointed that it wasn’t as buildable as had been hoping.
Was a bit disappointed in the Thundercats offerings from Bandai. Not that many new figures added to the line.
There wasn’t much new shown for Marvel Universe that we hadn’t already seen images of from New York Comic-Con. The figures on display looked great (Nighthawk, Nova, Bag-Head Spidey) and seeing it on display convinced me to pick up Marvel Legends Hope, a figure I had no interest in previously.
I think it’s going to be a down year for toys, at least of the adult collectible variety. But there is still some good stuff coming. SDCC should show what Christmas time will bring, so there is hope for a stellar end of the year. But for now, aside from Playmates, Lego LotR, Expendables, Mega Blok WoW and a couple of Retaliation figures, there’s not much on my “must have” list.
Toy Fair is a good time though. It’s always fun to talk to the reps and I lucked out and ran into representatives from Eaglemoss. I discovered the Eaglemoss line of lead figurines (Marvel and DC) last year at Toy Fair and have added over a dozen to my collection (with another dozen in my BBTS pre-orders) since then. I love the things. It was cool to talk to them real quick. Look for more New 52 inspired DC figurines soon.
Looking forward to next year’s Toy Fair.
