This is my first Toy Fair as “press”, and it was fun walking around, searching for geekery items, brainstorming a little with the company reps, and just having fun!
I’m here for four days, and I’ll be posting photos and previews as time allows.
Cuddle Toys
A Dutch company (although the owner lives in Indonesia! Halloween hasn’t crossed the English Channel to Europe yet, so the market is mostly make-believe and Carnival. Also, not much superhero influence yet, but like most kids, it can be appropriated as easily as an empty cardboard box!
Lego
Madame Alexander
Metal Earth
I got a sneak peek at some new designs… DC superheros, in a chibi style. I have a sales sheet, but I’ll try to get some photos before Wednesday!
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Breyer
Since I was on a geeky seek-and-find mission, I thought I’d check out Breyer, which specializes in horse figurines and playsets.
I was given a full tour, and I was amazed! There’s an annual horse festival in Kentucky in July, and they program for it like comics publishers plan for Comic-Con!
The horses… many are based on real horses, such as Triple Crown winners, the Queen’s pony, mustangs from PBS documentaries, and even a box set of Misty, complete with book! The figurines aren’t exact… they find a mold which matches the horse, then work with the breeders to get the color right. As you’ll see below, they are beautiful models!
They also have the Black & Decker license, and sell actual kid-sized tools which can be used to build project kits! There’s also a garden tool line!
And finally…. dinosaurs! As well as other animals. Some of the hand-sized figures of carnosaurs come with a victim caught in the jaws!
Oh! DreamWorks is relaunching Spirit! A Netflix series will premiere in June!
K’Nex
Club Earth
Trends
This company specializes in stationery, like journals, sticker books, calendars, and… paper sculpture!
Ty Beanie Babies
Schylling
Education Imsight
Cardinal Games
No picture, but the centerpiece of the booth as a giant Jenga-style stack, with the Millennium Falcon printed on the side. (Yeah… more square than skinny tower. Might be a variation in game play.)
We Games
Game Bar
Great Pretender
Another make-believe costumer, but with a lot more superhero designs. Lots of capes are reversible!
Available on Target and Amazon! And I know quite a few adults who would love those “scary” hair clips!
Tedco
An educational toy company. (That classic gyroscope? They make that.)
But, let’s be serious… kids from the Sixties will remember the “Visible Man” plastic model that showed all the interior organs.
Well… Tedco has taken that idea, and exploded it! Other animals, plus models for skin, eyes, cells…
Although, I wonder…. that cow… is there a version with cuts of meat? I know this is mostly about the sweet meats, but imagine a bigger model you could “butcher”!