Bandai Namco had a wide range of properties, both licensed and internal, on display in the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City for Toy Fair 2020. The big highlight is the company introducing a line of Naruto action figures similar to current line of Dragonball Z action figures. The Bandai toy designers were on hand and quickly pointed out the level of detail compared to the manga that inspired these toys is unmatched at this price point in the action figure aisle.
The figures are heavily articulated, come with accessories, and are the same scale as Hasbro’s Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black Series.
Bandai stressed that it was imperative for them to stay faithful to the source material in their Naruto action figure designs, and had copies of Naruto manga on hand for comparison.
Saintseiya: Knights of the Zodiac are also receiving a line of action figures in similar scale and detail to the Naruto figures. They had both packaged and posed loose figures on display. As you can see in the photos below, the figures come packaged with extra hands and accessories.
The other hot anime property getting the push from Bandai Namco is My Hero Academia. Unlike the Naruto and Saintseiya figures, these are smaller scale, highly detailed, blind bagged mini figures.
Dragonball Z fans need not worry that Bandai Namco is turning their attention to other properties and leaving their favorite anime behind. Bandai had many Dragonball Z toys on display, from action figures, smaller figures with connecting fx, and even some wearable costume toys.
This playset was particularly impressive, with breakaway pieces that the action figures can fight through.
Bandai Namco is the US distributor for The Loyal Subjects. Over the years, The Loyal Subjects have branched out to making toys from many licensed pop culture properties. They had their latest waves of upcoming and soon to be released toys on display, including My Hero Academia, Ghostbusters, Family Guy, and Nickelodeon.
Parents of small children may be happy to find out that Bandai is bringing out a line of toys similar to the classic children’s toy, Weebles. Like the original Weebles, these little guys wobble but don’t fall down. Peanuts and Disney characters will launch these toys. I like how much they look like Charles Schulz drawings comes to life.
Bandai is also releasing a line of small figures called Character Friends, also based on Disney and Peanuts at launch. These are very similar to the current iteration of Little People.
Like last year, the company had these wooden toys being offered by the company that are perfect for little hands. The train tracks can connect to current wooden track sets currently available on the market. Kids can have Mickey, Ariel, Woody and Buzz join their existing wooden rail network.
Finally, Bandai will be launching a line of toys based on the hit Nickelodeon show, 44 Cats. The show, originally from Italy, is being billed as Paw Patrol with cats, so expect these to be hot toys this holiday season.