New York Toy Fair 2013 Wrap Up

WOW!  It has been several weeks since the 2013 New York Toy Fair opened up and boy has time flown by.  Walking around the show floor for several days gives you a great workout as you walk about 7 miles a day just in the Javits Center alone.  You meet a lot of people and see tons and tons of new products, most of which will be released between now and September. 

We will take a look at some of our favorites and companies that we have covered in the past like Mattel, Lego, and McFarlane.  But, we will be expanding our coverage into new fields like slot car racing with one of the industry leaders Carrera.

Today we will look at an overview of the toy fair and just touch base on what the companies will have to offer. So in no particular order read on.

LEGO

Lego started the show with the pre-show breakfast, this is where they showoff all their new products to the media.  This year they  will release common brands like Star Wars, The Hobbit, and Teenage Mutnant Ninja Turtles, but the one licensed theme that sttod out was The Lone Ranger.  My favorite set here was Constitution Train Chase, unlike other train sets from Lego this is not a modern era, but rather an old steam engine train.

DC COLLECTIBLES

Statues, action figures, movie replicas these are just some of the amazing releases coming out this year.  Batman Black & White will have more statues, and in the same scale there is a new Superman line.  Don’t worry these are in full color, you could not do Superman in black & white.  DC Collectibles is doing an amazing cast of the now iconic cover of Justice League 12 with the kiss between Superman and Wonder Woman, but the Solomon Grundy figure from the Arkham series is AMAZING!

CARRERA SLOT CARS

You are asking slot cars?  Why slot cars?  Well Careera has many licensed sets out like the Mario Kart, Disnay Cars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even Marvel Comics.  But more than that there are a lot of people that not only race slot cars, but also collect the different scale cars, with many out of print cars fetching 3-4 or more of their original SRP.

ACTIVISION

One of the hottest video games for families is Skylanders Giants, and this year Activision will be expanding that line with the Skylanders Swap Force.  Swap Force will allow players to swap the top and bottoms of the figure and allowing players to make their own new figures. 

NINJA CARS

Ninja Cards by PlaSmart is a new game that will come with plastic collector/playing cards and a Styrofoam target.  You will take the cards and using a flicking motion with your arm and wrist throw the cards at numbered spots on the target for points.  It was a lot like the old baseball card flipping motion.

APPTIVATORS

Anyone who has a smart phone or a pad knows how popular app games are.  WMC definitely kicked game apps up a notch on pads.  They have tow games where you will place either an alligator or race car on the pad, and while you play the game the object depending on the game you chose will be in play.  If you choose the alligator when you feed him a red fly it will kill him and the skin pops off leaving a skeleton behind, if you choose the racing game when you crash the car breaks apart. 

DESPICABLE ME 2

With the upcoming sequel to the 2010 family blockbuster Despicable Me there will be lots of cool collectibles and toys.  There will be a Monopoly game with a slightly different board, Operation on a minion, and a Fart Gun (The Toys R Us will have an exclusive banana sent added to it).  Collectible there will be minion galore, and yes Gru will be available as an action figure as well.

CUT THE ROPE

The hit app game is taking on a new life in collectible and board game form.  There will be mini figures, stuffed figures, and walking around the floor show was a life-size figure. 

KOTOBUKIYA

The leader in statues and figures has some more amazing releases coming out this year.  They will be adding to the Star Wars Artfx+ line with a cool looking General Grievous and he will have arms that can either be two or opened up and wield four lightsabers.  For superheroes collectors there is a Cyclops figure and the Justice League form the New 52.

DOODLE ART

They are back, after some time away Doodle Art is back.  You remember them the posters you got to color with the thick black lines that allowed younger children to color and if they went over the line a little it would not show.  They were present with a Doodle Art VW Bus, and had some tubes of posters and markers to give away.

NFL GAME DAY

This is more for the Sportsology.info site but for those looking to play a fun football game there is NFL Game Day.  Using several decks of cards of play cards, you get to call plays on either offense or defense, you get to call time out, and there is even a way to go for the extra point.  The game is easy to learn less than five minutes and fun to play.

DARK HORSE

The collectible division of Dark Horse has a lot to be excited about there is Domo, Mass Effect, and Game of Thrones.  Domo has more mystery figures, Christmas Ornaments, and more Qees.  Mass Effect has more replicas of ships coming out.  And my favorite was from the Game of Thrones line, it was a statue of Tyrion with a battle axe.

HUCKLEBERRY

You might not know the name, but you have seen the iPhone cavers that they make.  They have a series of superhero iPhone covers.  They have Wolverine, Spider-Man, Venom, Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman to name just a few, and the best part is that they are SHICK PROOF.

WOW STUFF!

When I was going through all the media information I looked at the CD rom and asked myself what is WOW Stuff!  When I put the disc in I was reminded that this is a RC Battling robot.  You can pick one of several different weapons for your robot and battle your friends.  The object is to score direct shots against your opponent and when you hit them three times it shuts them down. 

HEX BUG

They were all the rage a couple of years ago and made great stocking stuffers!  They are looking to grow and are doing just that.  They now have cars that drive around tracks, fish that swim (only after they get wet), and for your Hex Bug they have new tracks including tubes that go up, over, and empty out into a funnel.

PLAYMATES

Fans of the Turtles have a lot to be excited for there are lots of playsets, including a sewer set and pizza delivery boxes.  There are lots and lots of figures including ones that when wound up and placed down POP up into action.  Plus if you ever wanted your own baby TMNT now you can have them.  In the bottles of ooze there are baby turtles.

MATTEL

The consumer side of Mattel was showing off the new Max Steel line with tons, he Matty Collector with Castle Greyskull.  This castle stood over two feet tall and was loaded with detail.  It has the tounge drawbridge, and elevator, gun turrets, and a throne room.  This will be one collectible that every Masters of the Universe collector will want.

MIMOBOT

Want to collect something you can use, they this is for you.  Mimobot make USB flash drives with character, or should I say characters.  You can get DC line with Batman, Riddler, Joker.  Or perhaps you like Star Wars then you can get Chewbacca, Yoda, C-3PO.  There are over 100 different drives to collect including Star Wars, Star Trek, DC, Hello Kitty, Adventure Time to name just a few.  The best part of these is that they are flat so they fit in your pocket and you don’t even know it’s there.

Be sure to check back for more detailed pieces on some of the manufactures and other here at Comix Corner.