Right on the heels of SuperBowl XLI, it’s time for the American International Toy Fair. The upcoming week is the veritable "big game" for the $22 billion global "youth entertainment" industry. And what’s a big game without the pre-game show? So, to kick off our coverage this year, this article will get us warmed up for what’s coming our way from frigid New York City.
Hasbro Toys (the New Dynasty?)
While they’ve been a perennial powerhouse with its Star Wars and GI Joe brands, they threw the Fwoosh for a loop at last year’s Toy Fair with the blockbuster trade – Marvel announced it had awarded its master toy license to Hasbro. It’s been a little over a month now that we’ve started to see the first Marvel toys from this new deal – and the fan reaction has been mixed. Most have lauded Hasbro’s distribution, but jeered at the paint apps. Some loyalists have ironically been critical of the sculpts, apparently not knowing that the product on shelves now are from Toy Biz sculpts. This year, we’ll get to see how Hasbro does flying solo.
The Hype: The Marvel board was abuzz yesterday when a mysterious poster "leaked" pics of an upcoming Build-A-Figure and single-carded figure. Our expert analysts have successfully debunked those pictures as phonies.
Marvel Toys (the Old Dog with New Tricks)
The doomsayers ran rampant last year when Toy Biz lost the Marvel toys license, and subsequently changed their name to Marvel Toys. If they were going out, they were going out with a bang – the second half of 2006 was inundated with arguably the best Marvel Legends product Toy Biz had ever produced. But Marvel Toys, and the naming confusion, wasn’t over – in the 4th quarter Marvel Toys announced they would be producing Legends-styled figures… from independent comics. You could say that was considered quite a shocker.
The Hype: While Toyfare (the magazine) revealed Savage Dragon, Judge Dredd, and a handful of others to be part of the Comic Legends lineup, Jesse Falcon promised us many surprises to come. It was on the fwoosh that Jesse dropped the Cimmerian bomb.
DC Direct (Keeping Up with the Joneses)
My apologies in advance for the Toy Biz bias, but it seems like DCD has been taking tentative steps that Toy Biz blazed across years ago. For example, we were amazed to see an ab crunch on the prototype IC Batman figure. While scale and quality issues have hampered their 6" lines, fans are raving about the premium 13" figures and lines like the Black and White Batman statues.
The Hype: Not to be outdone, DC Direct announced a name change this week to DC Unlimited, with the big news being a new focus on mass market retail. While this could be viewed as a logical extension of what they had already been doing with licenses like Looney Toons and World of Warcraft, inquiring minds want to know what it means for their comic-based toys.
Mattel (the Red-Headed Step Kid)
With their DC Super Heroes license limited to the Batman and Superman lines, and the Justice League Unlimited cartoon coming to a close, Mattel is pushing their DC lines up a steep steep hill. DCSH fans are delighted with the Four Horsemen’s work on this line, which successfully combines great sculpt with super-articulation. And with the exception of a somewhat shrunken Doomsday, the line’s been very consistent with regard to scale. The biggest want – for Mattel to be able to produce the variety of characters that they have for their JLU line. The question for 2007 is how long Mattel can keep pushing with what they’ve got.
The Hype: Aside from some new figures that show Mattel is as committed as ever to JLU, there’s not much else heading into Toy Fair. Some fans are starting a pool on what color the next Doomsday repaint will be. However, the biggest hype is about what the DC Unlimited announcement means for the future of DCSH.
The Fan Favorites
SOTA: Under new management, we should see the first products from the new team this year. SOTA looks to revitalize its Street Fighter line and launch Darkstalkers. Will they have anything else to show?
Diamond Select Toys: With the Marvel license changing hand last year, DST assured us they’d keep coming with Marvel Select, and they haven’t disappointed. We’re looking forward to seeing the Brood / Skrull 2-pack and grilling them on whether we’ll see more henchmen. We’ll also follow up on Minimates, Buffy, and Trek.
JAKKS Pacific: Last year, we were psyched for the Deluxe Aggression series, and they wowed us with the Rocky lineup. We’re not sure we’re going to get to see them this year – especially after GrownNerd gorilla-pressed special guest Bobby "the Brain" Heenan at last year’s event.
That’s our pre-game wrap-up for Toy Fair. Stay tuned over the next few days for our continuing coverage of Toy Fair 2007.
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