Now that we’ve had time to digest the excitement and craziness that is Toy Fair, we want to hear what you all liked and didn’t like. What companies or products hit it out of the park? Was there a company, line or product that didn’t quite hit the mark? What was the most surprising bit of news from the event for you? If you missed any of our coverage, you can check out Every Toy Fair Link from our entire network by Clicking Here.
For me, there were a few different companies that really came out swinging. NECA, Diamond Select Toys, LEGO, and Playmates revealed some of the best new items at the show. Capo Toys’ Street Fighter Figures, and Bif Bang Pow’s lineup were some of the biggest pleasant surprises. These guys all look to be gearing up for a great 2014.
Read on to check out my thoughts, and be sure to join in on the discussion to let us know what you liked and didn’t like.
NECA’s Alien line is kicking into high gear and we’re going to finally see an Ellen Ripley figure after all this time. The addition of a stunning looking Power Loader may be the second best new items outside of Ripley. Their 1/4 scale figures continue to look amazing as well. Predator fans are getting a stunning looking vehicle, while their other lines also continue to grow.
Diamond Select Toys shocked a ton of people with the announcement of a TMNT license. Adding Ninja Turtles to the Minimates line sounds like a recipe for success and may just give LEGO TMNT Minifigs a run for their money. Not only that, but they showed off a new line of Plants vs Zombies Select figures and Minimates, a slew of fantastic looking Jay and Silent Bob items and the expansion of licenses like Pulp fiction, Kill Bill, Sin City and more.
LEGO continues to be LEGO. They have no shortage of great sets for the likes of TMNT, Star Wars, Marvel and DC. We weren’t allowed to photograph some of the best stuff (like the TMNT movie sets). But they are fully embracing the success of the LEGO Movie with a massive Metal Beard’s Sea Cow ship.
Fans of the TMNT Classics line have been split on the new 1990 Movie Ninja Turtles Classic Figures. It’s a great idea (I personally love the figures) that shows that the Classics are branching out in exciting ways. Their TMNT cartoon figure display was probably the most impressive looking setup at the show. It showcased pretty much every figure they’ve released so far, as well as a slew of highly anticipated new figures, like Slash!
Capo Toys looks to fill in the hole left when SOTA abandoned their Street fighter figure lineup. Their 7″ scale figures look to pack some seriously impressive articulation. Combined with spot on sculpting, it looks like we may have a Street Fighter figure lineup fans have been hoping for.
The folks at Bif Bang Pow probably had the most surprising line up at Toy Fair. Their introduction of 3.75″ figures for the likes of Twilight Zone was a welcome and unexpected surprise. Fans of the show Archer will have fully articulated figures coming in the near future and they are teaming with DST on a lineup of Big Bang Theory Minimates that looks better than they have any right to.
While no one company really disappointed me too much, there were a few places fans were hoping for more. Mattel’s DC lineup was a mix of cool and bizarre. The DC Super Powers line has the potential to be fun, but will fans line up for simple (and at times very odd) repaints. Funko was another company that many thought would have more on hand. They showed most of their best new items in the weeks leading up to Toy Fair. Fans were expecting an explosion of Legacy figures after the killer line of Game of Thrones figures. But we got Magic: the Gathering and Fantastic Mr. Fox, two licenses that didn’t seem to have a huge demand (though the figures themselves looked good).
There was one development that was a real let down. The complete lack of really anything Thundercats at the show. With the 2011 show dead and buried, the original characters are ripe for new licensing oppurtunities. Mezco showed nothing related to their Mega Scale line (we need a Tygra), and companies who are now specializing in retro figures don’t seem too interested in picking up the license. Funko’s line up of ReAction and Legacy figures seems like a natural fit for the license, but it doesn’t sound likely at this point.
In the end, it’s not really about what I say, but what you, the fans and collectors, think. So drop by and let us know your thoughts. Please keep it civil and try not to throw insults. Above all, have a bit of fun.
Discussion - Favorite and Least Favorite Showing From Toy Fair 2014
These are my top toys from Toy Fair 2014.
Star Wars Black Series Deluxe Wave 1 Biker Scout with Speeder
LEGO CUUSOO Ghostbusters Ecto-1 and the Ghostbusters Minifigs
Funko Game of Thrones Legacy
Mattel DC Universe Super Powers
Call of Duty Mega Bloks Odin
KRE-O Cobra Terrordrome Playset
Street Fighter Figures From Capo Toys
TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS 30TH ANNIVERSARY LEADER CLASS JETFIRE
Over-all it was a good year. For some reason it felt lite on new product. Nobody wants to throw money at new ideas anymore. I guess it did not help that we could not take images of the new Turtles items or Godzilla. Everything is getting smaller and more expensive on top of it all. Things are changing for sure.
My personal tops for the weekend were:
Sorry but Toy Fair 2014 sucked for the most part, Diamonds offering for Star Trek look great and I will continue to collect that line and only that line. Hasbro has totally dropped the ball as far as Star Wars, Transformers and G.I. Joe, all toy lines I use to collect until about 5 years ago. I got say it totally sadness me. The quality of the toys is crap, the offering are completely out of touch with what kids and collectors want, I mean really Hasbro you offering the biggest X-Wing ever but essentially it’s a brick shaped like an X-Wing!!?? Who really wants that, it has no play features, no electronics, nothing it’s a joke. Bandai and Playmates toys did look good but I am not at all interested in there line of toys. For me I am pretty much done for now with collecting.
I've found that while the main line "find in Target or Wal Mart" toys are starting to suck, there is a more refined, higher quality offering of figures through smaller companies. Problem is, they put out 20 items, 1 is something I'd buy. So it's out there, but just not as easy to find anymore. You have to pick individual items from multiple companies rather than just following Company 1 Line A for 10 years.
And... the cost is going up for all of it.
But, I am ok with that for collector, smaller run pieces. I would prefer them to get the figure right and charge more, print less. Better than cutting back on things like paint and articulation to hit a price point so you can sell 2,000,000 units. Most of which will not sell, be discounted out, and lead to the company not purchasing future waves, effectively killing the line.
Capo, DC Collectibles, Funko Legacy, NECA, DST - they all upped their game, and I'm happy to give them some of my dollars this year rather than running completionist on Transformers or GI Joe.
Game has changed, I'm gonna try and find the gems and fill these shelves. Curate, don't hoard.
My favs from TF this year would be SW 6" Black Series (Luke, Vader, Chewy, Jabba, Biker Scout/Bike), BTAS, DC Multiverse, TF Generations, S.H.Figuarts (esp. Mario), Nick TMNT, Lego and MegaBloks.
I would add Kre-O to the list, but I'm kind of bummed that they will become a TRU-only brand. I'm not able to get to TRU that often these days, so collecting that line at retail will be more difficult in the future (I'm not that big on online shopping, unless it's for imports).
As far as worst goes, there isn't really much else aside from the Kre-O news. Very little else held enough interest for me to care one way or another - let alone be disappointed or upset about it.
Mostly NECA, for me the1:4scale Batman AO is impressive, Rambo, Robocop with jetpack, Pacificrim figures were an improvement, Aliens line was cool, not buying any of their Pota and predator. Some of the Transformers line blew me away like the dinobots. I think acid rain and lost planet were nice but just out of my price range.
In no particular order:
NECA: I was hesitant to get on board with the Aliens line, because NECA is notoriously a one and doner type of company. But seeing everything coming out, I'm all in. Especially with the Queen, Loader, and Ripley on the way. Their Apes line looks killer, as well. And that Heath Ledger is a thing of beauty.
CapoToys: New kids on the block have quite an impressive showing. Looks like it might be the ultimate SF toyline to ever hit. And I've talked to the owner, and Mortal Kombat is on his short list of "to-do"'s. So, they've got my full support. Clearly. I mean, I'm getting my own toy in the first series...
DC Collectibles: They are actually the clear cut winner of the Fair for me. I'm biased, as a huge DC/Batman fanboy. But that BTAS/TNBA lie announcement was the winner of the year/decade/century. And everything else was just the cherry. GREAT showing this year from them all around.
The only real disappointment I had was Funko. Really? That was ALL you had to show for Legacy? At the very least, you needed a poster showing what licenses are coming in the line. And sorry...Fantastic Mr. Fox isn't one of the things ANYONE was looking forward to, nor the thing to get buyers/retailers on board. Real head scratcher, that one.
For me personally, I'm really happy with Funko. Being a huge GoT fan I was really happy a few weeks ago when I heard these 6" figs even existed, and now that they've shown the Magic figures I am just amazed at what they are for $20 a piece. I know they will wow us even more at SDCC and hopefully they take your advice, with samples, sketches and a list of properties that they're in bed with.
I'm all in with GoT, but with ML and SW Black and the other pieces I pick up, I'll likely only get a few of the Magic characters and probably others from their Legacy lines.
I thought we might see more from Square Enix and Hasbro legends, but we'll see in July what they have in store. I still think San Diego gets the better showings of all the companies in comparison to New York.
Thanks for all the great pics guys!
My Toy Fair 2014 top figures announcements are:
-Marvel Legends Infinite Series Guardians Of The Galaxy
-Marvel Infinite 3.75 The new ones, not the re-release ones
-Bandai Sprukits New 52 Batman and Superman
-DC Collectibles New 52 figures
-Diamond Select The Amazing Spider-Man 2 minimates and Select figure, also the Kill Bill Select Figures
-Mafex The Amazing Spider-Man 2 figure
That make a good Toy Fair announcements for me
And... the cost is going up for all of it.
But, I am ok with that for collector, smaller run pieces. I would prefer them to get the figure right and charge more, print less. Better than cutting back on things like paint and articulation to hit a price point so you can sell 2,000,000 units. Most of which will not sell, be discounted out, and lead to the company not purchasing future waves, effectively killing the line.
Capo, DC Collectibles, Funko Legacy, NECA, DST - they all upped their game, and I'm happy to give them some of my dollars this year rather than running completionist on Transformers or GI Joe.
Game has changed, I'm gonna try and find the gems and fill these shelves. Curate, don't hoard.
Leader class Generations Jetfire is all for me. One of the space ships from Guardians Of The Galaxy looks cool, not sure if I'll get it. But overall there was nothing interesting to me. The older I get the more fussy I get & everything is starting to look like just more of the same old boring crap. I've been hoping for a new Roadbuster & even that did nothing for me.
My taste/interest is going strictly towards female robots & there just aren't any good ones out there. My favorite figure of all time is Fewture's 1901 Aflodai. I wish somebody would make more like it. That's pretty much all I care about.
For me the company that had the best showing was by far Hasbro, from the new Star wars Black (Especially Jabba) to the various new Marvel Legends they did the best in my eyes.
As far as the company with the worst showing, well Mattel is clearly the "winner" of this category. With the DC Universe line ending with those craptacular Super Powers figures & the fact that nearly all of the product shown was aimed towards kids, Mattel once again continues to disappoint.
I'm a long time 3.75" fan so while I can see the cool factor in 6" lines like Game of Thrones/ Marvel/ DC/ Star Wars Black Series etc, they're not for me.
But there were some cool things.
Star Wars Rebels: Phantom. Love the mini-rig look of this little ship.
Mattel's DC Multiverse wave 2: Ok, we saw them last year and I'm probably the only one that's looking forward to these. But Mattel, would it kill you to put out a 3.75" Joker?
Funko's retro figures. So many figures! I love that loads of previously neglected licences are getting some love here, building up a universe of retro figures. Unfortunately while some look really cool (Rocketeer/ Pulp Fiction) some of them are truly dire (Buffy). Hopefully there's time to tweek those sculpts before release.
The Twilight Zone retro figures- Possibly not something I'll buy but I love that they exist and look forward to more. If they do colour versions I might bite.
The disappointments:
Star Wars: Rebels. The actual figures don't look great. I don't need super posable but coupled with the cartoony look, these guys look very cheap and nasty.
Guardians of the Galaxy. Ok, they looked 3.75" but I think they're actually 2.5". First of all, what's that about? That's not compatible with ANYTHING. And secondly, they look so cheap. Worse than the things you get a Poundland. Really devalues the brand.
Biggest surprise of Toyfair- The Big Bang Theory figures. I'm way more excited about these than I should be. If anyone knows me for my downloadable Doctor Who dioramas, I've been making a downloadable Sheldon/Leonard apartment. Gawd 'elp me, I'm hooked!!
I think Mega Bloks had the best overall showing from Toy Fair.
Their new Call of Duty sets look fantastic. Several cheaper $5-7 sets (Bomb Disposal/Juggernaut, Ghilly suit sniper, motorcycle, rappelling trooper), more troop packs (jungle troopers and sniper team), medium sets (APC), large sets (satellite and heavy lift helicopter), and more zombie sets (another "horde" and a prison set).
With their Halo line, they also have a wide range of product. They're also adding articulation to their good guy figures and giving them removeable armor which can be swapped around for customization. They took the articulation advancements from their Call of Duty line, put them on their Halo figures, and added customizable armor. A shocking element to this advancement? They're keeping their pricepoints the same as previous offerings. Their price per figure ($2.99) is the same. So innovation at no extra cost to the consumer. And factor in that they polled fans for which sub-theme they wanted explored in the line and which Signature (largest pricepoint) piece they wanted made and showed up both things (Police sub-theme and Covenant Scarab) off as coming this fall. Heck, for the Scarab, they worked with a known customizer on developing it and making it even better. That shows a willingness to listen to and work with their fans.
While the ML Guardians of the Galaxy figures look cool, the Funko Legacy Magic and Game of Thrones figures look neat, the Star Wars Black Series 6" figures continue to shine, and the 3.75" Twilight Zone figures were a welcome surprise, Mega Bloks was the company that actually showed improvement and an interest in keeping their prices very competitive. They're just putting a ton of love into their product and their fans.
Mattels Feeble attempt at a Tribute Hands down is the Worst Showing.... Had it been several New Figures instead of 6 Repaints of Tooled Figures they would have shown the Collectors Some respect at this point it comes off as a total Insult.
The Best is DCC's Showing potential for a replacement to Meddels oops Mattels Failures
Full Thread: Toy Fair 2014 - Your Best and Worst
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