Editor’s Gold Award Pick: As much as I love toys I live with the guilt that so many of them are filling the landfills of the world with toxic plastics and who knows what else. So when I met the robot shown above it was love at first sight. Now what’s interesting about this robot is that most of the parts that you see aren’t included! In fact 90% of what you’re looking at in this toy is made out of recycled items that we throw away every day — which is what makes this hobby kit so ingenious. The Makedo Find & Make a Robot Kit includes a easy-to-use cutting device to hack cardboard and a series of fasteners to hold objects together — and thus by applying the age old toy concepts that you see in Tinker Toys or Lego combined with the idea of recycling you get an amazingly creative activity for your kids. Read more…
Editor’s Silver Award Pick: When I was first shown this crafts kit I have to admit that on the face of it I was unimpressed — it was just a collection of beads on a string made into a bracelet. But that’s what makes this crafts kit so brilliant! It turns out that every bead in this kit is assigned a secret letter — so kids can put secret messages on the bracelets to give to their friends who can then decode them. Essentially this is a crafters version of a Little Orphan Annie decoder ring! In a show filled with slick gimmicks and dazzling packaging I was impressed with how something so simple could be so engaging. And thus the Bead the Message crafts kit earns my silver award for Toy Fait 2010. Read more…
At this year’s Toy Fair I noticed a great deal of Halo merchandise but not too many toys based upon other videogames — so it was nice to see NECA with a line of action figures based upon BioShock and Gears of War: Read more…
I usually avoid the holiday focused booths at the Toy Fair, but Rubie’s had these adorable Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock Halloween which captured my heart. The manufacturer also has a full line of Watchmen costumes for adults who like to cosplay. Read more…
The Tin Box Company may claim that these lunch boxes are just for kids, but I know better! As any art student can tell you a lunch box makes a fashionable accessory that can be used as a mini-briefcase. Shown here are lunchboxes from Star Wars, Hello Kitty and Toy Story — however Tin Box’s full line up also includes Bakugan, Strawberry Shortcake, Disney characters, Sesame Street and Spider-man. Read more…
Underground Toys had a killer selection of Dr. Who goodies on the showroom floor. Shown above is a Tardis which isn’t quite full scale but pretty darn close! Below is a smaller version for those of us fanboys and fangurls who live in small apartments: Read more…
If you’re a Lost in Space fanboy you’re going to like what Moebius Models: A fully finished and lit Jupiter II 1/35th scale metal prop replica. That’s right: If you’ve always wanted one of these amazing model kits but know that you’ll never ever have the time to build one Moebius Models will build it for you! Sadly you’ll have to wait until the 4th quarter of this year, but having seen the model up close I was drooling. Read more…
Mezco showed off an ultra cute line of toys called Mez-itzs which are mini eformed action figures. Shown above is a full line of Family Guy figures — below are Hellboy, Beetle Juice and Rorschach: Read more…
Funko had amusing line of Star Wars goodies — shown above is a stromtrooper and Darth Vader that plug into your iPod and act as speakers. Shown below are just a few of the many Star Wars bobbleheads they had on display: Read more…
Square Enix Products had on display three beautifully crafted Bleach figurine prototypes. The figures weren’t painted, but I was impressed with how true they stayed to the character designs. Read more…
Lego embraced The Force with a full line of Star Wars kits. The variety of the kits is quite wonderful — above is the Hoth Wampa set and below is Boba Fett: Read more…
So much of the toy fair is really aimed at kids, and while there are fanboy friendly booths here and there Diamond is always a pleasure to visit with the variety of cool goodies that they have. Shown above is a Qee Bear Spock — and below you can see a wide range of toys from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Mouse: Read more…
The devil is in the details, and this imported line of Star Wars miniatures were simply amazing to look at. This line of minitaures is imported into the United States by bcmini.com , here’s the catalog page: Read more…
The Japanese are crazy about the Gerry Anderson show Thunderbirds. This line of minitaures is imported into the United States by bcmini.com and I’ve got to say that the quality and beauty of these were amazing.
There’s always been something very haunting about the eyes of Blythe dolls so it’s highly appropriate that we’d see a vampire Blythe sooner or later. Although what I didn’t expect to see were these two Disney Blythes which celebrate the classic films Dumbo and Pinocchio: Read more…
If you like Blythe and goth lolita you’re going to want to meet Toffee. This line of collector dolls features a haunted looking girl and each different model features a very well thought out fashion ensemble. The variety of these dolls by Huckleberry Toys was amazing to look at: Read more…
I’d thought that I’ve seen every sort of of iPhone protector that you can imagine, but this this covering which turns your iPhone into a cute robot monster was a nice twist on an old concept. Antonio de Jesus who is the monster robot designer also showed me these other space alien covers which were also adorable: Read more…
Ugly Dolls had an even larger presence at this years Toy Fair — not only were the dolls back, but the line has expanded into clothing and books! But best of all they haven’t lost all the little touches that has made this band so good, just look at the amount of detail on these t-shirts: Read more…
As someone who went to art school it’s very easy to find creative toys for kids, but there are certain categories of playthings like dollhouses that always seem so old fashioned. So it was with joy that I discovered the brinca dada line at this year’s Toy Fair: They have an amazing line of modernist dollhouses and matching furniture! Their toy furniture line looks like a miniature version of what you might see in the windows of Design Within Reach — and better yet the dollhouse solar panels to power the lights inside: Read more…
Sadly I wasn’t permitted to take any photos, but the one thing I noticed that the Toy Fair was that there was Green Hornet goodies all over the place! The film is set for theaters on December 22nd this year but I can tell you know that there will be a merchandise extravaganza associated with the release. And while I can’t name any names, the toys that I did see looked quite amazing. Read more…
Being a Fab Four fanboy one of the cool things that I spotted at the show were a series of die cast Beatles themed auto and buses from Factory Entertainment. Each vehicle in this collection is themed by a specific album and has a nice amount of loving detail. The designs featured Sgt. Pepper, A Hard Days Night, Let It Be, The Magical Mystery Tour and The White Album to name a few: Read more…
