Toy Fair?

Does anyone have any news/stories//feedback/photos they can post from this year’s Toy Fair?

As usual, I wasn’t able to make it, but I’m curious what was happening…

Thanks!

Some cool stuff this year. The show was DEAD when I was there (monday and tuesday)-- I couldn’t believe how few attendees there were… nice for poeple like me who were looking for inspiration, bad for the exhibitors / toy industry. I found out that this is the last year for the toy building on 5th ave :frowning: Welcome to the world of Condos! It seems this way in all the bigger cities (here in Chicago everything is turning into condos)

There was so much cool new stuff- when I unpack I’ll post the links.

Went to an industry party at http://www.coralroomnyc.com/ that was really cool. There is just something about mermaids and over-priced drinks that is just lovely.

Went over to central park to check out the gates… not as impressed as I thought I was going to be…

I found the fair to be rather uninspiring.

i’ve never been. had i thought about it i would have planned. but did see some depressing news in NYTimes article. worth registering to read it all. this bit worth posting:

Adding to the industry’s problems, children are losing interest in toys earlier, their attention seized by video games, cable TV and the Internet, in a phenomenon known to the trade as “kagoy,” which stands for “kids are getting older, younger.” What only a few years ago nicely held an 8-year-old’s attention - action figures, for example - now is considered marketable only to 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, said Neil Friedman, the president of Fisher-Price Brands, a division of Mattel. “You’re not going to change it,” he added.

bc this afternoon i saw Yahoo running this article

As Japan produces fewer children and more retirees, toymakers are designing new dolls designed not for the young but for the lonely elderly -

something wrong with this. technology is making kids grow up out of toys and inadvertantly letting families use toys to give their elders companionship. strikes a chord w me. and not liking it.

It was the first time I have been in years. I was at that Coral Room party too. It was very cool. That website doesn’t do the whole mermaid thing any justice.

These action fugure toys were there at NY Toy Fair 2005.

Ok, overall…not much different. Same old Superman, Batman and classic dolls.
Except that U.S now accepts more of Japanese toys-but still those are classics for Japanese culture.
It seems like Revised and Licensed characters were the trend of yr 2005.
Lots of familiar characters were shown.
Now I know why kids prefer to buy video games than toys.
It is simply too boring.
They need upgraded toys that looks COOL for them.
I mean not OLD for them, and not cool for us, but that does something to them.
Perhaps the new generation need their own heros/heroines.
Not like Titans that Asians made for DC comics, not Gundams, not strawberry shortcakes
and no more batman revised with never seen before arms attached to him.

who is the mfr of the Titans toys? They’re awesome!

Thanks for the post - that’s a lot of great eye candy.

Any Toy Fair observations form different categories or age groups?

I was playing with the “automoblox” for awhile. I really like how they encourage building with more than one piece to fit. The idea that the user is not instantly gratified is really intriguing…

www.automoblox.com

Another cool thing I saw was all this stuff at “Fred” They are not all toys… but really fun housewares, etc.

www.worldwidefred.com

the manhole cover floor mats were great!

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been a year since this thread began…

Anyway, does anyone have any recap/pics/etc. on the Toy Fair 2006?

You could check this link: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/bs/021006toyfair;_ylt=AtQMSklhrXzuSLCnsvhgxpqyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5YmlpOGc1BHNlYwNjYXRzcw--

Anyway, this year was my first trip to ToyFair, and as a toy industry newbie, I have to say that I was completely and utterly underwhelmed by what I saw. What little “big name” companies were there, I couldn’t get in, so I was left to wander up and down aisles and aisles of creepy dolls, really, really bad board game concepts, and asian manufacturers of various junk.

I really can’t think of any one thing that stood out in my mind, as far as innovative, cool, etc.

the show was LAME
the coolest thing was a 1500 dollar robot kit
did pushups and danced…


also there was this awesome air battle toy from wild planet…
but kinda dead both traffic and inspiration wise…

I went to the nuremberg toy fair this year instead. MUCH BETTER. It was crowded! It was HUGE. I can’t begin to tell you how massive this convention was. There were great toys.

Unfortunatly I was only there for one full day - but convince you company to send you to this show at all costs. I have 30 pages of great ideas from that one day…

I am my company so me and the team will have to figure out
how to get me out there…

the nuremburg show is pretty impressive there are a number of shows in Japan and teh HK toy and games show too…

I want to do the one (not sure of the name) in Japan- it sounds pretty cool.


“Mega” HK show sucks… lots of companies that do the same stuff. I have been to that one twice.

True…I went to the HK show…it’s really dissapointing what you get to see over there…how come? is the question that raises…I wish I had the tooling most of these companies have to make some cool samples and show around.

I’m not sure what’s going on with this link now, but how about a little articulation in action figures (thought while looking over all the 2005 pix). Do kids really not care that their figurines walk around like Boris Karloff in “Frankenstein”? In my GI Joe playing days (both foot tall and hairy / eyeball moving and then the smaller versions) I loved to be able to actually articulate joints that made a figurine look like he / she was actually running, jumping, etc. I assumed everyone played with one eye closed so their figures could run toward (and over) the “camera” that was my eyeball. Is that not how young kids play these days?

Toys for old people? That is sad…but perhaps a truly untapped market.

Yours,

mothy