Toy Fair 2019: Godzilla Toys Making Landfall Soon

To the happiness of Kaiju, Monster and very specifically, Godzilla lovers everywhere, we've been enjoying a period of time when there are always giant creatures stalking the toy aisles. From Pacific Rim to King Kong..Rampage..Jurassic World...and straight back to the King of Monsters himself who seems to be universally accepted as an evergreen property now! As we wait for the Americanized titan of destruction to hit the big screen once more, toy companies are revving their engines, preparing for the release of their monstrous plastics. As we head into a show that is a monster in and of itself, let's take a look at what's to come for GODZILLA: King of Monsters...

Toy Fair 2019: JADA Continues Their Nano Assault

JADA Toys have been around for quite some time, proving over and over that pop culture fans love diecast toys and more specifically, incredible vehicles you can pop on your shelves. Their Nano Metalfigs were probably met with a heads cratch by the toy fans at first, but retailers had to love that ultra low price point and, let's face it, collectors could stand to give their bank card a rest! 2019 shows JADA won't be slowing their Nano figure assault as they add new licenses to their ranks and dream up new ways to give us what we never knew we wanted. Let's take a peek at what Mat Hawkins spied at UK Toy Fair this year...

I Like Scary Movies: Interactive Art Installation

This Spring, a one-of-a-kind experience will creep into the city of Los Angeles for a limited engagement. Beginning on April 4th, the multi-sensory installation inspired by some of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and New Line Cinema’s most iconic scary movies will lure fans into artistic reinterpretations of the worlds of the first chapter in the IT saga, The Shining, Beetlejuice, The Lost Boys, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Toy Fair 2019: The Party Isn't Over for DC Comics at Mattel

While I'm extremely excited about someone new taking the lead on fully posable DC Comics action figures, it isn't because Mattel did anything particularly wrong, it's just the thought of new eyes on our most beloved super heroes. That said, you have to give Mattel their due with what they accomplished over all these years, especially while innovating for little hands and translating cartoon designs into very affordable action figures. Now, the one year countdown begins and Mattel will be rolling out DC comics characters at breakneck speed...

Toy Fair 2019: Hasbro Reveals Transformers Ghostbusters Ecto 1

Autobots, Decepticons and ghosts?! Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) and Sony Pictures Consumer Products today revealed the first-ever TRANSFORMERS-Ghostbusters Collaborative figure, the ECTO-1 ECTOTRON, available at GameStop summer of 2019 and for pre-order starting February 15 at HasbroPulse.com, GameStop and EB Games Canada. This year marks the 35th anniversary of both the TRANSFORMERS brand & the original Ghostbusters film.

Toy Fair 2019: Fisher-Price Little People Add WWE and The Beatles

There are some toy lines where you just expect you are going to see more of the same from year to year....but this year....things are a little crazy. Mattel's Fisher-Price Little People have entertained Disney princesses and their buddies, and even raced through the streets of Gotham with Batman and friends, but beyond that, what we'd expect were happy, chubby little people in a happy, cookie cutter little town. Welp, this year, the design crew had some fresh, radical ideas. Prepare your minds for unacceptable levels of adorable...

Toy Fair 2019: Barbie Takes Your Jobs, Rides Your Horses and Babysits Everyone

Mattel's golden girl in pink isn't going anywhere any time soon. It seems like any time someone challenges the relevance of this multi-millionaire career woman in modern times, Mattel pops out a doll that answers all questions, adds diversity of race and body type, challenges young women to push beyond the limits set by old white men and doesn't forget to have fun. Suffice to say, Mattel's Barbie team are embattled hourly and probably underpaid! Let's take a look at the awesome lineup of amazing Barbie dolls rolling out now, and in the coming months.

Since 1959, Barbie’s purpose has been to inspire the limitless potential in every girl and that message is more relevant than ever. Inspiring three generations of girls, over 200 careers and more than one billion barbie dolls sold, she has stood the test of time. This year, Barbie is continuing to evolve by becoming a more relevant, modern reflection of the world for today’s kids and their families by infusing purpose across all touchpoints including product, content, marketing and more.

Toy Fair 2019: McFarlane Does the Magic Dance with David Bowie!

 
SECOND TIMES A CHARM!!! McFarlane blessed us all with an action figure of Jareth the Goblin King (aka David Bowie with awesome hair) from the movie Labyrinth as one of their very first figures as they celebrated their return to the 7 inch action figure arts. Now we get to do the magic dance once more as McFarlane announces a FULLY POSABLE Jareth in an outfit made for boogieing with wee beasties.

Toy Fair 2019: Moose Toys Calls In Fortnite Reinforcements

Epic Games' Fortnite is MASSIVE. No doubt, all the toy companies took a peek at their numbers and wondered if it might translate into dollar signs in the action figure aisles. If McFarlane diving deeper into the game designs with vehicles and accessories on a 6 inch scale is any indication...it was a very good holiday for anyone on that Fortnite toy train! Moose Toys seems to be exhibiting that same level of excitement, preparing to add to your armies and give those just released multi packs some company with NEW single packs and vehicles...including the first PARTY BUS!!

Toy Fair 2019: JAKKS Expands Their Harry Potter Product Line

JAKKS Pacific are one of those companies that doesn't get a lot of praise or water cooler talk, but are always innovating and surprising. I'm never sure what new licenses they will have on show come February of every year. As the Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter license stretched out across the global marketplace, JAKKS took a slice of that action with wands for training and blind box wands for collecting and even a game called " Niffler Challenge" straight from "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them". Now Jakks dives deeper into Harry Potter's world with mini figures and playsets!

Toy Fair 2019: TOMY Wrestles With the WWE

Seems like this will be the year of shifting licenses! It's funny...you expect things to be a certain way from year to year to the point where the news becomes a little stale. Then one year, McFarlane gets to make DC action figures, Hasbro takes over Power Rangers, Super 7 is driving the reins on Masters of the Universe and everything that was old is new again! Sometimes it takes a new perspective from a different crew to breathe new life into a property. Now TOMY steps up to see if they can make something extremely fun with a WWE license...

Toy Fair 2019: McFarlane Enters the DC Universe

BEST NEWS OF TOY FAIR 2019 SO FAR!!! While Mattel cranked out a very wide range of DC comic book characters in their time with the license, we can all admit they weren't much fun. Use of the same molds over and over paired with minimal paint applications and dull sculpting just gives a collector fatigue after a time. Now...when someone like McFarlane comes into play...
We know what they are capable with sculpting true works of art. We know they are willing to use as much paint as is possible. Having upped their game in the articulation department, we have high hopes for posability. I'll also point out they are not shying away from making vehicles and accessory packs for their figures so I AM SO DAMN READY!!

Toy Fair 2019: Rumors Say Diamond Bought Gentle Giant * CONFIRMED

I'll admit I've been out of touch with Gentle Giant for some time. Since being merged with 3D Systems, I'd heard a lot of awesome sounding plans that put GG's long history of scanning everyone in Hollywood into play toward future collectibles and personalized items that would make hardcore fans extremely happy. For years before that, Gentle Giant greeted us at San Diego Comic Con with a solid hour worth of work to photograph, including sculpts large and small, from Star Wars, Marvel Comics, hot new horror properties and flashy in-house properties. We stumbled upon our GG friends at Toy Fair last year with a modest display of Wolverine statues and some very appealing small scale items in blind boxes, all with high levels of detail we've come to expect. After doing their time in the very front of the Toy Fair show floor, we assumed Gentle Giant would move to a larger home...and they did...which is all the more reason this new rumor is so surprising!

Toy Fair 2019: More McFarlane Fortnite Action Figures & Harvesting Tools

Our last run in with McFarlane's Fortnite line revealed the company has complete faith in the staying power of this massive free-to-play battle royale style game. It's not often we see vehicles and accessory packs for any 6 to 7 inch action figure line (beyond NECA, who love to spoil us), but McFarlane has gone all in, showing off a glider attached to a jump pad, a Quadcrasher vehicle and the first weapons "loot pack". Now we've got more news that adds a little more of EVERYTHING!!

Toy Fair 2019: Factory Entertainment's KUZOS Diecast Metal Collectibles

Factory Entertainment, Inc., announced today that it will be unveiling its brand new line of miniature diecast metal pop-culture collectibles, called KUZOS, at New York Toy Fair on February 16, 2019.

KUZOS are detailed die cast metal collectibles based on iconic movie and television characters and props.  KUZOS are designed to provide pop culture fans with a wide range of high-quality officially licensed collectibles without stressing their budgets or available display space. The average KUZO footprint is 2 inches in width, making it ideal to display virtually anywhere!

Toy Fair 2019: McFarlane Enters the Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter

McFarlane Toys, a global leader in the action figure industry, and Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) announced today a partnership to bring a new line of premium collectible Wizarding World action figures to  mass and specialty retailers.

McFarlane Toys will create collectible action figures ranging in size from 6-inch to 12-inches based on characters and creatures from the Wizarding World, including  characters and creatures from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films.

Toy Fair 2019: The Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle RETURNS!!

There are some very specific vintage toys out there that instantly make those that love and remember them light up like a Christmas tree. The monstrous CRUSHER is one of them, though many forget his name among the thousands of G.I.Joe characters and inexplicable Masters of the Universe vehicles. We have finite space for fairly useless but amusing information, you know! The Fonz action figure with his double thumbs up pose is another. With growing interest in retro toy lines, it was only a matter of time before modern toy companies tackled the classics for a contemporary audience. Both Madballs and Boglins have recently been given the spotlight. Now, the greatest stuntman the world has ever seen gets his due...

Toy Fair 2019: McFarlane's Game of Thrones Nearing Release

McFarlane have been upping their game in regards to crafting and producing of action figures for some time now. Known for amazing sculpting, McFarlane never looked to sacrifice that art by chopping it up and adding ugly joints. Never the less, hardcore collectors demand a high degree of posability in their action figures these days, especially with the rise in popularity of toy photography, and so McFarlane have risen to the occasion.

Game of Throne presents a particular challenge. Dark Horse created a fantastic line of figures, but I challenge you to find more than a point of articulation per figure. Funko took a stab at action figures with actual action, but the line was plagued with quality control problems and fans bailed. Now McFarlane steps up just in time for the final season and I've got high hopes for incredible sculpts and a fair amount of posability. Did we get everything we've been hoping for? Let's find out...

Toy Fair 2019: McFarlane Takes On CUPHEAD! * UPDATED 2/14

McFarlane has been doing some re-construction on their building line over the last couple of years. Their construction sets have gone from realistic mini model figures paired with traditional block building sets to a model more in keeping with what has made LEGO the titan of the toy shelves they are today. The change in style has been paying off, with their Hello Neighbor sets nowhere to be found and Five Nights at Freddy's sets highly sought after. Now McFarlane lends their design know how to the video game world, which seems like a no brainer, starting with the ridiculously irresistible, highly charismatic retro cartoon stylings of CUPHEAD!!

Laika's New Missing Link Trailer LOADED with Laughs

HOLY DAMN. I didn't know what to expect from Laika's new film "Missing Link"..well..other than mind blowing stop motion animation that constantly has people going "that was CGI, right?" Now their newest trailer shows the tremendous heart we've come to expect and LOADS of laughs I didn't see coming. This just went on my MUST SEE list!

This April, meet Mr. Link: 8 feet tall, 630 lbs, and covered in fur, but don't let his appearance fool you... he is funny, sweet, and adorably literal, making him the world's most lovable legend at the heart of Missing Link, the globe-trotting family adventure from LAIKA. Tired of living a solitary life in the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Link recruits fearless explorer Sir Lionel Frost to guide him on a journey to find his long-lost relatives in the fabled valley of Shangri-La. Along with adventurer Adelina Fortnight, our fearless trio of explorers encounter more than their fair share of peril as they travel to the far reaches of the world to help their new friend. Through it all, the three learn that sometimes you can find a family in the places you least expect.