The New York Toy Fair has a history of more than 100 years. It was first held in 1903 and was originally an actual trade show where toy manufacturers (all 10) showed off their merchandise and store owners decided what to buy. The format lasted for decades and even developed its own dedicated buildings, but like many trade shows, the internet ruined the surprise factor and now, due to the longer shipping times, buyers must make decisions earlier. While this is not a big show for planning a holiday, the Toy Fair still maintains the power of vision and sound. Seeing all the toys spread all over Javits Center, Roaring, Beeping and Tooting is a unique experience.
For some reason, I ran for four full days (usually only a few days) from March 1 to 4. My fault was because I didn’t plan better – I needed to arrange a booth trip in advance, and my mine ended up being dispersed throughout the entire four days. This gave me a lot of time to think about kids toys, adult toys, licenses and collections.
The Toy Fair, like most events after the pandemic, has a fragmented schedule. The 2020 show was held in a world where we didn’t know about masks, one of the last events in the pandemic world. 2021 and 2022 were cancelled, but the show dropped to fall in 2023 before announcing it would move to New Orleans. It was a general anger at the toy industry, and liked to go to New York City, so the Toy Fair was back in the late New York period, for better or worse.
As Forbes has associated, there are still problems with timing:
James Zahn, editor-in-chief of Toy Books, said the New York Toy Fair developed primarily as “a major stage in creating wonders and building new product launches – companies of all sizes are taking advantage of this.”
But, screened at the main locations of the New York Toy Fair, Zahn said, most of the products displayed at the Toy Fair have proven to be appearing to retail buyers in the fall toy preview in Los Angeles in September, and there is no New York performance in New York, and there is no New York state in New York, and there is no New York state in New York, and there is no New York state in New York, Zahn said. “MGA Entertainment, Jakks Pacific and Zuru are one of the biggest missing persons, and there is good reason: They have beautiful permanent showrooms in the Los Angeles area, and buyers are welcome year-round,” he said.
The number of companies with permanent or temporary showrooms in Los Angeles has increased from 60 in 2023 to 200 last year. “It may not be popular in some circles, but Los Angeles is devouring New York,” he said.
As Publishers Weekly reported, the performances in 2025 are smaller:
There are significant decreases in exhibitors this year. The Toys Association, which produced the event, said nearly 850 companies showed off their children’s products on the show. By comparison, in 2023, there were only over 1,000 in 2019 and 2018. The 2020 Toy Expo, affected by the upcoming pandemic, will have 890 exhibitors as China’s large giveaway makers are already locked in at home. The number of publishers on display this year has also decreased, but those attending PW told PW that they were satisfied with the exhibition. They report connecting with potential new licensors, meeting with existing partners and writing orders, connecting with potential new licensors.
Hype and glasses are now the main products offered at Toy Fair, but it remains the necessity of “Toy Collector Media,” a messy website band that covers primarily action characters and has experts at Lego Lego, Star Wars, superheroes, Transformers and more. NYCC and SDCC are now big events on the Toy Calendar, and Mattel and Hasbro are now throwing their own events, mainly online. The hype platform continues to grow.
As I mentioned the other day, there is almost no IP that is not licensed to Hell and between action characters, pop music, games, plush, 3-inch numbers, 5-inch numbers, 24-inch numbers. If you’ve ever loved something, there are probably several toys. Now, it may not be shocking to see more adults than children who buy “toys” now – show off your fans, whether it’s a self-converting robot with a $1,200 statement piece, or some Sprigitato next to your monitor (at home or workplace), it’s one of the ways we promote our identity.
A bunch of mixing agents
Be your own villain
But there are many brands. Did we go as far as we could when I looked at all the mashups and universes I wanted to know (Santa from the elves of the shelf)? Hasbro offers a production line called Mix-Mashers, which provides licensed toys with interchangeable parts. Finally, you can put Darth Vader’s arm on Thanos’ Torso, while Spider-Man’s head stops everything.
Funko offers a realm called “Bitty City” whose Bittys series (minor bursts no more than an inch) can be mixed together in one village, one connected to another IP.
Hasbro and Mattel – long-time fierce competitors – offer their own epic crossovers, sort of like the latest Marvel/DC team. The Play-Doh Barbie is a simplified Barbie doll (owned by Mattel) that can be worn in Play-Doh (Hasbro Classics).
Of course, this is just a company version of what the actual kids have been doing, mixing all their toys (i.e. toy stories) in a universe. While big companies are doing pre-imagination, it is no surprise that kids have been playing with dolls since ancient times. There is no copyright in the game room.
MTG: Spidey
Pokémon went straight to jail
But the mix seems crazier than ever. Spider-Man Magic Party Card is a thing of existence, and so is Pokémon Monopoly. Things that once seemed rare and novel are now dazzling. (I still cherish my old Star Wars Monopoly, one of the first such crossover)
A world of chaos, comfort, comfort and embrace everywhere. For some time, the clumsy toys that recognize characters have been huge, and every company has some version of plush friends.
Minecraft from Mattel
Creepy dinosaur
As for spectacle on the show floor, Mattel took over the River Pavillion for an 80th Anniversary showroom revealing Barbie, Disney Princesses, Jurassic World, WWE and Minecraft (one of the hottest licenses there.) Hasbro had an off site showroom for many years, but moved to the show floor for the first time, with their classic lines of Star Wars, Marvel, GI Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony.
It was at Hasbro booth that millennials and wake up were the most stern reminders of the old god being dead. One of these gods is paper money. Monopoly noticed that today’s kids don’t know what to do with banknotes, so they launched an app bank version that uses ATM cards and other digital elements. Park Place and Tennessee Avenue have been updated to the ice cream rink and hovercraft track. It all seems a bit fancy, but now the game can be completed in a shorter time, and there is no cheating: the app can do all the math.
The technology can still arouse imagination, though: the hot toy in the show is the original hatch of the spinner, a dinosaur egg that hatches T-Rex.
Priced at $59.99, you don’t want to miss a hatch, but then you need to interact with the toy to make it grow and perform well – change the color with your eyes to show your mood. Proper training and feeding toys is an idea that goes back to Tamagotchi – still strong at Bande booths.
LEGO doesn’t allow any reporting on their new products, but if you can imagine more of the Miracle, DC, Star Wars and Ninja sets, you’ll get it. For the “public” it is Central Park, a large area in front of the Lego courtyard, showing their adult-centric botanical lines with benches and fake fountains. It was a surprisingly peaceful place, surrounded by fake trees and grass, where I spent a lot of downtime and relaxing with my friends on ice cream.
Spin Master does better with live puppies! Adoption events remind us that the real world feels the best, and real animals need to be cared for and fed
Squishmallows’ homeland Jazwares won the best event (I was invited to attend anyway), which included a collector event for new toys from “The Vault”, which is the emergence of AEW’s Orange Cassidy (As the wrestler’s head, his head doesn’t respond to anything, his appearance is low) and finger food. Cappuccino maker and a spacious toy giveaway cement the goodwill of the shards and hackers.
As I wandered around the hall, I couldn’t help but think of the various attributes over the years. Miracle Toys are still playable, but the MCU luster is blunt. The state of Star Wars is even sad. While the Mandalorians are popular, all subsequent TV shows don’t show the characters you want to put on the table. I think we will one day get a nostalgic “settled jailbreak” from Legos, but that’s still a long way to go.
Pokémon is one of the hottest properties on display after the announcement of the new game Pokémon ZA. These characters are cute and fit almost any type of toy, and my favorite lace sprigitato is everywhere.
The powerful Morphin Power Rangers returned to playmates after Bandai, Disney and other companies. Playmates chose a refreshing basic approach – simple toys, masks and weapons. Starting to be low-key is a great way to create more shock and awe.
By contrast, the teen ninja turtle has been playing with it, which has really caused the popularity of this line: $1.1 billion worth Turtle Toys were sold between 1988 and 1992. To avoid us forgetting, Eastman and Laird created comic books to imitate Frank Miller’s Ronin and Daredevil’s parody, but in some way, the idea of four pizza-loving turtles named after Renaissance painters lasted for over 40 years and was once popular. The power of imagination can bring strange changes.
My other observations are obvious: people who like cats. People think farting is fun. Yo-yo still needs skill. Crayons are a great way to spend time. Manga and anime toys are spectacular – Akira toriyama and Eiichiro Oda are unparalleled character designers.
Toilets are a regular theme, and I was told that the “Skibidi Toilets” YouTube series introduces a head that sings in the toilets in the global battle – one of the hottest new characters. For any childless old man still here, this savage animation brings the barren eternal assistant dystopia with adult swimming and MAchinima Appearance of Video Games. Throw some toilets and you can enjoy millions of views. Of course, it has a Funko Pop.
In all the turmoil, you can still find one thing that seems to be just made for you. NECA’s figures based on Ben Cooper’s Halloween costume will bring any trendy generation into a haze of nostalgia and talk to the eternal Halloween in our souls.
But at the super 7 o’clock, I saw the toy I wanted most. I think they’ve been out for a while, but I’ve somehow missed them making 7-inch numbers based on Beastie Boys Sabotage videos. That’s right, Nathan Wind (Cochise), Alasandro Alegre (Chief) and Vic Colfari (Bobby, “Rookie”) can sit at your desk. Like Garth Marenghi’s Dark Land, it’s a triple-iron satirical level – a cheesy actor playing cheesy roles in a particular genre that defines an era – I think it’s irresistible.
I want these toys.
Yes, that’s the 2025 Toy Fair, which is a palace where the black lagoon creature rides tricycles is the most natural thing in the world. Next year’s Toy Fair returns to mid-February, a time frame that once allowed attendees to fight a two-legged snowstorm, but it would be a playful play on these global warm days.
There are only a few theme galleries:
Butt and what smells:
Cats and cute animals are still popular
Godzilla and friends
It’s a thing to do based on a comic cover or toys that include a comic cover. But it should be noted that the first appearance of Banshee is not the giant X-Men #1!
odds and ends:
