Friday, 25 February 2011
Monday, 21 February 2011
Best of the Rest at Toy Fair
To go back to what I said a few posts ago - Toy Fair 2011 was the best one I've been at. Here's a few other things that deserve honourable mentions this year.
DKL Marketing are always one of my favourite suppliers (Hama, Wonderworld and Corolle) - this year they bring us Velcro Kids products which look fantastic and the quite frankly sensational looking Mic-o-Mic Construction range - can't wait to have that one in.
Playmobil's Secret Agent range raises their considerably high bar another few notches. What I love about the range is the added play value that comes with every set - working web cams, motion sensors and much more besides that can be detached from their original playsets and played with in their own right. Looks like another good year from them.
Esdevium is where I get geeky - I'd love to stock just about everything in their mammoth catalogue - highlights this year include the new Discworld Boardgame, more Cobi Construction, Iwako Erasers, Pokemon Black & White and a hundred others besides. I could go on.
Meccano risk upsetting the purists with Space Chaos - I love it though - they've also got distribution on a couple of fantastic robots in the UK - Blazor, Mechatars and Penbo all look great - there's also super new stuff for the fan of good old-fashioned Meccano too.
It's going to be a fun year!
DKL Marketing are always one of my favourite suppliers (Hama, Wonderworld and Corolle) - this year they bring us Velcro Kids products which look fantastic and the quite frankly sensational looking Mic-o-Mic Construction range - can't wait to have that one in.
Playmobil's Secret Agent range raises their considerably high bar another few notches. What I love about the range is the added play value that comes with every set - working web cams, motion sensors and much more besides that can be detached from their original playsets and played with in their own right. Looks like another good year from them.
Esdevium is where I get geeky - I'd love to stock just about everything in their mammoth catalogue - highlights this year include the new Discworld Boardgame, more Cobi Construction, Iwako Erasers, Pokemon Black & White and a hundred others besides. I could go on.
Meccano risk upsetting the purists with Space Chaos - I love it though - they've also got distribution on a couple of fantastic robots in the UK - Blazor, Mechatars and Penbo all look great - there's also super new stuff for the fan of good old-fashioned Meccano too.
It's going to be a fun year!
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Continuing the Toy Fair Round-Up - Flair
The third installment of my round-up from this Year's Toy Fair at Olympia sees me look at Flair - another star of the show for me.
Grabbing Geomag from Trove is an interesting move on Flair's part - Geomag want TV exposure and Flair can deliver it. The new range looks excellent and the TV ads are good too, but it remains to be seen whether Geomag can successfully re-establish itself in the competitive construction toy arena. In the jostle for slotting in behind the 'L' word that is not spoken at Bus Stop Towers, KNex and Meccano have excellent looking plans for 2011, so it's going to be tough.
Morbs though. Now there's a product I loved. Even the prototypes on display were superb and I can't wait to see the finished article. Real Steel could be a smart license to win if the film is anything like as good as it promises to be. The toy range is excellent and it's another to look forward to.
Two more of our old favourites are rolling out again this year, in the shape of Filly and Bionic Putty. Gormiti too continues to plod along - I don't think it's ever done quite what any of us hoped in this country, so we'll see what another year brings.
The highlight always though at the Flair stand is Sylvanian Families, and the display was no less impressive than it always is, this time around. Too many good new products to mention them all, but to name a few: the Cottage Hospital, Berry Grove School and the Ambulance are all lovely.
That's my three stars of the show then - Spinmaster, Flair and Tomy. Next week, the best of the rest.
Grabbing Geomag from Trove is an interesting move on Flair's part - Geomag want TV exposure and Flair can deliver it. The new range looks excellent and the TV ads are good too, but it remains to be seen whether Geomag can successfully re-establish itself in the competitive construction toy arena. In the jostle for slotting in behind the 'L' word that is not spoken at Bus Stop Towers, KNex and Meccano have excellent looking plans for 2011, so it's going to be tough.
Morbs though. Now there's a product I loved. Even the prototypes on display were superb and I can't wait to see the finished article. Real Steel could be a smart license to win if the film is anything like as good as it promises to be. The toy range is excellent and it's another to look forward to.
Two more of our old favourites are rolling out again this year, in the shape of Filly and Bionic Putty. Gormiti too continues to plod along - I don't think it's ever done quite what any of us hoped in this country, so we'll see what another year brings.
The highlight always though at the Flair stand is Sylvanian Families, and the display was no less impressive than it always is, this time around. Too many good new products to mention them all, but to name a few: the Cottage Hospital, Berry Grove School and the Ambulance are all lovely.
That's my three stars of the show then - Spinmaster, Flair and Tomy. Next week, the best of the rest.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
More Toy Fair Highlights
Continuing my run through, next on our list of this year's Toy Fair stars is Spinmaster. Once again, Spinmaster look like having a superb year, and there was plenty to love on their stand at Olympia this time around.
Bakugan continues its march towards global domination with Gundalian Invaders - new in the UK this year is a particularly impressive kit - Dragonoid Colossus - every bit as huge as the name suggests and I'm betting it'll be scarce. Other Spinmaster favourites, Tech Deck and Flick Trix have good offerings too, and Mighty Beanz landing a Cars 2 license looks promising.
Arts & Crafts continue to be a strong area too, but most of all I'm looking out for Zoobles being big. "Bakugan for Girls" is an easy throwaway line, but the pets that 'spring to life' look fantastic. I can see them being this year's biggest craze of all, depsite some tough competition.
Bakugan continues its march towards global domination with Gundalian Invaders - new in the UK this year is a particularly impressive kit - Dragonoid Colossus - every bit as huge as the name suggests and I'm betting it'll be scarce. Other Spinmaster favourites, Tech Deck and Flick Trix have good offerings too, and Mighty Beanz landing a Cars 2 license looks promising.
Arts & Crafts continue to be a strong area too, but most of all I'm looking out for Zoobles being big. "Bakugan for Girls" is an easy throwaway line, but the pets that 'spring to life' look fantastic. I can see them being this year's biggest craze of all, depsite some tough competition.
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