Toy Insider’s Got Game…
Between the recent New York City Comic Convention and Halloween approaching, Andy and I have plenty of information and photographs to share with you, and miles to go before we sleep.
Tag: toy insider
New York City’s Chelsea Pier complex was the site for the 2015 Sweet Suite event designed to alert traditional press outlets and the exponentially expanding blogger community to the play industry’s newest goodies. This season’s gathering, mounted by the folks at Adventure Publishing Group (APG) (Toy Insider, The Toy Book, The Licensing Book) was the biggest ever, encompassing the wares of almost 100 vendor/sponsors. See the link loaded list of participants on the Sweet Suite Sponsor List.
Sweet Suite 15 was a sensory riot with so many wonderful items vying for deserved attention. To document the afternoon APG president and Toy Insider Mom Laurie Schacht conducted on-site interviews with the industry sponsors and attendees were banging out Tweets, Instagram pictures and videos posts by the hundreds (thousands?) It was especially cool to find The Verve Pipe’s Brian Vander Ark providing the live soundtrack performing songs from the group’s Are We There Yet album.
As an information gathering excursion co-editor Adriana “Andy” Melendez and I have found the invitation-only opportunity to be invaluable, often leading to months worth of pre-holiday roll-out features about the newest toys.
It’s also a perfect platform to explore new products and have an easy-going tet a tet with their creators. Heck, I got so “toy-tipsy” I was even cajoled into donning an “Amy Poehler” wig for the gals at the Goldie Blox booth. Do blondes have more fun? I can’t say for sure but it likely beats being a balding 60 year old guy in a baseball cap.
What caught our collective eye? I know Andy was particularly taken with the I Am Elemental action figures and their empowering message for young ladies. I zoned in on Crayola’s “Color Alive” Easy Animation Studio and Hexbugs’ newest Vex Robotics kits (including an operational Zoetrope). Both were still in early development when first spied at the New York International Toy Association Fair last February.
I also enjoyed a thorough demo and up close look at the eye-popping next-gen graphics of Activision’s Skylanders SuperChargers multi-platform game. Anki Overdrive’s track hugging robotic race cars promise to be an exciting experience, and Madame Alexander Doll’s mirthful Muppets will be available just in time for ABC’s Muppet TV relaunch.
Also ready to launch in the vanguard of inevitable Stars Wars mania is Build-A-Bear Workshop‘s Darth Vader and Chewbaca bears.
Expect us to be reporting on those items and many other products in depth as they reach their release dates in the coming weeks. In the meantime enjoy this teaser gallery of pictures from the event.
Flipped Out…
This year’s “HoliDay of PLAY” event, sponsored by Woman’s Day Magazine and Toy Insider, offered a great opportunity to discover some new toys to report on. One particular line, Jazwares’ Flick-To-Stick Bungees, drew my attention immediately for it’s miniature game pieces and turned out to be more than met the eye.
In their cartoon universe the various Bungee characters attempt death defying acrobatic feats to capture their appointed discs. Here in the real world Bungees are collectible game pieces that mesh some tried and true modes of play from marbles to Pokemon with escalating competitive possibilities. At it’s simplest, contestants attempt to gain the highest number of points by flicking their magnetic bottomed Bungees onto metal discs. Players are rewarded with the highest points for landing on their own character disc, but points can be gained by landing on other crew members’ discs too. That said, several crews don’t play well together and in advanced scoring mode you can lose points for landing on non-compatible discs.
You Know My Name, Look Up the Number…
Each Bungee character comes with a corresponding metallic disc, basic gaming rules, and card that delineates their name, crew affiliation, attitude, point hierarchy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cards are not just ephemera but are magnetic as well and can be integrated into the game play. A very nice touch. Advanced games use a point system listed on the back of each disc.
One of nicest things about the Bungees universe is a pretty much unlimited selection of ways to play. Game “fields” can be purchased or invented. The Master Arena Set is Jazwares’ ultimate multi-player tournament site. It includes ramps, a clear surround, and a set of flippers to attempt to eject your opponents. Alternately, a set-up of makeshift obstacles like empty coffee cans, cardboard boxes, and stretched rubber-bands for bumpers could offer as interesting a challenge on that disused ping-pong table in your recreation room.
Bouncing Souls…
Though flicking skills will aid your chances of landing on your chosen target, the inherent randomness of which way a bungee will bounce or rebound keeps gameplay unpredictable and entertaining. Speaking of skills, kids will need to get their math heads in gear as score keeping will be done the good old fashioned way, with a pencil and your brain.
Travel is as easy as flipping several bungees and their related discs and cards in a zip lock bag. No electricity required. A nice respite from screen only competition.
SkeletonPete Says…
As an “only” I was always looking for games that didn’t necessarily require group play. Bungees offer the opportunity for single-player “woodshedding” sessions to build skills between group matches with just enough unexpected outcome to stay engrossing but not frustrating.
This past weekend CBS2 Sunday Morning News in New York featured Toy Insider Mom and Founder Laurie Schacht’s presentation of playthings of note for the 2014 holiday season. To keep Black Friday commandoes fore-warned and fore-armed with information Laurie spotlighted a cross-section of goodies from the electronic and ergonomic to the eco-friendly and economic.
Along with the ubiquitous singing Queen Elsa from Disney’s Frozen there were fun entries from Crayola, Dora The Explora, the new Flick-n-Stick Bungees game, Paw Patrol, the Nintendo Amiibo toy-based video game and the Kurio Xtreme Tablet especially curated for kids. I was especially happy to see she included some examples from one of my favorite toy producers Folkmanis Puppets.
Lend A Hand…
Puppets are a wonderful method to give the young entertainer in your house a voice for their imagination. Think of them as non-digital avatars. From behind the theater curtains, or more likely the living room couch, your kids can stage any number of creative scenarios.
Folkmanis has an expansive line of puppets that range from finger to dual hand styles with hyper-realistic to fantastic designs. The baby owl puppet featured on the CBS segment reminded me of how much fun it was to peruse the beautiful Folkmanis display booth at Toy Fair with its cornucopia of engaging creatures peering out from every nook and knothole in their fantasy forest setting. I’m always tempting to bring a sleeping bag and just move in. Take a peak at the images below and I think you’ll agree.
OK, I admit it. From the first “ooga chaka” in the teaser trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy I was hooked. It just seemed like the film would deliver a fun romp with the totally left of center – even for Marvel – ragtag group of deep space adventurers. As we now know it delivered and then some, making the unlikely duo of a snarky raccoon and a monosyllable arborial giant big screen stars.
Hot on the heals of that latest franchise film the Marvel comic book gang has announced a new title pulling together the company’s two biggest movie franchises, The Avengers and The Guardians and beyond.
Guardians Team-Up #1 pairs two Eisner Award winners. Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers, Ultimate Spiderman, Secret Invasion) will write the series with interior and cover illustration handled by Art Adams. In addition to work for DC and Marvel, Adams brought the much loved series Monkey Man and O’Brien to fruition via the Dark Horse Comics creator-owned imprint Legend.
Guardians Team-Up Editor Katie Kubert says, “By taking the most fun toys in the sandbox and pairing them together, be prepared to see something completely different, told by some of the best and brightest writers and artists in the business. And, like the nature of the team-ups themselves, both old and new creative faces to Marvel.”
Issue #1 is due to hit comic shops and newsstands in February 2015. Want to get a jump on the team-up? Grab yourself one of Toy Insider’s 2014 “Hot Top 20 Toys” Disney Infinity’s 2.0 Marvel Superheroes toy-based video game, and put those heroes into action with adventures of your own making using the Toy Box 2.0 software.
Thanks to Ken, Editor of the PiercingMetal website, for passing along the original Marvel press release.
