As mentioned a few days ago, the annual New York Toy Fair (NYTF) was held this week. Why is this a big deal? Well, for toy makers who have a license to make Sonic toys, this is the one of the best chances for them to promote their upcoming toys to retailers, buyers and the press. To compare it to videogames, this Toy Fair is the toy version of an event like E3.
In the last two years, NYTF booths have had a big Sonic presence at them and this years was no exception. However, unlike previous years in which Jazwares’ booth accidentally (though it wasn’t clear at the time) spoilt the announcement of Sonic Generations, security on unannounced products has been quite tight, very few photographs have been taken of the new merchandise… but that doesn’t mean we didn’t discover a few new things you might find of interest.
Funko
Funko’s booth was by far one of the most impressive at the event, showing hundreds of toys from their entire range. But the ones you will probably want to see are these handsome chaps!
The reception of these has been a lot more positive than I thought it would be, whilst some people have criticized them for looking scary and evil (which to be fair, they do), the numbers of people who seem to like them is much higher than I thought it was when I posted that news item a few days ago.
Underground Toys
Underground Toys’ booth was interesting not so much for what they did show, but for what they didn’t. Last year, they showed off a range of talking plushies based on Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow. Sonic & Tails were released last year, but their 2013 booth had no sign of Knuckles & Shadow, only Sonic & Tails were on display. This seems like a strange move if Knuckles & Shadow are coming out, why would they be omitted from their booth? Unless they’ve been cancelled?
Jazwares
By far, the best chance to see some new Sonic items and they did indeed have lots of new Sonic items on display… as well as security preventing people from taking photos. Unlike previous events, Jazwares were taking no chances with photographers this year, but as I said at the start, that doesn’t mean we didn’t discover some new things…. but we need to explore a bit beyond NYTF to find out what Jazwares are up to.
About a week before NYTF there was a toy fair being held in Nuremburg and unknown to many, Sega and Jazwares had a booth there. On Jazwares own facebook page, a commentator asked about why he was refused permission to take photos of the Sonic & Shadow face masks, when I contacted this person and asked him about what he saw, he told me that as well as the face masks, another item on display was “A life sized golden ring which lights up when touched” however, he explained that this was in the very early prototype stage and only a cardboard display was on show, which isn’t unusual for toy fairs.
Now before news from NYTF started to come out with regards to Jazwares’ Sonic range. Toy fansite ‘The Fwoosh‘ had some interesting information posted on it with regards to the 2013 toy range. Whilst I was originally going to discard this as rumor or guesswork, recent events suggest this information is probably accurate.
New 2 inch PVC pack (Different Characters & Poses)
New 5 Inch Vehicular things (I think they actually could be 3 inch and the stuff I am looking at is listed wrongly)
Sonic w/Plane
Shadow w/Plane3 inch Morphed line
Classic Sonic
Classic Tails
Classic Metal SonicSome roleplaying stuff
Sonic Mask
Shadow Masks
Of course, anyone could just make a random list right? Well, the interesting thing about this is that since this list got posted, other reports from NYTF confirm some of these products do indeed exist.
Skott Stotland over at ‘The Nerd Signal’ posted an article confirming that Jazwares were making a new Super Poser figure based on Silver the Hedgehog as well as the life sized golden ring and ‘new racers.’ Jazwares
Jazwares would later take to their own facebook page to confirm the existence of some of the rumored toys.
Hey Sonic fans, we know you’re interested in some of our newest items, so we’re excited to tell you that in 2013 you can expect to see new Super Poser Silver, All-Star Racing figures, new Sonic masks, a role-play Sonic ring and more! We will providing you with pictures and images right before product becomes available.
By the time the fair was nearing it’s end, a handful of other photos started to emerge, some even showed new toys.
Here you can see a new varient of the Sonic figure, only this one comes with emeralds which light up, this is obviously only the prototype box and contains one ‘classic’ mistake.
Finally we have this photo to show you.
Thanks to the people over at kastorskorner.com for this one, whilst you can dismiss it at just the old toys, if you look closer… you might spot something not seen before?
Thanks to my rather terrible photoshop skills, you can clearly see the ASRT logo and Sonic in his jet. Jazwares have not yet released any figures based on Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, they have only released figures based on the original ASR. If you also look at the top right of this photo and compare it to the original booth pic, you’ll notice these 3 packs are around the same size, one is likely to be the classic pack which was released late last year. The other is likely to be the last ‘modern pack’ which was announced at last years NYTF… but the third one? Might this be the new 2″ pack mentioned on Fwoosh?
Which leaves us with this question… what is this ‘morphed line?’ In the post on Fwoosh, every toy except for this line has some evidence to support it exists. Going from the name, it suggests they might transform or change into something. Toy ranges in the past like Turtles and Ghostbusters have similar toys and even used the word ‘morph’ to describe their transforming abilities.
Well toy fair is over now and odds are we won’t get any new information from it, but if we do you’ll be the first to know. Anything here catch your eye? Or your want list?
Sources: Comicsalliance.com, Facebook (Jazwares), Awesome Toy Blog, The Nerd Signal. Kastorskorner.com & SSMB member Tigger for bringing the Fwoosh post to our attention.
