The PopCult Toybox
The International Toy Fair in New York kicks off Saturday, and tomorrow’s PopCulteer will likely bring you some of the early news, but a lot of it is embargoed until things actually kickoff, so we’ll be posting all weekend long. Since your PopCulteer is sitting this Toy Fair out (we hope to go back next year), today we’re just going to give you a heads-up about what to expect from the annual expo that unveils the new toys for the year.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for what you can expect to find coming your way in 2018. The plan is to update PopCuylt all weekend long with new reports and links to other websites who have reporters at Toy Fair so that you can get all the juicy details. We really wish we could go, but this year it just wasn’t in the cards.
Toy Fair is an incredible and overwhelming experience and it’s really cool to be there in person. However, we can offer you a foretaste of what to expect…
It’s going to be a big year for Rick and Morty. The hit Adult Swim series will be represented with new action figures plush, Dorbz and blind box toys from Funko, as well as mini-figures from Monogram, games and trading cards from Cryptozoic Entertainment and electronics from KIDesign.
On top of that, Kurt S. Adler will be making Christma ornaments based on the dimension-hopping duo. McFarlane Toys will show off the second series of their Rick and Morty building sets. USAopoly will introduce Rick and Morty-branded versions of Risk, Trivial Pursuit and Yahtzee, plus two new jigsaw puzzles. Finally, Toy Factory will create Rick and Morty plush for use in claw machine games.
Marvel Comics will be well-represented by action figure and toy lines based on their upcoming films, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and The Wasp. Hasbro will show their action figures lines at their own showroom, but many other toy companies will have everything from coloring books to high-end collectibles. Black Panther toys are already in stores. A few items from Avengers:Infinity War have turned up at retail already (see right)
DC Comics, partnered with an array of companies, will focus on the upcoming Aquaman movie, with action figures from Mattel. You can also expect expansions of their Justice League Action and DC Superhero Girls lines, and new developments in the DC Multiverse action figures. DC will also unveil a new line of toy cars, produced by Funrise, as well as plush, games, trading cards and more. Advance images are scarce, but this weekend they’ll be all over the place.
Disney will also be all over the place, teaming up with Hasbro, Mattel, and just about every other major toy company in one way or another with merchandise based on their upcoming movies and television shows, which include: The Incredibles 2; A Wrinkle In Time; Christopher Robin; RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: Wreck-It Ralph2; Mary Poppins Returns and probably a few more. Disney has been one of the most savvy media empires when it comes to merchandising since the 1930s when they signed their first toy license with The Marx Toy Company. Now they’re bigger than ever, and probably get half their revenue from toy sales.
Of course, Disney also owns Lucasfilm now, and you can expect a flood of toys, mostly from Hasbro, based on Solo: A Star Wars Story. Star Wars toys are always a mainstay of Toy Fair, and I’m sure that there will be a ton of classic toys based on past permutations of the property, too.
Entertainment Earth , a popular worldwide toys and collectibles destination, announced this week the signing of a license with TeeRico by Lin-Manuel Miranda (the Hamilton creator’s merchandise brand) to create a toy and collectible product line. The first product announced is Lin-Manuel Miranda and his beloved dog Tobi adorably designed in the highly popular Pin Mates™ brand of wooden figures.
Pin-Mates are little wooden figures made in the style of the old Fisher Price Little People. We were lucky enough to be given the first one that Entertainment Earth Produced at Toy Fair in 2016 (it was Batman). Now they have over 200 different Pin-Mates, featuring everything from DC to Marvel to Star Trek and more. These are great small, and low-priced collectibles, and part of the proceeds will go to Miranda’s charities.
McFarlane Toys, in addition to their second series of Rick and Morty construction sets, will likely have new Steven Universe, Five Nights At Freddy’s and South Park construction sets to show off, as well as action figures based on Spawn, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Five Nights At Frieddy’s, Naruto, The NFL and Star Trek. McFarlane Toys always has ultra-detailed sculpts and really knows how to make their figures collector-friendly. We’ll have a detailed rundown of what they have to offer this weekend.
There will be more, and tomorrow we’ll tell you about some of the smaller companies, and what you can expect from the worlds of plush and board games.
PopCult will be updated all weekend long. Some posts might just be links to other websites, since we’re not actually there, but we want you to know all about all the cool stuff coming out in toy stores in 2018.
Some hopeful news there!