Bits of toy info from AUS Toyfair 2013

[griffin]

Not a lot of info, or any photos, as the exhibitors here aren't very comfortable about other people promoting their products without their control.

Hasbro
Have a big range of Avengers toys, focussing on the characters of the next two movies this year, plus a few to cover the rest of the Avengers characters.
Star Wars is still limping along (with a very small display this year), probably due to the cancellation of the 3D versions of Ep2 & Ep3 (according to Hasbro... probably a decision by the new owners, Disney, to focus on their own new movies). The new packaging style coming out later this year is called "The Black Series".
No sign of any GIJoe toys for the upcoming (delayed) movie.
Furby, My Little Pony, Littlest Petshop, Beyblade, Nerf were all on display as well, along with Playskool and boardgames.
No Kreo Star Trek on display (which was a surprise), but they did introduce a new Kreo theme, based on some App-game that is apparently popular at the moment.

Mega Blocks
More Halo sets coming (and very nice looking too).
New Skylanders, Hot Wheels and Barbie Mega Blocks this year, as well as more Smurfs (for the second movie) and Warcraft.
Smurfs have a couple more mushroom-hut sets to help build up a village... and more focus on Smurfette, which was lacking last year.
I got the impresion that Warcraft was on the decline, but still some big sets coming out this year.

HeadStart
Obtained the licence for the New Turtles toys, that are already out in stores last month. The main line is available to all retailers, but they will be producing "reissues" of the classic 80s toys (like Star Wars have been doing), which will be exclusive to ToysRUs until the end of the year (it is a global deal between TRU and Nickelodeon). The first season of the current cartoon is on Foxtel, but the second season is already signed up to Free-to-Air, to get better exposure. The Shellraiser (turtle-van) is being re-released for the mid-year toysales, with a bonus figure that is being released separately... as a value pack item.
(They had a nice booklet covering the history of TMNT, the characters of the current cartoon, merchandising items, and a timeline of the promotions and launch of the new toyline)
They are also producing toys for the second Monsters Inc movie (Monster University), plus do K'nex, Little Tikes, Baby Born and Bratz.

Modern Brands
The new Combat Creatures toyline (electronic, remote controlled battling droids) are now available to retailers to order, but they will be exclusive to Toyworld and ToysRUs until the end of April.

Mattel
Their first appearance at Toyfair in several years (before my time going to Toyfair), but were not a full-range exhibit. They were only showing off their newly acquired Thomas the Tank Engine license, to be sure that Retailers were aware of the new owners.

Hunter Leisure
Have a number of new slime products for Nickelodeon's TMNT Brand, that feel wet and slimy, but actually aren't.


Lego
Couldn't get in.


As noted in one of the Transformers news topics, there was a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme at Toyfair this year... including a pizza vendor being hired to sell pizzas outside, with Turtle themes to his tent, and free stickers and posters for the kiddies. (it was outside the Exhibition Center, for the public)
Another interesting promotional item available was a 32 page booklet covering the 50th anniversary of Dr Who, detailing the 11 (main) Doctors, some of the more famous villains, the Tardis & screwdriver, plus interviews with some of the people behind Dr Who, as well as a lot of the merchandise we can expect for the anniversary. Some of my favourite items shown are a set of 11 t-shirts, one for each Doctor, with their years as the Doctor and a nice collage of images within a silhouette of their head... as well as a book done in the style of "Where's Wally", called "Where's the Doctor?".... and a sonic screwdriver that is a "Universal Remote Control", you can program to then use on your various devices like the TV, DVD player, etc, to do simple things like turn them on or off, or adjust volume or channels.

(One Direction was everywhere this year, which isn't surprising - Hasbro, Hunter Products, Goldie Licensing all had toys and/or videos playing of their music... it was like non-stop One Direction music in the Exhibition Hall )