Toyfair Australia 2014 preview

[griffin]

The Australian Toyfair beings in a week (16th March) at the Melbourne Convention Centre, and this year will be the 7th that we will be covering at
this site. With help from the Toy & Hobby Retailer magazine, we already have a list of known exhibitors to check out this year.

Of course the Hasbro exhibit is the primary focus, and as the major exhibitors are getting tougher to get into, this year an official appointment
had to be made to access it... but it is good to be offered the opportunity, and on the first day too.

Other priorities will be to look for licensed items, at other companies' exhibits, such as...

Crown & Andrews - licensed "Shuffle" card game. One of several card games to come out in July, some with online apps by Cartamundi.
No idea what sort of game it is, but each one looks to be different, as there are three ratings (Children, Family, Adult) for the different ones, and
the little edges of cards you can see on each pack is different.
There's nothing mentioned on the website yet, so maybe at Toyfair I'll find out what sort of game it is.



MJM Crown - games and puzzles, with at least one Transformers game, as seen in their advertisement.
This one is like the "pop-o-matic" board game from the 80s, which has a die in the middle bubble, that you press and it pops up to roll it... then you move your pieces around the board.


Banter Toys - apparently the exclusive importer of the licensed Loyal Subjects in Australia, so there might be the next series on display.


Britz Marketing - maker of the Hexbugs, which we heard earlier this year will be producing licensed fighting Transformers Hexbugs, so if they have
them on display, there is a good chance they are coming to Australia.

Ikon Collectables - a past holder of Transformers merchandise licenses, but haven't had anything in the last couple years due to the failure of their
first movie merchandise. They are known to have aUOILKM.,/ lot of other interesting licenses though, so is always worth the look.

Lego - I will try to have a look inside their exhibit, but they only allow in their registered customers, so have been turned away in the last three years.

Mega Blocks - One of the exhibits I like checking out, especially since Lego don't let me in theirs.

As long as there aren't any unforeseen circumstances, look out for the report next weekend.... and hopefully there are some new items that weren't at the NY Toyfair.

Later this week, I'll post up an archive of our past Toyfair reports.

[ILikeSoundwave]

Sigh, I'll be in Melbourne in that time but can't go😭. Take many photos whoever is going.

[Paulbot]

The Press-o-matic board game looks like the game Trouble, same layout and all. Trademark issue?

Edit: just walked into a Big W that has multiple branded versions of "Press-o-matic", all identical except the brand (Dora the explorer, Thomas the tank engine, Disneys Planes) and all "Trouble" in all but name.

[Sky Shadow]

The Press-o-matic board game looks like the game Trouble, same layout and all. Trademark issue?

Edit: just walked into a Big W that has multiple branded versions of "Press-o-matic", all identical except the brand (Dora the explorer, Thomas the tank engine, Disneys Planes) and all "Trouble" in all but name.

This is an interesting post and thread on copyright/trademarks/patenting of board games:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/4932...t-trademarks-a

I know little about legalities, but I suspect the Pop-O-Matic design patent may have expired (Trouble was originally a 1965 game) and everything else seems to be free game. Pun intended.

On the subject of which, it seems that all the G1 patents would have expired by now (a patent can't be renewed beyond twenty years and then it falls into the public domain) so although copying the art and character names is still dodgy, it seems like the knockoffs of the toys themselves might be okay. Which might be why HasTakTom don't pursue legal action - it's only the fake boxes that are a 'crime'.

[CBratron]

I knew that board game by the name Ludo. It's hardly new.

[Sky Shadow]

I knew that board game by the name Ludo. It's hardly new.

Definitely not, since Pachisi (which Ludo was based on) is 1500 years old. It's not the game that Paulbot was querying, but the design and Pop O Matic feature. (Which wasn't so big in the 6th century AD, but was rather a product of the sixties.)

[DELTAprime]

The Press-o-matic board game looks like the game Trouble, same layout and all. Trademark issue?

Edit: just walked into a Big W that has multiple branded versions of "Press-o-matic", all identical except the brand (Dora the explorer, Thomas the tank engine, Disneys Planes) and all "Trouble" in all but name.

I sell at least one Press-o-matic game each shift, they seem to be selling well at least.

Anyway I bet all the retailers refuse the Generations line again, even with the AOE figures in it.

[fatbot]

While there Griffin, ask a Hasbro rep if we can get a few boxes of Generations figures if the retailers knock back to sell on the boards.

[drahsrebu]

While there Griffin, ask a Hasbro rep if we can get a few boxes of Generations figures if the retailers knock back to sell on the boards.

if there were a like button it would be pressed

[griffin]

Demonac and I have just left the toyfair. We were there about 4 hours and 2 were at the hasbro exhibit. Just quickly (full report in 3-4 hours)... Good news is that I could take all the photos I want, bad news was nothing new shown. We didn't even have any toys beyond wave 1 on display. MOst exclusives an movie toys should be here but there is something I need to explain in detail about generations. So when I get home and process photos a new news posting will be done in this section.