News/Updates 

Today more than ever, parents look for toys that pull their children away from isolating electronic gadgets. Chicago-based Revell® — a worldwide hobby industry leader — now unveils two new groups of plastic model kits that have been created to keep kids (and all developing model builders) engaged in a fun, creative, authentic experience.

New Revell Snap-Tite™ models have fewer than twelve total parts. Even six-year-olds can put them together in just minutes and begin to play! Featuring durable bodies and smooth, rolling wheels, the cars in this entry-level line include such popular titles as the all-new 2015 Ford Mustang. At last month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and again at this month's Chicago Auto Show, the Mustang earned raves from over 10,000 children who participated in Revell-sponsored Make 'n Take™ model building events.

Modelers who are ready to step up from snap assembly to using glue now have an easier option of their own: new Revell glue kits. They can develop the skills needed to succeed with glue and brush-on paints, without yet having to master delicate spray finishing techniques, or dealing with tiny parts. This new line will include the 2013 Camaro® ZL1™ and 2013 Challenger SRT8, and is packaged in window boxes to spotlight their attractively pre-finished car bodies.

"The plastic model category has been stagnant for decades," Revell Vice President and General Manager Lou Aguilera Aguilera explains. "We set out to make the first model-building experience a more enjoyable experience so that kids and first-time modelers will want to repeat the activity and become passionate about this hobby."

An energetic crowd of nearly 26,500 toy professionals from 94 countries flocked to New York City last week to participate in the largest toy marketplace ever held in the Western Hemisphere. Owned and operated by the Toy Industry Association (TIA), the 111th American International Toy Fair (Toy Fair 2014) boasted a record-breaking 414,060 net square feet of exhibit space and welcomed an 11% surge in international buyers, an 8% rise in exhibitors, and a 5% spike in overall attendees, bringing total attendance to 26,493 for the Feb. 16-19 show.

A snowstorm that hit the New York City-area on the Thursday before Toy Fair opened did little to dampen the spirits of 1,153 exhibiting manufacturers, distributors, importers and sales agents, who showed up on-time to fill the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center with hundreds of thousands of eye-catching playthings – including e-Connected toys, outdoor ride-ons, customizable arts & crafts, classic board games and everything in between.

Nearly 10,000 buyers from more than 5,000 retail outlets were in attendance, including buyer delegations from 22 of the nation's Top 25 Toy Sellers, such as Amazon, Costco, eBay, Target, Toys"R"Us and Walmart. The top five countries represented by the most buyers were Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Japan and Russia; notable increases in buyers from Malaysia, Taiwan, Nigeria and South Korea were also recorded.

"New York City is reclaiming its position as the toy industry's international center of gravity," said Carter Keithley, President and CEO of the Toy Industry Association. "Mass retail buyers, independent toy store owners, licensors and many others reported a highly successful, highly productive and very upbeat Toy Fair. Buyers from across the country and around the globe were writing orders. Many buyers and media reported that they spot more trends and are introduced to more diverse and highly innovative product lines at our North American show than at any other toy trade event."

"Toy Fair has once again proven itself to be a must-attend marketplace for anyone with a stake in the toy business," agreed Marian Bossard, TIA vice president of meetings and events. "The show provides brands with global media exposure, caters to retailers looking to revamp and diversify store shelves, and offers all attendees the chance to participate in world-class educational sessions and networking activities."

Babak Forutanpour, founder of garage-based startup AryaBall, was among the 287 first-time exhibitors at the show. "I couldn't have imagined that with a modest 10x10 booth and armed with just two prototypes I would be getting orders from so many specialty stores, interest from big retailers, press coverage, and even an invitation to audition for ABC's Shark Tank!" said Forutanpour. "If you are serious about the world of play, you need to be at this show. Thank you, Toy Fair, for giving a little guy with a dream a chance to share his creation on the world's biggest stage of play."

"Launching our new product, the Cup Catcher, at Toy Fair provided our company with incredible exposure and a great return on the investment. We are ecstatic with our choice to exhibit at Toy Fair 2014!" added Missy Reukema, owner of Brilli Baby, LLC, another first-time exhibitor.

"We were thrilled to be a part of Toy Fair for our second year. For a small firm, the show is an invaluable way to meet buyers and make contacts in the industry," said Dr. Rebecca Klemm, Founder of NumbersAlive! "Snow delays aside, it was a successful week. Highlights included pitching to Walmart and being interviewed by several members of the media."

The top toy trends for 2014 – which include Larger than Life, Full STEAM Ahead!, RC Rampage, Frightfully Fun, Retro/Back-to-Basics and Custom Built – were scouted by 995 members of the press from top-tier media outlets, including Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, TIME for Kids, Mashable, Huffington Post, CNN Money, Fox Business, ABC, CNBC, CBS, VH1, MTV and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

"Toy Fair is more than the perfect opportunity at the perfect time of year to see the full array of offerings from well-established vendors as well as up-and-coming companies … It is also an ideal venue to sit down with many of our suppliers and network with retailers from around the country," said Edith Brafman, owner of Brooklyn-based Little Things Toy Store.

"I always go to Toy Fair," added Pamela Pier, buyer and owner of Dinosaur Hill toy store in Manhattan. "I can count on the vendors to deliver toys that amaze and amuse me, and add money to my coffers."

"The positive momentum of this year's show will carry the global toy industry through the rest of 2014," predicted Keithley.

Harold Ramis
November 21, 1944 - February 24, 2014

There are many companies marketing the wonderful world of dinosaurs to children, but one that stood out to me at the 2014 TIA in New York City this year was the efforts of Geoworld. A company that started with a focus on fossil discovery and restoration has grown into a producer of high quality educational toys with a goal of "Bringing the past into the future".

The company was started over 30 years ago by Dr. Stefano Piccini, a geologist and paleontologist from Italy who has a passion for dinosaurs and education. Dr. Piccini has a well respected career in his field, with a history of carefully restoring fossils to help provide a better understanding of the history of the creatures that inhabited the earth millions of years ago.

In their ongoing quest to provide high quality educational toys, Geoworld has started a new adventure series starring Dr. Steve Hunters, a character clearly inspired by Dr. Piccini in both looks and enthusiasm, and "Baby Rex", a three year old T-Rex. Dr. Steve Hunters'Â’ story is available at www.drstevehunters.com, with the final chapter of his introduction being released at TIA this week.

The company makes a nice variety of educational toys that don'Â’t seem like educational toys. The excavation kits are "fossils" encased in gypsum that come with plastic tools that children can use to carefully discover the hidden fossils within. The nicely detailed dinosaur figures come with information cards that can be collected into a neat binder to create a field guide of dinosaur knowledge.

Although I have seen this approach from other companies, the new Dr. Steve Hunters is a fun entry into the mix, with the added realism of him being Dr. Piccini in cartoon form. The quality of the products and attention to detail are there, and the Dr. Steve Hunters character adds a little bit of adventure to this educational toy company. I look forward to the continued adventures of Dr. Steve and his companion "Baby Rex" as they endeavor to "bring the past into the future".

Yesterday, the TIA released a report of the toy toy trends for 2014. According to Adrienne Appell, TIA trend expert:



Of the six major trends noted in the report, half of them were related to scale model building:



Walking through Toy Fair this year, I was impressed by the increased number of creative build-themed toys that I saw. It's great to see that this is part of an overall trend towards more constructive play, one that will hopefully see more people—kids and adults—recognize the benefits of building things.

Plastic building blocks are as much a staple of Toy Fair as the doll, toy car, or video game. While most people automatically associate these blocks with LEGO, there are some other companies that are doing very cool things with them and are well worth a look:

The first name on this list is a familiar one. Mega Bloks' greatest strength is their willingness to push the definition of block sets...in many cases these are more like simple snap-together model kits rather than traditional block construction. This means that we get to see features like highly articulated figures, detailed sculpts, and more accurate decorations than we see elsewhere. They also value play, so nearly all of their sets are build around the idea of having something to play with once construction is finished. I've reviewed several Mega Bloks sets here, and will add more going forward—from what they showed off at Toy Fair, they will be expanding on all of their most popular lines and will be adding several all-new series in 2014.

Also showing us what could be done to take building blocks to the next level, Laser Pegs was there with all of their latest sets, several light-up billboards, and a life-sized stegosaurus. And unlike Lite-Brite, which had a single light source behind a panel, Laser Pegs make use of current LED technology to allow for sculptures of practically any size or shape.

Finally, a quick note about LaQ (I will be talking more about these guys more very soon). While most building blocks use some variation of the concept of "stacking," LaQ went in a different direction with the concept of "spreading." These pieces do not start on a base and go up and out, they start in the middle of a panel and work out. It's a subtle difference, but that shift gets your mind working in totally unexpected directions.

There is always an abundance of toy cars at Toy Fair, but finding 1/24 scale vehicles is a little trickier...and finding truly unique ways of executing them is a particularly rare find. It seems like everyone was on their A-game this year, though, because there were quite a few options that I would love to add to my collection.

One of the most surprising cool finds at Toy Fair was Candylab Toys. Founded by artist Vlad Dragusin, Candylab makes a series of high quality wooden cars inspired by the classic American muscle car era. The artists at Candylab collect reference material for each car, and distill that material down to a simplified essence that then gets recreated in wood and painted a high-gloss basecoat/clearcoat that recalls the colors of the time. A set of ABS wheels wearing food-grade rubber tires finishes each car, and the result is a unique piece that still immediately suggests legendary names like "Charger,""Barracuda," and "Fury."

Switching gears from classic wood to futuristic sci-fi, Young Toys was on hand with their Tobot series. Founded in 1980, Young Toys was one of the few South Korean companies that actually purchased a license to produce toys from Tomy, Hasbro, Playmobil, and Bandai (rather than the more common practice of simply producing knock-off toys). Tobot, their first original robot toy, launched at the end of 2009 with an animation series the following year. This was the first time that I'd seen them in person, and was impressed by how good they look in both modes. Their robot modes are clever and well articulated, and their alt modes are a combination of stock and customized Kias, sized perfectly to go with 1/24 scale series like Hasbro/Takara's Alternators/Binaltech.

On more familiar ground, Carrera only has one all-new 1/24 mold for 2014—the Ferrari 458 Italia GT3—but they have several new decos on deck, including the above Ferrari 512S Berlinetta. They are also continuing and expanding their Mario Kart and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines...which are labelled 1/43 to work with their 1/43 scale tracks, but going by the figure sizes they are a lot closer to 1/24. I will be reviewing some of Carrera's previous Mario Kart on the site in the next few weeks.

NKOK had pre-production samples of their long-awaited Fast & Furious Charger Daytona and '69 Mustang (sorry, no photos allowed). Both were decent, if simplified, replicas of their 1:1 versions. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished products of both, especially now that I'm nearly finished with my Daytona model.

Finally, I knew about Maisto's Need for Speed movie cars before Toy Fair but was looking forward to seeing them in person. Maisto had both their sample and several boxed cars, and so far I like what I see. I will definitely be picking them up the first chance I get, and will review them at that time.

They also have several new and upcoming cars of interest, including a 2014 Camaro Z/28, 2014 Corvette Stingray Coupe, 2015 Mustang, and Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4. Under the Bburago banner, we can look forward to seeing a McLaren MP4-12C, Bentley GT3, Bugatti Type 55, and a still-in-production BMW I8.

In recent years, we at spencer1984.com have been making a more concerted effort to encourage constructive hobbies. Whether it was participating in Make & Takes, talking to and promoting the work of creative companies, or offering one-on-one advice, we try to find ways to encourage new builders. Happily, we've also seen a general trend in that same direction: since we first started attending Toy Fair five years ago, we have seen a substantial increase in the number of companies offering creative assembly toys. This year has been especially great, with several unique options available for builders of all skill levels.

The first and newest company we taked to at toy Fair was Build & Imagine. Founded by Laurie Peterson as a way to get more girls interested in building, Build & Imagine features a series of wooden panels that can be locked together and decorated using magnets. The full series is scheduled for release later this year, but Laurie and her team had prototypes of their "Malia’s Beach House,""Marine Rescue Center,"& "Surfside Café" sets at the show. The scenes were well built, brightly colored, and fit together beautifully—a great alternative to traditional dollhouses.

For more experienced builders, Robert Darling was there with Slotto. Slotto is a series of interlocking pieces made from HDF that can be used to make a number of 3D constructs. Made in the USA and recommended for boys & girls of all ages, Slotto has a great classic toy feel with a cool modern look. The houses on display also scale out to 1/16, so you have lots of options for accessorizing, too.

In a similar vein, Maria Chee of Urban Canvas was also at Toy Fair with their series of eco-friendly kits. These included animals, buildings, and—my personal favorite—the above-pictured Metropolis Train Set. With reversable panels, crayon-erasable surfaces on the undecorated sides, and the ability to combine multiple kits to create a longer train, the flexibility of this particular kit offers a ton of options.

If metal is more to your liking, Eitech had quite a few new and upcoming sets including a Hot Rod, a Chopper, a Jeep, and several R/C vehicles. Although the look is familiar to anyone who has worked with a classic Erector set, these vehicles offer a whole new level of design sophistication.

Finally, in the world of plastic models, there were representatives from Round 2, Revell, Moebius, and MRC on hand to show off their newest kits. These included snap and glue kits of the 2015 Mustang, new entertainment properties, and several prepainted kits to help out those who love building but hate painting bodies. One kit that I somehow missed entirely was Jack Reacher's '70 Chevelle from Round 2. It uses their classic Chevelle kit, which is an older tooling but builds up nicely with a little TLC. I'm definitely going to have to pick one up.

With Toy Fair kicking off this weekend, it only seemed fitting to catch a showing of The LEGO Movie (Toy Fair & a LEGO movie is almost becoming a tradition). Although the LEGO corp has been in the entertainment business for a while now, this was still something of a new venture for them. Rather than the previous "let's LEGO-ize an existing property" concept, this was an all-new story that had to stand on its own. Well, almost entirely on its own...nostalgia was possibly the biggest star in a cast that included Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Elizabeth Banks, Channing Tatum, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams.

Continue reading "The LEGO Movie Review"

Lionel, the iconic model train company, will be showcasing its newest train sets and license partnerships at Toy Fair 2014, to be held from February 16-19 at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center in New York City. Lionel Trains looks to expand its household name by delivering new licensed products, expanding existing partnerships and enhancing play value by embracing technology.

"Lionel Trains is bringing the nostalgia of iconic train sets to the hearts of fans of all ages," said Howard Hitchcock, SVP/GM of Lionel. "By securing new licenses and expanding partnerships to grow our G-Gauge and Ready to Run O-Gauge platforms, we're putting trains from familiar and beloved brands into the hands of children of all ages."

Lionel Trains' strong reputation in the industry has resulted in expanded partnerships with Warner Brothers™, Coca-Cola® and Peanuts® and a new license with Crayola®. Under the Warner Brothers™ umbrella, Lionel celebrates the joy of Christmas with its new Frosty the Snowman™ G-Gauge train set, which will be on display at Toy Fair. Other new sets to be showcased include the Coca-Cola® Holiday and the Snoopy® Railways G-Gauge sets – both highly detailed and vibrant sets that are sure to toot any fans' horn.

Synonymous with Christmas and the holidays, Lionel Trains continues the quest to bring the love of trains to fans all year round by also embracing several digital initiatives to reintroduce the brand and appeal to new fans.

With the launch of its first iPad game Battle Train, Lionel brings play experience and the love for classic trains to a mobile platform, which is rapidly catching the attention of younger generations with more than 120,000 downloads. Lionel also recently launched LionelTracks.com, a content curator that celebrates all things locomotive, from history and modeling updates to rail culture, old and new.

The introduction of the LionChief™ Remote continues Lionel's tradition of industry leading products. The remote system offers increased train control at multiple speeds, enhanced sounds and added play value now that the "conductor" can move around the room or layout. The LionChief™ is easy to use and simplifies layout design for new fans and hobbyists.

"We are delighted at the enthusiasm shown by train fans and operators, and in return we're providing amazing new products, superior technology and innovative content," added Hitchcock. "Our engagement with our community and on social media continues to spark the conversation and validates Lionel as the authority on all things trains."

Shirley Temple
April 23, 1928 - February 10, 2014

LEGO 'RED DRESS', sculpted by contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya will be on display at Discovery Times Square during the heralded return of THE ART OF THE BRICK exhibition beginning February 14, 2014. Photo credit Dean West. (PRNewsFoto/Discovery Times Square)

Back by popular demand, Discovery Times Square is proud to announce the encore return of the captivating LEGO® brick exhibition, THE ART OF THE BRICK. After welcoming an unprecedented number of visitors during their 2013 run, the world's biggest and most elaborate display of art created from LEGO® bricks will return to New York City's Discovery Times Square on February 14, 2014. Tickets to see THE ART OF THE BRICK, which showcases a collection of creative and inspiring art, constructed using only LEGO toy bricks by renowned contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya, are on sale now.

THE ART OF THE BRICK brings to life Sawaya's one-of-a-kind pieces of art, including an impressive T-Rex dinosaur skeleton and the iconic pop-culture favorite "Yellow"—a life-size sculpture of a man ripping his chest open with thousands of sunshine-yellow LEGO bricks cascading from the cavity. The exhibit, one of the most successful exhibitions held at Discovery Times Square, is the largest collection of LEGO art ever on display showcasing more than 100 creations, including 50 stunning replicas of some of the most famous works of art throughout history, like Van Gogh's Starry Night and Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Prior to opening in NYC, the critically acclaimed collection of creative and inspiring art – named by CNN as one of the Top 10 "must see exhibitions" in the world - achieved record-breaking runs in Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia.

"I am grateful that there is so much demand for the art that we are returning to New York City," said artist Nathan Sawaya. "I create and share my art to inspire others, and to take LEGO where it has never been before. Now more people will have the opportunity to experience THE ART OF THE BRICK and see LEGO bricks in a new light."

On its heralded return to New York City, THE ART OF THE BRICK will also feature a newly introduced gallery that showcases Sawaya's In Pieces collection, a multimedia collaboration produced in tandem with award-winning photographer Dean West.

THE ART OF THE BRICK at Discovery Times Square runs until May 11, 2014. Discovery Times Square is open seven days a week. Tickets are available for $16.50 (child 4-12 years), $19.50 (adult) and $17.50 (seniors 65+). Once open, the last tickets are sold 45 minutes prior to closing. For individual tickets and venue hours, visit http://www.discoverytsx.com/exhibitions/art-of-the-brick, call 1.866.9.TSXNYC (866-987-9692) or visit the Discovery Times Square Box Office. Special savings for groups of 10 or more are available with advanced reservation by calling Discovery Times Square Group Sales at 855-BOOKDTS (855.266.5387).

Finish Line had all the makings of an Asylum movie, right down to its fuzzy concept of auto racing and not-quite celebrity in a starrring role (RHI Entertainment was actually responsible). Also like Asylum flicks, it was objectively terrible but had some endearing qualities (OK, Scott Baio and Taylor Cole were pretty much it). Maybe not enough to warrant a lot of work, but enough to do a quick diecast custom.

Philip Seymour Hoffman
July 23, 1967 - February 2, 2014