Toy Fair 2022 Cancelled
 

Even when Covid ever ends, I doubt Toy Fair is ever a big thing again.

Yup. Now that companies do live streams, the need for these giant expensive shows is gone.

I had no doubt this would be cancelled none whatsoever.

Are you freaking serious?

This is getting ridiculous!

Same thing happened to E3... first Nintendo stopped going... then Sony stopped going... and both just do their own thing now. E3 used to be the biggest thing in gaming too I think... crazy how fast things can become much less relevant.

I fucking hate these live streams. I loved Toy Fair/SDCC/NYCC for being able to see so much at once. I hate these 30 minute live streams where they reveal 2 figures and an unpainted prototype or something. Such a waste of time.

Depends on the function of the event. If a company just wants to show off their new product to consumers like you or me. Then live streams can get the job done.

But at these kinds of events the toymakers are trying to sell to Target, Walmart,and co. So direct interaction and samples is highly desirable.

Then you have smaller companies that really need the reps to walk around and see them.

Yeah the moment Omicron was announced, all those con plans went up in smoke.

I hate COVID-19 with a passion

>reveal one figure
>five minute interlude with a Z list celebrity
>reveal an unpainted accessory
>six minute interlude with a washed-up musician
>reveal figure packaging
>30 minute interlude of nobodies talking about their favorite toy memories

"Alright and that's the show, thanks for tuning in everybody!"

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0d1708dd_w.jpg07ECB6D3-FF09-494A-8088-B9B811EC7E2D by Comedian Horseman, on Flickr

Welcome to the future! Ain’t it great! Dear god I want to go back 30 years. Toys everywhere. Easy to find and light on the wallet. Toyfair was like a carnival with tomarts and toyfair magazines. The great thing about people born after 2000 is they will never know how much it sucks now.

Sorry, guess I took a double dose of member-berries this morning. Lol.

Nostalgia is great, but it clouds the reality of things, which is that events like Toyfair, E3, or whatever all are a bit antiquated with the times.

And that "toys everywhere" was just a fever dream, it was never that simple especially in the 90s for action figure collecting, but that's another story.

Toys were everywhere in the 1980's. Hardware stores, big department stores...actual toy stores (remember those?). Toys sold more, so they were more everywhere.

Yeah, things started to change in the 1990's, both in terms of resurgence of video games and because comic book nerds started to ruin the relatively small and socially embarrassing hobby of toy collecting like they ruined the larger and somewhat socially embarrassing hobby of comic book collecting.

So much of shopping has moved online, though, and we know that toys sold in certain venues don't sell well. Walgreens stores still have Game of Thrones and Walking Dead action figures.

I still prefer buying in a physical store because buying online can be frustrating. Target.com doesn't have any of the McF Gotham Knights figures listed, yet Target stores have started carrying Nightwing. Amazon de-listed both Nightwing and Red Hood even though they managed to send out some orders.

Obviously we will never see the 80’s type of toy stores and toys everywhere. The 90’s, yes. Toys were everywhere. The adult collecting market exploded with Mcfarlane toys, then came dozens of indi companies that gave us great toys. Toysrus, Kay-bee, media play Sam goody, sun coast, Ames, Kmart, Hills, Walmart, Target the list goes on. Star Wars came back in 1995, then Star Wars episode 1 toys were in gas stations in 1999. Batman the animated series, Batman forever, Batman and robin, Batman returns,the dark knight collection, legends of Batman, etc. How can anyone say toys were not everywhere in the 90’s? I think people forget how many to lines existed from 1990-1999.

"Toys" in general were abound, and there were a lot of toylines (and there still are), but that specific figure you wanted was never at those retail outlets. Maybe you'd get lucky at a Kaybee outlet, but otherwise you still had to hunt them down at specialty shops and pay their mark up because how else could you get it? Buying online was barely a thing so you had no choice but to get them from someone, sometimes at a show even from some jerk "dealer" (all for a figure that was likely not worth the hunt).

No sir, I grew up in the 90s, I remember the 90s, and the reality is comparatively with today's quality and convenience (and quantity as there's literally an action figure out there for everything) we're living in a golden age now.

Agreed to a point. The fact we have an easier time due to online shops and easier exclusives, yes. I don’t ever remember having issues getting exclusives in store in the 90’s. I stood in lines for all the Star Wars 12” exclusives and always got them. Then I would see them flood the shelves. The golden age of made to order for the 10,000 or so toy collectors left is here. The golden age of being surrounded by toys in a store is long gone. I love that things are made to order, I however don’t love that super7 can command almost $70 for a figure.( going on what Brian said in a podcast, that will be around the new price.) honestly after shipping and tax we are there now.

I don't like those prices, either, but I'm not a kid anymore like I was decades ago. I got a job and my own kid now, I can't hang outside stores waiting to grab exclusives anymore. That last time I did I saw a couple of grown ass adults fighting over a toy and I couldn't help but be embarrassed for all of us, but mostly at myself wondering why the fuck I ever enjoyed doing this?

No, I don't want to pay like $70 for Super7, but at least I'm not wasting my day off and gas money trying to go store to store hunting those limited figures down anymore, either.

Oh man. Preach on the adults fighting over toys. My experiences, it was always starting line-ups then mcfarlane sports and hot wheels. In fact. It’s still hot wheels. Though I guess these stupid Pokémon cards and pops can have their fights as well.

I totally get what you mean on collecting being easier today. But that feeling of being a kid and surrounded by toys is just something we, I can’t get back. Time marches on, but those end caps at Hills of all the ne toybiz x-men was just something to behold.

Agreed.


I love Toyfair but it was always going to be heading this way I feel. E3 has been whittling away now for years. Yeah, it's great from a social standpoint and networking. The "Event"-ness of it. But with the internet and easier ways to hit consumers, it just doesn't make a lot of sense cost wise. I just hope as companies get a better grip on what people want to see, presentations will get better. Keep it tight and just show the product, like Nintendo Directs.

Also, people who unironically use the word "sheeple" are hilarious.

https://y.yarn.co/941197b9-be2b-4373...e0650_text.gif

Totally fun fact: the bigger a number is, the bigger a percentage of that number will be. And Toy Fair's 2019 attendance was approx 26,000 people...

That high at-a-glance survival rate has resulted in the deaths of almost 900,000 people in the US alone, along with incalculable scores of additional medical problems, complications, and deaths from hospitals being overburdened. Trying to hold Toy Fair this year was a bad idea from the start, even if smaller manufacturers and retailers are getting the shaft; lives are more important than toys, full stop.

This is my major memory of toy collecting in the 90's. All too often I'd hit the toy aisle to find a new series of figures with all the characters I actually cared about already sold out. Soooo many Prince Xizor's on the pegs, no Luke's in Imperial Guard Disguise. Stacks of the same Star Trek character but no Geordi as Tarchannen Alien to be found. I had to buy McF The Maxx figure from a flea market for like $30 (I was a kid, that was weeks of allowance). It was a pretty frustrating time.

I still think there were less collector's in the 90's overall. I mean you still had your hardcore toy collectors of course, but nowadays it feels like there are just so many more collectors out there. I didn't buy a single toy in the 90's... mostly because just from a single glance the figures looked like crap... I mean the sculpts looked ugly... especially the faces. Then 2008-ish happened and it was a whole new ballgame with 25th Joes, SW Clone Wars & 3.75" Marvel Universe. And then fast-forward to now... retail action figures and toys just look so good now. I don't even collect Transformers, but I bought Studio 86 Hot Rod and Kingdom Galvatron and Cyclonus just because the sculpts were that good. The engineering of current toys is really impressive IMO that even casual collectors are drawn in.

If the chatter about spike protein shedding turns out to be a real thing and lasting in its effects, we may never be able to hold a normal gathering even with natural herd immunity to the original bug.

That said, I don't need public events for my collection. I do my research through real fan sites like the Ark. My gripe is the fact that manufacturers did some of their best work in the years before I started collecting, making it very hard to find favorite items without paying a bunch extra in the after market.

Wait, spike protein shedding…..what’s that about?

I never had an issue finding the Maxx. I have one opened and still have one carded. I never found the purple Malbolgia. I found the green version and the other 50 or so spawn figures. Wet works was rough at first but started hitting hard to Kay-bee by me. Movie maniacs were everywhere. I found the bloody versions at Hills in 1998 also Kiss I found at Hills.

Star Wars, my Walmart in 1997, had an entire aisle of figures. Just one long aisle of Star Wars. I remember the deluxe high figures being there as well.

I will say, being near Buffalo and Niagara Falls really benefitted toy collectors. I know not everyone had it as easy. I had 4 toysrus stores within 20 miles. The Canadian shoppers were huge then and were driving the toy sales. I remember they loved the Kenner predator and aliens.

The flea-markets had a lot of mcfarlane stuff but in the 90s I more remember all the 80s toys a buck a piece in boxes. Everyone sold their he-man ,turtles , ghostbusters etc off in the 90s super cheap.

Cleaned up thread for obvious reasons.