[Toy Fair 2019] A Look at Four Hot Brands from New York Toy Fair: Playmates, Bandai, Spinmaster, and Wicked Cool Toys

These next companies really bring the heat with their collective licenses and product lines. From HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and POKEMON to WWE and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES there’s something for everyone!

PLAYMATES TOYS
With over 50 years in the business Playmates Toys produces some of the most imaginative products from top licenses including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ben 10, Super G, Pop Tops and as long as they continue producing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures they will have a place in my heart.

At the New York Toy Fair they showed off a full range of products from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line including action figures, vehicles, role play and more as well as a really neat nano-clix sets.

The new product line from TMNT in 2019 are Babble Heads. Babble heads feature  interactive parts such as moving eyes, mouth and head as well as the ability to recognize their weapons. Babble heads also have over 50 phrases and sound effects and feature hilarious Turtle humor, including jokes, belching, farting and of course, Cowabunga high-fives.

As a special surprise for press Kevin Eastman was on hand at the press event to talk to us about the evolution of the Turtles from their humble beginnings to this enduring series that is celebrating its 35th Anniversary.

For Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 2019 will see an expansion in this line as well  with new action figures based on Season 3. Alien World Micro Playsets features two modes playset and wearable Omnitrix. While the Alien Game Omnitrix, with four gameplay modes, features a LCD screen that allows kids to enter the World of Ben 10.

Finally for the Classic Disney Aladdin a new 6-inch figure is coming in the spring with signature phrases and sound effects from the classic animated Rub the magic lamp and your wish is his command.

BANDAI
Bandai packed a big punch this year at the New York Toy Fair with products from their diverse line of products including WWE, Masters of the Universe, Tamagotchi, Dragonball Z, Godzilla, Big Hero 6, Pac-Man, Disney, and Ralph Breaks the Internet. They even had a new Disney Kidea product line for children.

The Loyal Subjects Action Vinyls are a hybrid coupling of stylized features, artful and detailed deco from the Designer/Art Toy/Vinyl world, and the pose-able dexterity found in Action Figures; hence “Action Vinyls.” The 3.25’’ figures have up to 15 points of articulation, come with a collector card, and have interchangeable accessories. The line features multiple multiple licensed products including WWE, Masters of the Universe, Rugrats, Spongebob Squarepants, Aliens, Predator, and more.

From Dragonball Z there were a number of figures in multiple scales from 12-inches to 5-inch to their Dragon Stars series including their 6.5’’ figures featuring 16 points of articulation as well as their nano scale.

Another license Godzilla saw new figures including a 12-inch mega scale figure and an assortment of other products

Big Hero 6 featured new blind box chibi figures, action figures, an Armor-Up Baymax 2.0 with over 20 connecting pieces, their Squish to Fit Baymax, and the Flame Blast Flying Baymax

The Pac-Man Connect and Play 12 Classic Games brings back classic video games right to your television. The joystick game, which runs on batteries, features 12 classic games (Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Bosconian, Galaxian, Mappy, Super Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, New Rally X, Pac and Pal, Xevious, and Pac-Man 256) and comes in a Pac-Man shaped controller reflecting the nostalgia of 80’s arcade style gaming. The Store and Play feature allows real Pac-Man fanatics to store the cord in the controller for the best display of Pac-Man.

Disney Kidea, a new premium Wooden Toy series features some of the most popular Disney characters. The artful block sets, vehicles, and train items are perfect for kids to play with or display.

Other products including Ralph Breaks the Internet Power Pac Princess Series Figures, Hyper Cluster Yo-Yo’s, ShakeHeadz, Tamagotchi, gudetama Tamagotchi, and Digimon.

SPINMASTER
Spin Master, nominated for more Innovative TOTY awards than any other toy company, produces a wide range of licensed and original IP products has been designing, developing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer products for children since 1994. Their brands include Bakugan, Etch A Sketch, Meccano, Air Hogs, PAW Patrol, Aquadoodle, Tech Deck, 2017 Toy of the Year Hatchimals, Monster Jam, and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON license. They have also recently acquired Gund and the master license to DC next year so expect 2020 to be a huge year for them!

Dragamonz
Building from their Hatchimals line Dragamonz is a new battling game from Spinmaster. Each blind box egg, which you smash against a wall to open, contains three dragons which will get you started on your way to building a dragon army to battle with. With over 70 dragons to collect parents better get their wallets ready.

Speaking of dragon Spinmaster also had a line of new HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD figures, plushes, and roleplay including a snarling toothless and a ‘fire breathing toothless!

Squeeze and Growl Toothless

“Fire Breathing” Toothless

 

As shown off at ttpm there were also more products in the Fuggler line. Fuggler the Funny Ugly Monster was an outgrowth from an Etsy shop item that got picked up by Spin Master. Adopt any one of the 40 Fuggler’s at your own risk!

Air Hogs showed off a brand new car Zero Gravity Laser Racer a car that can stick to walls/ceilings. Check out the video below!

Monster Jam has a wide range of monster trucks at an assortment of sizes and collectible levels including the 1:24 scale die cast line. There were a lot of Grave Diggers on display!

Bakugan

Hatchimals the craze that started the hatching craze had a wide range of figures and plushes


WICKED COOL TOYS

I’ve recently become acquainted with Wicked Cool Toys, but this company which has been around since 2012 is a leader in innovative play. They create, design, manufacture, and market licensed and owned-IP toys and consumer products based on global master toy partnerships with Pokémon (ex-Asia), Cabbage Patch Kids®, Teddy Ruxpin™, Ninja™, and key licensing deals with Hank’s Challenge™, and WWE®, At Toy Fair I got to take a look inside their booth and explore a few of their product lines.

Holding the global master toy partnerships for Pokémon, excluding Asia, Wicked Cool Toys have a ton of toys for this product line as well as for the upcoming Detective Pikachu movie. There’s something for all level of fans and collectors including a talking Detective Pikachu plush featuring Ryan Reynolds voice as well as figures from the upcoming movie, Pokémon Quest Vinyl figures, and their 2-inch scale Select Collection line.

For their WWE license Wicked Cool Toys revealed a few products. First up are their Micro Maniax a small scall figure line of WWE superstars that you can buy individually and then battle in their mini WWE ring. But the real winners for me were the Real Scale WWE Championship and Universal Championship replica title belts; nicely packaged these have an authentic feel without breaking the bank. Though for someone interested in getting their hands on as many titles as they can Wicked Cool Toys also had their Miniature Diecast Series on-display; these small scale belts looked really neat and I am hoping they continue the line and add a few more. Personally I think they should jump on the Women’s division bandwagon immediately and add the brand new women’s tag team belt in wave two as well as retired belts like Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Rattlesnake belt. Please note only the prototypes were on display!

Lamo is a new line of collectible vinyl figures based on todays biggest gamers with a focus on Tyler “Ninja” Blevins – the #1 gaming influencer across all social media platforms. But the figures aren’t just for display, set to work with an augmented reality game designed to be played against friends in short bursts during down time between matches. Its also set to project real world changes that influencers make such as if they change their hair style. Look for the line to hit shelves in the fall.

Thanks to the amazing folks at SPINMASTER, BANDAI, WICKED COOL TOYS, and PLAYMATES TOYS for inviting Hi-Def Ninja into their booth and showing us around the newest offerings from the hottest lines.

About the author

Media Journalist | Michael loves all things pop culture and has an opinion about everything whether you ask for it or not. Michael collects steelbooks, posters, convention exclusives, LEGO, Transformers, and everything in between.