Hey there and welcome back. I am so glad that you are choosing to join us as we continue exploring the amazing event known as Toy Fair. Since this is the second chapter in our coverage I’ll keep my introductory thoughts brief and let the images do most of the talking as I wander the halls and corridors of the Jacob Javits Center with our good friend and comrade in arms Skeleton Pete. Let’s get down to business. I’ll start off with a new take on an old and still classic theme. Check out this Ant Farm by Antworks.  I had one of the original ones as a young lad.  Always loved it as it was fascinating to watch them work.  This version seems to offer the ants a better food resource and ability to work their ant magic.

If you were feeling the pull of the need for sweets then you needed to look no further than this “Jive Turkey” display.  It was set up with turkey feather lollipops.  Don’t worry, they were NOT turkey flavored confections.

This massive Indian was life0sized and his whole headpiece was made up of these lollipops.  Mind you I was now really hungry for one of these but there were no samples to be had.  Sigh.  I liked the display but did think that it kind of crossed the line of political incorrectness in some sense.  We do often hear gripes about the whole cigar store Indian after all (remember that episode of Seinfeld?).  Moving along.

Next up an amazing display of stuffed animals.  Many of these were so lifelike it was uncanny.  You know you love them.  Check out the batch of them in this giant ark.

This chap was lucky it was February and not a little closer to Thanksgiving.

Now this was stunning.  I felt like I was in the zoo watching from the aisles.

Next up a very detailed Toucan bird who is followed by a Panda.

Here is a taste of the display by Iwako who hail from Japan.  They specialize in miniature erasers and puzzle kits.  Their stuff was super charming and looked oh so collectible.  The premise of the product line was to keep it affordable so the consumers could get a bunch of them for a reasonable price.  I like that.  I know that I would never be able to use them as actual erasers since they looked so great.  This is only a small sampling of them by the way, there are hundreds upon hundreds.

I’ve always appreciated puppets and these were catching my eye from the moment that I first glimpsed them.  Such fine craftmanship.

There was also a Sock Monkey on display.  Can you tell that this is a backpack?  I couldn’t.

This next gentleman needs no introduction but in case you don’t recognize him he goes by Claus.  We quickly discussed the list he keeps and fortunately I was not found on the naughty one.  Whew.  Close call that.

Here are some great Marvel Comics superhero busts.  It seems all of the visible characters have films out.  Well, Captain America comes out in the summer but you know what I mean.

This next group of shots features the Tonner Doll line.  I saw these displayed at the 2010 Comic Con at this very same location so I was pleased to see them on display at Toy Fair.  They are truly exquisite figures that are perfect for display.  These are the creations of Robert Tonner and depict comic book, film, and fashion characters.  Take a look as we gave them some serious love in the posting.  The bold group is led by Wonder Woman.

Here is a closer look at Wonder Woman

This is Starfire from the New Teen Titans or just The Titans as they were later called.

I am afraid that I did not know who this character was.

I think this one is Raven who was also a New Teen Titan.  That is Ice on her left, well…in the image.

Perhaps this is Paris Hilton, I was not too certain.

Really cool depiction of Johnny Depp from Alice in Wonderland.

This rabbit is late, very, very late.

Here is some more “Alice In Wonderland” stuff by Tonner.

Yes this is Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

Now it was onto the section where they had the I-Spy Spectacular game.  This was actually a cake that was celebrating the game.  Sadly they were not ready to cut said cake yet but the display was very cool.  The blue actually represents the spinner in the game.  Clever.

A lot of my friends enjoy the Grateful Dead so I was intrigued about this Monopoly game that employed various aspects of the bands history and being on the road.  What a cool thing to have.  There was a KISS-opoly at one time but I never actually played it.

The creator of the game is Debbie Gold and she was at Toy Fair to speak about the game to anyone who happened to ask about it.  It was a pleasure to meet her today.

Look at these tokens.  A small guitar and an amplifier.  There is also a tour bus.  That seems like an upgrade from the traditional games hat, shoe and thimble.

Now this was super cool and I was glad I got the chance to tinker with it.  Its the Z Curve bow and arrow set.  They had a big target set up and they encouraged us to give it a whirl.  This was so fun to do and I was happy Peter snapped a shot of it being used.  Lucky for me he did not shoot my terrible aiming at the targets.

So you want some more eh? Well, we are happy to oblige that request so please stay tuned to this channel of reporting and we shall aim to please for the next few days 🙂

Relevant Weblinks:

Antworks: http://www.antworkstoys.com/
Iwako Erasers: http://www.iwako.com/IWAKO/
Tonner Dolls: http://www.tonnerdoll.com/
Grateful Dead-opoly: http://gratefuldeadopoly.com/

PS: Don’t forget to check out all of SkeletonPete’s Toy Fair 2011 articles by clicking HERE.