For the past nine years, the PiercingMetal outlet has been one of the attending press at the wonderful event that is the creation by our friends over at The Toy Insider. It’s called the “Sweet Suite” and it is an absolute blast that brings in dozens of toy manufacturers and their representatives along with media and those who are considered to be influencers in the industry. It’s at the “Sweet Suite” where we all get to see and learn more about the latest and greatest offerings, get to try them out and if we’re lucky maybe even take a sample or two home with us. Down below you’ll find my spiffy badge to let people know who their interacting with and I should let you know that in addition to things here on PiercingMetal, you will also find a lot of coolness over on “The Chronicles of Piercing Ken”. I’ve broken this post into two main companies that speak to our specific demographic with Playmates Toys and Pokémon. Let’s begin.
The folks from Playmates Toys really brought a lot to this year’s “Sweet Suite” with pretty much something for everyone. The first display was their “Stuntman Stu” stuff and what this crash and bang up product reminds me of is the old Evel Knievel toys that that I had growing up. They were so much fun but I don’t have them anymore to share historical background with you. Everything from this line looks like a lot of fun but I would advise that most of the launching be done in the backyard. Continue reading Scenes from Toy Insider’s “Sweet Suite” 2025: Playmates Toys and Pokemon→
As I continue to chug along and churn out a number of the finds from the recently held Toy Association’s Toy Fair I wanted to pause for a moment to thank you for keeping up with all of this stuff. With this post I am up to the finds in the appointment only Jazwares pavilion. The interesting thing was that this was less of an appointment and more of a celebration of the brand and considered their Collectors Event for Media. Let’s go.
Jazwares was celebrating the anniversary of their Vault which was a series of exclusives and special editions from their assorted lines that the Adult Collectors market looks to. A fun ceremony with a special guest that was hiding in the Vault led to these findings. More on the celebration later. One of the first things I keyed into here was their BLDR set for “Chainsaw Man”. A popular anime character who is definitely interesting.
The Toy Association’s Toy Fair just wrapped up its 2025 Trade Show at the Javits Center and this event found them bringing the show back to the first quarter of the year after doing one in the Fall of 2023. They would bypass 2024 entirely to reframe and recalibrate the affair and I was excited to be bringing the PiercingMetal website into the mix once again. I’ve been attending with the outlet since 2011 which made the most recent event my 12th year of attending in a professional capacity. Over the last few years I’ve been using the Piercing Ken website for some additional Toy Fair coverage and since there was so much to document over these last few days that process will continue. I’ll also be using the Ken Pierce Media website to tie everything together as that has seemed to work out well when both sides of the creative coin are being utilized. My plan for PiercingMetal documentation is to do a number of exhibitor spotlight posts until I’m done with the stuff that our readership likes and then I’ll add in any of the videos that have been done for YouTube to wrap it up. I will probably do my standard of no more than “50” images in each post since that has helped me work with things like the New York Comic Con very well. Let’s begin.
Upon walking into the Javits Center one couldn’t help but notice the impressive Formula 1 race car that the folks from Mattel had set up right there in the lobby. It was promoting one of their latest offerings for “Hot Wheels”.
A few short weeks ago, the PiercingMetal website once again had the honor of attending the Toy Insider’s “Sweet Suite” event. This is a special toy industry showcase that finds many exhibitors from some amazing companies showcasing their latest and greatest offerings. One of the big exhibitors was the Pokemon Center and in this space you could see all of the cool upcoming Pokemon awesome. If you played the game with one of their reps you would get a prize package and the video below is my reveal of said goodie bag. It would be great if you clicked “Watch on YouTube” and then give the Channel a subscribe.
As I’ve previously posted, the Media Command HQ for PiercingMetal was in attendance at the always awesome Toy Insider “Sweet Suite” which took place over at the Chelsea Piers. For those who are new to our posts about this happening, the event is one that gathers dozens and dozens of great Toy Companies and then invites Toy Industry Influencers and select Media. Though I’ve been told I’m quite convincing, I fall under the media side which is fine by me. One of the cooler spaces at this years “Sweet Suite” was The Pokemon Center.
The Pokemon Center was a really awesome space and the section they were in overlooked the harbor so you could get some nice Brooklyn visuals if you wanted to do that as well. Now I should admit that Pokemon is not in my own personal geek area but I know tons of people who love it and are in our readership so I’m going to take you down the booth. I won’t be saying much here though.
