This was my first year being able to attend Toy Fair in New York City, so I was very excited as you could probably expect. Toy Fair is the opportunity where various toy companies, both big and small, come to showcase what they have and what they plan to release in the coming year. There’s a great variety from toys for kids to board games to collectable figures. It’s the perfect chance for the media and dealers to check out all of the new trends and upcoming toys.

Taking up the entire Javits Center, it was one huge show and you really need a game plan to make your way through the show floors. I first decided to hit up the action figure area and I think this was the best choice as I probably visited just about every booth! First stop was NECAOnline, where I was first drawn in by seeing a big Gears of War display. Luckily I hit upon one heck of a booth as not only were there new and old GoW figurines, but Bioshock, Dante’s Inferno, Nightmare Before Christmas, Terminator, Harry Potter and Twilight among many others.

I was very excited to get hands on with the Bioshock toys, especially the Eve needle and the big daddy plushie. I did ask about a possible Adam needle and was told that if the Eve does well it may happen. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed as having both would make one awesome set! They also had two prototypes on display for two new Big Daddy figures which both looked great. The Gears of War figures were all nicely displayed on a diorama that I really wish I could buy.  There were also two new figures on display of [insert which kinds of Locust] that looked great and had fantastic details to them. NECAOnline also had some prototypes of Dante’s Inferno figurines on sale, so soon you too can have some of the creepy enemies staring at you from a shelf. Another one of my favorite figurines was also a prototype. There was a great 12″ figure of the T1000 where he was damaged from being shot at. It looked absolutely amazing, and made me sad to hear that it may be eventually scaled down to a smaller size.

After checking out the Nightmare Before Christmas and Harry Potter sections, I then left and stopped over at Kotobukiya after being drawn in by seeing lightsaber chopsticks, but once I took a look around I saw so much more! After looking over the different choices in colors, I looked at some of their figures, and whether you are into video game, comic book or anime figures, Kotobukiya has some great stuff for 2010! One series that has me real excited is their Avengers Reborn. The first set to come out will include Thor (March), and Captain America (May) who will also have interchangeable heads with a WWII style and the modern style. They also had two Iron Man figures on display with lighted bases that looked great. There was also an interesting series of figures that involved Phoenix, Psylocke and Emma Frost created in more of an anime style. Rounding out the super hero section was a large figure of red Hulk that has interchangeable faces. For the anime fans is a new figure in the Evangelion Plug Suit series with Mari Makinami being released in July 2010.

SquareEnix was another stop I had to make and they did not disappoint! They had the figures from Final Fantasy XIII displayed and they’re pretty elaborate. Aside from the highly detailed characters, they had a motorcycle which actually transforms into two female figures that look fantastic. They also had Odin, a horse figurine that transforms into a formidable warrior with a massive weapon! There was also some cool figures for Kingdom Hearts fans! They were showing off a prototype of a Jack Skellington figure that will come with his ghost dog Zero, it was unfinished but it looked great. There was also a new figure of Sora in a black Santa outfit with one heck of a keyblade. Styled like it was directly out of Nightmare Before Christmas, the keyblade is highly detailed down to the small chain which has three pumpkins and a small Zero at the end. Definitely a figure I’m looking forward to getting! It was also interesting to see that they had figures there for series that weren’t created by them, like figures of Bayonetta and Jeanne as well.

I also received the chance to check out upcoming World of Warcraft figurines and the StarCraft II figures being released by DCUnlimited. It was nice to see that they had the full line of WoW figures there plus the new ones. I was able to see the next series coming out as well as preview some future ones like an amazing Lich King, Garona and a Worgen spy. The StarCraft II figures were amazing and I know just to give added effect they kept them behind a screen until one of the reps talked about them. The new series will include a space marine, Protoss and Terran soldier. Sadly they did not allow pictures to be taken otherwise I’d have some great shots for you!

But besides action figures, I was re-introduced to dolls that at first I thought were creepy but looking closer were pretty awesome. Toffee Dolls by Huckleberry were one of the unique dolls that I saw and I was really impressed. The dolls are described as half human and half creature, and this is reflected in their outfits not only by bunny or cat ears, but the cat dolls even have the slitted cat eyes. Each one is meticulously constructed and each doll has only a certain number of them made for sale. They are a bit on the expensive side, but if you’re a serious doll collector I highly recommend checking them out. They will also be at San Diego Comic Con so if you’re going you can stop by and take a look!

And vampires were there besides Twilight in the form of Vamplets: cute yet deadly little vampire babies. Each one had a special story behind them, and you could feed them with their own baby bottle full of blood. It’s a fun little concept that even extends to the website where you can register and talk with other owners on the message boards. It’s a great concept for younger vampire fans, and a fun plush to have for collectors. They were also doing a blood drive at Toy Fair, and if you donated you got to take home your own special edition Vamplet!

I also made a random fun find while wandering the show floor, and if you like baseball you may be interested! Ballpark Classics is a company that has developed a sort of baseball board game which gives you the ability to play games in the MLB park of your choice. You are able to pitch a pinball down a tube towards the bat which you pull to swing. You even have the ability to change up your pitches depending on where you place the ball in the tube and how much force you put behind the ball. As the batter your goal is to hit the ball through one of the slots in the outfield to get a single, double, triple, or if you manage to hit it back up the pipe, a home run. I played for a bit and have to say it was really enjoyable! Getting a replica of Wrigley Field would be pretty cool, and I was told that they’d even do the vines on the brick wall. They do have the permission of the MLB to replicate the stadiums, so you can get your own custom stadium ballpark!

All in all I had an amazing time at Toy Fair. There was just so much there that it’s hard to talk about everything. However I was able to snag shots of many of the toys and you can check out the Gaming Angels Flickr album here of all of the shots. It’s really one heck of an event to attend and I hope that I’ll have the chance to go next year! Hopefully I don’t loose a game and have to taste a rotten egg JellyBelly again.