OP/ED: Hey, marketing/PR/design toy people, just a thought –

After another Toy Fair, it got me thinking.  I’ve listened/read to many a pitch about this or that product, and it always boils down to a few target markets in the toy business, parents and kids.  Either the advertising/initiatives/campaigns are geared to the fantasy roleplay of a child’s imagination that gets them to bug their parents for a toy, or the parent thinks their child might be interested in said toy.

Well, what about us?  For years I’ve heard that the NIC and other communities just do not make up enough of a population to necessitate any marketing.

 I wonder just how true that is.  Worldwide, I’d like to say that interest in blaster-based games has increased exponentially.  Sure, there are mainstays like airsoft and paintball (where applicable) but the fact that Nerf/related product blogs has grown exponentially in years says a lot.  There’s interest, there’s people paying attention, and I think it’s time some of the quoted talking heads I’ve seen doing news pieces or whatever on toy blasters need to be on notice.

Like some cartoons, not all toys are “Just For Kids.” 

I saw this piece a months ago (thanks to the Aussie Canberra crew for linking this on their FB) – http://www.timetoplaymag.com/toys/2814/the-maya-group/xploderz-xranger-2000/ – and while I respect the Time to Play team (seen them, never had a chance to actually speak with them) for their work, this little quote regarding Xploderz made my eyebrow raise a little,

Xground Pounder

“Who It’s For
The Xploderz XRanger 2000 is for ages 8 and up. We think that this will have a special appeal to older boys, even college-age kids.”

I’m sorry, what?  College age?  I tried the Xranger (and the Xploderz stuff in general), and… well, if I got this in school chances are it would have been donated to some needy family or theater kid for costuming.  In fact, the blasters look like space ships more than anything designed with ergonomics in mind so it could probably fill in for a student sci-fi film.  Between the 4 hour wait-time (Sea Monkeys, anyone) for extra ammo and the overall unreliability of the blaster (it shoots when it wants to, even moreso with the Xground Pounder) and the lack of accuracy (due to the pull-release mechanism) to simple issues like BLOCKING YOUR SIGHTS WITH A HIGH-CAPACITY MAGAZINE (again, Xground Pounder)… I wasn’t a fan.  My mother taught me, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” but in a case like this, it’s buyer misinformation. 

And I don’t think this was in bad form.  For almost $40 the Xranger and Xground Pounder are not worth the experience, and on a college kid’s non-budget there’s a lot better stuff out there.  The Time to Play team (or many other bloggers out there) play with blasters like I do, such as with the Tacticool Tag and Gaming Society of Chicagoland (http://ttagschicago.blogspot.com).

I exchanged some emails with a company about samples they sent, and told them that the blaster they sent me was not functioning well, and the company wanted to go over what was happening.  One thing they mentioned was feedback like mine was good because they get an idea of how users actually deal with their blasters outside of shooting targets in their room

So… what do they imagine kids are even doing once they take these out?  Sure, shooting targets is fun but we all know the first thing we did when we got the new toy home was aim it at a sibling or our buddy (NOT RECOMMENDED winkwinknudgenudge).

Which brings me to the point.  Between all these communities like Mall Wars, HvZ, and the already existent aftermarket community, it’s not worth a company’s time to market to us a little bit?  Nerf’s done a pretty decent job of outreach to bloggers, Zing Toys, and Vapor, but they’re the only ones.  At places like Toy Fair, people ask about my readership.  When I mention all the places that show up on my analytics (and that one hit from Uzbekistan) their eyes grow huge.  We’re out there.  We want to spend money.  LET US BUY YOUR BLASTERS.  TELL US ABOUT THEM.  MAKE THEM AWESOME.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past few months is that the Internet becomes a fantastic bargaining chip.  Think of all the recent internet events where with one keystroke, items go viral, facebook and twitter blow up, and then a company either admits fault or disappears.  Oh, hey Ocean Marketing and Papa John’s.  Rush Limbaugh, how’s that apology for the Fluke going?  Miss your sponsors, right?

Our words have power.  Our web presence has power.  We want to have toys for all ages, that play awesomely, and keep us coming back for more.  We’re not just a niche market anymore.  We are a viable share of the market.

And I’m currently working on a way to prove it quantitatively.  Stay tuned.

New York Toy Fair 2012 Home stretch – Toki Doki, DC-Direct, NECA, Kotobukiya, and Vtech

From the folks who brought you “Tattoo Artist Barbie”, Toki Doki!

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

DC – (Yes, including some things to expect from the “Before Watchmen” prequel series)

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

 NECA – Always fun to see them!  Rocky, Gremlins, Gears of War, so much good stuff.  Watch for the Portal Gun!

Kotobukiya!  Just gorgeous work.


https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

And to mix it up, “Switch N Go” Dinos from Vtech!  Really interesting toys, love what they did to engage the kids playing with them (talk to the big guy Brok on twitter – @broksays)

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

New York Toy Fair photos cont. – Action figure/related toys

Not quite educational, but a lot of the other action kinda toys that I liked when I was younger/even now, hah!

In no particular order, Bandai (famously known for Power Rangers, Thundercats, Ben 10, and recently for Pocoyo and Dorothy of Oz later this year)!

Power Rangers

Pocoyo!

Godzilla

Thundercats – YES THAT IS A WEARABLE CLAW SHIELD KTHX

Ben 10 (shown: The Omnitrix)

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

So much good stuff.  Looks like there’ll be another incarnation of a White Tiger, but sadly no Sabba :\  HOWEVER, the add-on for the Power Rangers Mega Blade from last year looks fantastic.  Keep an eye on my youtube channel (http://youtube.com/foamfromabove) for updates and videos.

Playmates (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  ‘Nuff said)

Michelangelo

Shredder

Shellraiser

The new Turtles sewer playset.  About 3′ tall (maybe less).

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Also, word has it that Michael Bay is set to direct the next “TMNT” movie coming out in a few years. The Green Machine is back, y’all!  Personally, I really liked the most recent incarnation, that ended with “Back to the Sewers” but speaking as a fan from the 90s… it’s good to see the boys back 🙂

TOY FAIR 2012 – (it never ends!) Construction stuff? (Lego, Mega Bloks,

So, today’s update of more awesome stuff from Toy Fair 2012 – 

LEGO –  (Some highlights)

From “Monster Fighters”

DC Universe!  (Notice Superman needs the rescuing?  Go Wonder Woman!)

Star Wars, a redux of the TIE Fighter
Helm’s Deep!

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

MEGA BLOKS –

Thanks for this to the Mega Bloks FB page – https://www.facebook.com/megabloks

NANODOTS! –

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

New York Toy Fair – stuff – more albums! Vapor Delta 500, Marshmallow shooters, Spy Gear, Prime Time Toys

Some links to galleries of toys at Toy Fair 2012.

Razor’s Vapor line (Atlas and Delta so far)

http://www.vaporblaster.com/

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Marshmallow shooters – 

Marshmallowville.com!

 http://www.marshmallowville.com/

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf


 Wild Planet – i.e. Spy Gear, and some shots of their new “Test Tube Aliens” line!  (Loved their Night Vision binocular setup last year)
 

Take me home!  I can guard your sandwiches!

Spy Gear on Facebook!

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

 Prime Time Toys

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf








Heads up from Tacticool Tag and Gaming Society of Chicagoland – Gears of War 3 – the board game!

For those of you (like me) that don’t own an Xbox 360 (why? Uhm… I’ll tell you about my early days playing, “Halo” and why I can’t trust myself with a nextgen system that has online play sometime), Fantasy Flight games made a tabletop Gears of War board game.  Snake (of TTAGS) checked with them at Toy Fair, and here’s what he thinks of this offering:

http://ttagschicago.blogspot.com/

Check it!

New York Toy Fair 2012 – highlights! Facts! Toys! (1st up… Nerf/Hasbro stuff)

Wowsers!  Amazingly enough, I can now say I’ve been to the New York International Toy Fair 2 years going.  Insane.  I’ve taken this little blog o’mine and managed to rub shoulders with people from the New York Times, Wired magazine, and The Toy Spy.  Not too bad.

In any event, you’re not here to read me wax philosophic.  You want to read about toys, all the cool things I saw, and what to expect in cool ways to play from 2012.  There was a lot, so over the next few days this week I’ll be putting up showroom summaries and galleries, and we’ll go from there, yeah?

First up, HASBRO.  Nerf.  One of my favorite companies, and why wouldn’t they be?  My blog is based on Nerf primarily but with other companies with similar products thrown in to keep things fresh (and for mad toy street cred.  Not those kinds of toys, and this isn’t that kind of street.)  Hasbro also has Transformers, Star Wars, and a myriad of other great licenses.  Their showroom certainly didn’t disappoint.

Nerf!  Of course, Nerf.  They had on-hand the Lumitron and Rayven, which should be out in stores, as well as the Speedswarm.  Basically, if it’s out now, they had it there.  The Lightningstorm and Electrostorm were available as well, but being indoors and water+electronics being a bad idea, no test firing of the Super Soakers. 

 As you can see, the newest offering we COULD see (besides video showing the Elite line) was the Snapfire 8.  8 shots, turreted blaster for the Dart Tag line, with an adjustable power setting between range or rate of fire.  Best thing about it was the blaster was primed by pulling the trigger, so it was the truest semiauto from Nerf without use of flywheels.  it was a prototype though, so we’re hoping to get another look later on.

Nerf did in fact release the Nerf Elite (complete with obscured silhouettes!) sizzle video from Toy Fair – here it is fresh from their youtube:

Info:

NERF DART TAG SNAPFIRE 8 Blaster
(HASBRO/Ages 8 & up/Approx. Retail Price: $14.99/Available: Fall 2012)
The NERF DART TAG SNAPFIRE 8 blaster features one-hand firing, an essential element when players are on the move during competition battle.  This semi-automatic blaster allows competitors to load darts into the front and then cock and fire darts as the front barrel revolves with each trigger pull.  The DART TAG SNAPFIRE 8 blaster also enables players to adjust the tension level for increased speed and distance.  Includes 8 Velcro tipped DART TAG darts.  Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and on HasbroToyShop.com. 

 Nerf did show some of the licensed products like shirts, bags, notebooks, etc.  I even spotted a pair of Pumas!  But blaster-wise, the coolest thing was this bike with a blaster holder:

I say blaster wise because Nerf sports is coming back with a vengeance… FIREVISION.  The press kit tidbit:

NERF FIREVISION SPORTS 2012 PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS

The NERF brand brings fans a completely new way to play with its sports gear in 2012 with the introduction of FIREVISION technology, an innovative enhancement featured in the debut FIREVISION SPORTS collection which allows for play in both daytime and dusk. To turn up the heat on throws, catches, and dunks, users simply put on the FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES eyewear and flip the switch on the bridge to see reflective graphics and skins on the FIREVISION SPORTS products. Only those wearing NERF FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES eyewear will be able to see the action once the lights are out, so whether fans want to enter into casual games with friends or test their skills in competitive challenges one thing is for certain: You don’t want to get left in the dark.

NERF FIREVISION SPORTS Football
(HASBRO/Ages 6 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $19.99/Available: August 1, 2012)
No sunlight? No problem. Put on the FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES eyewear and turn on the switch to see this awesome football soar. Set includes one FIREVISION SPORTS football and two pairs of FIRE FRAMES eyewear. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and HasbroToyShop.com.

NERF FIREVISION SPORTS NERFOOP Basketball Set
(HASBRO/Ages 6 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $14.99/Available: August 1, 2012)
Convert your room into the coolest court with the NERF FIREVISION SPORTS NERFOOP basketball set.  Hang the set’s oversized backboard over almost any door, put on the FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES eyewear, and turn down the lights. The darker the room, the brighter the reflective graphics on both the backboard and basketball glow, setting you up for a serious slam-dunk! Set includes one mini NERF FIREVISION SPORTS basketball and one pair of FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES eyewear. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and HasbroToyShop.com.

NERF FIREVISION SPORTS HYPER BOUNCE Ball
(HASBRO/Ages 6 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $9.99/Available: August 1, 2012)
The NERF FIREVISIONL SPORTS HYPER BOUNCE BALL ball shines new light on the game of catch. Wear the FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES eyewear to see the ball’s reflective skin glow in green or red and track how far and fast throws fly when the sun goes down. Includes one HYPER BOUNCE  ball and one set of FIRE FRAMES eyewear. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and HasbroToyShop.com.

NERF FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES Eyewear Assortment
(HASBRO/Ages 6 years & up/Approximate Retail Price: $5.99/Available: August 1, 2012)
Give everyone a chance to get in your FIREVISION SPORTS game and stock up on FIREVISION SPORTS FRAMES eyewear. The new assortment includes one pair of FRAMES eyewear (choose from green or red). Players place on the FRAMES eyewear and flip the switch on the bridge to see FIREVISION gear in a whole new light. Each sold separately. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and HasbroToyShop.com.

Essentially, you wear some sweet frames (either green or red lights) and they illuminate a sport ball that has been given a reflective treatment.  The tape then glows whatever color shines on it, allowing the person wearing the frames to see it.  Sadly, this didn’t translate well to film or photography, but the effect was astounding.  Supposedly you have visibility up to 100′, and this kinda tech makes me think of limitless alternative applications.  If only Nerf would put the same reflective bit on their darts, or on the Nerf jerseys.  Think, a bunch of zombies wearing red light sets, seeking out humans wearing the reflective tape?  Night missions would finally be proper… and go!

Unfortunately, there was no Vortex Pyragon to look at and demo, but hopefully later this year we’ll get a crack at that, too.

And that was just Nerf.  Kreo, G.I. Joe, Transformers, KOOSH, Lazer Tag, and even the Hasbro board games are getting a new look.  Clue: Elimination implements the Nerf Jolt into gameplay, mimicking the “Assassin” gametype that has been on college campuses for year.

CLUE Elimination Game
Age: 9+; Players: 2-4; Available: Fall 2012; Approximate Retail Price: $19.99
Get out of your seat and up on your feet for an active game of CLUE that sends players on a mission to seek and eliminate their opponents using CLUE blasters in a thrilling showdown to become the last player standing. Elimination takes CLUE gaming to a whole new level by marrying the thrill and adrenaline rush of blaster play with the intrigue of the CLUE brand. The game comes with 4 uniquely designed blasters, 8 darts and a deck of mission cards. CLUE Elimination: Will you be the last one standing?

CLUE ELIMINATION Refills Game
Available: Fall 2012; Approximate Retail Price: $7.99
Each refill pack includes 16 colored darts and additional mission cards.

Yep, nunchuks just to the right of the GI Joe shirt.  Foam!

G.I. Joe got a redux of the Furyfire,  and it looks like a new katana is going to come out to coincide with the movie.  There was a foam and an electronic version, so people can choose their poison when it comes to how they fight.  The above figure has a “quick-draw action” where you put the pistols on magnetic mounts on the back, hit a button, and the figure’s hands swing backward and magnets in the hands pull the guns out.  In Snake-Eyes’s case, he draws swords.

The Transformers toys didn’t have any new blasters, but here are some highlights of the coolest of the cool from the Robot in Disguise:














Battleship is going to be a big push, with a KREO line and some new editions of the classic board game.  New features (like air strikes and recon planes) and some wicked KREO sets.  Here’s a few looks at those as well:

Please check out the rest of the pics here! Shots from the Marvel products, Star Wars, and more!  Sadly, there weren’t any new Star Wars foam shooters, or anything for Transformers like the Cyber Blaster from last year.

 http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2012/02/nerf-showroom-new-york-toy-fair.html

 HOWEVER – there was some new stuff for the Avengers movie out later this year.  And by new, I mean everything old is new again (kinda).

Big Bad… I mean… Hawkeye’s Bow


Nerf N-strike Mav… I mean… Brigade Blaster

Hulk hands again… this time no sound!




I’ll never get used to this though… meeting someone who actually reads this blog!

Please come back, more galleries to post in the coming days!