Tag Archives: playmobil

Scenes From Toy Insider’s “Spring Fling” 2024 @ Lavan Midtown (Part One)

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Last week, “The Chronicles of Piercing Ken” was in attendance for the first-ever Toy Insider “Spring Fling” Toy Preview. I shared the news about attending that same day over on Ken Pierce Media (HERE) and mentioned in that post that I wasn’t sure where the overall coverage was going to run. As it turned out, most of the products that I saw across the exploration would end up bein more suitable over here on “The Chronicles” with only a small bit of products falling under what the readers of PiercingMetal might expect. The new event would be held at a brand-new event space called Lavan Midtown. It was located way down on 42nd Street and I hadn’t been here before so was looking forward to it. When I arrived there were already a lot of people waiting to get in. The Toy Insider events are not open to the general public and fall under more of a trade show vibe and they invite a number of the “Influencer” crowd and some members of the press which is where we come in. Let’s get this party started.

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Once inside and past the friendly signage it was time to get that exploring done. I am always curious about a new event since one never knows what to expect and this even applies to me who considers himself to be a pretty resourceful and seasoned convention and trade show attendee. In addtion to the Toy Insider events, I’ve been attending New York Comic Con, Toy Fair, NY Now and The New York International Auto Show as media for years. One gets good at this kind of stuff after all those shows but I digress. This is about The Spring Fling and not myself ;p

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Continue reading Scenes From Toy Insider’s “Spring Fling” 2024 @ Lavan Midtown (Part One)

NY NOW To Bring Dedicated Toy Destination To Winter Market

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The Press Release:
NY NOW®, owned by Emerald Holding, Inc., the leading national gift and home wholesale trade show, today announced the launch of a new, dedicated toy destination, PLAY USA, to its market. Beginning with NY NOW’s 2023 Winter Market, taking place February 5-8, 2023, at the Javits Center, PLAY USA will showcase toys, games, and trend merchandise and will capture the spirit of discovery, whimsy, and joy that the products on display are created to evoke.

PLAY USA will provide a venue for the vibrant and essential specialty toy market in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states, as well as national accounts across the US beginning February 2023, which is traditionally the most important time of the year to discover new and exciting product introductions. The timing of NY NOW creates a viable and important new toy and trend resource for buyers as they look to discover new merchandise for their stores after the end of the year holiday cycle.
Continue reading NY NOW To Bring Dedicated Toy Destination To Winter Market

Scenes From The Toy Insider’s 2021 “Sweet Suite @ Home”

toy insider, sweet suite at home, sweet suite at home 2021

Greetings my friends, its time to lend some overview opinion to our friends over at the Toy Insider. By now I am certain that you know about them since we’ve been hitting their events for about six years but based on the COVID-19 Pandemic, their amazing “Sweet Suite” will once again be done in the virtual sense. I’m going to present the same kind of exploration as I did with the 2020 “Sweet Suite” and its companion “Holiday of Play @ Home” so let’s examine the exhibitors that are present today.

toy insider, sweet suite at home, sweet suite at home 2021

The way I did this those past times was screen grab the exhibitor room and then offered up some opinion on it all and now without any further adieu here is the virtual “Main Floor”. This presentation was more fun that I initially expected and it was like being inside a video game.

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Continue reading Scenes From The Toy Insider’s 2021 “Sweet Suite @ Home”

2021 Toy Of The Year Winners Are Announced

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The TOTY Award Winners were recently announced in a first-ever virtual ceremony with the in-person event being impossible to hold due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. After a brief commentary by Toy Association President Steve Pasierb, the nominations were replayed and the winners announced. For ease of seeing who was up for what and who would eventually win the coveted award, I’ve left the original full list of nominations for your perusal. Now without any further adieu, here are the 2021 TOTY Winners…

ACTION FIGURE TOY OF THE YEAR:
Alter Nation Action Figure Assortment (Panda Mony Toy Brands)
Anime Heroes (Bandai America)
Batman 4 Inch Action Figures (Spin Master)
WINNER – Fisher-Price #ThankYouHeroes Line (Mattel)
Heroes of Goo Jit Zu (Moose Toys)
The Original Spawn Action Figure and Comic Remastered (2020) (McFarlane Toys)
Treasure X (Moose Toys)

COLLECTIBLE OF THE YEAR:
Blume Petal Pets (Skyrocket)
Charaction CUBE (Bandai America)
Hairdorables Hair Art Series (Just Play)
HEXBUG JUNKBOTS Large Dumpster (HEXBUG)
WINNER – LEGO Super Mario Character Packs (LEGO)
L.O.L. Surprise! Remix Hair Flip (MGA Entertainment)
Space Invaders Micro Player (My Arcade)
Continue reading 2021 Toy Of The Year Winners Are Announced

Unboxing The “Sweet Suite at Home” 2020 Swag Box

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Hey there my friends, so we recently attended the first-ever, Toy Insider “Sweet Suite @ Home” which as you might have surmised what a virtual event and replaced the annual in-person happening The Sweet Suite. My event overview can be perused by clicking HERE. This post continues the awesome that was started in that narrative and finds me digging into the contents of the swag box which is usually loaded to the hilt with coolness. Let’s unbox.

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One of the first nice surprises in the box was this wonderful stuffed Blue from the very popular younger childrens program “Blues Clues”.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

This unique game let’s you see things upside down and trust me its a wild sort of visual.  This game must be a blast.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

There are always wonderful  products coming from the fine folks at Crayola.  Let them help you have an artastic life.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

Here’s one of the most iconic toy items ever, the famous Slinky.  I had this as a kid of course and even one that was made of plastic but I don’t remember liking that all too much.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

One of my favorite discoveries at Toy Fair was the Scooby Doo stuff from Playmobil. This blind bag contains one of the ghostly figures that our intrepid team would be trying to dispense on the classic show. This line is a must have for sure. Even for the older collectors who remember the show with fondness.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

A miniature-sized take on the popular Hatchimals.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

I love the Stikbot stuff and mostly based on the cool animations I have seen people create with them.  I’d love to do something like this but I barely have the patience required to do stop motion things today.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

A cute game which is a take on the popping the bubble wrap.  This one likely will not make much of a mess either.  I still love popping the real deal packing stuff though.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

Another one of the things that’s right up my alley.  Action figures that help spark the creativity.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

This charming product is perfect for the youngest of the family circle.  Magnetic soft pieces will allow for endless fun I think.

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

the toy insider, sweet suite at home 2020

Below you’ll find my unboxing video which while recorded before these photos were snapped, was not uploaded straight away as there was not an Official Channel for The Chronicles until some months afterwards. It’s here for use now and I hope you will enjoy the video and give it a like and leave a topical comment as well. We’d love for you to subscribe.

I’d like to thank the Team at the Toy Insider for having us at their event once again and extra kudos to all the vendors who stockpiled this box. Some links down below will let you learn more.

Official: https://thetoyinsider.com/
Official: https://thepopinsider.com/
Official: http://www.crayola.com
Official: http://www.hasbro.com
Official: http://www.playmobil.us
Official: https://stikbot.toys/

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