Toy Fair 2015 Preview - Expectations and a look back at Blasters in 2014
Vas The Stampede
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Just like the title says, I am here in New York City, and ready to go for another round at the New York Toy Fair. The blaster scene is a little different from last year, but there's a lot of buzz surrounding this year's show. Dare I say it, possibly even more than last year.
NERF:
Nerf had a hit on their hand it seems with the Rebelle line, expanding on the roleplay/bow and arrow aspect of the blasters to appeal to young girls. While I have my own opinions about gender specific toys, the line is still around, and going strong. So strong in fact, there will be a whole slew of new blasters to check out at this year's show, including the Revolution Bow:
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| Image taken from Toyqueen, writing for about.com |
Nerf's largest release (literally) was something not on display last year, the Nerf Rhinofire. After the initial releases of the Slingfire, the Mega Thunderbow, and the Nerf Cam ECS-12, Nerf crashed through with one of the biggest, full auto blasters to date. While pricey and even a pain to reload, the blaster was a lot of fun to use.
There is already a large amount of buzz for Nerf in 2015 as well, starting with info about the Rotofury, The Doominator, the Nerf Modulus, and most recently today, NERF RIVALS.
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| The Rotofury |
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| Nerf Rival blaster (this is the Zeus MVX-1200) |
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| Nerf Zombie Strike DOOMINATOR |
Needless to say, that's a lot of blaster to look at over the weekend. I'll be back Sunday with the report on Nerf, after my visit to their showroom that morning.
Other Brands:
Tomorrow is the actual Day 1 of Toy Fair, but the Hasbro Showroom isn't open to tours yet, just a special event. That being the case, I'm going to spend time checking out the other brands such as Zing Toys, Primetime Toys (makers of the Scorpion Gatling Gun), Hogwild Toys (the Power Poppers makers), Marshmallow Shooters, Maya Group (whose offering this year might be something different, the branding doesn't seem Xploderz related but you never know), Zuru (if you bought the Vigilante), and of course, K'Nex and their K-Force. BOOMco will also be on hand at Mattel's showroom, but I won't get a look at their new stuff until Monday, during one of their media events.
That being said, you never can be too sure what else might be on that show floor. I've seen push rockets, something called a "Titan Torpedo" (which looked a lot like the throwable Uberdart), and maybe there will be some new vehicle blasters like the VMD cars and Attacknid. But that's part of the fun of the show for me, that extra sense of discovery!
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| The big release from Zing last year, the Firetek Bow |
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| Ghostbusters Marshmallow Shooters first seen last year, just in time for the new film! |
It's going to be a busy few days, make sure to check the social links above for live-updates, but come back here for the full writeups. Thanks for your time!
Labels: blogger, foamfromabove, gadget, gear, knex, mattel, modulus, nerf, nerfnation, preview, tech, toy, toy fair, zing, zuru
