We're back with our yearly look at all the cool new Henson related items at Toy Fair!
This year, while it may not have the volume or range of shows represented as in the past, there were certainly some surprises to be found at the Javits Center.
Let's get the bad news out of the way.
Super Impulse has even more dramatically scaled back their Fraggle Rock line. So much so, that even though they said they are still offering Fraggle items they didn't have any display or in their catalog.
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| Super Impulse's 2018 booth |
While Funko is continuing to sell their line of Fraggle Pop!, they did not have any on display, nor did we hear anything definitive about the figures for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Netflix series!
Last year, The Coop told us they made a deal to make The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Fraggle Rock items. They didn't have anything on display, but that doesn't mean they're not still in the process of making them.
Kalan, who made Sesame Street items founds at stores like Five Below, no longer has the license. So you won't being seeing Sesame items like the ones below at stores much longer.
McFarlane Toy's plans for Jen and Kira Dark Crystal figures again seem to be on hold. Though they do have another Labyrinth Jareth figure (more on that below) on the way.
OK enough doom a gloom and on to the good stuff.
It's Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary and as such there was plenty of new items to celebrate that meiletone.
Last year, Leap Year was still in the development stage of their Sesame line, but this year all there current and a few future Sesame art supply plans were on display.
Be on the look-out for their markers, stickers, and doh based Sesame products.
They even have a plush fronted sketch book with a that giggles when pressed:
They will soon be offering Sesame wobbling markers, including a Honker!
This jumbo art set will can found at big box bulk stores like Costco, while the other items in the line can be found at Rite Aid and Michaels.
Baby King continues their line of Sesame Beginnings infant items.
Sun-Staches continues to have Sesame sunglasses, though no new characters were announced.
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| 2018 photo |
Likewise Little Kids has a few Sesame products, and is supporting the 50th Anniversary, but didn't show off any new products.
Last year was Green Toys' first year with Sesame products, and this year they are expanding the line.
Kids Preferred has a new line of plush Sesame books:
Infinity Games has rebranded their Elmo's World Hide & Seek Game, to just be called Elmo's Hide & Seek now.
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| Old vs New Packaging |
Animal Adventure has a set of plush Sesame luggage:
Water toy plush:
and a set of My Pet Blankie Plush/ blanket hybrids:
Over at Gund, they were celebrating Sesame's 50th in full force including walk around versions of Elmo and Cookie Monster.
They showed off their new 50th anniversary blind box collection:
and had most of regular plush on display, though the folks we talked to remained tight-lipped as to who the chaser character is.
Considering the box itself is designed to resemble Oscar's trash can, it may not be much of a stretch to guess Oscar as the chaser, but we will see.
They also had a bunch of large plush on display,
Including a brand new 50th Anniversary Elmo:
Medium, big headed plush. Bert's eyes and Oscar's expression are particularly great.
a set of small plush in a case resembling iconic 123 brownstone.
a new line of "Best Friends" plush two-packs including Big Bird and Snuffy, Bert & Ernie, Elmo & Dorothy, and .....
Cookie Monster & Gonger!!
Gund also has a new Cookie Monster baker plush for children to practice zippers, straps, velcro, and buttons.
There's also the first ever mass retail regular size Gonger plush! (The first being very similar, but only available as Sesame Street Live performances.)
Poor Gonger though, he get's his own plush, but can't even get the tag to himself!
Delta has their line of Sesame furniture from last year, but only had this Elmo chair out for the show:
Pillow Pets introduced a new line of Sesame light plush last year:
it looks like they dropped Abby Cadabby from the line or was just not shown,
but they added an Elmo plush/ blanket hybrid and we hear other character plush/ blanket hybrids may be on the way as well.
We're sure Hasbro had even more new Sesame items, but we didn't see their off-site setup.
The Jim Henson Company had a number of items based on their shows including these Splash & Bubbles child costumes by Underwraps Kids:
They should be out in July and certainly in time for Halloween, and can be found at typical Halloween costume shops, as well as aquarium and zoo gift shops.
McFarlane Toys made big show of their new "Magic Dance" Jareth figure.
This version of The Goblin King comes with 12+ points of articulation, a staff, and a goblin that even the ardent Labyrinth fans are having trouble placing in the movie.
Aquarius is expanding their Labyrinth and Dark Crystal lines. They have puzzles, mugs, and now and new magnet and buttons options as well:
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| Labyrinth Buttons and Magnets |
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| Magnets |
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Dark Crystal Buttons and Magnets
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The big Henson Company reveal (and really of the whole show) was Kid Robot's new Fraggle Rock line.
They have a line of blind box figures:
From the outline it looks like Sprocket (and his bowl) are the chaser:
They had Boober, Mokey, and Architect Doozer on display:
They also have a line of blind box keychains:
The box reveals that Sprocket is also the keychain chaser:
There will also be a Doozer keychain chaser, and now we know the names of some long unknown Doozers!
That's not all, they also have an almost life size Doozer vinyl figure!
Not only is he flocked, but his hat comes off as well.
The figures will be $10 each, the keychains $6, but the Doozer will set you back $45!
The figures and the key chains will be available in March, and the Doozer sometime in this summer.
In the extended Henson universe NECCA is offering large Shredder and Foot soldier figures based on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie the Creature Shop worked on.
The also have smaller versions of the Turtles themselves.
as well as pre-muted turtles, Casey Jone's mask, and canisters of filled with mutant creating ooze.
The movie based Turtle figures are available now at Game Stop.
Both Super 7 and Funko are releasing items bases on major league baseball mascots, including the Bonnie Erickson created Philly Phanatic.
Super 7 has a Phanatic action figure and mug:
While Funko has a Phanatic Pop!:
As for The Muppets, well there wasn't much to be found, though there were a few surprises.
Sun-staches has here Muppet line of sunglasses, and is still hoping to create a exclusive version for D23 or another con.
Diamond Select Toys had their recently released Swedish Chef figure on display, but they weren't really pushing their muppet line like in years past.
I didn't see their Animal bust and the Muppets' logo was no longer on tehr banner displays.
Rubies costumes is discontinuing there Muppet line, but will have these two costumes for girls at a deep discount soon
In more positive news, PhatMojo is planning another SDCC exclusive, similar to last years' Constantine "Dark Kermit" plush.
They also are looking into getting Muppet items into traditional retail locations later in the year.
Medicom has 2 sets of Muppet "bear" figures featuring Kermit and Miss Piggy.
As you can see they're sort of like Disney's Vinylmation line, only the mold is a bear and not Mickey Mouse. Each set will come with both the regular and extra large version of the character and cost $185. These will be available sometime this summer.
New Zealand Mint has a wide array of items made out of precious metals including a line of limited edition Muppet coins.
Each coin is made of real silver and is actual legal tender and is limited to 10,000 pressings world wide.
The back of each coin features the queen of England (interesting side note, one of the countries this in NOT available in is the UK) and the inside of the box is lined with green felt.
Kermit is available now,
while coins of Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and Animal are all scheduled to be released throughout the year.
While each each is only worth $2 , they'll set you back $85 each + shipping. If you buy $300 worth of products you qualify for free shipping. There are also a few US retailers carrying the line so that might be the way to go to save you some coin.
Back at the Funko booth, though he wasn't on display,
they did officially announce the Jim Henson Pop! figure. We're told the Henson Company is still approving the sculpt so he'll look like he's actually performing Kermit, rather then just holding him like a doll.
The same with the Ernie version with will be a Target exclusive.
It was a bit shocking, though not entirely a surprise at how little Henson stuff was on display. I didn't see anything from Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, an much less Sesame 50th Anniversary merch then I was expecting which is a shame.
As in past years after Toy Fair, we set out to the neighboring toy stores to see what other Henson items the city that never sleeps had to offer.
Many newsstands had copies of the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter featuring a cover story on Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary.
FAO Schwarz is back with a new store in Rockefeller plaza.
The new location occupies the former location of the NBC store and tour.
While the old store was large, spacious, and had a whole section dedicated to the Muppets, their new cramped, oddly layed out location didn't have a single Muppet or Henson related item. Not a single one. A major disappointment.
Midtown Comics has a assortment of the recent recent Muppet and Henson comics as well as a few last Fozzie and Scooter MiniMates.
While the Disney Store is currently doing a big push for Mickey's 90th Anniversary, there was a surprising amount of space given to merch for the new Muppet Babies.
We spotted the Disney Store exclusive plush in no less then 5 different locations throughout the store!
They even had the playsets and vehicles that were initially Target exclusives.
And now a look at the former Times Square Toys R Us.
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| RIP Toys R Us |
And that's all from a trip to Toy Fair. As we get new information we'l be sure to update this post so be sure to check back.
See ya next year Toy Fair!
