Toy Fair 2005 New York City

Text and photos by Ed Sanford of Robot-Japan

Toyfair 2005 was ushered in with a sunny crisp Saturday, Feburary 19th, 2005. As usual I chose to park my car on the West side in walk towards the mayhem. The tour began at 2:00 PM on the floor of the Hasbro showroom along with glossy eyed web fans waiting in the wings. Saturday was web press day so the select few patiently waited their turn. Paula and the local greeters were nice enough to begin my tour in the Transformers show room.

As I waked around the corner I immediately noticed wall to wall journalists vying for the best angle on the new toys. Far in the corner there was a swarm of fan boys; I could only assume the new Revenge of the Sith figures were hidden beneath their lustful stare.

Transformers Cybertron (Galaxy Force in Japan)

Robot Bliss- behind door number 2 was a sneak preview of the Transformers Cybertron toys and the looming King Starscream in back. It looks like the Optimus Prime Convoy and Megatron robots will be winners in the American toy stores. Expected price points will be around $45 for these stellar robots.

The name of each model has yet to be announced, but I am a fan of the new Prime figure that converts into a futuristic car in red and white. I also think the new King Starscream (crown included) will be a hefty sized toy that will fly off the shelves (if the price is low enough).

Slated for release in the summer of 2006, DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures will develop the Transformers movie, with Steven Speilberg as Executive Producer. Lorenzo di Bonaventura ("Constantine"), Don Murphy ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") and Tom DeSanto ("X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United") are also attached to produce. John Rogers ("The Core" and "American Outlaw") is on board as the writer for the motion picture

Transformers Alternators

In the Alternators toy line of super-realistic car robots I was shocked to see a Prowl prototype. Yes, that's right; Hasbro presented an update to the time tested fan favorite Prowl police car. I can easily predict it flying off the shelves in summer 2005.

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Episode III.

Each attendee to the Hasbro tour got a cool Revenge of the Sith promo set, with an exclusive Anakin and Vader figure. Open the cover and the Anakin figure flips to reveal Vader!

Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith was a big hit with all fans. It looks like we will not only get the standard figure line, but also a mid-sized line of toys at 7" scale (retail of $9.99), and then the larger 12 inch toy line.

New Revenge of the Sith battle vehicles will hit the stores retailing for $14.99. Products will include the Barc Speeder with Barc trooper, Boga with Obi Wan Kenobi, and the AT-RT with AT-RT driver. It will have batteries and motorized walking action.

This year we will get the Darth Vader voice changer mask and chest unit! Rejoice as the toy features a realistic helmet, mask and chest plate of the evil lord Vader!

Star Wars AttackTix Role Play game and Assorted Products

After that point I turned my attention to the Star Wars role playing games. On top of a mock battlefield Hasbro displayed the new AttackTix game pieces. There is no game board or dice, you can move each figure on the base forward or sideways on wheels. The wheels then count out "click" for your turn and then do battle and all battle information is on the patented base. You actually shoot missiles at your opponent.

Once again the Playskool Star Wars toys will hit the market for the extra young fans.

Darth Tater is my show stealing favorite. Take your childhood favorite Mr. Potato and cook him down with some evil voodoo - Darth Tater. Just like the standard Mr. Potato Head, vader gets a cape, helmet, and saber to stick on.

G.I. Joe

I don't know too much about GI Joe, but these new larger scale figures looked cool.