The 2018 International Toy Fair is being held this weekend in NYC. This will be the first year in a long time that I have not attended any portion of it (I was not approved for the main TF last year but still did the Hasbro event) due to other commitments (school outranks toys LOL) so you won't be seeing my usual in-depth coverage. I will be following along at home like everyone else but I do have some predictions on what we will see.
My predictions for the 2018 International Toy Fair:
3.75" lines:
G.I.Joe - nothing, the line is dead until the next movie.
Marvel Universe- not much, maybe a few 2pks like the recent movie/comic releases.
Star Wars- a small 5POA line for "Solo", a few waves of single figures (the last of which will end up as online exclusives), some 2pks (including the unreleased TLJ ones like Qui-Gon/Maul), a few vehicles (including a retooled TFA Falcon). The first 3 or 4 waves of the returning "Vintage Collection" (mostly Walmart repacks).
Jurassic World- I doubt we will see anything beyond the ones seen in the leaked catalogue pages a few weeks back. I am looking forward to seeing better pictures of this line.
Doctor Who- nothing, the 3.75" line is dead
Funko lines: this might be the ones to watch. They have been gobbling up licenses (of which sadly only usually go 1 wave) so you never know what series they may do next. Their sculpting and articulation are getting better and better as evidenced by their "Stranger Things" line (I hope they do season 2 figures).
DC Heroes- I am not sure if their lone 3.75" line "Justice League Action" is getting more figures or not.
Super-7 lines- I expect to see a few new licenses as well as their usual endless recolors of already released product.
IAmELemental- I don't believe that there are new 3.75" figures being revealed, just their series two 6" figure. They might surprise us with new 3.75" figures though.
6" lines:
Marvel Legends- I expect to see 3 or 4 waves plus some various exclusives and role play items (electronic light and sound Infinity Gauntlet has already been leaked online and confirmed).
Star Wars- I expect to see 3 or 4 waves plus some exclusives and a vehicle/creature or 2.
DC Heroes- I expect to see 2 or 3 waves of figures each from their Multiverse and Justice League (movie) lines.
IAmElemental- they will be showing their new 6" figure.
7" lines:
McFarlane Toys lines- I expect to see a few waves of their movie/video game/comics figures and maybe some sports stuff. I also expect some larger sized items to be shown.
Neca lines- I expect to see their usual movie/video game lines represented. Personally, I hope to see a new Godzilla or 2 as that is the only line of theirs I still get now that they lost the "Pacific Rim" license. I also expect their larger scales to have at least a few new reveals.
Diamond Select Toys lines- I expect to see a few waves from a lot of diverse lines from them. I really hope that they show off some new Kaiju from "Pacific Rim: Uprising" as they have only really shown Jaegers so far.
Mythic Legions- I do not know if there will be anything not already shared online but they might surprise us.
12" lines:
Star Wars- I expect to see a few waves of figures plus some exclusives.
Marvel "Titans"- I expect to see a few waves of figures plus some exclusives.
DC Heroes- I expect to see a few waves of figures and exclusives.
Hot Toys- I expect to see a few waves of expensive figures across multiple licenses.
No specified scale lines:
Schleich- I do not believe there is anything that was not revealed already at the Nuremberg Toy Fair 2 weeks ago but they might surprise us.
Safari Ltd.- Their entire 2018 product line was released in Nov/Dec last year so I doubt there will be anything shown that we have not seen already.
What I would love to see but realistically will not happen:
I would love to see some more small companies take some chances on producing high quality 3.75" figures. Bridge Direct gave us some great "Hobbit" figures a few years back and Character Options/Underground Toys did a pretty decent job with the "Doctor Who" line. Lanard kicked some serious monster backside last year with "Kong" and are doing it again this year with "Rampage". We need some more non-Hasbro/Mattel products out there. I would love to see Chap Mei step up their already impressive vehicle/creature game and make their figures more articulated and less cartoony (same goes for Lanard). There are several Japanese companies that make cool 3.75" figures but they are usually expensive, fragile and hard to find stateside (they are not carried at Walmart or TRU).
I would love to see another line (or lines) of 3.75" scale fantasy characters complete with creatures (large and small) and even some form of playset. Boss Fight Studio's current fantasy series is EXCELLENT, but we could always use another set of characters to complement them. Schleich has begun adding basic articulation to some of their figurines but they are still basically statues, if they fully articulated them it would be AWESOME! Hasbro is sitting on the "Dungeons & Dragons" license and has done nothing with it except for some Kreos a few years back, a waste of a great license in my opinion.
I would love to see some non-licensed science fiction lines. Companies should use their imaginations instead of licensing IPs from movies/comics/tv/etc. Boss Fight Studio's next theme is along these lines but is still a year or so from production. I would love to see multiple lines covering retro 50's/60's style bubble helmeted spacemen with ray guns fighting Martians, a post-apocalyptic wasteland, utopian "Trek"-styled sci-fi, etc. The sky is the limit.
I would love to see Lontic/Tedco release some new dinosaur species to complement the ones they have released over the last few years. I would also love to see them tackle mythological creatures.
I want to see more vehicles and (especially) playsets from established lines. I know that the realities of the toy industry are vastly different from the golden age of the 80's, but aside from the "Star Wars" line there are barely any vehicles or playsets to complement the action figures. When I was a kid, you had entire motor pools for your figures and every line had at least 1 playset environment for the action to take place in. The only company producing any decent playsets is Schleich and they are pricey (but worth every penny in my opinion).
Feel free to post your predictions in the replies!
