New York Toy Fair 2017: The Odd Ones
There were many hits at this year’s Toy Fair. But there were also a few misses. moments. The following is a collection of just a few of those things.
Interesting New Bright R/C M.E.C.H Shooting Robocannon
In the R/C dominated section of the Toy Fair was a prototype that looked out of place. Yep, those are offbrand Nerf Rival balls. Yes, its on treads. And yes, it shoots those balls out of the barrel.
New Bright R/C has seen its fair share of successes and failures over the years. It is now aiming for an R/C blaster gun toy. The projected specificationsare 100fps, ranges of over 100, and to Compared to the Nerf Terrascout at thats a steal if the quality holds up.
Asseen here, the rate of fire is fairly slow, with perhaps one ball launching per second (operators opinion). It hits as hard as primary-sized Rival blasters. In addition, the robot had a twenty ball capacity in a revolving hopper the final capacity has yet to be determined.
For the price, Im interested in grabbing one just to see what I can do with it. If the hopper design remains as-is,vertical expansion can account for extra capacity. It is possible to replace the motors on flywheels. It is a matter of waiting for actual units to be released and asking what-ifs.
It is nice to see an R/C rocketer that uses Rival-type ammunition, even though it isn’t from Hasbro.
Please cross your fingers!
Huh? Boy Scout Blasters
It is true.
Officially licensed Boy Scouts of America blasters exist. They boast MEGA POWER. Best of all, they feature REALLY COOL KIDS IN SUNGLASSES ACTING LIKE SECRET AGENTS.
More serious, these designs are based on cheap Chinese designs. I’ve seen them online many times while looking Taobao and Alibaba. The Falcon is the blaster that imitates a Buzz Bee Hunter, while the Talon is a single-shot pistol.
It is quite amusing that these blasters have MEGA POWER. The Falcon has 30 ranges. The Talon does not even try to boast ranges. While Kid Galaxy, the company behind these items, gets kudos for creative branding, they dont get credit for good blasters. However, blasters that are powerful enough for kids 6+ do not necessarily have to be high-powered.
Parents, just use your best judgement. Also, dont bring these to a war unless you want to lose.
FAIL OF THE FAIR Baby World Toys
Toy Fair dedicated an entire section to Chinese toy suppliers. This makes sense; not all toy companies have their own factories to produce products. Some retailers just want to choose existing toys to fill the discount toy shelves. A place like Toy Fair is an opportunity to make the necessary business connections.
To see if there was anything I liked, I took a walk through the area. Maybe a Zecong Toys replica? Instead, I found Baby World Toys doing more than copying the Wow! Stuff Combat Creatures Attacknids. The company had put its own spin on the concept with wheeled variants, including one that imitates the Hailfire Droids from Star Wars.
So far everything looks great, right? Let’s take a look at the pages that describe the R/C blasters. We might have a problem.
Theres a good rule for doing any sort of translation work. To ensure it is understood, have a native speaker of the target language review it. If youre doing the quick solution and using Google Translate, take the new phrase and translate it back to see if you still get the same result. DOUBLE CHECK.
This mistake gets repeated for all the other blaster R/C units. Oops!
On Purpose, I Hope? Hog Wilds Smackerz
Its not a blaster, I know. It’s just something I had to mention. They make the foam balls that are launched by the squeeze popper toys.
Its not a new concept, but the branding is justthere are no words.
I really hope they meant to do this.
Unexpected AnarchySportz
Ever miss seeing things like .50 cal paintball markers and gel ball blasters? You may recall different products over the years, such as bungee-powered rockets and gliders.
While not all of these items will be of any use to blaster fans, they are useful nonetheless. It is a fact that Nerf darts have a.50 caliber, so it is easy to convert blasters into fire darts.
A few years ago, when ToysRUs still had the Air Zone line, they had several paintball bows and pull/release markers of this size. They were probably the Stryker series manufactured by Out of Bounds Group Ltd. Previously, many of these blasters were made in the Supasplat series by Tech Group along with classics like the Pistol Splat. Designs like the paintball gun were still being made fifteen years ago.
It seems that whats old is new again. In any case, there are some items with potential.
This shotgun was previously modified when it was called the Thundersplat. Several .50 calspring-powered pistols are still used at Nerf wars, and there are a few here that might be acceptable.
That should sum up most of Toy Fair. I hope you enjoyed my videos and posts. I look forward to seeing you next year!
