We’re back from our adventure at Toy Fair 2013 at the Javits Center in New York City!  On Sunday, KefkaFloyd and I walked around the show floor to find out everything we could about new Pony toys and merch! The big blizzard that hit the northeast a few days prior (SNOWBRACABRA!) did not deter us from attending the show, though the drive for Kefka on Sunday morning was a bit treacherous through parts of Connecticut. The bad news is that we did not obtain entrance to Hasbro’s showroom. The good news is that there is some pretty neat stuff in the realm of licensees that we got to see. Read more behind the cut for some new, never before seen stuff!

Fashion Angels

The one that surprised and delighted me, that I haven’t seen mention of anywhere yet, was Fashion Angels. They produce fashion themed craft and activity items for the tween set, headlined by their sketch portfolios packed with stencils, pattern swatches, design tips, guides to choosing colors, guides to different types of collars, cuffs, shirts, etc. They’re beautiful in their ability to be simple without being dumbed down and engaging without being overwhelming. Their products are all about creativity and learning the art of design, rather than the consumption marketed by most other “fashion” toys.

It’s a perfect fit with Friendship is Magic, a shining star of the girl toy ghetto. Creative, intelligent, educational, and feminine without compromise. We dubbed them Rarity’s Favorite Licensee™.

They also make “Hair Chox”, chalk temporary hair coloring for you and your pony’s hair.  It’s non-staining and washes out completely.

Aurora World

Aurora World is making plush toys of the main 6 ponies with fabric hair. Smaller ones come in either a pony face or cutie mark purse, larger ones come by themselves. The body design is pretty good and the faces are cute, though some of the colors used are off like Rarity’s hair being lavender and pink, and the stuffing is on the hard side.  Over all I prefer the Funrise plushes for something that’ll actually be hugged and played with, but they’re definitely cute.

The best place to find Aurora products seems to be gift shops and greeting card outlets.

Montco Crafts

Montco Crafts makes these neat color and play items. They’re characters printed on cardboard, after coloring the character can be punched out and assembled into a standee for make believe play or decoration. There’s a themed activity kit and a range of characters to color for each license ranging in size from small hand size ones to big three foot standees of Ponies and Transformers.

Their catalog lists licensed play houses, so perhaps if the line is popular enough we could get a fold-your-own Canterlot Castle or some such. (Ok I just really love the castle stand Aurora World had, I wanted to take it home with me.) Unfortunately their site isn’t up yet to show more.

USAopoly

You might have heard about the new My Little Pony branded Monopoly game, and we actually got to see it at the show! Unfortunately, all they had on display was a mockup of the game box, but it was enough to show us that all of the game’s play tokens are blind-bag style hand painted figurines! It’s a first for USAopoly, which is using the MLP set as a test for creating more complex game tokens. We were not able to take photographs of the display, but USAopoly will be sending us official materials and maybe a little more in the future.

In addition to Monopoly they also have an MLP themed version of Memory Challenge, a more complex version of the classic Memory game for slightly older kids.

Enterplay

Enterplay had a big full-standing display dedicated to our favorite miniature colored equines, and they have more than just new trading cards coming soon. Their “season two” trading card set, which is set for early release at Big Apple Ponycon in March, will feature all-new cards. In addition to the standard card packs which will come with either a standee or a special edition card, they are now offering double-sized jumbo fun packs, which contain twice the cards and look a little different for retailers. On display were the new Derpy and Canterlot (Fluttershy with the rest of the Mane 6 fanned out behind her) lunchbox collector tins as well, which were very bright and dazzling to see. The Canterlot box comes with the final card on the series 1 checklist.

Aside from trading cards, they also had displays of their new collectible dog tag series. The ones on display are prototype only and not reflective of what their final designs will be, but we’re guessing that there will be some for all of the Mane Six to start. I can see these being used for zipper pulls, lanyards, and more.

Funko

Funko, the maker of those vinyl Pony figures you can find at Hot Topic, had a full booth complete with all of their various licenses, like Marvel properties, Disney characters, ponies, and more. On display were the new Doctor Whooves and Fluttershy vinyl figures, though there were no crystal variants to see.

According to the Funko rep the Hot Topic exclusive chase figures will be visible in the store, the boxes are still windowed so it’s not a blind assortment.

While they did not have any on display, they did show listings for their new Funko Pop figures for ponies as well.

And that’s it from the various licensees that we saw at the show. Somehow we missed the beanie ponies at the Ty booth but the internet has it covered. 2013 is going to be a big year for Pony stuff, toys or otherwise.

Later this week I’ll be doing a roundup of the Hasbro items as seen on stitchkingdom and elsewhere, so be on the lookout for that as well. ■