Day one of the 2017 Toy Fair in New York City is almost over and I’ve got to see a ton of dope toys. From drones you can control with your hand to a Rick and Morty portal gun, I’ve seen all the Javits Center has to offer. Using my insane curation skills, I’ve managed to pick five of my favorite toys. These aren’t the best, coolest, most edgy toys, but they are the ones that piqued my interest the most.
Here are my top five toys at Toy Fair 2017:
Guess?: Pokémon Edition
I am a huge Pokémon addict and take any chance to show off my insane (and useless) knowledge of Pokémon trivia. That’s why this new piece of tech by The Bridge Direct fascinates me. It's a pokeball that pretty much plays 20 questions with you, but with Pokémon. Pick any one of the original 151 monsters and it will guess what you thought of. The demo only had Pikachu (because everyone knows Pikachu) but will know the rest of the Kanto crew when it releases in April.
Disney Puppets By Folkmanis
At nearly every toy store in the world, you’ll find some of Folkmanis’ animal puppets. They are known for their high quality and attention to detail and have decided to adapt their knowledge to a licensed property. Four Disney puppets: Pluto, Donald, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, have been produced and are now on store shelves. Goofy is being planned for sometime in the future.
A Folkmanis PR rep told me that they don’t plan on going into other licensed properties, but have plans for more Disney puppets in the future.
BTW if you press on Pluto’s leg, his ears shoot up and it is the cutest thing you will ever see.
Aura Drone
I’ve seen a lot of drones in my day, and most of them are nothing special. They fly and land, some of them better than others. Innovating a drone, especially for a youth market, isn’t easy, but LocoRobo Innovations might have something on their hands. They’ve developed a drone that you can control with your hand. You can gesture up or down, left or right and the drone will follow you. They called it “gesturebotics” but I’m not sure that name is going to catch on.
LocoRobo Innovations started making high end drones for the military and are now breaking into the toy market. Kids find it hard to start flying drones because they usually have a high barrier of entry. You have to learn how to control them properly or else you are just going to end up with a broken drone and a hole in your wall. The Aura Drone wants to fix this by turning your hand into the controller.
The Aura Drone will cost $99.99 and be on store shelves this fall.
Dash By Wonder Workshop
Toys for toddlers usually isn’t my beat, but Dash by Wonder Workshop caught my eye. Mainly, because it is shaped like a giant blue dick, but it’s so much more than that. You can program Dash using WW’s own software, telling the robot to turn its lights on, move or even dance. Teaching kids coding can’t be easy, but this robot helps lower the barrier of entry. If you already understand the basic building blocks of sequencing, the rest can just come naturally.
You can also attach a catapult to the back of Dash and have this giant blue dick shoot balls. Yes, I’m immature, but I also know a good idea when I see it.
Batman Vs. Aliens By Meca
Just look at these figures, I can’t preorder Joker colored Alien quick enough?
What’s the toy you are looking forward to the most coming out of Toy Fair? Tell us in the comments.
