02/19/2010

A PaRappa The Rapper Figure? Never Gonna Happen: Toy Fair 2010 Part 2

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

In this post:
1. Highlights from The 107th Annual American International Toy Fair, part two.

First off, for those who might have missed it, be sure to check out part one!

So Toy Fair is a place where intellectual properties, both old and new, show their faces in order to get action figures, jigsaw puzzles, beach towels, and every in-between produced. One franchise that had lots of attention was Toy Story, with part 3 rapidly approaching…

… As someone who could give a rat’s ass about Pixar these days (I should perhaps explain myself one of these days, even though its guaranteed to needlessly ruffle features), I’m genuinely intrigued and even excited for it!

Meanwhile, one booth had the Delorean from Back To The Future…

… Inside were a bunch of props from the movie, or very close facsimiles (obviously, there’s hover board from above, but you had a number of smaller items, though I can’t remember of the sports almanac was included). The funny thing was, I looked all over the booth for some tie in product and couldn’t find jack. The closest was some Ghostbusters card game.

When compared to completely absurd and totally pathetic cashing in on the KISS name that is their official coffin, the Mister Potato Heads set is extremely tame in comparison…

… Note: I’d be far more upset if their music was any good (aside from that one track on the Bill & Ted Bogus Journey soundtrack, but that’s it).

Hey, look, it’s Owly, by my pal Andy Runton! It’s not breakfast sausage (old inside joke), but still cool nonetheless…

I for one applaud the convergence of Star Trek and the world of designer toys…

And I absolutely love the color scheme of this work in progress Iron Man (since I was such a big fan of the Silver Centurion armor from the 80s)…

Saw plenty of Where The Wild Things Are related goods all over the place as well…

It’s hard to make out, I know, but check out this wide assortment of Metal Gear Solid related items, including some Kubricks, a variant of that Big Boss statue I first passed along here, and some regular old action figures…

Not surprisingly, a slew of BioShock merchandise is on the way…

Gears Of War anyone?

It’s amazing how close these Street Fighter 4 toys are to their virtual counterparts. Meaning, they’re just as ugly…

I thought the following was that same Mario Kart in the flesh I also previously highlighted, but after double-checking, it’s from somebody else…

I’m honestly shocked that people still care about bobbleheads…

This Optimus Prime statue from Diamond Select was actually very nice, too bad they but it far and away from light, hence why the picture is especially crappy here…

… Though I much prefer the PowerMaster Optimus Prime, since that design hardly gets any love, and is severely underrated…

Moving onto DC Direct’s neck of the woods, they had all sorts of action figures and dolls related to the DC Universe, obviously. I’m sorry, but I’m still such a sucker for the Kingdom Come version of Superman…

… Isn’t he coming back in some form of fashion? Sorry, but I’m way out of the loop when it comes to super hero comics these days. Anyhow, and somewhat on the flip-side, check out these anime-ized versions of other characters…

… I actually dig Wonder Woman, but that Batman? lol. Meanwhile, these are certainly cute, but try a little too hard, if you catch my drift…

DC Direct also produces game related goods, like these Mass Effect figures…

Again, not the biggest Halo fan in the world, so I must ask: since when were samurai swords part of the game?

Even though I don’t particularly dig Ratchet and Clank, these figures are simply a sight to behold…

And these Resistance states are what they are, nothing more, nothing less…

Check out Sweet Tooth and that chick from Heavenly Sword, for an upcoming line that highlights various characters from assorted first party Sony titles…

… Not shown are some God Of War characters, which are also part of Sony, but will be getting its own dedicated line. Though I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, along with the StarCraft 2 figures that were also on-hand, and which are not part of Sony but Blizzard (obviously). DC Direct also produces a line of World of Warcraft figures, which I neglected to take any pictures of. Maybe because I don’t like WoW?

But back to Sony and their line of random first party faces; when I asked the DC Direct representative if PaRappa the Rapper would ever make an appearance, he somewhat rolled his eyes and gave an “ummm… no” with a semi-annoyed chuckle. Apparently, they’ve gotten requests to produce a line of PaRappa figures for quite some time now, from both consumers and even Sony themselves. And each time, they’ve complete shot such suggestions down. The reason? Not worth the time, effort, and most importantly, money. I was explained that they need to sell at least 8,000 units of whatever character to justify the associated expenses, like hiring the artist behind the design, the production molds that will physically create the figures, the packaging, all that stuff. It’s simply “way too niche” and how the customer base, no matter how vocal, is seemingly nonexistent when it comes to the cash register. He referred to the aforementioned girl from Heavenly Sword as an example; even if no one recognizes the game, it’s still gonna sell cuz it’s statue of a hot chick, period.

You know, sucks to hear, since I would snatch up PaRappa and all his buddies in plastic form in a heartbeat, but I guess he has a point. I did try asking about some kind of limited edition deal, since they’re already getting involved in the world of custom/designer toys (as evidenced by the aforementioned super deformed DC characters), which is all about limited runs, but again, they clearly want nothing to do with the rapping dog. The notion that it would be a money-losing proposition was explained to me at length. Oh well. Point being, Sony, time to call some other folks if it’s ever gonna happen… And I can imagine more than a few parties who would be TOTALLY up for the task.

And I guess that’s it for my report! In the end, wasn’t able to spend a whole lot of time at the show I’m afraid, due to an extremely hectic schedule. Had to more or less completely bypass the board game section, and that totally blew. Though I’m mostly saddened by how I totally missed Will Wright speak.

Anyhow, what the next stop? GDC, right? Not exactly; might have to pass this year, despite the fact that I’ve got a press pass burning in my pocket and the inside track on so many cool things happening this year. Also, was really looking forward to a San Fran burrito. Guess I’ll explain why plans have changed next time, but till then… If you’re an editor and you need someone to cover the event, who once again knows what is up and also has an eye and a nose for untapped gold, plus can budget a cheap trip like no one else (which makes passing all the more painful, since I managed to figure a week in San Fran for almost nothing), please drop me a line!!! The best method is always matt at fort90 dot com.

  • Sheep_Herder

    Great coverage of the event.

    My son will go bonkers if he sees that Metal Sonic figure, as he has the regular Sonic from the same line. And just like you, he didn’t like the Werewolf Sonic either, as his response was, “Ewwww.”

  • http://justin-difazzio.blogspot.com Viewtiful_justin

    The Chrono Trigger figures from part one? Perfection! I gotta catch ‘em all!

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