Toy Fair 2004 in New York City
Energized Weeble Wobbling Trans-it.
February 15th was once again the time to take out that bulky tripod, shine those lenses, pack extra camera batteries, and burn another 200 Meg of photo cards. The onslaught of toy ogling began with a visit from CollectionDX's Josh Bernard and a drive down the West Side highway.
 Josh gave me a 9:00 AM wake-up call, loaded his stuff into the car, and then we were off like a heard of turtles. Instead of coffee we woke up to a near accident on the West Side. Someone wanted to keep us away from midtown. Alas, I was too quick, stabbed the break, swerved to the left and applied copious amounts of the horn. Good morning sir *&@#@.
Our first appointment brought us to the showroom of Hasbro with friendly Wendy Joong to greet us. Hasbro was kind enough to let Josh visit and they invited Robot-Japan as a tag-along. Wake up and smell the prototypes!
 Good God. G. I. Joe lives and thrives again. Star Wars resurfaces yet again for collectors in near original packaging, and then Transformers loom larger than ever with an expanding line. Let us see, there is Energon, Transformers Alternators, Transformers Universe, remnants of Armada, G1 re-releases..... Fans are so very fortunate.
Our first visit brought us to my childhood favorite (6 year old child)-- Weeble wobbles. Only this time they have a few more appendages and Froggy cousins. Delightful.
 Next we slunk up to the startling renaissance of G.I.Joe toys. The upcoming theme will be Valor vs Venom and it looks incredibly promising. The upcoming 12" electronic Venom figure moves it's jaw, forehead, cheeks, and neck as a kid (or demonstrator) squeezes the belly. Five squeezes = five voice chip words. Each word almost matches the facial expression. The for the icing on the cake, you can squeeze the belly even harder to make each word shout as the face contorts out sentences.
 Off to the demonstrator's right was the joint strike fighter. It had it's own bag of tricks with a foldable handle that triggered missiles and bomb drops. In the rear of the fuselage is stowed away a gattling gun of missiles. Then the handle doubles as prisom bomb sight.
 Repackaged soul of Star Wars toys then sucked in Josh's attention. It looks like Luke, Han and other classic small figures will be reincarnated in a retro packaging and near-classic sculpt. Then even the 12" Luke may be released too in a near- original box/card/window presentation of the late 1970's. I was impressed by the prototype facial sculpts. Hasbro's artists and engineers were spot on with their work.
All of these toys were just appetizers to my show stealer--Omega Supreme. As Josh was drooling over the Star Wars prototypes I wormed my way closer to Omega-- All 18 plus inches of hand painted resin prototype Omega. I was in lust. Omega Supreme looks to be a new Gold Standard in size, features, design, and realism.
Transfans will also be excited to see the excellent presentations of Arcee as a motorcycle, Alternators Silverstreak, and our favorite Corvette- Tracks. Oh, and let us not forget the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime!
Josh pried me away from the TFs and on to the other Magnetic tracks (racing), Bottle (water) rockets, and Diecast tuners (rice rocket cars). We have a great deal of innovative toys to look forward to.
 Finally the show came to a glossy end behind glass case number 2 and 3. Joe, actually about 200 of them, The Refrigerator Perry, Tomax, Xamot, Sgt. Slaughter, and Zartan bid us a good-bye at the exit. Hasbro bid us an adieu with a presentation for G. I. Joe's Anniversary. Yo Joe, and thank you/yo Hasbro, Paula, Wendy, and company for your invitation and hospitality! We shall eagerly await these upcoming toys.
Ed
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