If I could sum up the tone of the opening days of Toy Fair 2006, it would be impending dread. Hundreds of people swarming into New York from around the world under the threat of what was being reported as the worst impending blizzard the city had faced in years.

Josh and I, being East Coasters, didn't let it faze us. We only had one event scheduled on Saturday, Hasbro's meet-and-greet for collectors. Imagine about 30 collectors crammed around a tiny alcove with this year's Star Wars figures, completely ignoring any other toys or human beings (even the cute marketing girls).

Yes, R2-D2 has now gotten the Mr. Potato Head treatment and even includes a little holographic Princess Tater, complete with cinnamon rolls. Hasbro is heavily into the cross-branding thing these days, with products like the Star Wars Transformers, and Transformers vs. Star Wars Attactix tabletop game. Remember that scene in Return of the Jedi where Admiral Ackbar brandished a rocket launcher like Rambo and started wasting bad guys? You don't? Well, now he has one, and can use it on Optimus Prime.

(See our Hasbro gallery here.)

I've lived through a few blizzards, but I've never seen one that had thunder and lightning. We were treated to some of that at about 3AM on Sunday morning. When we were ready to venture out from the hotel over to the fair, we saw snow going sideways.

At the Toy Industry Association building, fire fighters were chopping up a taxi that had accidentally caught fire. Inside, the lobby was filled with the stench of roasted plastic. how appropriate.

We waited at the Toy Fair building for a shuttle bus that never came, so we flagged down a taxi to take us to the Javitz center. After we registered there, we were treated to the sight of a demented Dixieland Jazz band (mov) whose players were a motley crew of misshapen gnomes, seemingly sentient vegetables, and what could have been the internal organs of deep sea fish.

It was like something out of a Terry Gilliam film. We never figured out what they were supposed to be promoting. I asked Josh if he would give me $10 if I threw myself into the midst of the chaos, thrashing around and screaming "I'm a prickly pear!" He didn't bite. I really wasn't asking because I thought it would be funny. I was asking because I was out of cash and could have really used the $10.

Our first appointment at Ugly Dolls was delayed so we skipped ahead to our second one at Strangeco. They were located in a special section of the center this year designated for boutique toys. It definitely seemed like there were fewer companies involved in the designer toy game this year. Strangeco seems to be on track, though, with very few items that match I consider the current cliches: bears, bunnies, and wrestlers and boxers with the physiques of Walt Disney characters.

What sets Strangeco apart is that they're willing to take on stuff like this.

Feast your eyes on Jim Woodring's latest creation, Mr. Bumper. It's sort of a multi-legged frog with a separate cowl that turns it into a streetsweeper. I went crazy over Woodring's previous forays into sofubi, Mantra and Dorbel, so I will definitely be grabbing one of these.

(See our Strangeco gallery here.)

As we finished up at Strangeco, we got a call from Ugly Dolls and headed up to meet personally with David Horvath and Sun Min, the parents of these little critters. They were incredibly friendly and down to earth, and somewhat overwhelmed at having just received a Toy of the Year award from the Toy Industry Association.

(See our Ugly Dolls gallery here.)

DKE Toys was on hand to show off some neat stuff, like an upcoming H.R. Giger Bearbrick.

(See our DKE Toys gallery here.)

After perusing the designer toy aisle one last time, we decided we'd browse a bit before heading back to the Toy Industry Association building for more appointments. Plenty of other displays caught our eye. Product Enterprise Limited was showing off all of their upcoming diecast toys, plus their amazing Space 1999 Eagle prop replica. Eagle fans, this is the only toy you'll ever need to buy.

We stopped by the booth of SS Adams Novelties. You've definitely seen their products before: those little vials of disappering ink, hand buzzers, the old whoopie cushion. These guys have been selling this stuff for the last 100 years, and their package design probably hasn't changed for the last 50. I was surprised to see that they were based in Neptune, NJ. It's true, we have the best of everything here, including plastic vomit.

Everyone probably did a double take when they came across The Teddy Bear Group in one of the international aisles. Their Jolly Golly dolls, well, let's just say I was surprised to see something like that in New York City.

Since I've been bitten by the translucent toy bug, it's hard to ignore some of the educational toys out there, like Smart Lab's visible shark kit that lets you see all of the innards. Open the thing up and have that little Kitner boy spill out all over your desk.

My Toy Fair weekend concluded with a meeting with Toynami (read my report here). Afterwards I did a bit of wandering through the halls, and saw more than one toy company showroom with an eviction notice on the door. Rumors were flying around about how the Toy Industry Association was going to let their lease lapse on the building and start scaling back Toy Fair. Will they? Tune in next year, right here.

Any questions or comments about Toy Fair 2006? Register and post a comment, we'll be happy to answer them for you.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is Nickelodeon's first original boy's action property and in its first season, it is the #1 boys' action show among viewers ages six through eleven.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is Nickelodeon's first original boy's action property and in its first season, it is the #1 boys' action show among viewers ages six through eleven. The show features the adventures of Aang, a precocious 12-year old hero. While it is Aang's destiny to become the all-powerful Avatar - the one person who can master the world's four elements - water, earth, fire, and air - and stop the Fire nation from conquering the world. Aang would rather search for adventure and excitement than focus on is avatar training. Can Aang face his responsibilities as the avatar and save the world before the ruthless Fire nation takes over? Fisher-price brings the world of avatar to life with a line of action figures and vehicles.

AIR LAUNCH AANG WITH APPA: Boys can act out their favorite battle scenes from Avatar with this action figure and vehicle set. Air Launch Aang with Appa features the Avatar's favorite animal companion, the giant two-ton flying bison, Appa, combined with one of Aangs neat airbending skills. Boys can put Aang onto Appas saddle, launch him up to eight feet into the air, and watch him helicopter down on his opponents. A gravity switch activates sound effects from Appa and phrases from Aang when they are lifted or tilted during play or when the speech button is pressed. Requires 4A batteries, not included.

VEHICLE ASSORTMENT: With Aang's Battle Glider and the Fire Nation's "Living Tank", the Fire Nation Rhino, boys can bring Avatar adventures to life and take fantasy play to the next level. Aang's Battle Glider features dual spring-loaded air disc weapons and a rear-mounted grappling projectile. When boys remove the glider's wings, it converts to a ground vehicle. Two Avatar figures can sit in Aang's Battle Glider. The Fire Nation Rhino features dual spring-loaded fireball catapults for attacking aerial enemies and striking action for close quarters combat. The vehicles will work with any of the basic or deluxe action figures.

AANG'S BATTLE STAFF: Now boys can act out their own Aang adventures at home. With the push of a button, Aang's staff transforms into his glider. Battle sound effects in the staff mode and flying sounds in the glider mode add to the Avatar adventure. Requires 3 AA batteries, included.

10" FIGURE ASSORTMENT: Avatar's primary characters, Aang and Prince Zuko, come to life with lights, sound effects and phrases. Ultimate Avatar Aang has everything a boy needs to transform Aang into the Avatar state - his battle staff and glider. Boys can mimic all of Aang's flying and combat action with more than ten sound effects and phrases. To see Aang in the avatar state, kids press a button and his eyes and tattoo glow just like on the show. Flame Assault Prince Zuko comes with a set of flame weapons to help him battle Aang, including a fire whip and "flaming" sword. Each time kids place a weapon in Zuko's hand, he knows which weapon he holds and his flame lights up. Just like Aang, Zuko says more than ten menacing phrases. Requires 3 button cell batteries, included.

BATTLE BENDERS: Now bots can recreate the Avatar's bending combat and bring Aang and Prince Zuko to life. When boys press the buttons on Aang's dual air cannon or Prince Zuko's dual flame blast, the LEDs will flash creating an awesome light pulse effect and then projectiles are launched. Includes four projectiles and target accessories (air-ball goals for Aang, and blast barrels for Zuko). Requires 3 button cell batteries, included

BASIC FIGURES: These figures bring key characters from the show to life and allows boys to enter the fantasy world of the Avatar. The assortment includes Airbending Aang, Firebending Prince Zuko, Avatar Spirit Aang, Sokka, Fire Nation Soldier, and joining the assortment in October are Avatar Roku and Waterbending Aang.

View the Avatar gallery

Toynami report from Toy Fair 2006

Our last appointment on Sunday was with Toynami, and Josh and I were happy to meet again with George Sohn, President, and Erika Oba, Vice President of Sales.

George showed us their entire product lineup (which can be seen here in the Gallery), but he knew we were especially interested in the Masterpiece Voltron:

We were very curious about this toy since we had seen the prototype of it in 2005, and got to spend a little bit of "quality time" with the production version. I picked up the individual lions and was definitely impressed: they were very sturdy, heavy, and had tons of chrome, much like the original Popy toy.

Voltron was overshadowed, however, by an entire wall dedicated to Toynami's new 1/100 Valkyries:

You read right: these are Valkyries, not Veritechs. The toys reflect the Macross movie designs, and will be branded with the Macross logo. We asked George whether he was concerned with American consumers not recognizing these as Robotech mecha. He said that based on their feedback from the market, there is such a strong connection between the Macross designs and the Robotech brand name in the US that they don't forsee any issues.

Working in this smaller 1/100 scale gives Toynami a couple of advantages. Not only can they produce and sell them in greater quantities to attain a lower price point (these will retail for a very affordable $19.99 each), but the scale makes it more feasible to expand the line with non-Valkyrie mecha, like the Destroids and Zentraedi designs.

Josh and I definitely lit up when we heard that. Provided the line is well-received, George definitely wants to start with producing the add-on armor sets in future assortments. For now, though, the first two planned assortments will contain movie versions of Roy's VF-1S and Hikaru and Max's VF-1As, and then TV versions of Hikaru, Max, and Milia's VF-1Js.

Even if you're not gawking at these up close the way Josh and I did, you can tell that these new Valkyries are a far cry from their stiff-armed 1980s ancestors. Despite their small size, they have an incredible amount of detail and poseability. A very nice touch is that these will come with display stands that allow you to show them off in all three modes.

We were also a little surprised to see this high-end Hikaru doll in his 1984 movie uniform:

Hand Made Wire Robots and Plush oddities.

Toyolink has an interesting assortment of products. On one hand you have these cute plush dogs and other creatures, and on the other hand, you have these menacing metal wire robots.

The metal robots come in two sizes. Each is hand made and fully poseable; just bend the wire in the pose you want. The designs are really great, and it is such an original idea for a toy.

The plush dolls are interesting, but not really what we cover here. The look nice though, if you are into that sort of thing.

Visit Our full Toyolink Gallery

Visit the Toyolink website

Stikfas, Cuboyds and Kooti Kooti, oh my!

I really dig Stikfas.

I got to talk with the friendly folks at Saizon, the company responsible for Stikfas in North America. They had a big booth with tons of Stikfas, and some of their new lines.

They showed some of the new dinosaur Stikfas kits, which looked really astounding. We'll have reviews of a few of these kits up on CollectionDX shortly.

Another line they have out is called Cuboyds, small little action figures that are very block shaped. These are perfect for customizing, and at only a few dollars each, you can't go wrong.

Finally, we have Kooti Kooti. Its a game where you battle your Kooti Kooti sticks for points. The objective is to pin your opponents sticks, and based on points on the sticks, defeat them. We will also have a review up soon on these.

We have a ton more photos in our Stikfas Toy Fair Gallery. Check them out!

for more information, visit www.stikfas.com

Southern Island brings you new toys from Fruits Basket, Warmachine, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

I'll admit that I don't know a whole lot about Southern Island Toys - I just kind of crashed their booth at toy fair. But they had some really interesting things on display.

First off was some Fruits Basket toys. I've never seen the anime but these looked great.

Then, figures from a game called Warmachine - the detail on this guy was incredible.

Probably their biggest license was from Fullmetal Alchemist. They had several different styles of figures, and even a playset.

I really liked the Alfonse Elric Sculpt.

Lets hope we hear more from them in the future.

View the full Southern Island Gallery.

Dark Crystal Statues!

Plan B made these great little statues of characters fom the Jim Henson film, "The Dark Crystal." They showed us some prototypes of other characters, including a Garthim (the giant clawed beasts.)

The guys from Plan B said that they've seen some of the new designs from the upcoming sequel to "The Dark Crystal", entitled "The Power of the Dark Crystal".

Check out the statues!

For more information, visit Plan-B Toys.

I had no idea Ningyoushi produced toys as well as being a retailer. Look inside to check them out.

We met the super nice Denise Wong from Ningyoushi, and we talked a little about her store, and what the name meant (It means Doll maker, fyi).

They have a new line coming out called the "Get Small Series '“ San Francisco". It features small artist toys in little boxes that look like city buses. Artists include Jeremy Fish, Sam Flores, Coro and David Choe.

Speaking of Sam Flores, he is back with the new Fatima Figures. it comes in two versions Pink (shown) and Green. The figures have different headgear, so its not just a simple colorway.

Visit the full Ningyoushi gallery

Front Mission, Robocop, Final Fantasy and Neon Genenesis Evangelion!

I don't know if I was supposed to be in Kotobukiya's showroom, but I was, and these are the pictures I took. Most Kotobukiya stuff seems to go through Diamond, so you will probably see most of it in previews.

Armored Core Mirage C-01 GAEA 1/72 Model kit

Aliens Mini Figures

Final Fantasy Trading Arts

Front Mission Trading Arts

Gothic Lolita Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Robocop Trading Figures

Sera (What series?)

Star Wars 1/7 Clone Trooper Soft Vinyl Kit

Star Wars 1/7 Darth Vader Soft Vinyl Kit

Star Wars 1/7 Snow Trooper Soft Vinyl Kit

Visit the full Kotobukiya gallery

Organic Hobby debuts with figures from Votoms, Evangelion and more! Check out the hot new Maid Cafe figures!

Organic Hobby is apparently huge in Japan, but relatively unknown in the USA. By the looks of their lineup at Toy Fair, that is about to change.

First off is the Blue Knight from Armored Troopers Votoms. This bad boy is made by CMS Corp, and it looks like Organic Hobby is bringing it to the states.

Organic also had an assortment of figures from the latest trend to hit Japan and fascinate otaku on both continents; Maid Cafes. Basically, these cafes cater to otaku in Akihabara by offering a place to eat while served in skimpy maid outfits. Some places go as far as spoon-feeding you. These figures feature the actual outfits worn in such cafes as Pinafore and Cos-cha.

They also had the first three figures from my favorite manga artist Range Murata. I really dig #3 - S Pink ver. and S Black ver.

Also on display were a gaggle of evangelion girls.

For some reason, this figure really stands out. ;-)

You can view the full Organic Hobby gallery here.