Rensi reviews Toy Fair New York 2025!

by Steve Rensi
on 2025-03-26, 09:01:47

I haven't been to the North American International Toy Fair, or just Toy Fair to you and me, since 2020 and to say it was a more interesting Toy Fair would be an understatement... Rumors of a new virus coming out of China was just circulating and all the Asian vendors were absent, gone, vanished, missing. Two weeks later and the country was shut down.

I was signed up to attend Toy Fair 2022. Everything was good to go... and then like 2 weeks before it was scheduled to start, they sent out messaging that it was cancelled. As our travel plans were already made, Cable and I said the hell with it and made the trip to NYC where we saw the sights, visiting the MicroMuseum and generally hung-out with the great members of the Empire State Star Wars Collectors Club.

So it was with great joy, I was able to return to Toy Fair this year with Cable and Yehuda and report on all the newest and greatest Star Wars items coming to the shelves in 2025!

... only to find out that honestly 2025 looks to be a down year for Star Wars. With no new major movie and the recent Disney+ series being mediocre with ratings and audience favorability at best, there were not a lot of big reveals and "WHOA" Star Wars items coming out. Despite our best attempts at begging and even bribery to get into Hasbro, we were denied. And that's ok, as they're big reveal seemed to be just the Target exclusive 6-pack of ANH inspired RETRO figures (which I've already preordered!).

To tag-along on Cable's reporting last week, the best vendor at Toy Fair was definitely Jazwares. Being a fan of their Micro Galaxy Squadron line, it was nice to see their reveals and chat with their people. They are committed to keeping everything in scale, as that's been a key hallmark of the line with fans. They are aware of the possibilities of the EU, both pre & post Disney and generally just seem genuinely excited about the brand, the line and keeping fans happy. Chase or No Chase, I loved seeing their Kenner Deco inspired X-Wing from the latest wave and talking to the designers, they are not opposed to more Vintage deco showing up later. As with all Star Wars properties, they are limited to what Disney will approve in the future.

While no huge focus on Star Wars, I certainly enjoyed seeing some of the other reveals at Toy Fair. The new Jurassic World toys from Mattel look sweet. Big reveal to us was that Universal has a brand-new T-Rex design for this movie. Based on the latest paleontology finds, the Tyrannosaurus in the new movie will be "beefier" than the legacy Rexy from Jurassic Park and thus the new toys will capture that new look.

And as a Ninja Turtle kid, it made my heart happy to see Playmate fully diving into the retro nostalgia of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and releasing new toys based on the classic molds and designs, including the much beloved Sewer Playset I had as a kid.

And no Toy Fair would be complete without a visit to the longest running sponsor of the PSWCS Summer Social, Metal Earth! Their new Doctor Doom kit is simply spectacular!

So while the immediate future of Star Wars may seem ho-hum, there is hope on the horizon. The rumor mill coming out of Toy Fair is to hold onto your wallets! With the Mandalorian & Grogu movie dropping next year in 2026 and then the BIG 50th Anniversary coming in 2027, the future of Star Wars seems strong and I look forward to reporting on it at next year's Toy Fair!