Tag Archives: Spin Masters

Convention Report, Podcast

Comic Timing Episode 277 – Toy Fair 2026 In Review

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We’re back for what has now become our annual Toy Fair episode! Ian and Kris are here to give their takes on this year’s trade show. How did 2026 compare, as the toy industry faces some real life hurdles such as tariffs and inflation? Highlights include their experiences at booths manned by Mattel, Hasbro, Spin Master, Lego, Bandai Namco, and Funko, thoughts on the upcoming Masters of the Universe movie and the related toy line, WWE x Street Fighter, swapping Barbie heads, Cars as a franchise turning 20 years old making us all feel old, Optimus Prime is our Truck-Dad, Pokémon pinball, the return of Crossfire to have its theme song get stuck in all of our heads again, KPop Demon Hunters toys EVERYWHERE, some New York City geography and survival guide tips, and so much more.

Show notes:

Mattel: 0:16:04

Hasbro: 1:21:04

Spin Master: 1:53:58

LEGO and Bandai Namco: 2:10:05

Kris’ Day 2, including Funko: 2:47:50

You can support future releases of Comic Timing and get in on the occasional early releases of the show at http://www.patreon.com/ComicTiming. Video versions of most episodes are at http://youtube.com/@comictimingpodcast, along with Raph’s new shorts series, Raph’s Comic Catch-Up, so go ahead and subscribe if you haven’t already done so.

You can also follow Comic Timing on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/comictiming.bsky.social, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ComicTiming/, and on Instagram at http://instagram.com/comictimingpodcast. And please, if you can, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts; it helps attract new listeners! Finally, you can join in on the conversation at our Comic Timing Fans group on Facebook, which is a great place to hang out and talk comics.

Follow Ian on Bluesky, and on Instagram at http://instagram.com/i_am_scifi. Kris is lampbane on Bluesky, and you can check out her various other works at http://linktr.ee/krisnaudus.

Thanks for listening, we’ll catch you next time, and as always, there’s always time for comics!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:21:25 — 185.2MB)

Convention Report, Podcast

Comic Timing Episode 244 – Toy Fair 2025 in Review

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For the first time since 2023, the Toy Association put together their usually annual Toy Fair! For 2025, the show is back in its native slot of February, and Kris and Ian attended to share their thoughts on the show. Companies discussed include Mattel, Spin Masters, LEGO, Hasbro, Playmates, Bandai Namco, Funko, Super7, and tons more. Learn about the themes of the year, including foods that you can’t eat (aka snacks that are actually plushies), a large increase of toys and plushies that either have butts, fart, or both (because toys and plushies be classy), miniature worlds, making toys for “kidults” willing to spend money on nostalgia. Plus an easier way to get into Dungeons and Dragons for beginners, Barbie and Play-Doh unite, advances in plush technology (yes, we’re being serious), Toy Story toys mid-pose are creepy as heck, is the bag holding multiple plushies sentient according to Toy Story rules, pinball games for Dungeons & Dragons and Uncanny X-Men, Brooklyn people will find Brooklyn people anywhere they go and will then reminisce for fifteen minutes, and if you’re at the show long enough into the day, you can luck out and get free donuts!

And here’s the video version of this episode:

You can support future releases of Comic Timing and get in on the occasional early releases of the show at http://www.patreon.com/ComicTiming. You can also follow Comic Timing on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/comictiming.bsky.social, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ComicTiming/, on Threads at https://www.threads.net/@comictimingpodcast and on Instagram at http://instagram.com/comictimingpodcast. And please, if you can, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts; it helps attract new listeners! Finally, you can join in on the conversation at our Comic Timing Fans group on Facebook, which is a great place to hang out and talk comics.

Follow Ian on Bluesky, and on Instagram at http://instagram.com/i_am_scifi. Kris is lampbane on Bluesky, and you can check out her various other works at http://linktr.ee/krisnaudus. And here’s the quickie What Funko? game Kris created, since there’s a Funko of literally everything.

Thanks for listening, we’ll catch you next time, and as always, there’s always time for comics!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:51:57 — 109.3MB)