NYC-Toy outtakes
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As part of Mattel's meandering path toward greater inclusivity and more realistic depictions of young, plastic women, Barbie now looks more like the vast majority of people who play with her. More ethnicities, more professions, more lifestyles.
New York City's Javits Center, where the Toy Fair was held, packed 760,000 square feet of exhibit space. That's more than 13 football fields of animal figurines and Micro Machines. And since we're on the subject, Micro Machines are coming back later this year. All you '80s and '90s kids, rejoice.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne01As part of Mattel's meandering path toward greater inclusivity and more realistic depictions of young, plastic women, Barbie now looks more like the vast majority of people who play with her. More ethnicities, more professions, more lifestyles.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne02This is what happens when you try to pass a Slinky on a staircase.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne03New York City's Javits Center, where the Toy Fair was held, packed 760,000 square feet of exhibit space. That's more than 13 football fields of animal figurines and Micro Machines. And since we're on the subject, Micro Machines are coming back later this year. All you '80s and '90s kids, rejoice.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne04Nothing engenders product familiarity like having to walk over something's face 20 times a day.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne05The Toy Fair is one of the precious few crowded places on Earth without booming bass reverberating through the ground, so when some far-off speakers started pulsing we had to go take a look. Ty, maker of Beanie Babies, was putting on a kid's fashion show.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne06These Care Bears on the left didn't look too thrilled to be here, so the company hired one who could smile. There were a lot of costumed characters walking around, skipping, and occasionally jumping, along with people on stilts and a couple of humanoid robots. It was like Disney World on a sugar high.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne07It's surfing without water, skateboarding without wheels, snowboarding without snow. The Spooner board won't get you to the grocery store, but you can spin around on it a lot and jump from platform to platform, like a hip Super Mario.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne08Not everything at the Toy Fair had a digital tie-in or was trying to augment our reality. Non-powered, all-physical toys made up roughly half of the exhibits we saw.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne09A lot of people had gotten into the spirit of the Toy Fair well before opening day and were walking around in clothes they'd made, by hand, out of toys. Usually, but not always, stitched together plush animals or characterful pajamas. Next year we want to see someone wearing a sweater made of Lego bricks.
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne10Plushie maker Gund brought this giant bear to the show. Haven't these guys seen *The Revenant*?
Photograph: Rebecca Smeyne11Beanie Babies were absolutely everywhere. More signage was devoted to convincing us that Beanie Babies were having a comeback than any other product at the show. What you can't see is the text right under the giant picture of the pink poodle, asking "Wanna take me home," which is just ... uncomfortable.
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