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Toy Fair 2001 was the first Toy Fair I have attended.  Since I have attended many other doll and toy  trade shows,  I thought I knew what to expect--exhibit booths showing new dolls and toys.  What could be more straightforward than that?   Well....I was wrong.  Toy Fair was SO much more than that.  

First, imagine aisle after aisle after aisle of thousands of the latest dolls and toys.  And then, imagine a few dozen more aisles....and a few dozen more.  Actually, there are over 60 LONG aisles of toys at Toy Fair in the main exhibit hall (Javitz Convention Center), spread out over 2 1/2 GIGANTIC floors.  And, if THAT isn't enough, imagine several huge office buildings in Manhattan's Toy District with a few HUNDRED separate showrooms devoted to the very latest in dolls and toys!

The question of WHERE to start was overwhelming.  I had already made appointments with various showrooms and exhibitors that I KNEW I had to see (Mattel, Madame Alexander, Ashton Drake, to name just a few...) BUT I also had to fit in visits to many other booths and showrooms so that I could make DISCOVERIES--new and surprising dolls and toys by companies old and new.

Thankfully, there was a "Collectibles Dolls, Miniatures and Plush" area in the  Javitz Convention center, where many of the doll exhibitors were located.  BUT.....a quick walk down a few aisles outside of that area convinced me that just reviewing the Collectibles, Dolls Miniatures and Plush area wouldn't be enough, since MANY toy companies produce toys as well as dolls, so they weren't exhibiting in the main dolls area.

Another problem was that sometimes, you just didn't know WHO produced what.  For instance, besides Mattel and Hasbro--who ELSE had Harry Potter licenses?  Who had the Harry Potter dolls?  What companies were handling the Barbie licensed products?  Sometimes the best way to ferret out that type of information was to talk to buyers and members of the press, to see what discoveries they had made (I mean, who KNEW that GUND would have one of the best Harry Potter dolls out there?)

Of course, the journalist in me pretty much had things under control by Day 2.  But the collector in me....now THAT was another story!  I had to really, really try hard a few times to maintain my professional composure.  When viewing the Madame Alexander Alex and Cissy fashion doll lines for 2001, I wanted to jump up and down like a little girl, with total collector glee.  Um....NOT a possibility if you want to be taken seriously, so I satisfied myself with scribbling furiously on my notepad with insightful comments to bring to my readership, such as "OHMYGOD--outfit to DIE for, check out the LITTLE ZIPPERS!!"  

I also had a hard time maintaining my composure in the Mattel showroom for the press.  At one point, I was shown a clip of the new, upcoming "Barbie in the Nutcracker" full-length movie (Barbie's FIRST movie!).  My guide in the showroom was droning on about the CGI stop-motion procedure it was filmed in, but for some reason it didn't hit me that this would NOT be a cartoon of Barbie, but a real, life-like Barbie dancing the Nutcracker before my eyes!  Well, Barbie has been in my life for about 40 years now, AND she is a big part of my 5-year old ballerina daughter's life.  Knowing how magical this would be to my daughter, and experiencing how magical this was to me, um, I practically welled up in tears (oh, ok--I DID well up with tears!)  All I could manage was a stuttered "Um, my readers will be thrilled to hear about this movie!."

And then, I TOTALLY lost it just minutes later when I saw the Harry Potter Micro Play set.  I screamed out in joy "Harry Potter Polly Pockets!!"  My Mattel guide, totally amused by this point, said patiently, "Um, no...this is a Harry Potter Micro PLAYSET."  Well, OK...I know Polly Pockets when I see them, and this is the best looking Polly Pockets set I had ever seen.  Another factor that contributed to my joy when I saw this product was that I had read all 4 Potter books with my 8 year old son, and just prior to Toy Fair we were discussing what Harry Potter toys he hoped I would see.  His comment was "they need to have the Hogwarts CASTLE--that would be the best toy."  And, right on cue, here it WAS!

The Toy Fair showrooms were an experience all to themselves--first, I feel like I now know the Toy District intimately, after flitting around from building to building for appointments.  Then, there were the live toy demos!  Big companies like Mattel, Hasbro, Uneeda, etc. had actual demonstrations of the toys--like, the Shoozies at Hasbro, and the Harry Potter Roarin Snorin Norbert at Matte.  Uneeda had a whole demonstration area set up for their Cosmic Babies.  But, I DID have to maintain my professional head about me the whole time in the showrooms, since many of the dolls and toys shown there are not yet in production, and production would often depend on how many buyers decided to order a product.  SO, I was constantly asking "Is this a prototype?  When is the release date?  Usually, for dolls that weren't yet a GO, I was not allowed to take photos. This was especially painful for a very RETRO looking Barbie storage case that one Barbie licensee was showing, and also for JAAKS new line of Elle dolls---not a definite go, so no photos.  ARGGH!

I've returned from Toy Fair brimming with news and photos of all the latest dolls and toys.  The experience was so positive, that I know I'll return next year, and I don't know HOW I wrote about dolls all last year without attending Toy Fair--looking back, I feel like I was a bit blind!  

Now that I have experienced Toy Fair, I know why there is a "NO one under 18 admitted.  NO exceptions" policy.  After all, if adults have so much trouble staying professional and businesslike when confronted with thousands of the BEST and NEWEST dolls, toys  and games on the planet, however could a kid handle it? 

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