UK Trade Fairs 2020, our very good friend Peter Evans attended both the UK Toy Fair and the Birmingham Gift Fair. He has sent along with a report what he saw in figures.
UK Trade Fairs 2020 the Report
But there were a few items of interest.
Firstly neither REVELL or AIRFIX had any figure ranges to show whatever – the emphasis being on AFVs and aircraft.
APO has released several new figures, two new knights in the medieval range – a Griffin Knight and an Iron Mask warrior. Because the two Scots figures, Robert the Bruce and Braveheart have been selling so well they have introduced a British Royal Guard figure.
Napoleon and the soldiers have all been dropped as well as Julius Caesar, otherwise, the historical range remains unchanged.
Wild Republic
The WILD REPUBLIC is still marketing their various sets of tubes and buckets with Knights and pirate figures, these range from 54mm to 70mm in height.
Bachman
BACHMAN has taken over the TOYWAY lines and is committed to getting the figure and accessory sets back into shops. I was informed that in the near future they are going to look at the mold bank to see if there are any sets not at present in production.
Final Notes
And apart from a company that had novelty rubbers of 54mm troops based on AIRFIX British Paratroopers that was it.
Several importers had soldier sets but they were either poor copies ( third generation) of Airfix and Matchbox or 40mm modern army troops with poor detail
I thanked Peter for his fine report. Sadly, the mass market continues not to be a source for new figures. New figures continued to come from small companies that do not show at the trade shows. I will keep a watch on the New York Toy Fair through various sources. It is not cost-effective for me to go anymore.
I like the knights .
Wild republic is sort-sold in local stores around me .the pirates are been in market x some years now as i post then here before in tube purchase at local store near me .I like poses but way too tall .
The figures are not where near 54 mm at all ,they are very tall 70 mm least to 85 mm .The same in the farmer set .I need see/check others coming in the row as maybe they went down in scale .That why i stop buying then .
Least a good news out not new figures …
I’m glad Peter Evan figures designed are selling far better and still.In fact are the only Heavy armor knights new made after toy soldiers gold era i like more as very action realistic poses .While some poses made looks odd or funny i see in then the idea back the creator with actually realism of precise action move pose .Either he pose himself to actually get the pose and feel the moment or he use another person .well done!!!
Never able complete all full poses sets .For some odd reason very few dealers here carry then .The plastic used too is great ,more like soft PVC type.
Unfortunately our hobby is not longer in the main toy makers main mind ,so we can not dream getting any out these toy fairs.I seen it since my last visit to NYC fair in 2014 and 2015 with only Blue box pushing with 3 sets that only two barely made to market .The modern army and the Pirates/skeleton.
Safari LTD,WR,PAPO,PLASTOY made these as educational toy figurines that least give us something better than nothing .
The new figures good made and Designed in China will come off as they come on third party importers such Supreme,DGN,US TOYS,LINE and others and we better check amazon,eBay and Alibaba-aliexpress for news …
my thoughts
best
It would be nice if Bachman gets the Timpo and Toyway figures back into production, but I remember you did a post in 2017 about the British Toy Fair and back then they were planning the same thing.
Heroic Battle Masters only pop up on eBay once in a very long while secondhand or as old store stock. I missed getting them back when they came out. I’d like to get a few more Timpo solid sets, too. You can only find the Civil War figures with any ease now. Sets like the Highlanders and the 8th Army only pop up from time to time.
There are so few of these sets on sale now that I had the impression that any Timpo/Toyway sets being sold by retailers now were old stock from the late 90s, early 2000s.
If Timpo/Toyway actually is in active production from Bachman, I have no idea where they are selling the sets. You would think everyone would be stocking Battle Masters, etc.
where sold