Today, I attended the London Toy Fair 2014, on behalf on FBTB. As always, there were no photos allowed and unlike previous years, I wasn’t allowed a Dealer Catalogue, so I have nothing to refer to here. Hence, this write up will be relatively brief and I may not be able to answer all your questions. Of course, the German and US Toy Fairs are only a few weeks away and photos are allowed there, so you may just have to wait till then to get all the answers!
STAR WARS
All of the sets from the Spring and Summer waves were on display, although for the vast majority of the sets (even the Spring ones that are out in the shops already), the minifigures were not present. Instead, we had little cards showing pictures of the forthcoming minifigures … most of which looked great and several of them had new printing.
I shan’t comment on any of the spring sets, as I am sure you know all about them already. So, onto the summer sets :
75048 Phantom … £19.99
Looked like the front of a Y-Wing, but not a lot more. Really didn’t know what to make of it! Don’t recall which figures came with it … something to do with the Rebels series I think.
75049 Snowspeeder … £34.99
Looked bigger than previous versions. Comes with the new firing missiles under the wings and the harpoon can be placed in one of the new “stud blaster” guns and can therefore be fired, which is a cool play feature. 3 figures included, Luke, Dak and someone else … I think!
75050 B-Wing … £49.99
I didn’t really get to see this in great detail, it was hanging up … but to me, it looked pretty similar to 6208 to me. Figure wise, it seems we’ll get 3 new figures, including Ten Numb, Airen Cracken and B-Wing Pilot. All of which appeared to have new prints and helmets etc.
75051 Jedi Scout Fighter? … £59.99
Again, wasn’t quite sure what to make of this … not a ship I was familiar with, again, something to do with Rebels. Don’t recall the figures.
75052 Mos Eisley Cantina … £64.99
The Cantina element of the set looked ok … probably not quite big enough for most people’s liking, although it does have representations of the main areas of the Cantina, so you can re-create scenes quite easily. It can either be closed up or opened out, in a line. The new Dewback looked great, although it was a preliminary version, without articulation or printing. The Landspeeder appeared to have a new main colour (possibly from the Friends line). We get 3 Bith figures, for the band (so you’ll need to buy two to get the whole band) and the Sand Trooper, Luke and Obi Wan figures all looked to have new prints.
75053 The Ghost … £69.99
Looked like an odd mix of Star Wars bits from various other ships, including the Falcon. Primarily white in colour. Don’t recall which figures came with it.
75054 AT-AT … £109.99
Again, smaller than previous versions, but captures the overall feel of the AT-AT. The head is much sturdier than the original version, at least, including more new missile things under the head! Includes General Veers, plus some Snow Troopers etc
*edit*
I should add here that I was comparing the new version to 4483 as I don’t own either the motorised version of 8129, since I thought they were not as good as 4483 and bought neither!
75055 Imperial Star Destroyer … £119.99
AGAIN, smaller than the last one, built in a similar fashion, although the top comes off easier and the sides open out in a more robust manner. The guns on the outside of the ship are connected and have a handle, so will rotate in unison, which was neat. There is a sturdy handle too, perfect for swooshing. The bridge, unlike the last one, cannot fit any figures in it, by the looks of it. It looked like the printing on the Darth Vader figures was new, in fact most of them looked new to me! Instead of having a large trans blue brick with a sticker to represent the Emporer, we get a custom moulded minifig trophy statuette in the shape of the Emporer, in trans blue. A neat little addition.
75056 Advent Calendar … £24.99
Comes with various mini models, some new, some not (the Y-Wing is the same as the 2011!). The Landspeeder looked rather similar to the keychain version from a few years ago. Figure wise, we get a Christmas Darth Vader, a green R2 unit with a cone head (i.e. made to look like a Christmas tree), General Rieekan and a Santa Trooper, plus a few others that are available in other sets.
And that is about all I can remember!!!! I may do another post tomorrow with details of other themes …
