No. 9 - Spring 2021

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ISSUE NO. 9 Cover photo: Mitchel Wu Toy Photography. For more information about how the image was created and the toys featured, scan here!

IN THIS ISSUE DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

18 | THE YEAR(S) WITHOUT

5 | FROM THE EDITORS

THE CONS

We’re almost home.

39 |

*

40 | RAYA TAKES KIDS ON

DISNEY’S NEXT EPIC ADVENTURE * Kids can travel to Kumandra with Disney’s newest warrior.

42 | LET’S PLAY

Toys and Games for the Next Generation of Fans

46 | BLUEY HAS A

PASSPORT TO PLAY The Heeler family heads stateside with an imaginative toy line.

48 | SPRING READS, YOUNG FANS New Books for Budding Members of Many Fandoms

The COVID-19 era continues to disrupt live fan events.

6 | NERDY NEWS

The Latest Headlines in Pop Culture and Collectibles

29 | GAME ON

Tabletop Games Coming in 2021

8 | FLAUNT YOUR FANDOM

Keep your favorite fandoms close to heart with attention-grabbing looks.

34 | COLLECTIBLE CRAZE

16 | RETAIL RUNDOWN

50 | PROTON ACCELERATING INTO THE AFTERLIFE

Toynk navigates a virtual world and makes fandoms functional.

54 | COSPLAY CORNER

New Collectible Figures, Accessories, & More

Ghostbusters fandom explodes as the Neutrona Wand is passed to a new generation.

Shellanin uses #CurlyCosplay to redefine authenticity.

56 | MERCH MAKERS

FiGPiN’s fan-focused app and intentional design builds a passionate collector community.

WE MISS THE MOVIES 10 | THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE MOVIE THEATER EXPERIENCE

Source: Cinemark

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FROM THE EDITORS

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CEO Laurie Schacht laurie@popinsider.com PUBLISHER Jackie Breyer jackie@popinsider.com EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Marissa DiBartolo marissa@popinsider.com Ali Mierzejewski ali@popinsider.com SENIOR EDITORS Jacqueline Cucco jc@popinsider.com Maddie Michalik maddie@popinsider.com James Zahn james@popinsider.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Madeleine Buckley mbuckley@popinsider.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Nicole Savas nicole@popinsider.com ART DIRECTOR Joe Ibraham joe@popinsider.com PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Bill Reese bill@popinsider.com DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING James Devin jd@popinsider.com SALES & MARKETING EXECUTIVE Stephanie Infantino stephanie@popinsider.com EDITORIAL INTERNS Alex Aiello • Ria Malatesta • Rocco Marrongelli Adventure Media and Events, LLC 307 7th Avenue, #501, New York, NY 10001 Phone: (212) 575-4510

Follow us @thepopinsider!

THE POP INSIDER, Spring 2021 — “THE POP INSIDER” (ISSN-2641-5496) is published quarterly by Adventure Media & Events, LLC, 307 Seventh Ave., Room 501, New York, New York, 10001. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY 10001 and additional mailing offices. © 2021 Adventure Media & Events, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in U.S.A. Subscription rates: $48 per year. THE POP INSIDER is a trademark and service mark of Adventure Media & Events, LLC registered in the United States Patent & Trademark Office Postmaster: Send address changes to THE POP INSIDER, c/o Adventure Media & Events, 307 Seventh Ave., Room 501, New York, New York, 10001 or e-mail bill@popinsider.com.

WE’RE ALMOST HOME Do you hear that? Sounds like hope.

It’s been a year. Can you believe?

2020 was certainly a time we will never forget, no matter how much we might want to. Every day seemed to bring more bad news, loss, unrest, isolation, restrictions, and closures. And while 2021 still poses some of the same issues, we finally have something we barely got a glimpse of in 2020: hope.

Vaccines are rolling out, businesses are starting to safely reopen, and — on the East Coast — our cold little hearts are beginning to thaw as the weather finally starts to warm up. Some of the biggest cons are still canceled, and the hugs we’ve been longing for will have to wait just a little bit longer; but for the first time in what feels like forever, we are actually on our way to the more social life we have all been longing for.

And we learned a lot on our way here, don’t you think? We learned how to be grateful, how to slow down, and how to find the joy in what we have. In more ways than one, entertainment got us through this pandemic. We bonded over shows and movies we were all watching together, whether they were old favorites or new obsessions. Our favorite characters gave us reasons to laugh, and the fandom community grew to new heights. We’re not unscathed by any means, but we’re getting through the madness together, and that’s cause for celebration.

There’s a lot to look forward to this year, especially as we get closer to 2022. Imagine how good it’s going to feel to walk the aisles of a con again, discovering hundreds of new products, artists, comics, and more along the way. Flip to page 18, where Senior Editor James Zahn analyzes the pandemic’s impact on cons and what’s next for live fan events.

When theaters officially reopen, going to the movies will no longer be a last-ditch effort to fill a Friday night — it’s going to be a longed-for experience you can’t wait to have (we can practically taste the popcorn).

Associate Editor Madeleine Buckley breaks down how theaters are faring through this trying time on page 10.

And, of course, there is a ton of new merch on the horizon. Fans can celebrate all of their favorite fandoms with new collectibles, apparel, accessories, and more. Check out our list of must-have fashion pieces on page 8, and collectibles to add to your wishlist on page 34.

Sharing the stuff we love with the kids in our lives has become more important than

ever over the last year. From sitting down as a family to introduce the next generation to our favorite classic films to experiencing new movies together for the first time, these are the moments that create lifelong fans. Be sure to check out the coolest new toys based on Disney’s latest hit Raya and the Last Dragon on page 40 in our Pop Junior section, plus tons of new toys and products for kids from lots of different fandoms on page 42.

At the Pop Insider, we’ve worked hard to get through the past year and keep you up to date on all your favorite cons, help you find the perfect gifts for the fans in your life, and continue to bring us all together, even when we’re physically apart. This year was tough in so many ways, but fans are family, and we stick together.

We hope you enjoy this issue, and we cannot wait to see you again. ✪ Love you. Mean it.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE POP INSIDER! ABOUT THE EDITORS: Marissa DiBartolo and Ali Mierzejewski are editors-in-chief of the Pop Insider and the Toy Insider. They report on trends affecting the toy and pop culture industries, including the latest in TV, movies, video games, collectibles, and more. They have been featured on ABC World News Now, Good Morning America, The TODAY Show, MSNBC, Fox Business, and dozens more. Follow them on Twitter @thattoygirl and @ohsotrendy.

THEPOPINSIDER.COM | #FuelYourFandom | 5

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Read more at thepopinsider.com

NERDY NEWS

Marvel St

WONDER WOMAN 80TH ANNIVERSARY INCLUDES MERCH, EVENTS, AND MORE On International Women’s Day, DC and Warner Bros. officially revealed plans for “Believe in Wonder,” a multimonth campaign that will celebrate eight decades of Wonder Woman. The celebration will include original content, commemorative comic books, experiences, fashion collections, and more. This campaign will continue throughout the year, culminating on Wonder Woman Day on Oct. 21.

Some of the merchandise highlights for this anniversary celebration include an “I Am Wonder Woman” activewear line from EleVen by Venus Williams and a DC Comics Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Spectacular keepsake comic book that will launch in October.

To keep up with all of the announcements and events for this super celebration, head to wonderwoman80.com. ✪ Source: Warner Bros.

ROLL FOR A GOOD CAUSE WITH THE SIRIUS DICE CHARITY SERIES Sirius Dice is launching a series of limited-edition Charity Dice — distributed by Alliance Game Distributors — to build awareness for small charities and their important work. A portion of proceeds from the sale of each dice set in this series will go to a nonprofit organization, starting with SURVIVEiT, a cancer patient advocacy organization.

The Cancer Awareness Dice Set comes with seven dice and an extra D20. While most dice sets feature a specific color scheme, this set is intentionally multicolored to communicate awareness for different types of cancers. Every tube contains a randomized assortment of transluscent, resin dice that each features one of 24 different floating cancer ribbons. The “20” on the D20 is also replaced with a ribbon symbol. With every sale of this dice set, 20% of the proceeds go to SURVIVEiT. This set is available now at local game stores and from siriusdice.com for $20. Sirius Dice will announce additional Charity Dice sets later this year. ✪ Source: Sirius Dice

SDCC 2021 CANCELED, SMALLER IN-PERSON EVENT IN THE WORKS FOR NOVEMBER For the second year in a row, there will not be a Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC).

On March 1, the SDCC team announced via an online statement that, due to a continuing concern for public health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, the fan convention will not take place in person as scheduled in July. Instead, fans will be able to enjoy another free, virtual Comic-Con@Home event, which will take place July 23-25.

The statement also revealed plans for a smaller, three-day, in-person convention this November. Specific details, such as attendance capacity, badge cost, and exact dates, will be announced in the future at comic-con.org. ✪ Source: Comic-Con International

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p U t I p e t S FLAUNT YOUR FANDOM

s close to m o d n a f e it r o Keep your fatevntion-grabbing looks. heart with at editor ucco, senior ckie C

compiled by Ja

SIMPLY MEANT TO BE

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS SALLY HEART COLLECTION FROM ROCKLOVE JEWELRY

YOU BLOCKHEADS!

PUMA X PEANUTS COLLECTION FROM PUMA Good grief! There’s nothing new shoes can’t fix. The PUMA x Peanuts collection is just as playful as it is iconic, featuring classic streetwear pieces full of sporty details, bright graphics, and plenty of appearances

by Snoopy, Woodstock, and Charlie Brown.

MSRP: $35-110 Available: PUMA stores, puma.com

Sally from Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is an instantly recognizable character, even just by a snippet of her patchwork dress.

RockLove Jewelry’s new Burton-esque pieces include sterling silver earrings, a ring, and a necklace featuring Sally’s signature stitches, swirls, and polka dots. Each piece is inscribed with “Now and Forever” on the back.

MSRP: $85-135 Available: rocklove.com

STREET STYLE

HYPE X SESAME STREET COLLECTION FROM HYPE C is for collab — and the new Hype x Sesame Street collaboration is good enough for us. The unisex collection is full of ‘90s vibes with plaid prints, color blocking, and embroidered characters in bright pops of color. Fans can look for sweatsuits, T-shirts, backpacks, face masks, water bottles, and other accessories.

MSRP: $12-65 Available: justhype.com

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ON THE HUNT

HUNTER X HUNTER GROUP T-SHIRT FROM HOT TOPIC Are you worthy of becoming a Hunter? Prove that you’re up to the task with this T-shirt featuring a colorful grid design of Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio from the Hunter x Hunter TV series.

MSRP: $24.90 Available: Hot Topic stores, hottopic.com

LIGHT ON YOUR FEET

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER UNISEX SHOES FROM FUN.COM

Whirl, dodge, and dance your way out of danger à la Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender with this fancy footwear inspired by the character from the Nickelodeon series.

These high-top sneakers feature the traditional colors of an Air Nomad outfit and a blue arrow tattoo on the tongue, just like the one on Aang’s head.

MSRP: $39.99 Available: fun.com

A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND

VANS X WHERE’S WALDO? SNEAKER COLLECTION FROM VANS Where’s Waldo? More like wears Waldo. This collection of fresh sneakers features art from the puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. Choose from four Vans sneaker silhouettes, with designs featuring Waldo’s red-and-white sweater stripes, a yellow-and-black checkerboard with Waldo hidden in the squares, an all-over Waldo print, and the classic beach scene.

MSRP: $65-85 Available: vans.com

THEY’RE NOT REALLY FROGS, ARE THEY?

HARRY POTTER CHOCOLATE FROG DUO CHARM FROM ALEX AND ANI You don’t need to go to Honeydukes to get these sweets. The latest Harry Potter bangle from Alex and Ani features two dangling chocolate frogs — one in a package and one out — for easy access after your next Dementor encounter.

Just don’t let them hop away!

MSRP: $39 Available: alexandani.com

MICKEY CAN’T COME TO THE PHONE RN

LEVI’S X DISNEY MICKEY & FRIENDS COLLECTION FROM LEVI’S Levi’s + Disney = magic. The two brands are partnering again for a collection of apparel and accessories built around the idea of staying connected.

Look for jeans, denim jackets, sweatshirts, and more, featuring Mickey and friends chatting on rotary phones in multiple art styles.

MSRP: $24.50-148 Available: Levi’s stores, levi.com

THEPOPINSIDER.COM | #FuelYourFandom | 9

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FANDOM FEATURE JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

The Row House Cinema marquee at the start of the pandemic-driven lockdowns | Source: David DiCello

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Movie Theater Experience

O

n March 15, 2020, Row House Cinema in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania shared an image of its marquee on Instagram.

But instead of advertising the Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival that was set to kick off in just five days, the backlit sign featured a six-word message: “We will get through this Pittsburgh.” Along with the image, there was a caption informing the theater’s devoted fans that the venue would be closed for the foreseeable future, due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. The Japanese Film Festival would be canceled, but “we will reopen when things go back to normal,” the message promised.

by Madeleine Buckley, associate editor Row House Founder and Owner Brian Mendelssohn didn’t know it at the time, but “back to normal” wouldn’t arrive any time soon. A full year after that original post went live on Instagram, the theater’s doors remain closed — a reality shared by movie theaters across the country, from massive chains to independent icons.

As it did with nearly every industry, the COVID-19 pandemic entirely disrupted movie theaters as — nearly overnight — sitting in a room full of strangers shifted from a normal happenstance to the most highly discouraged activity.

A quick look at IMDb’s Box Office Mojo

puts the reality of this disruption in very clear terms: The domestic box office gross for last year clocked in at $2,085,855,696. About 86% of that total came from the first four months of the year, when theaters were almost entirely open. That means U.S. theaters pulled in just under $300 million throughout the remaining nine months of last year — that is less than Avengers: Endgame made in its opening weekend in 2019.

As the pandemic arrived, marquees went dark, studios started pushing all major movie release dates, and theaters were forced to pivot with little-to-no notice. Now, as we head into our second year of pandemic life

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— with vaccinations starting to roll out — the fate of the movie-going experience is uncertain, yet somewhat optimistic, as theaters continue to adapt.

Fade to Black

Movie theaters, like many other public-facing businesses, have had something of a whiplash experience throughout the pandemic. At first, most states’ regulations required theaters to entirely shut down, but later allowed a partial reopening with extra safety precautions, and have since offered constantly shifting restrictions in response to current COVID-19 statistics.

Some theater chains, like Cinemark and AMC, have reopened in all possible locations, requiring masks, keeping open seats between families within each screening, and implementing aggressive (and highly publicized) cleaning procedures. The other major U.S. theater chain, Regal Cinemas, briefly opened with these regulations in late summer before closing all locations again on Oct. 8 (Regal locations are still closed as of print time).

However, for some independent theaters, like Wellfleet Cinemas in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, reopening with limitations was never the right choice. Owner John Vincent says he could have opened the theater without concessions in late summer, but with no new movies coming out and with the tourist season coming to a close, it wasn’t worth reopening.

Mendelssohn, too, has no plans to reopen Row House Cinema until after the pandemic has passed — even though Pennsylvania technically allowed movie theaters to resume operations in June. “I decided a long time ago that I didn’t want to slowly open the theater and try to fight this,” he says. “We’ve been closed, and we’re gonna stay closed. … The excitement of the movie theater is being able to have an amazing night out, and it’s hard to do that [with restrictions]. And I don’t want to half-ass it.”

Think Outside the Box Office

Though the rows of vinyl stadium seats inside Row House Cinema have stayed mostly empty for the past year, that doesn’t mean that the theater stopped offering movie experiences for cinema-lovers in Pittsburgh and beyond. Like many small theaters, Row House got creative in its plans, offering curbside concession pickups, virtual cinema screenings (which range from streaming recommendations to a rotating slate of rentals

hosted on the Row House website), and even private theater rentals for up to 10 people, which Mendelssohn says sold out in mere hours. These initiatives weren’t without their own challenges, though: For example, right after the theater first opened up reservations for private screenings, Pennsylvania shut down again, and Row House had to refund all of the payments.

“Our biggest fear was, how do we prevent losing the audience that we’ve built?”

Mendelssohn says. “So, that was the No. 1 priority, and that was done through all kinds of little things of reminding people that we are a community center for film for them.”

Perhaps the most interesting venture that Mendelssohn and his team took on? The Quarantine Cat Film Festival, which was a virtual event as odd and delightful as the name suggests. After finding some success with virtual cinema, Mendelssohn realized that the theater could profit — and potentially keep some employees on board — if they created their own content.

This idea did present a bit of a problem, as the Row House team is made up of film lovers, not film makers. However, they are also cat lovers who believe that everyone loves few things more than watching cute cats do cute things. So, they partnered with other independent theaters across the country, asking audiences to submit videos of their cats.

Then, they edited more than 1,100 of those videos together into a feature-length film that debuted on June 19 via virtual cinemas in the U.S. and Canada, providing revenue to about 100 local, independent cinemas. It brought in more than $60,000, and Row House Cinema’s cut was enough to keep two employees on payroll through the end of the year.

“It was actually a lot of fun to watch the movie,” Mendelssohn says. “We had fun making it, we had fun doing it. It kind of got our mind off of not being a movie theater for a little while.”

Movies: Alfresco

In addition to these initiatives, Row House also joined in on a trend that became very popular throughout the summer and fall: opening a drive-in cinema, which held 150 cars in a massive downtown parking lot.

Drive-in theaters dominated much of the movie-going conversation in 2020, with headlines like “How the American Drive-In Staged a Comeback” (Bloomberg) and “The Coronavirus Emptied Movie Theaters. But It’s Resurrecting the Drive-In” (NBC News)

The Row House Cinema team raised money while their theater was closed by producing the virtual Quarantine Cat Film Festival. | Source: Row House Cinema

painted a very rosy picture of this pandemic-friendly moviegoing option.

According to John Vincent, who owns the Wellfleet Drive-In Theater and Wellfleet Cinemas, and serves as president of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association (UDITOA), the situation for drive-ins was a bit more nuanced than headlines made it sound.

“We are happy to be open and happy to serve the customers, but it wasn’t, like, a windfall, gangbusters year for the vast majority of drive-ins,” he explains. Although he frequently emphasizes how grateful he is that drive-ins could be open at all, especially as his indoor theater remained closed, Vincent explains that drive-ins still took a hit because of the pandemic due to two key factors.

First, he says, most drive-ins had to start their seasons late due to the severe lockdowns in the beginning of the pandemic, which kept most drive-ins closed until May or June. This means they lost a month or two of key seasonal revenue. Then, once they were able to open, most drive-ins had to reduce car capacities and shut down features such as playgrounds in order to accommodate social distancing. Wellfleet Drive-In, for example, went from 700 cars to about 300 cars per screening, cutting their revenue by more than half.

The relative safety of drive-in movies also prompted a lot of pop-up drive-ins to open, which wasn’t an entirely welcome development for members of the UDITOA, who dedicate themselves to offering an “authentic drive-in experience.” Many of the members have been in the business for decades — Vincent has been operating Wellfleet DriveTHEPOPINSIDER.COM | #FuelYourFandom | 11

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FANDOM FEATURE Cinemark opened its theaters with various safety precautions, such as requiring masks and leaving empty seats between guests.

Source: Cinemark

In, which still uses its original speakers from the ’50s, for 33 years.

Vincent says some pop-up drive-ins were better than others, noting that those run by indoor theater owners, who know the industry and understand projection quality, were in a different category from the rest.

“Generally, I didn’t like the ones that were people who had no theatrical experience whatsoever and took a civilian-grade Blu-ray player and put it on a blow-up screen of some sort,” he explains. This year, UDITOA plans to emphasize the authentic experience that only established drive-ins can offer.

Movie Merch Madness

While indoor and drive-in theaters are the first businesses you likely think of when considering the impact of the 2020 movie-going experience (or lack thereof), other companies that work with theaters or rely on theatrical releases are an important part of this conversation, too.

Companies that create licensed merchandise inspired by major movies, for example, suddenly lost the traditional interest boost that comes from a theatrical release, as major blockbuster releases were rescheduled multiple times before ending up on a streaming service, like Wonder Woman 1984 (WW84) and Soul. Others were pushed into 2021, like Black Widow and No Time to Die.

Tony Kim, owner of the fandom apparel company Hero Within, says that he saw a direct impact of a delayed movie release on sales of WW84 items. While the movie’s release date changed multiple times, he explains, merchandise can’t shift in the same way, due to manufacturing lead times.

Because of this, Hero Within ended up releasing Wonder Woman merch slowly

throughout the year, instead of all at once.

“This somewhat diluted the momentum and made it difficult to predict how sales would be during the actual release of WW84,” he says. “Because there wasn’t the shared experience of seeing a movie together with friends, the demand for merch was significantly less this time around. In this new reality, the big question that all online retailers are asking is, can streaming content generate the same merchandise demands as theatrical releases?”

And the answer to that question is yet to be seen, says Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn and owner of McFarlane Toys.

McFarlane Toys also offers merchandise (action figures, specifically) for WW84 and for Warner Bros’ upcoming film Dune, which — like all Warner Bros. titles this year — is slated to stream on HBO Max the same day that it heads to theaters.

McFarlane notes that, in a way, WW84 landing on HBO Max on Christmas Day created a boost for figures that had been available for some time, as fans discovered the context of the hero’s suits after finally seeing the movie. He also says that there aren’t enough examples of streaming-first blockbusters to determine if they can create the same product demand as a theatrical release, but anecdotally he agrees that the long-standing tradition of coordinating product releases with theatrical debuts exists for a good reason.

“The closer you are to the product, the more it’s on people’s minds, right?” McFarlane says. “I’m sure that the NFL sells way more Super Bowl products within the 30-day window around that game than six months away from that game. I think it’s the same for big movies, too. There’s been an impact on everything that’s gotten sort of turned a little bit sideways. It’s far from ideal.”

One Night Only

Another theater-related business that had to adjust was Fathom Events. A content distributor that is owned by AMC, Cinemark, and Regal, Fathom offers event-based movie experiences to fans around the country.

The company presents theatrical screenings of classic movies, arts performances, anime titles, and more. And as theaters closed, opened, and, in some cases, closed again, Fathom had to continuously regroup and shift its offerings — especially considering that their tickets usually go on sale about 30 days before an event.

However, Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt says that in the final months of 2020, the company was able to provide content to open theaters, something that was certainly needed in the absence of major Hollywood releases. In fact, the company distributed 43 titles in the fourth quarter.

This provided Fathom Events with an opportunity to explore the answer to another industry question: Who is ready to come back to theaters? By testing titles from different content categories, Nutt says they were able to determine which audience demographics were more willing to visit a theater. They discovered that horror and anime audiences, for example, were far more likely to visit a theater, while arts performances (such as The Met Opera screenings) were more sparsely attended, presumably due to an older age demographic.

“It was a real opportunity for us to invest in our company and invest in some opportunity costs to see, alright, going into 2021, what should we be targeting and what shouldn’t we be?” he says. As a result, Nutt says Fathom will treat this year as a rebuilding year, as opposed to a reset. They plan to front-load the year with titles in categories that already have a more willing audience,

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FANDOM FEATURE then incorporate more movies across all categories as the year goes on, slowly building toward pre-COVID levels of content.

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You Fathom Events primarily utilizes an existing catalogue of films for its events, so the company isn’t directly impacted by shifting release dates coming out of Hollywood. But for traditional movie theaters, the ever-changing Hollywood release schedule makes the future of moviegoing hard to predict.

Last spring, as the reality of the pandemic set in and movie theaters all over the U.S. closed their doors, studios started pushing back the release dates for their major films.

Disney, Sony Pictures, MGM, and others first pushed back their blockbuster releases by a few months, but when those dates came and went with the pandemic still in full swing, many movies — such as The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick, A Quiet Place Part II, and The Eternals — were pushed into 2021 or 2022.

Studios did eventually release some 2020 titles via streaming or video on demand after initially pushing them back. In some cases, like Mulan, the U.S. release was exclusively digital. For other movies — such as Raya and the Last Dragon and Godzilla vs.

Kong — the movies’ digital launches supplemented the limited theatrical release.

Still, when theaters are able to fully reopen, logic dictates that there will be something of a backlog. Films originally set for release in 2021 will have to compete with movies that were originally meant to premiere in 2020, but are rescheduled for 2021.

McFarlane says this backlog may be a good thing, especially for fans. He predicts that, at least for a while, we will see a 12-month cycle of blockbuster releases, without the lulls that usually hit outside of the summer and holidays.

“You know, buffets and McDonald’s and Burger Kings are open every single day. You don’t have to eat there, but they’re always there in case you do want to, right?” he says. “So now, if you’re a fan or a geek and somebody’s saying, ‘Hey, there’s gonna be all these cool movies coming out every month,’ you can decide whether you’re gonna watch them ... And we may find in an odd way that spreading it out over 12 months may actually be more beneficial than lumping them right on top of each other during the summer.”

Vincent agrees and says that this wealth of content may be key in getting audiences back to theaters.

“People get in, they like the experience,

they see the previews for the upcoming attractions, and they get excited to come back. And it’s a snowball effect,” he says.

“The theater-going experience is a momentum-building experience, and I think that having the rich content week-to-week will certainly help and will certainly help bring the industry back on its feet rapidly.”Also, he notes, these blockbuster titles are likely to hit around the same time as the major streaming platforms reach a content lull caused by the significant filming delays and production shutdowns that hit in the early months of the pandemic — which could also push consumers to return to the theater.

”yes, home theaters are good, but indoor theaters are still better” — ­­ John

Vincent

Seeking Normal Of course, perhaps the most pressing — and hardest to answer — questions are if and when audiences will return to the pre-pandemic numbers. While one survey done by market research company Morning Consult last fall found that only 48% of U.S. adults were “likely” or “somewhat likely” to return to a movie theater in 2021, these theater owners seem confident that fans will be back, for a variety of reasons.

To start, as Vincent notes, there is a marked difference in quality when watching a movie in theaters versus at home. Also, he says, watching a movie in theaters removes the many distractions that are present at home, making it easier to enjoy a movie.

“You reach maybe a slow scene, you’re pulling your cell phone up and you’re checking it, where you’re less inclined to do that in a movie theater,” Vincent says. “So you’re more engaged in a movie theater, and that gives you a better experience … and you tend to have a better view of the movie, because you were more into the story, you know? And yes, home theaters are good, but indoor theaters are still better.”

He also highlights the communal experience that movies provide — something that many people have missed throughout the pandemic. Nutt agrees, saying that the desire to go out, once we are able to do so

safely, will drive people back to the theaters.

“I do believe there’s going to be enough pent-up interest that the newest and shiniest toy of streaming will still be a thing, but it won’t be as shiny a toy as it was through the pandemic,” Nutt says. “I mean, people want to get out. They’re gonna want to go to ball games, they’re gonna want to go to movies, they’re gonna want to hop on airplanes and go on vacation. All the things that human nature tells us that they want to do, and they will do it.”

That ability to have a communal experience is exactly what Mendelssohn and Row House Cinema are waiting for to reopen.

Row House Cinema already had an event-focused approach in the six years it has been open, enticing fans to come see classics on the big screen with fellow movie lovers, with programming like “Keanu Reeves Week” (which featured a different Keanu Reeves movie each night, a cardboard cutout of the actor to take pictures with, and an opportunity for audience members to give a speech about why they love the Matrix star).

Mendelssohn already has big plans for the theater’s grand reopening event. There will be hor d’oeuvres, a cocktail hour, live music, and a screening of Pulp Fiction — the movie shown for the original Row House Cinema grand opening.

“We’re going to shut down the whole place for the grand opening and we’re gonna pack it,” he says. “Which is gonna sound crazy. It’s hard to say that. But we’re gonna fill it and we’re gonna sell every seat, and we’re not gonna do it until we’re able to ... We’ll delay the opening if we have to, but we’re not gonna do it until we’re able to have every seat full.”

Although he’s willing to delay, Mendelssohn is already selling tickets for this grand reopening, aiming for August or September.

Nutt and Vincent are similarly optimistic that the elusive “return to normal” will arrive by the end of this year, especially as vaccines continue to roll out.

Nutt says Fathom Events is projecting that next year will be back on par with 2019 for its content output, while Vincent is hopeful that things will be back as soon as this summer.

“I also think there’s going to be an overwhelming desire to get back in indoor theaters. Just as there will be to get into bars and concerts and the other things that people really miss,” he says. “I think we will have the first-run movies this summer, and I think things will start to return back to normal. That’s an optimistic view, perhaps.

Perhaps not.” ✪

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RETAIL RUNDOWN

TOYNK NAVIGATES A VIRTUAL WORLD WITH MERCH FOR EVERY FANDOM.

Set Porcelain Tea rauder’s Map k yn To : Harry Potter Ma ce ur brand | So Robe Factory from Ukonic’s

BY JACKIE CUCCO, SENIOR EDITOR

W

hat happens when the little kids who dressed as Cinderella and Belle at their magical Disney tea parties grow up? If Toynk has anything to say about it, they keep the tradition going. While owning a Disney Princess tea set or a Star Trek lunch box might seem childish, Toynk is making them cool again for the grown-up geek in all of us.

Toynk began in 2001 when three friends hatched a plan to dump the corporate grind and create a company centered around fun products. The brand has come a long way from selling toys out of a small apartment in Chicago. Twenty years later, Toynk has more than 200 employees; a retail store in Addison, Illinois; and a website where people can purchase fandom-inspired home goods, office supplies, apparel, games, collectibles,

and more to add a touch of geeky class to their homes.

“Toynk is fun, it’s geeky, it’s nerdy.

It’s a colorful, bright, happy brand in the business of bringing people things they love,” says Toynk’s Public Relations and Media Coordinator Summer Grinwis. “We connect with people on this really fun and intimate level because we’re tapping into their passions. And sometimes these are the passions that they don’t always talk about unless they’re around like-minded people.

We love matching people up with those fandoms that fit them just right.”

Years ago, the company used to deal primarily with toys and costumes, but it now focuses largely on home goods, apparel, and jewelry after finding a lack of high-quality, fan-focused products for adults. “Those fans started out 20 years ago and now they’re adults. They want practical things so they can bring a little bit of that magic back home and use it on the regular,” Grinwis says.

Some of Toynk’s most popular items include a Star Trek whiskey decanter set, a Millennium Falcon carpet, an Iron Man gauntlet desk lamp, a Harry Potter Marauder’s Map porcelain tea set, and Disney Princess dinnerware. “Fans don’t just want to let their collections sit and collect dust: They want to show them off,” Grinwis says.

“Being able to wear a Star Wars T-shirt or host a Disney Princess-themed dinner party allows our fans to show off their nerdy side in a fun and functional way.”

EMBRACING A VIRTUAL WORLD Ukonic is a supplier for Toynk, designing exclusive Robe Factory products for the brand, including the aforementioned Disney Princess dinnerware and the Star 16 | Issue No. 9 2 | THE POP INSIDER

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Star Trek Whiskey Decanter Set from Ukonic’s Robe Factory brand | Source: Toynk

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Trek whiskey decanter set. “We’ve been working with Toynk for many years as one of their many suppliers, but really found our groove in 2020,” says Ukonic’s Marketing Manager John Frazier. “With ThinkGeek disappearing from the online space, a huge vacancy opened for curated pop culture merchandise.” That, combined with people staying home and shopping more online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, created an environment in which Toynk and Ukonic leveraged their combined expertise and thrived.

“We recognized early on that the pandemic was going to change how people shop,” Frazier says. “While many brick-andmortar clients cut back on orders and we had to fight off momentary panic, our partner Toynk believed as we did that the customer never went away, and doubled-down on bringing great exclusive merchandise to their online store.”

Toynk’s exclusive products currently make up 5% of its catalogue, according to Toynk’s Chief Marketing Officer Dave Madoch, and the company plans to increase that amount significantly this year. The key is to stay on top of what’s trending — and in the thick of the pandemic, that involved toilet paper and puzzles. Madoch says that puzzle sales were through the roof last year, and one of Toynk’s biggest sellers continues to be the Quilted Quarantine Toilet Paper 1,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.

“When new things come out, you have to be on the pulse of that,” Grinwis says.

“We have to constantly be on our toes, adapting and paying attention to news and pop culture to stay on the forefront of what’s relevant.”

The pandemic affected more than just toilet paper and puzzle sales; it caused nearly all of the biggest U.S. fan events either to be canceled or take place virtually for the first time. Toynk has participated in fan conventions since the company’s inception in the early ‘00s, and wasn’t going to give up on those sales opportunities.

Disney Princess Dinnerware Set from Ukonic’s Robe Factory brand | Source: Toynk

Toynk’s sales grew dramatically during the pandemic, according to Grinwis, and a lot of that came from online conventions.

“As these in-person events went virtual, it became less personal and more of a shopping experience for the fans,” Grinwis says.

Toynk continued to launch con-exclusive products as it normally would, including the Geeki Tikis Golden Girl and The Mandalorian tiki-style shot glasses from Beeline Creative that were a big hit at Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC)’s Comic-Con@Home.

“Part of what makes cons like SDCC so popular is exclusivity,” Frazier says. Fans attend these conventions because they don’t want to miss out. “By opening up the con to a virtual experience, the real-life experience may seem diminished,” he adds.

“As retailers and merchandisers, we have to work hard to create inclusion that still feels exclusive. It’s a knife’s-edge balance.”

If fans can’t get those thrilling in-person experiences at the cons, at least they can still get it from the merch. “Fans don’t want merchandise just to stare at it. They want merchandise that makes them feel like they’re a part of that world,” Frazier says.

“Our dinnerware and bar sets are designed

to make the owner feel like they really could be having drinks in 10-Forward on the Enterprise, or sipping bone-broth with Din Djarin.

We always think that in-universe products provide the best possible experience.”

Since Toynk is an e-commerce store that carries merchandise for a multitude of fandoms, affiliate marketing partnerships are also huge for growth and help the brand target its ideal customer base. “Affiliate marketing has helped us connect with fans from every universe, including Disney and Star Wars, smaller fandoms like Fortnite, and even smaller fandoms like Tentacle Kitty,” Grinwis says. “It has helped to increase our exposure in very new and exciting ways.” Affiliate marketing also helps Toynk connect with pop culture bloggers, influencers, and media outlets.

In a world of uncertainty, fans can trust that Toynk will continue provide the products they love. No matter if your childhood tea party locale was the Mos Eisley Cantina or Cinderella’s castle, Toynk is here to cater to every geeky whim. “Everybody has that one thing that they can really just nerd out about,” Grinwis says. “We give people permission to just totally do it — go big or go home.” ✪

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jackie Cucco is a senior editor at Adventure Media & Events. She covers toy trends and entertainment news for the Pop Insider, the Toy Book, and the Toy Insider. When she’s not busy homeschooling her Tamagotchis, Jackie spends her time watching horror movies and working her way through every Stephen King novel out there.

Visit her on Instagram @saucyjac and say hello to her pet bunny Peepers @thebigpeep.

Geeki Tikis The Child Mini Muglets from Beeling Creative | Source: Toynk

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FANDOM FEATURE A view from above the show floor at New York Comic Con (NYCC) , October 2019.

THE YEAR(S) WITHOUT THE CONS The COVID-19 era continues to disrupt fan events.

by James Zahn, senior editor

A

s the reality set in last summer that for the first time since its inception in 1970, the fandom community would not be gathering in southern California for Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC), the world felt battered and beaten. The U.S. was just four months into official lockdown mode as the COVID19 pandemic continued to spread, but still, there was a glimmer of hope that humanity might stand together against the invisible enemy like the Avengers did in the third act of Endgame.

But that type of triumph just never happened. There was no Tony Stark “snap” to put things back to how they once were. And COVID-19 — like Thanos — had taken away friends, family members, and coworkers, along with entire businesses and events that had long been taken for granted by nearly everyone involved.

For a multitude of reasons spanning fear, carelessness, stupidity, confusion, con-

tradiction, and a simple lack of widely accepted science-based facts, the epidemic curve was never flattened, but the live events industry certainly was.

In a final move that took ReedPop’s New York Comic Con (NYCC) into a virtual Metaverse, the 2020 convention scene was essentially toast.

Now, the year(s) without the cons continues as the industry explores the prospect that hybrid events composed of smaller-capacity in-person gatherings and a digital companion experience could become the new normal.

“We’ve always had a hunch that participating in these events may not be as critical as we thought. Now we have proof.”

— Jason Labowitz, Entertainment Earth

On March 1, following months of speculation, the organizers of SDCC announced the cancellation of the 2021 event. In lieu of the live event, fans can once again enjoy a free, virtual Comic-Con@Home, which will take place from July 23-25.

The cancellation, while disappointing, is hardly a surprise. At press time, the San Diego Convention Center is still being used

for Operation Shelter to Home, an initiative that launched last April in an effort to contain COVID-19 among the city’s homeless population. On Jan. 28, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria won unanimous approval from the City Council to extend the program — and its use of the famed venue — through at least the end of March.

Vaccinations may hold at least a few of the keys to bringing back fan conventions, but the slow speed of the rollout coupled with low public confidence regarding being in crowds continues to push back the goal posts. The empty venues and convention centers are even playing a critical role in getting the public vaccinated.

An open letter delivered to the Biden administration from a coalition of organizations representing the live event industry offered “the full weight of the industry to support vaccine distribution.” The group, which includes Live Nation, AEG, IATSE, and more, says that nearly everything needed is standing by at the ready.

“Our industry has thousands of venues throughout America that are under mandated closures and sitting empty,” said the letter. “Event venues make ideal community vaccination sites: They are located in most urban, suburban, and rural communities, often near transit lines and with easy access to parking. Due to the nature of our business, our buildings and our workforce are accustomed to patron queuing and large crowd management.”

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GOING DIGITAL AND RE-EVALUATING THE BUSINESS Until live events are genuinely back on the schedule, most of the major players continue to evolve their businesses to connect with fans in new ways, largely by shifting to digital conventions and fan events.

“Funko had already been planning for the shift back in early 2020 when Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC) was canceled and we had our first-ever virtual con,” says Funko CEO Brian Mariotti. “After we successfully hosted several virtual cons last year, the team came together and decided to host our very first Funko Fair, which took place in mid-January. The fans look to us to create experiences that continue to foster a feeling of community, and that’s exactly what we did with Funko Fair.”

Funko Fair was launched as a virtual replacement for some of the product reveals that the company would’ve done at the canceled Toy Fair New York (TFNY). The digital event ran for nine days and engaged collectors across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and numerous retail partner’s websites, including Walmart, GameStop, Hot Topic, Target, and Entertainment Earth.

At the same time, Funko revamped its own direct-to-consumer business to make up for the walk-up traffic it typically experiences at its convention booths.

“We were very fluid with our ability

to drive foot traffic to various channels,” Mariotti says. “We saw this when Toys ‘R’ Us went away and again this year with redirected foot traffic from the specialty channel to the mass channel.”

With the success of the first Funko Fair behind them, the organizers made plans for Funko Virtual Con Spring 2021 to take place alongside the anniversary of last year’s ECCC event which, in essence, served as an unofficial anniversary of the pandemic.

Similarly, companies such as Hasbro, Super7, NECA, Mezco, and Masked Republic debuted virtual events paired with increased digital sales opportunities.

Hasbro — which has long used SDCC, NYCC, and TFNY for elaborate fan media events to reveal collector-centric products from its Star Wars, Marvel, and Transformers brands, alongside more recent additions such as Power Rangers, Ghostbusters, and the relaunched G.I. Joe — has stayed topof-mind with fans all year. In addition to the company’s own virtual Hasbro PulseCon event, its brand teams have been doing weekly reveals in tandem with livestreams and retail partners.

At the same time, some retailers that operated in the convention and live event space have spent the past year re-evaluating their business models to better prepare for the future.

“The biggest change for us might be in

how we view the link between these events and our success,” says Jason Labowitz, president and co-founder of Entertainment Earth. The company has been known for its towering presence at SDCC and NYCC, highlighted by a two-level booth and dozens of exclusive products from a number of toymakers and licensees. “We’ve always had a hunch that participating at these events may not be as critical as we thought. Now we have proof that our survival is not tied to them. More importantly, we can grow significantly without them. That doesn’t mean we won’t support them when they return. It just means we might budget time, staffing, and resources differently going forward.”

THE FORGOTTEN WORKFORCE At the core of the convention experience are the creatives that fuel entertainment and the fandom lifestyle that surrounds it. From comic artists and writers to cosplayers, jewelry makers, clothing companies, designers, actors, hosts, and beyond, the people of the convention “neighborhood” are turning to new avenues such as Patreon, Cameo, and Etsy to connect with fans, move their wares, and stay afloat.

CREATING NEW RETAIL PLATFORMS AND GOALS Mattel, which had also planted an annual flag at SDCC with a massive booth

Cosplayers enjoy the Pop Insider’s 2019 NYCC kick-off party.

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FANDOM FEATURE

space and fan shop in the convention center, was in the midst of launching its 75th anniversary celebration when the plug was pulled last year.

“There’s no doubt that some of the celebration plans we had were a bit dampened by living in a pandemic,” says Mattel President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Dickson. Instead, Mattel sold its intended SDCC exclusives — including items from Star Wars, WWE, and Halo — online prior to launching a new platform to connect with hardcore fans: Mattel Creations.

Tapping into the popularity of doing limited-edition “drops” akin to the streetwear market, Mattel Creations has been unveiling collaborations with artists and brands, including Stussy, Madsaki, The Hundreds, and Frank Kozik, paired with Mattel properties such as UNO, Masters of the Universe, and Magic 8 Ball. The platform is fueling a new revenue stream that Dickson believes will continue for years to come.

“We recognize that when we do these drops, there is significant demand,” Dickson says. “We are selling out in minutes, and sometimes seconds ... but these are limited

2021 CONVENTIONS: WHAT’S CANCELED, POSTPONED, AND STILL HAPPENING

runs and we’re learning how to balance creating the collectible scarcity that some fans want while still pleasing as many people as possible. It’s quickly become a place for new and existing fans to experience the joy of collecting toys.”

Likewise, Funko completely reinvented its own digital retail business with a new website and a vastly expanded assortment.

The move fueled growth that contributed to the biggest fourth quarter domestic sales in the company’s history.

As more manufacturers extend their own retail businesses, retailers like Entertainment Earth are also focusing on becoming more proactive as sellers, distributors, licensors, and makers themselves.

“Without events to work on, our team has been laser-focused on activities fully within our control, such as internal process improvements and strengthening our relationships with studios, manufacturers, and partners,” Labowitz says. “This forced break has given us a chance to sharpen our vision at becoming the most influential collectibles company in the world.”

INTO THE UNKNOWN In February, more than 600 fans, cosplayers, exhibitors, and artists took part in a survey held on the Pop Insider Instagram in which we asked the community for thoughts regarding the future of the convention experience. Overwhelmingly, most of the responses reflected sadness over the loss of in-person connections with three words appearing over and over again when asked “What do you miss most about conventions?” The biggest answers: “cosplay,” “people,” and “everything.”

Looking ahead, all eyes are on NYCC in October and a smaller November event

that the SDCC organizers are planning as the next in-person fan events. Should those not happen, the next shot will be ReedPop’s C2E2 and ECCC, both of which have been pushed back until December — a full 22 months since 95,000 fans roamed the halls of McCormick Place in Chicago for the last C2E2 in March 2020.

“We’ve moved all our live events to the second half of the year, placing bets on the calendar of when a given market will be ready for them,” said ReedPop President Lance Fensterman in a statement emailed to convention goers. “Rest assured, we will not run events until it’s safe and will take every step to assure all participants can be there safely. Together we’ll get through this and build something new and vibrant.”

Labowitz agrees, and looks forward to the day when the human connections that live events foster will return.

“It will take some time to ramp back up to where we left off in 2019, but I am confident that the convention scene will return to pre-pandemic levels and excitement,” he says. “Now more than ever, people want to connect with each other. With the disappearance of more and more brickand-mortar stores, I feel that conventions will continue to evolve into the new town square — being the intersection of fans, talent, artists, educators, influencers, brands, studios, content creators, manufacturers, retailers, press, and more.”✪

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: James Zahn, best-known as The Rock Father, is a senior editor of the Pop Insider and the Toy Insider and deputy editor of the Toy Book. He has been attending fan conventions since the 1990s and has been a panelist at SDCC and Wizard World. Connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him @therockfather on social.

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2021 SNEAK PEEK

EXPLODING KITTENS

GAMES

In Tacocat Spelled Backwards from Exploding Kittens, players win duels by playing cards of matching or higher value to defend their hand or sacrifice their lowest card. When players are on their final card, whoever has the lowest-value card wins the round, bringing Tacocat closer to their side. This two-player game is designed for players ages 7 and up and combines strategy, luck, and instinct. It takes about 15 minutes to play and is available now.

A Little Wordy is a sneaky, two-player, tile-unscrambling game.

Players have to assemble a secret word from a set of tiles and keep that secret word to themselves. Each player then takes turns trying to decipher each other’s secret word by paying for clues and hints using berry tokens. Designed for players ages 10 and up, this game takes about 15 minutes to play and will be available in April.

THAMES & KOSMOS

GUTTER GAMES Gutter Games’ Beat That! gets players up and moving with 160 minute-to-win-it-style challenges, including solo challenges, battle royales, buddy-ups, and duels. Players will place bets on their skills and then try to complete the challenges, such as throwing a paper ball into a bin from across the room. This bonkers battle game is for 2-8 players ages 9 and up.

Critical thinkers, puzzle solvers, and strategy enthusiasts: These are for you.

Thames & Kosmos expands its EXIT: The Game collection with several new versions this year. Each one brings an escape room straight to the tabletop, with puzzles varying in difficulty. EXIT: The Game challenges players to solve riddles and uncover mysteries. Five new titles will arrive throughout this year, including The Sacred Temple and The Deserted Lighthouse (each of which also includes a jigsaw puzzle), Kidnapping in Fortune City, The Gate Between Worlds, and The Cursed Labyrinth.

In The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, players ages 10 and up work together to search for the lost continent of Mu. Out in the fall, this follow-up to last year’s version of the game features new surprises.

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2021 SNEAK PEEK

GAMES

AMIGO GAMES Available now from Amigo Games, Alexander Pfister’s Monster Expedition is set in the world of the game Carnival of Monsters, which was invented by Richard Garfield. In Monster Expedition, players ages 12 and up embark on an adventure to exotic locales teeming with legendary monsters. Once captured, these monsters’ powers can help their captors ensnare additional beasts, unless players decide to hold them in cages that keep their identities secret from the other players. In addition to the base game, Monster Expedition features 10 solitaire challenges, which are ideal for sharpening players’ monster-hunting skills when they can’t play in groups.

MATTEL USAOPOLY USAopoly is ready to share the care with Monopoly: Care Bears Edition. Players will buy, sell, and trade the Care Bears and their Cousins all through Care-aLot in this vibrant version of the classic game. With each roll of the dice, players will pick up a friend like Wish Bear, Funshine Bear, or Grumpy Bear, then use Star Buddies to add hearts and cloud castles to their properties.

Iconic Care Bears-inspired tokens include the Hot Air Balloon, Cloud Car, and Rainbow Roller.

Smash Up: Marvel is a shuffling, building card game in which players smash up two groups of Marvel characters in an attempt to take over bases and score the most victory points. Designed for 2-4 players, the game challenges everyone to mix and match the different decks of heroes and villains to see which combinations can best defeat the others. Fans can create their own unique stories that have never existed in the Marvel universe.

Both games are available now.

Mattel rings in UNO’s 50th year with new editions of the classic game, all of which are available now.

In UNO Remix, players can personalize an UNO deck that evolves with each game. At the start of each round, players will add special or write-on cards, which change the game going forward. They can personalize cards to specific players, such as “Skip to Jeff,” or “Draw 2, Maria.” Any group can create a unique deck for themselves.

The UNO Iconic Series features five decks with nostalgic designs from each decade that UNO has been in existence, starting with the ‘70s. Players can purchase each deck separately or get all five as a set.

The UNO 50th Anniversary Premium Card Set is a high-quality, collectible pack of black UNO cards, featuring an exclusive 50/50 card and a commemorative gold coin that are incorporated into the game with a special rule.

ULTRAPRO ENTERTAINMENT To celebrate the Frogger video game’s 40th anniversary, UltraPro Entertainment introduces Frogger The Board Game. This family-friendly, tabletop reimagining of the classic video game is designed for 2-4 players ages 8 and up. Each player must race their frog safely across the river to get to the tasty flies before their opponents, while avoiding the other hungry predators.

The game takes about 30 minutes to play and will be available this fall.

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2021 SNEAK PEEK

GAMES FUNKO GAMES In Fast & Furious: Highway Heist from Funko Games, players ages 12 and up play as Dom, Brian, Letty, Roman, and the rest of Team Toretto as they complete a high-speed heist. Whether they are taking down a swerving Semi filled with valuable cargo, stopping a rampaging tank in its tracks, or bringing down a hightech helicopter as it rains fire from the skies, players will have to work together to take advantage of every team member’s strengths.

The game will be available in May. Seinfeld: The Party Game About Nothing is a head-to-head party game in which players can test their knowledge about the hit TV show from the ‘90s. Players score points by answering trivia questions, performing charades-style challenges, and guessing who said or did hilarious bits from the show. The game is designed for 2-8 players ages 14 and up and will be available in June.

BREAKING GAMES Kroma, a new strategy game for 2-3 players, launches this summer from Breaking Games. Players race to capture territories by layering primary-colored pieces to create secondary colors, making an art piece through gameplay.

In Meeple Rapids, also launching in the summer, the Meeples are going on vacation. Players can roll, tumble, fly, jump, and swim to win arcade prizes in this whimsical strategy game.

Rise of Tribes: Beasts & Bronze Expansion arrives this spring with two new gameplay modes for the prehistoric civilization strategy board game, Rise of Tribes.

With the Bronze expansion, the tribes can advance beyond the Stone Age. With the Beasts expansion, players will encounter new lands and new creatures to overcome.

CRITICAL ROLE Uk’otoa is the first tabletop card game from Critical Role’s new tabletop game publishing company, Darrington Press. This tactical game of semi-cooperative card play is designed for 3-5 players ages 12 and up. Each player takes on the role of a sailor vying to be the last one claimed by the raging sea leviathan Uk’otoa.

As the ship slowly falls into the ocean, players must run, push, and sacrifice others to win the game.

BUFFALO GAMES In Buffalo Games’ new party game You’re On Mute, players ages 10 and up take turns being “on screen” and giving clues to get their teammates to guess as many keywords as they can. On their turn, players are behind an actual screen that magnifies their mouth.

The game also features three rounds with different difficulty levels: “strong signal,” in which players can say anything except the keywords; “weak connections,” in which players can only use one-word clues; and “you’re on mute,” in which players must mouth the keywords.

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ASMODEE Asmodee’s Ticket to Ride Europe: 15th Anniversary is a strategic card game for players ages 8 and up. The 15th anniversary edition introduces tunnels, ferries, and train stations for more strategic gameplay. Players can brave a ride through the long Alpine tunnels, undertake an arctic ferry ride, construct extravagant train stations across the old empires, or attempt the fabled European Express to become Europe’s greatest railroad magnate.

The Initiative is a cooperative board game set in the mid-’90s that puts players in the roles of teenagers who are also playing a mysterious board game. In the backstory, the teens find a mysterious game at a yard sale and discover that it is strangely connected to their lives. In the real world, players will unravel various secrets while they play. The game features codes to crack, puzzles to solve, and a bit of strategy. Players can follow the twisting story through an illustrated comic book that they can read in between missions.

BIG G CREATIVE Bluffaneer from Big G Creative launched exclusively at Target earlier this year. In this game, players ages 10 and up roll bone-shaped dice and bluff their way through each round in a quest to steal the most treasure. The game of chance is designed for 3-6 players and takes 15 minutes to play.

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2021 SNEAK PEEK

COLLECTIBLES TOYNK Created by Ukonic under its Robe Factory Brand, Toynk expands its Disney Princess Dinnerware Set Collection 1 exclusive fandom-inspired dishware line with the Disney Princess Ceramic Dinnerware Set Collections 1-3, available now. Each of the three sets comes with 16 pieces for four place settings, including dinner plates, dessert plates, bowls, and mugs. Each collection features designs inspired by four iconic Disney Princesses, including Cinderalla, Jasmine, Mulan, and more.

THE LOYAL SUBJECTS

Masters of the Universe Origins She-Ra

MATTEL The Masters of the Universe Origins Figures from Mattel feature vintage design details and classically stylized, retro packaging. Each 5.5inch figure in the collection features 16 moveable joints and includes a battle accessory and a mini-comic book. Characters include She-Ra, He-Man, Tri-Klops, and more.

The Masters of the Universe Castle Grayskull Playset is inspired by the original playset from the 1980s. It comes with an exclusive Sorceress action figure and features a working Jaw Bridge, an elevator, a throne room, and more.

The Loyal Subjects expands two of its collectible figure lines this year. BST AXN — pronounced “Best Action” — is a line of 1:15-scale, articulated action figures featuring character-specific details and accessories.

The line includes licensed characters from 51 brands across anime, retro, action/adventure, cartoons, music, and movies.

Kids can collect and display the Superama series, which merges action figures with dioramas. Each figure comes with a dynamic, comSuperama Iron Man ic-style background that collectors can connect to the others in the series. All of the bases link with each other in any sequence, so kids can pit Marvel heroes against villains or put all their heroes together. The series currently includes Iron Man, Gamora, Thanos, Thor, Spider-Man, and the Hulk.

BANDAI AMERICA Bandai America is fusing a ’90s toy icon with fan-favorite anime. With the Demon Slayer Tamagotchi, players can raise a demon slayer and master different Breath styles. Depending on which training methods they use, players can raise one of nine Breath users, all of which are based on the manga.

In stores this spring, the Evangelion Tamagotchi line will grow with three more devices: Evatchi Kaworu, Evatchi Mari, and Evatchi Rei. Fans can raise their own angel from fetus to cocoon to one of 20 different types of angels.

Evangelion Tamagotchi

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MCFARLANE TOYS This spring, McFarlane Toys will add new characters from the DC Multiverse to its line of premium action figures. Fans can relive the action from the Batman: Last Knight on Earth comic series with new heroes and villains. Build-a Last Knight on Earth Batman comes with a baton, a lantern with the Joker’s head inside, and a base.

Build-a Last Knight on Earth Omega may be the worst villain in the DC Multiverse, and he reigns supreme over the entire East Coast. The figure comes with alternate hands and a base.

The former Gotham University professor-turned-super-villain from the comic is available in collectible form as Build-a Last Knight on Earth Scarecrow. It comes with alternate hands and a flight stand.

And (we saved the best for last), Build-a Last Knight on Earth Wonder Woman includes a sword and a base.

Each figure in the Last Knight on Earth series comes with a separate piece to collect and build a Bane figure, plus a collectible art card, and a complete character biography.

Build-a Last Knight on Earth Batman

HASBRO Who ya gonna call? Hasbro. Inspired by the Ghostbusters entertainment franchise, Hasbro’s Ghostbusters PSA Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is a bulky 10.7-inch figure that features articulation and multiple facial expressions. Fans can press the button on Stay Puft’s head to change its expression and imagine fun stories.

There’s more than meets the eye in Hasbro’s latest collection of Transformers action figures. Transformers: Generations War for Cybertron: Kingdom Core, Deluxe Class, Voyager Class, and Kingdom Leader Class Assortments are made up of 3.5-7-inch figures of core Transformers characters.

The collectibles feature Beast Wars-era characters that have detailed beast modes with an animal-inspired skin and fur molded textures. Core Class beast figures convert into Beast Wars-inspired beast modes and G1-inspired figures convert into G1-inspired Earth modes. Each figure comes with classic weapons inspired by the Beast Wars or G1 animated series. Every Kingdom figure comes with a golden disk card that reveals the possible destinies of certain key characters. Fans can collect other Kingdom figures to reveal all alternate destiny variants for the characters.

DANIELLE NICOLE Danielle Nicole will launch new bags and accessories featuring fan-favorite characters this year, from Disney darlings to Nintendo icons.

Disney fanatics can celebrate Mickey’s birthday with this sweet treat. The Mickey Sundae Backpack features colorful sprinkles and a shimmery base with melting chocolate fudge, complete with a cherry on top.

It’s perfectly sized to be an everyday, go-to bag to carry your essentials.

Be bold and courageous with the Gryffindor Stained Glass Backpack, featuring the House’s lion crest and a design inspired by Hogwarts’ stained glass. It features two interior pockets and adjustable shoulder straps. It’s also available in the other three Hogwarts houses: Ravenclaw, Slyterhin, and Hufflepuff.

Level up your look with the Super Mario Crossbody Bag. Inspired by artwork from the classic Nintendo video game, this crossbody bag features the game’s iconic quote on the back: “Thank you, Mario, but our princess is in another castle!”

Mickey Sundae Backpack

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2021 SNEAK PEEK

COLLECTIBLES

FUNKO The Pop! Vinyl Comic Cover: DC — Superman Action Comic will be the first collectible figure of a new series from Funko that celebrates comic book covers.

Pop! Albums bring album art to life with vinyl figures styled like an album’s cover. The collection includes AC/DC’s Back in Black and My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade.

Funko will also grow its Paka Paka line with two new collectibles. Soda Kats Plush features a mix of iconic soda brands and sassy felines.

The characters include mash-ups such as Cat Pawchino, Meowntain Mew, and Dr. Purr Purr.

Paka Paka – Daisy Duke Dogs are off-leash mystery collectibles. There are 18 possible dogs to find.

UNCANNY BRANDS Legends in 3D Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back Darth Vader 1/2 Scale Bust

DIAMOND SELECT TOYS Diamond Select Toys (DST) is coming into 2021 hot with new lines of action figures, dioramas, and more featuring characters from popular fandoms of yesterday and today.

Gather the Fellowship with a new series of Lord of the Rings Action Figures, available this spring. Each 7-inch figure features 16 points of articulation and detailed sculpting and comes with a build-a-figure piece to assemble a 13-inch Sauron.

Head back to Sunnydale with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Gallery Buffy Summers PVC Diorama. The 9-inch diorama features the Buffster dusting a vamp with her iconic wooden stake.

DST’s Gentle Giant division heads to a galaxy far, far away with the Legends in 3D Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back Darth Vader 1/2 Scale Bust. The 10inch resin bust of the iconic Sith Lord is limited to just 1,000 pieces and includes a numbered certificate of authenticity.

Uncanny Brands has redesigned and will relaunch its line of grilled cheese makers this summer, starting with some Star Wars styles.

You can toast Grogu and The Mandalorian or Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper onto your bread for a galactic grilled cheese. Additional character styles are coming soon for even more fandom-infused food creations.

Fans can add some Spidey-sense to breakfast time this holiday season with the Spider-Man Halo Toaster, which toasts the Spider-Man mask onto pieces of bread.

Spider-Man In May, Uncanny Brands will launch a new brand, Halo Toaster Sleep Squad. This bedding-focused brand will feature iconic characters, including NBA players, NHL mascots, and WWE legends. The first releases for this brand will be 60-by-80-inch throw blankets.

THE TOPPS CO. The Topps Co. will help fans immortalize the picture-perfect world of Westview as seen in WandaVision on Disney+. Topps Digital: WandaVision card sets will release on an ongoing basis within the Marvel Collect! by Topps app. Fans can create a digital card collection as new cards become available.

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COLLECTIBLES ROCKLOVE JEWELRY Show your villainous side with RockLove’s sterling silver Disney X RockLove Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs Dagger Heart Ring, featuring a faceted red crystal heart cradled in golden claw prongs and speared with a gold dagger. The dagger is accented with crystals at each hilt point and a halo of white pavé micro-crystals set into black rhodium frame.

Inspired by Maleficent in dragon form, the Disney X RockLove Sleeping Beauty Maleficent Crystal Necklace features a 3D, carved, horned dragon with flashing green faceted crystal eyes and bared teeth. The dragon’s folded wings feature transparent purple enamel over a scaled texture. Cutout thorn branches decorate the side of the pendant, which slides along a matching black rhodium-plated, sterling silver chain.

WREBBIT 3D Wrebbit 3D expands its Harry Potter puzzle collection with three new designs.

The 420-piece Harry Potter Hogwarts Clock Tower 3D Jigsaw Puzzle is available now.

This puzzle can be combined with the Hogwarts Great Hall and Hogwarts Astronomy Tower puzzles to recreate the complete Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each puzzle is sold separately.

Wrebbit also recently released Harry Potter Hogwarts Clock Tower the 155-piece Harry Potter Hogwarts 3D Jigsaw Puzzle Express 3D Jigsaw Puzzle and the 130-piece Harry Potter Flying Ford Anglia 3D Jigsaw Puzzle, which are the smallest models released so far in the company’s Harry Potter collection.

JABBERWOCKY TOYS Jabberwocky Toys expanded its BlownUp! line to include some of the biggest names in rock. These unique collectible figures appear to be inflated, but are actually made with hard vinyl. They can wobble about and rotate their arms 360 degrees. The new Icons of Rock collecton will launch with members of KISS, Angus Young, and Ozzy Osbourne. More Icons of Rock and other pop culture characters will join the line later this year.

LEGO Star Wars fans, rejoice! LEGO recently launched a 474-piece LEGO Star Wars Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing. This buildable ship features an attack mode and spring-loaded shooters and comes complete with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and General Dodonna minifigures, plus an R2-D2 LEGO droid figure.

Disney X RockLove Sleeping Beauty Maleficent Crystal Necklace

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POP JUNIOR: FANDOM FEATURE

Raya Takes Kids on Disney’s Next Epic Adventure Kids can travel to the world of Kumandra with Disney’s newest warrior.

by Ali Mierzejewski, editor-in-chief

R

aya’s to-do list is short, but far from simple: 1. Find the last dragon.

2. Restore peace.

Disney’s newest animated adventure combines awe-inspiring animation with deeply rooted themes of unity and trust, and packs it all up to take on an adventure to a brand new fantasy land.

In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Raya and the Last Dragon, audiences can travel to the fantasy world of Kumandra, where humans and dragons once lived together in harmony until an evil force threatened the land and the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil force has returned, and lone warrior Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) must track down the last dragon to restore the land and reunite its divided people.

“One of the most exciting things about bringing Raya to Funko products was celebrating not just incredibly strong, female warriors, but also showcasing the breathtaking kingdom of Kumandra, a fantasy world broadly inspired by Southeast Asian culture,” says Dolly Ahluwalia, vice president of licensing and business development at Funko, one of the many companies that is filling retail shelves with Raya and the Last Dragon-inspired products.

She may be a lone warrior, but Raya is surrounded by a cast bursting with personality, including the magical, mystical, and self-deprecating dragon, Sisu (voiced by Awkwafina); a street-savvy, 10-year-old entrepreneur, Boun; a formidable giant, Tong; and a thieving toddler, Noi, and her band of Ongis. Kids will be able to bring this new crew of friends home with a full product line

of role-play toys, dolls, and more from Jakks Pacific that is on retail shelves now, with more to come in the fall.

“Raya and the Last Dragon is an ensemble film — on her journey to reunite Kumandra, she built a crew from each land that would help her achieve her goal. We wanted to ensure that we celebrated the crew throughout the line,” says Lisa Tauber, senior vice president of marketing at Jakks Pacific. “But within that, there are several very powerful relationships … we also wanted to make sure that those relationships were brought to life as well.”

Not only did Jakks Pacific pull inspiration for its toys from these important relationships between different characters, but also from the strength of the characters themselves. “Raya is on a mission and she won’t let anything stop her,” Tauber says.

“We want consumers to feel the strength of Raya and join the journey with her.”

Along her journey, Raya learns that it will take more than a dragon to restore harmony to Kumandra — it’ll take trust in relationships and teamwork as well. Fans can see how these themes, as well as the important storyline of unity, weave into the behind-the-scenes details through an art book from Chronicle Books.

Raya and her friends will also jump offscreen and into your home with a full line of dolls and figures under Hasbro’s Disney Princess brand, as well as a line of cuddly plush from Just Play. Kids can cuddle up to different characters, including Raya’s trusty steed, with products like the Fold’n Roll Tuk Tuk Plush.

“It was important for us to create toys

that capture the mythical fantasy elements of the story and let kids join Raya on her journey,” says Sunny Lauridsen, head of licensing and brand strategy at Just Play.

“We worked with Disney to highlight key characters and moments from the film.

Raya is a fearless protagonist, and it was important to deliver her emotion through detailed facial features and an outfit that is closely modeled after the film. We were also taken by her adorable sidekick, Tuk Tuk, and introduced the fold and roll plush to bring to life his transforming capabilities.”

For companies like Funko who have mastered the quick turnaround for product creation, the release of the film on Disney+ with Premier Access is a gamechanger.

Since fans are able to immediately rewatch the movie over and over again, Funko can be right on the pulse of what fans are obsessing over — and pump out products based on what they love.

“The best thing about Funko is how we are able to react quickly to what fans get excited about,” Ahluwalia says in an interview anticipating the film’s release. “I, myself, am looking forward to watching opening day and will have my phone volume set to extra loud as I’m sure our CEO will be texting me throughout the day saying, ‘Did you see (X) scene?! We need to make this!’ That’s half the fun of Pop! This is just the start.”

Directed by Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and Carlose López Estrada (Blindspotting), Raya and the Last Dragon is in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access now. ✪ Top image and background image (right): Raya embarks on an epic journey in Raya and the Last Dragon.

Source: Walt Disney Animation Studios

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JAKKS PACIFIC The 15-inch Raya Warrior Doll from Jakks Pacific features Raya’s iconic outfit from the movie with a removable cape, hat, and sword.

The doll features 11 points of articulation so that kids can recreate epic moments from the film. This doll can sit on top of the Ready to Roll Tuk Tuk, which features rolling wheels and is sold separately.

Jakks rounds out its doll offerings with the Petit Dolls, available in Raya, Human Sisu, and the Petit Raya & Sisu Gift Set. These dolls feature iconic looks from the movie and five points of articulation.

Jakks Pacific’s spring collection also includes a line of role-play and dress-up items and the Sisu Raya Warrior Doll Dragon Chest, with more to come in the fall.

MSRP: $7.99 (Petit Dolls); $24.99 (Sisu Dragon Chest); $24.99 (Ready to Roll Tuk Tuk); $29.99 (Warrior Doll) Available: major retailers

BUILD-A-BEAR WORKSHOP Kids can take their furry friends along on their epic journeys with these new Raya and the Last Dragon items from Build-A-Bear.

Disney’s Sisu is a majestic dragon with blue fur; fuzzy, purple hair; and a long dragon tail.

Fans can also dress up their furry friend with the Disney’s Raya costume. It includes the brave Raya’s signature yellow and green outfit with Disney’s Sisu a red cape — a necessary accessory when you’re to saving Kumandra.

HASBRO Inspired by the animated movie, the poseable Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon Fashion Dolls are dressed in adventure-ready clothes.

Sold separately, each doll has five points of articulation to make action-filled poses.

The Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon Kumandra Story Set includes Raya, Sisu as a human, and Boun dolls; a Sisu dragon figure; and three Raya and Human Sisu Fashion Dolls stackable Ongis figures. All the dolls wear molded, movie-inspired outfits and include accessories such as a sword, a satchel, a jacket, a flute, and a hat. The Sisu dragon figure’s body has a pearlescent finish, a design that is exclusive to this set.

The Sisu Dragon figure has soft purple hair and includes articulation in her head and tail. At a little more than 2 feet long, Sisu is big enough to make all of kids’ playtime adventures amazing.

MSRP: $14.99 (fashion dolls); $24.99 (Story Set); $24.99 (Sisu Dragon) | Available: major retailers

CHRONICLE BOOKS With never-before-seen development art, character sketches, storyboards, and color scripts, The Art of Raya and the Last Dragon from Chronicle Books is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Disney animated feature. Fans can take an exclusive peek into the creation of the land of Kumandra, inspired by the diverse cultures of Southeast Asia.

The Art of Raya and the Last Dragon is part of Chronicle Books’ Art Of series, which invites audiences behind the scenes of their favorite animated films.

MSRP: $32 (Disney’s Sisu); $18 (Disney’s Raya Costume) Available: buildabear.com

JUST PLAY The Fold ’n Roll Tuk Tuk Plush is made with super-soft materials and features unique designs, including a shell made of embossed fabric.

Raya’s steed, Tuk Tuk, is ready for a high-speed adventure: The plush is 11 inches long when unrolled and kids can really roll him into a ball.

Each of the three Chattering Ongis Plush are made with soft fabrics and mixed materials with embroidered details.

The tallest of these mischievous Ongis stands 7 inches tall.

Kids can connect their magnetic hands to hear Ongi sounds and conversation.

Just Play will also debut a line of collectible-sized Small Plush, ranging approximately between 7-13 inches long.

Characters include Raya, Sisu, Tuk Tuk, and the Ongis: Dyan, Pan, and Uka. Each is sold separately.

MSRP: $7.99 (Small Plush); $12.99 (Fold ‘n Roll Tuk Tuk); $24.99 (Chattering Ongis) | Available: major retailers

MSRP: $24.50 Available: Amazon, chroniclebooks.com

FUNKO Funko enters the world of Kumandra with new Pop! Vinyl figures featuring characters from Raya and the Last Dragon, including Raya, Sisu as a dragon, Sisu as a human, Namaari, Noi, Tuk Tuk, and the Ongis.

Top to bottom: Raya, Sisu, and Tuk Tuk Pop! Vinyls

MSRP: $11 | Available: Amazon, shopDisney, Target, funko.com

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POP JUNIOR

MATTEL

This spring, Mattel will launch the Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Lil’ Gamer. This pretend, handheld gaming console has a D-pad, A and B buttons, a toy game cartridge, and a light-up screen. Babies ages 6 months and up can press the buttons to hear music, sounds, and phrases that teach directions, colors, numbers, and shapes. In addition to inspiring the next generation of gamers, the toy helps to strengthen babies’ dexterity and handeye coordination.

With the Fisher-Price Thomas & Friends Tidmouth Sheds Engines, toddlers ages 3 and up can connect each take-along storage shed to any Thomas & Friends track set to recreate scenes from the Thomas & Friends TV series.

Each set includes a die-cast train engine featuring a different member of the Steam Team.

DISGUISE This fall, kids ages 8 and up can become Optimus Prime with Disguise’s Transformers Converting Optimus Prime costume. The jumpsuit features printed artwork and 3D foam chest, arm, and leg pieces to create dimension. The costume also features an Optimus Prime mask, full printed gloves, and a removable tractor trailer cabin top. Kids can wear the costume in three modes: fully loaded, partially loaded, or just as a jumpsuit.

Fisher-Price Laugh & learn Lil' Gamer

ADK EMOTIONS NY ADK Emotions NY will expand its Beyblade brand with two new toys from Hasbro designed for kids ages 8 and up. The Beyblade Burst Surge Speedstorm Volt Knockout Battle Set is a battle arena that features a Power Vortex at the center. This energy zone pulls in Beyblades and gives them a speed boost.

The Beyblade Burst Pro Series Starter Packs each come with a Beyblade top and a launcher, featuring the authentic Japanese Beyblade Burst battle system.

The sets also include sticker sheets, so that kids can apply detailed designs to these premium tops.

Both products will be available this spring.

POCKET.WATCH This spring, pocket.watch will work with its licensing partners to expand its offerings for Ryan’s World.

Ryan’s World is going on tour this year, and fans can celebrate the fun with the Ryan’s World World Tour Airplane from Jada Toys. Kids ages 3 and up can join Ryan and his friends aboard Combo Panda’s Airplane. The plane opens up to reveal multiple figures, including Ryan himself, and accessories. When playtime is over, the plane closes up and doubles as a storage case.

Bonkers Toys’ new Ryan’s World World Tour Travel Case features 12 country-themed mystery micro figures with matchRyan's World ing stickers, an exclusive World Tour vehicle, an educational World Tour Globe passport book, display stands to show off the collection, and a suitcase for storage.

Bonkers also has a new Ryan’s World World Tour Globe that features eight micro figures packaged in a globe container. Just like the Travel Case, it also includes matching stickers and an educational passport book.

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POP JUNIOR INSIGHT EDITIONS Insight Editions continues to merge popular culture and kids’ media this spring. Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Straight to the Castle follows Sarah and Hoggle as they make their way through the labyrinth to the Goblin King’s castle.

Kids can enage with the story using the interactive elements such as pull tabs, sliding blocks, and flaps.

With Ghostbusters: Book of Shapes, kids can learn basic shapes found within iconic images from the Ghostbusters films. It features tactile shapes that are die-cut into and layered on top of the pages.

Kids can learn how to make new friends with Godzilla vs.

Kong: Sometimes Friends Fight.

The interactive board book provides tips on how to be a good friend by showing the two monsters in situations that are relatable to kids.

With Star Wars: A Ghoul-actic Halloween, kids can explore the dark side of the most-haunted holiday, and build their own pop-ups with easy-to-follow directions.

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LEGO With LEGO Vidiyo, kids ages 7 and up can direct, produce, star in, and share their own music videos, using chart-topping songs from a variety of Universal Music Group’s artists. Kids can choose a song, create a band of mini-figures using AR technology, add special effects, then create their 60-second video. Then, they can trim them down to shareable clips, which they can only upload to the companion app’s feed with parental consent.

BRIO This fall, Brio will introduce the Brio Disney Princess Castle Set. Kids ages 3 and up can help the princesses travel through the enchanting castle scene in the pink train, which has enough room for the included Aurora, Belle, and Cinderella action figures.

NICKELODEON This year, preschoolers can get ready to play more Blue’s Clues with their puppy pal from the Nickelodeon show, Blue’s Clues & You! Melissa & Doug’s Blue’s Clues and You! Rainbow Stacking Puzzle comes with three removable play figures and six wooden rainbow pieces that toddlers ages 18 months and up can stack and sort. The puzzle enhances color recognition, fine motor, and problem-solving skill development.

With VTech’s Blue’s Clues & You! Storytime with Blue, toddlers ages 2 and up can use the nonremovable Handy Dandy Notebook to choose one of three included stories for the plush to read. Narrated by Josh, each story is a twist on a classic, including GoldiBlue and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Magenta, and The Three Little Pigs.

Toddlers can listen to or read along with the eight-page book, which features a variety of Blue’s Clues characters, including Magenta, Mailbox, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, Shovel and Pail, and Sidetable Drawer. The buttons on Blue’s paws trigger music, reading comprehension questions, or a game of Blue’s Clues to discover what story Blue wants to read next.

Kid Trax’s Blue’s Clues & You! Kids Bike is designed for kids ages 2-4 who are just learning how to ride a bike. It features a durable steel frame; an easyto-use, single-speed drivetrain; an intuitive, rear-pedal brake for secure stops; and removable training wheels that provide extra support while kids learn how to ride. The bike is decked out from top to bottom in authentic Blue’s Clues & You! graphics and details, including a Blue handlebar plate and a mailbox storage compartment.

VTech's Blue's Clues & You! Storytime with Blue

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BASIC FUN! Basic Fun! added two new styles to its 14-inch Care Bears plush collection this year: Care Bears: Love-A-Lot Bear and Care Bears: Wish Bear. With these new styles, there are now eight huggable Care Bears BFFs available to collect. Each Care Bear also comes with a collectible Care Coin that kids can keep or share with a friend.

JAZWARES Jazwares adds to its CoComelon toy line with CocoMelon Musical Tractor, designed for toddlers ages 2 and up. This brightly colored tractor features an exclusive, 3-inch JJ figure, plays the song “Old MacDonald,” and makes animal and tractor sounds.

Toddlers can laugh, giggle, and play with the 9-inch Blippi Talking Figure, which features fully articulated limbs. Kids press Blippi’s bowtie to hear eight sounds and phrases.

For older kids, Jazwares will launch CoComelon Fortnite Legendary Series Figures — Musical Tractor Brawlers Assortment this spring. Fans can collect these 7-inch figures that have more than 35 points of articulation. Each figure also comes with weapons, harvesting tools, and more.

Fortnite Feature Vehicles — Choppa & Bombs Away! Glider each come with a 4-inch figure and an accessory. The Glider randomly twists and turns to carry the action figures to victory, while the Choppa can fit up to seven figures.

NINTENDO In Nintendo’s Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, players will pounce and climb through dozens of colorful stages. In the game, Mario and his friends can use power-ups like the Super Bell, which grants catlike abilities, such as climbing and scratching. Players can work together locally or online with up to three other players to reach the goal — and to see who can get the high score.

The video game features the same co-op gameplay, creative levels, and power-ups as the original WiiU game, but also has new, additional ways to play.

Players will explore a new world as they fight for survival with their customized team of heroes in Bravely Default II, a role-playing game adventure.

They will balance risk and reward in turn-based battles with the brave and default commands as they follow the story of a young sailor setting out on a grand adventure, where he meets plenty of friends and foes along the way.

SPIN MASTER

Accio fun! This fall, Spin Master will release 8-inch Wizarding World fashion dolls, including Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Cho in their Hogwarts uniforms. Designed for kids ages 6 and up, these dolls each feature five points of articulation, rooted hair, and a wand accessory so they’re ready for magical adventures.

Spin Master’s Batman Bat-Tech 12-inch Deluxe Figure features expanding bat wings, more than 20 sounds and phrases, and lights that kids ages 4 and up can activate by pressing the bat symbol on the figure’s chest. The 12-inch figure will be available this spring, along with a full line of Batman Bat-Tech 12-inch Figures, which each feature 11 points of articulation.

Holy playset, Batman! The Bat-Tech line will further expand this fall with the Batman Bat-Tech Transforming Playset. Designed for kids ages 4 and up, this 36-inch set transforms from a large Batman figure into a playset, complete with multiple play areas, an elevator, accessories, and Batman Bat-Tech interactive elements. This set is compatible with Spin Mas12-inch Deluxe Figure ter’s 4-inch Batman figures.

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POP JUNIOR: FANDOM FEATURE

THE HEELER FAMILY HEADS STATESIDE WITH AN IMAGINATIVE TOY LINE.

BY JACKIE CUCCO, SENIOR EDITOR

W

hat the bald eagle and Elvis Presley are to the U.S., the Blue Heeler is to Australia. A “Bluey” is more than just a type of dog: It’s a cultural icon, thanks in part to the skyrocketing popularity of Bluey, a kids’ show about a family of pups who use their imaginations to inspire lessons in make-believe.

Debuting in Australia in 2018, the animated series follows a 6-year-old Blue Heeler puppy named Bluey; her 4-year-old sister Bingo; and her parents, Chilli and Bandit.

In each episode, Bluey uses her boundless energy to play elaborate games that result in heartwarming and hilarious lessons.

Following a successful launch down under with Ludo Studio, BBC Studios helped bring Bluey stateside in 2019 with a cross-platform Disney debut in the U.S. Bluey is now thriving with two seasons available to stream on Disney+ and DisneyNOW, and perhaps more to come after season three rolls out in Australia.

“When we met with Disney, what was surprising was that a lot of people in America didn’t know what a Blue Heeler or a ‘Bluey’ was,” says Daley Pearson, executive producer at Ludo Studio. He explains that Australians have an affinity for Blue Heelers because they seem to represent the best parts of Australia: They’re loyal, hard-working, and energetic.

“They love families, they’re insanely playful, and when they’re puppies, they’re even more insane. And all of that lined up with the personalities of a 6-year-old and a

4-year-old, so it really did work ... with where Bluey and Bingo are at.” Bandit, the father in the series, is even based on the series’ creator Joe Brumm’s family dog. “It’s always surprising how personal Bluey is, which is quite Debuting in Australia in 2018, Bluey is now streaming resonating,” Pearson says. on Disney+ in the U.S. | Source: BBC Studios Although it’s designed with preschoolers in mind, Bluey is meant to be a co-viewing SERIOUS GAMEPLAY series — a show that parents and kids can Aside from humor, gameplay is the watch together. The way to do that successreal backbone of the show. The creators had fully is through humor, according to Pearson. a clear vision to make it about gameplay “I think the sense of humor is definitely in from the very start. But, it wasn’t such an there, which I hear is traveling really well,” easy idea to pitch to a studio, Pearson says: he says. “I think in Australia, and I’m sure “It’s not about a comet heading to Earth. It’s America has a lot of this as well, no matter not about superheroes or a kid bitten by a how tough things get — and the episodes spider. There’s no big logline behind it. It’s are about tough stuff — there’s always room very Seinfeld-y when you explain it. Bluey for joking, laughing, and brevity. That’s defiis really just a show about playing games.” nitely something that has gone into Bluey.”

But, all they had to do was get started, and For example, the “Copycat” episode shows the seed of gameplay started growing into Bluey coming to terms with the death of a so much more. bird after she finds it in a garden. Bluey then Gameplay can cover so many topics, reenacts the scene by putting her sister from kids role-playing what they want to be Bingo in a box as if she’s dead and driving when they grow up to experiencing their first her to the pretend vet (their Mum) in her emotions. “Gameplay is a kid’s first draft of ride-on car. everything,” Pearson says. “These games “It’s an incredibly heavy and moving are real. It’s not a game to a kid — and esepisode, but it’s also hilarious. It’s one of pecially not to Bluey and Bingo — and mom the funniest episodes,” Pearson says. “The and dad really support that. It’s the kids’ combination of the sweet and sour is very first draft of experiencing collaboration and Australian and is also very Bluey.” responsibility — all the things that are tough

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to grapple with.” It’s the first draft of dealing with tough concepts as well, like turning to games and imaginative play to process the loss of the bird in the “Copycat” episode.

The parents in the show are also a great example of what many parents strive to be in terms of taking an active part in their kids’ lives. “Bluey and Bingo’s dad and mom buy into their gameplay and their kids’ conceit of the games,” Pearson says. Bluey’s use of big, adventurous storytelling can help emotionally prepare kids to face the world.

“These games are as real to them as this interview is to me or as turning up to work is,” he says. “There is room when you’re young for this imaginative gameplay, where you learn all the human stuff before learning all the book stuff. And I think that’s something that really hit home with a lot of families.” Bluey opens up a wave of communication for parents to connect with their kids through play, which is what the show is all about.

TURNING MAKE BELIEVE INTO TOYS It is safe to say that this overarching motif of gameplay translates well to an actual line of toys. Australian-based Moose Toys is the global master toy partner for Bluey, capturing hearts with charming figures, playsets, and plush toys that help bring the show’s imaginative spirit into kids’ hands.

When creating the initial Bluey range, the team at Moose Toys wanted to make sure that fans felt like they were immersing themselves in the world of Bluey and becoming a part of the Heeler family, says Moose Toys’ U.S. Head of Preschool Stephanie Haggerty. “The range is focused on what we call the ‘For Real Life’ moments, which are core to the Bluey DNA and celebrate the joyful simplicities of everyday family life,” she explains. Fans can collect and role-play with figures of key characters, such as Mum, Dad, Bluey, and Bingo, as well as their cousins Muffin and Socks. Kids will also

recognize familiar Bluey settings in playsets, such as the multilevel Bluey Family Home, and mini-playsets that hone in on specific locations, such as Bluey’s Playground or Bingo’s Playroom.

Bluey Heeler 4WD Family Vehicle Source: Moose Toys

AUTHENTICITY IS KEY “I think with all product development that is derived from content, authenticity is absolutely critical,” says Suzy Raia, vice president of consumer products at BBC Studios. “When you deviate from what kids love about the characters and their stories, then you lose the magic that is really connecting the audience to your property. We always strive to find unique ways to stay true to the show, its core attributes, and its characters, because what’s beloved on-air has to be beloved in-store in order to inspire a purchase, and then, of course, play.”

Moose Toys highlights the Australian elements of the show without letting the details get lost in translation. For example, the Bluey Heeler 4WD Family Vehicle features a steering wheel on the right side of the car rather than the left, just like it would appear in Australia. “A really wonderful added bonus is that Moose Toys is an Australian company, and they really understand what that means and how those nuances can play into content and then be translated into toys,” Raia says. “So we know they can take our little Blue Heeler family and translate the core attributes of the show nicely into toy play.”

This summer, Moose Toys will launch the Pool Time Playset, inspired by an episode called “The Pool,” in which Bluey and Bingo call their Mum boring, but then forget to bring her “boring” bag of pool essentials for a day of fun of the sun, leaving them stranded in the shade until she saves the day. The set features the characters in their swimsuits and includes the must-have pool toys and accessories that the kids wished they had in the episode, including unicorn floaties, an inflatable doughnut, a diving board, and more.

“We wanted to make sure kids had toys that they could use to recreate their favorite moments they love so much, as well as inspire them to create their own new, fun adventures,” Haggerty says.

Source: Moose Toys

IMAGINATION AT THE FOREFRONT Pearson says that the Bluey toys and merchandise are just as important to the creators as the show itself. It’s important to him for the toys to be open-ended to give kids the opportunity for interpretative play as opposed to rigid figures that don’t do anything. “In Bluey, they make a taxi out of cardboard. It is a very organic show where anything can be anything,” Pearson says.

“That mindset is really in every toy that we have and every book that we have. It’s really important for us that anything to do with Bluey opens up gameplay and doesn’t put a lid on it.”

Bluey’s licensing program continues to grow as more partnerships make their way over to the U.S., including puzzles and games from Spin Master’s Cardinal Games division, books from Penguin Random House, apparel from the Bentex Group, bedding and home decor from Jay Franco, dining and home goods from Zak Designs, and holiday decor from Kurt Adler. All of these items will be available by the end of the year so that families can bring even more Bluey home.

Kids and parents see themselves in the characters and their everyday adventures, which is appealing to both groups. Both the series and the down-to-Earth simplicity of the products rely more on inspiring imagination and family bonding than hiding behind ornate distractions.

“We’ve had a lot of feedback from people saying ‘it feels like there’s a recorder in our living room recording us’ and then we just transcribed that for the show.

And I wish it was that easy,” Pearson says.

“These stories just seem to be ripped out of the pages of parents’ [lives] today.”

While the heart of Bluey may be Australian, the themes are universal. Luckily for all of us, family, imagination, and gameplay have a global passport. ✪ THEPOPINSIDER.COM | #FuelYourFandom | 47

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POP JUNIOR: POP PICKS

SPRING READS — FOR — YOUNG FANS

New Books for Budding Members of Many Fandoms compiled by James Zahn, senior editor

Warmer weather is just around the corner, but the bookshelves are already heating up with a raft of new titles to cultivate a love of pop culture in young readers. This season’s Pop Picks delivers a little of everything from a few of the biggest franchises, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and more.

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S: FAZBEAR FRIGHTS NO. 7 — THE CLIFFS BY SCOTT CAWTHON, ELLEY COOPER, ANDREA WAGGENER Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) creator Scott Cawthon unleashes a collection of three terrifying tales inspired by the video game franchise in the seventh installment of the Fazbear Frights series. The novella-length stories delve into different corners of the FNAF canon to immerse readers in a world of twisted toys and gut-wrenching games where things can go awry and leave those involved with unexpected consequences to deal with.

Publisher: AFK Books/Scholastic Available now

5-MINUTE LEGO BUILDS This new collection of more than 100 quick LEGO builds follows a new “five-minute” format that kids can use to craft LEGO creations. The book includes a small assortment of bricks to build exclusive mini models in a matter of minutes, but kids can also create using the bricks that they already have at home. 5-Minute LEGO Builds also features an assortment of brick-based challenges and games.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland Release Date: May 1

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS CHARACTER ENCYCLOPEDIA: JOIN THE BATTLE!

BY JASON FRY Disney+ continues to expose new fans to endless adventures in a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars has come to an end, paving the way for the May 4 (Star Wars Day!) debut of The Bad Batch and seeding potential connections to Din Djarin, Grogu, and the rest of the gang on The Mandalorian. This new book from author Jason Fry seeks to get kids up to speed before the new series premieres.

This fully illustrated encyclopedia includes essential facts and details on more than 350 Star Wars characters, including Jedi, Bounty Hunters, Droids, and more, with expansive profiles and backstories for Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex, Maul, the Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze, and Clone Force 99 — Crosshair, Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker — collectively known as The Bad Batch.

Geared toward young readers ages 7-9, The Clone Wars Character Encylopedia covers all seven seasons of the hit series.

Publisher: DK Children Release Date: April 27

MORE BOOKS COMING SOON: Dog Man: Mothering Heights (March 23), FGTeeV Saves the World! (April 6) ...

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SUMMER ADVENTURE FOR GROOT

BY BRENDAN DENEEN AND CALE ATKINSON

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: BAD GUYS

BY IAN FLYNN AND JACK LAWRENCE

The fourth book in the Rocket and Groot picture book series finds the Guardians of the Galaxy traveling throughout the cosmos with plans to see as much as possible in just one day.

In the original story from author Brendan Deneen with illustrations by Cale Atkinson, Rocket and Groot need to map the planets for their adventure as they set out to play hide-and-seek on Asgard, catch fireworks on Xandar, and more.

Publisher: Marvel Press Release Date: April 6

Dr. Starline is cooking up problems for the famed Blue Blur in this collected edition of the four-issue comic book mini-series from Sonic writer Ian Flynn and veteran Sonic comic artist Jack Lawrence.

Mimic, Rough, Tumble, and Zavok have been offered incredible powers by Dr. Starline, but in return, this crew of bad guys has to help Starline crack into an abandoned Eggman base packed with an army of badniks.

Publisher: IDW Publishing Release Date: May 11

HARRY POTTER: EXPLORING DIAGON ALLEY ILLUSTRATIONS BY STUDIO MUTI

STAR WARS: REY AND PALS

BY JEFFREY BROWN Imagine a galaxy far, far, away filled with warm adventures and lots of playtime.

This book reimagines Rey’s childhood, filled with silly antics like Kylo Ren using the Force to cheat at a game of Go Fish, Poe bowling with BB-8, and Rey lifting rocks to play hide and seek. Of course, there are also appearances by R2-D2, Chewie, Luke, and Leia.

Publisher: Chronicle Books Available now

Kids can explore the Wizarding World’s famed shopping district through colorful and intricate illustrations from Studio MUTI. This expansive guide serves up a detailed tour of Diagon Alley’s most iconic locales, including Flourish and Blotts, the bank vaults of Gringotts, Ollivanders wand shop, Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, and more.

The book includes behind-the-scenes facts from the production of the Harry Potter film series alongside more than 300 illustrations of characters, creatures, and artifacts.

Publisher: Insight Kids Available now

THE THIRD MAN RECORDS ILLUSTRATED COLORING BOOK BY JOE SNOW This unique coloring book from UK illustrator Joe Snow follows the adventures of Manny, the storefront mascot of Jack White’s Third Man Records Nashville location. In the book, Manny hangs out in the shop and checks out a show on Record Store Day before visiting space and then returning back to Earth to learn how vinyl records are made.

The Third Man Records Illustrated Coloring Book was previously available exclusively through the Third Man store, but now it’s getting a wide release for young rockers and artists everywhere.

Publisher: Third Man Books

Godzilla vs. Kong: Sometimes Friends Fight (But They Always Make Up) (April 6), Bluey: The Beach (May 4) THEPOPINSIDER.COM | #FuelYourFandom | 49

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FANDOM FEATURE

PROTON ACCELERATING INTO THE

AFTERLIFE

Ghostbusters fandom explodes as the Neutrona Wand is passed to a new generation.

by James Zahn, senior editor It’s been nearly 37 years since the Manhattan Crossrip sent the East Coast into a frenzy with ghost sightings galore and chaos on every corner. It was in 1984 that the Environmental Protection Agency’s Walter Peck forced a shutdown of the Ecto-Containment Unit tucked into the basement of a Tribeca firehouse, literally blowing the roof off of the place and setting off a chain reaction that signaled the coming of an ancient Sumerian God known as Gozer the Gozerian.

The story of Ghostbusters is a famous one — a legendary tale that continues to inspire new generations of fans — but in-universe, has the Crossrip been forgotten? That’s a question that will be answered when Sony Pictures’ Ghostbusters: Afterlife finally makes its way into theaters everywhere this November.

DID YOU KNOW?

When Ghostbusters: Afterlife got pushed back, director Jason Reitman hosted a screening of the original Ghostbusters at the Sony Pictures drive-in on the historic Sony Pictures lot last summer.

Jason Reitman and the Ecto-1 Source: Eric Charbonneau/Columbia Pictures

It’s a little rusty, bu t the original Ecto1 rides again in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. | Sourc e: Columbia Pictur es

Following a few pandemic-fueled release date shifts, the film from Juno director Jason Reitman — son of Ghostbusters-helmer Ivan Reitman — will return audiences to the timeline of the original canon that was last explored in Ghostbusters II (1989), as a new generation straps on the Proton Packs for a supernatural adventure that pays tribute to the past while carrying the franchise into the future.

Over the years, the Ghostbusters fandom has been fueled by storytelling across film, animation, comics, and games.

Legions of fans have amassed impressive collections of toys and props. There are even highly organized regional fan groups that have the uniforms, the gear, and in many cases, elaborate life-sized replicas of the iconic 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ecto-1 vehicle. And many of these local paranormal investigators also drive original, Ecto-inspired creations that modernize the classic ride. So what is the biggest source of the appeal?

“Ghostbusters is lightning in a bottle,” says Troy Benjamin, editor-in-chief of Ghostbusters HQ (GBHQ), a leading fansite that has been evolving since 1996. “It’s tough to pinpoint one single secret ingredient. Is it the characters? The gear? The timeless stories? Or is it the wish-fulfillment of everyday Joes and Janes being able to strap on a pack and trap some ghosts?”

Benjamin’s fandom inspired a career that’s come full circle from a kid who once bought Ghostbusters on VHS from a Kmart store in Parker, Colorado, to working as an

on-camera host for Ivan Reitman’s production company Ghost Corps, to co-authoring Insight Editions’ 2017 Ghostbusters Ectomobile Owner’s Workshop Manual.

“Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ivan Reitman’s creation crafted endless possibilities,” Benjamin says. “We’ll always be obsessed with things not of this world. Ghostbusters made the paranormal accessible.

It also made it into a fictitious, aspirational profession that just happened to turn the protagonists into rock stars.”

While the action on screen hooked viewers, the magic that happened behind the scenes is the secret sauce — or Ectoplasm — that’s really propelled Ghostbusters into being so much more than just a film.

The UK-based, brother-and-sister team of director Anthony Bueno and producer

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Claire Bueno tracked down and interviewed more than 40 members of the cast and crew over the course of a decade for the production of their feature-length documentary, Cleanin’ Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2019).

According to Claire Bueno, the lasting legacy is due to the triple-threat of the right cast and crew being paired with the right setting and technology.

“We always think that Ghostbusters is as good as it is because a bunch of actors came together at exactly the right time, but it is so much more than that,” Claire Bueno says. “Every beat of the film moves the trajectory of the story from the basic idea of starting a new business, to dealing with the biggest interdimensional crossrip since 1909! Being set against the grittiness of New York in the early 1980s adds to the

GHOSTBUSTERS NERD SEARCH

HERO COLLECTOR In a Nerd Search, fans are called upon to nitpick their favorite stuff. This Ghostbusters-themed, search-and-find book is a diabolical test of your nerdular knowledge that includes out-of-place objects, continuity errors, and other supernatural slip-ups that only a true Ghosthead can spot.

MSRP: $19.99 Available: Amazon

appeal and the special effects still hold up.

Ghostbusters is a timeless classic because it’s so well made.”

The Real Ghostbusters Return Following the success of Ghostbusters, Columbia Pictures Television and DIC Entertainment launched The Real Ghostbusters as an animated spinoff that ran on ABC and in syndication from 1986-1991. The series spawned a Kenner toy line that was a huge hit and has since become sought after by modern collectors.

At Toy Fair New York last year, Hasbro revealed plans to launch a full range of new Ghostbusters toys inspired by the classic film and Afterlife, but one of the biggest head-turners was a range of reissues and updates based on the classic Kenner toys of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The first wave of Ghostbusters Kenner Classics brought The Real Ghostbusters versions of Ray, Egon, Peter, and Winston back into Walmart toy departments for the first time in nearly 30 years. This year, the line expanded with the addition of the Ghostpopper — “an essential piece of The Real Ghostbusters’ equipment” — with “poltergeist popping action.” Another wave of toys, including a cartoon-inspired Ecto-1 and a pair of ghosts — Fearsome Flush and Bug-Eye — will be available exclusively at Walmart this spring.

In January, Sony began tapping into the nostalgia vein by adding full episodes of the animated series and its late ‘90s follow-up, Extreme Ghostbusters, to the official Ghostbusters YouTube Channel.

GHOSTBUSTERS TOTE & MINI BAGS

FUN.COM Fashion gets a supernatural upgrade with these stylish Tote Bags and Mini Bags. Choose from designs based on Slimer, “No Ghost,” or the Ecto-1.

MSRP: $24.99-29.99 Available: fun.com

Ghostbusters PSA Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Source: Hasbro

Fun, Frights, and Family Beyond the comedy, the action, and, yes, the frights, a common thread among Ghostbusters fans is a simple one: family.

In recent years, entire families have begun cosplaying together and that’s opened up opportunities for numerous companies to answer the call to deliver new products for all ages from baby and toddler costumes to adult flight suits and high-end, screen-accurate prop replicas.

“The most rewarding aspect of offering properties that are multigenerational is how we get to partake in a shared experiTHEPOPINSIDER.COM THEPOPINSIDER.COM| |#FuelYourFandom #FuelYourFandom| |51 3

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FANDOM FEATURE

ence,” says Henni Kristiansen, PR specialist at FUN.com, a Minnesota-based purveyor of pop culture costumes, gifts, and apparel.

“The ability to offer our customers a way to experience a moment when their children are the same age they were when they first saw Ghostbusters gives us immense joy. We consider ourselves lucky to play a small part in creating a bond between generations.”

Before there was “cosplay” there was playing dress-up, and the nostalgia that brings has made its way into popular culture with characters on ‘80s-set shows, such as ABC’s The Goldbergs and Netflix’s Stranger Things recently getting in on the action.

“With cosplay, you can be yourself,” Claire Bueno says. “When you cosplay as Batman, you’re Batman, but with Ghostbusters you can be Venkman or you can be Bueno and just make it your own.”

And making things your own — or tinkering as Ray Stantz was often seen doing — is also a growing part of the experience.

GHOSTBUSTERS KENNER CLASSICS GHOSTPOPPER

HASBRO The Real Ghostbusters classic blaster is back with retro packaging that recalls the 1980s glory days of Kenner toys.

The Ghostpopper includes six soft-foam Ghostpops and three cut-out targets to pop.

MSRP: $19.87 Available: Walmart

LEGO CREATOR GHOSTBUSTERS ECTO-1

THE LEGO GROUP Kidults can build the most detailed LEGO Ecto-1 ever with this 2,352-piece set. This Ecto-1 features working steering, a trapdoor with ghost trap, an extending gunner seat, a moving ghost sniffer, and other paranormal detection equipment. It’s even weathered with LEGO “rust” to emulate the look of the vehicle as seen in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

MSRP: $199.99 | Available: LEGO Store, lego.com

One of the biggest — and most elaborate — Ghostbusters collectibles ever released is one that can’t just be bought: You have to build it. The Ghostbusters Ecto1 Build-Up from the Eaglemoss HeroCollector Die-Cast Club is a subscription project that pairs collecting with scale modeling.

Each month, subscribers receive pieces for a 1:8-scale, die-cast Ecto-1 alongside magazines that get filed in an exclusive binder.

“The response to our Ecto-1 BuildUp has been incredible, and really shows the enduring appeal of Ghostbusters as we approach the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” says Chris Thompson, brand manager of Hero Collector at Eaglemoss.

“Whether it’s Adam Savage customizing his model on Tested, or a father and daughter sharing their efforts on social media, we’ve seen an incredible uptick with thousands of subscribers starting their journey over the last 12 months. Since debuting the prototype at Ghostbusters Fan Fest in 2019, I’ve lugged it around the world to events like

SDCC and NYCC, and it’s a joy to see others now sharing that experience.”

While the new film is still some months off, it’s said that the Spengler family (and the real life passing of actor Harold Ramis who played Egon Spengler) plays a central role in what is ultimately a passing of the torch between one generation to the next.

“There’s never been a better time to be a fan of the Ghostbusters franchise,” Benjamin says as he ponders what new toys and collectibles might be coming in the months ahead. Collecting for yourself is one thing, but now there’s a bigger purpose at play.

“Most importantly, I’m excited to share Ghostbusters: Afterlife and all of the toys and tie-ins with my daughter — to live vicariously through her, as the next generation of fan,” he says. “I can’t wait to see her grab a Proton Pack, heroically play-capture ghosts, and aspire to be as cool of a Ghostbuster as Mckenna Grace’s character Phoebe [in Ghostbusters: Afterlife]. That’s going to be quite a thrill.”✪

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COSPLAY CORNER

SHELLANIN USES #CURLYCOSPLAY TO REDEFINE AUTHENTICITY.

N

o character is out-of-bounds for the cosplayer known as Shellanin. Her work incorporates looks that are race-bending, gender-bending, and in the case of her Aang cosplay: air-bending.

She takes heavy influence from her love of anime, cartoons, and video games. As a Black woman with naturally curly hair, she finds that the pop culture characters she loves rarely have her hair texture or skin tone, so she creatively reimagines them in her cosplay looks to make them more representative of who she is.

When Shellanin, the alter-ego of the Atlanta-based Shell, first discovered cosplay, she chose to only dress up as characters that looked like her. As she got more into the hobby, she made the choice instead to add her own twist on the craft — that’s how #CurlyCosplay came to life.

Some cosplayers believe in cosplaying only as characters they most resemble, producing an authentic, screen-accurate replica.

But others are taking a more creative approach, drawing inspiration from characters they love, but creating original looks that have

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Left: Shellanin’s Raven cosplay Source: @shellanin_ Right: Shellanin’s Vegeta cosplay Source: Jasemine-Denise-Photography

Shellanin’s Chun Li Cosplay Source: MLee Creative

“Part of myself is in each of my cosplays, so it makes it feel even more empowering.”

— Shellanin never been done before. For Shellanin, the concept of #CurlyCosplay stays true to the heart of the craft, while also removing all limits on which characters can and cannot be brought to life. #CurlyCosplay upholds the idea that you don’t have to look like the actors and actresses you see on-screen to create unique cosplays based on the characters you love.

“When I was a kid … I would always draw myself as the characters. I’d always draw them with dark skin and curly hair,” Shellanin says. “I thought about that one day when I was working on a cosplay and I was like, wait, maybe I should bring that passion back — and that’s when I started working on my #CurlyCosplay hashtag and started working toward representation instead of accuracy.”

Each of her cosplays begins with the love of the character. Then, Shell asks herself what they’d look like if they were more like her. She takes time to carefully envision how the character’s hair would look if it were Afro or curly.

“I feel like that’s the hardest part of the process, just trying to figure out how to translate the hair into something new,” she says. Once she completes the overall character concept, she crafts an outfit and perfects the details. Her genuine passion for the characters comes through in every part of her cosplay. Even when she’s dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants or Isabelle from Animal Crossing, you can immediately see who she is portraying and, more importantly, who she is at heart. She remains accurate without being too accurate and stays authentic to herself more than anything.

“Part of myself is in each of my cosplays, so it makes it feel even more empowering,” she explains. Her favorite cosplay that she’s done is her Vegeta look because of the way it makes her feel. The Dragon Ball character is the prince of the fallen Saiyan race and a powerful warrior. In her Vegeta form, Shellanin is a powerful princess who is always ready to battle.

Shellanin’s Instagram page (@shellanin_) currently has more than 88,000 followers,

and #CurlyCosplay is now used by many Black women who are also working to redefine authenticity. Shellanin says she often receives messages of people letting her know others are posting their own cosplay with her hashtag, and she replies to them, “that’s the point.” She wants the hashtag to be used by everyone who feels connected to it. “I’m really happy that other people see my work and want to do that, too. I think that’s really, really cool,” she says.

“I want people to feel comfortable in their own skin and feel proud of their own hair texture,” she explains. “If they want to bring that into the world of cosplay that makes me even happier.” ✪ ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nicole is an editoral assistant at the Pop Insider and gets all of her life advice from Michael Scott. A proud Hufflepuff, she is dedicated to writing as fairly as she can about her favorite fandoms (and including puns wherever possible).

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MERCH MAKERS

FiGPiN uses a fan-focused app and intentional design to build a passionate collector community.

by Madeleine Buckley, associate editor

B

ack in 2013, Dan Williams was visiting Disneyland when he picked up a few blind-bagged pins. He took those pins back to his desk, opened them, and liked what he found — bright colors and sturdy material. However, he quickly realized that he had nowhere to display these pins.

He wasn’t going to wear them, so he stuck them into his desk drawer, thinking how cool it would be if he could display them like figures.

And that idea stuck in the back of Williams’ mind for about three years. In those years, he started a business with Travis Oliver, manufacturing custom goods for companies like ThinkGeek. Then, in 2016, the team started working on a pin-based project, which sparked a reinterest in that tiny start of an idea that Williams had with his Disney pins. He and Oliver, along with their collegues Erik Haldi and Amado Batour, all came together and started developing the idea that March. Those four men would become the owners of FiGPiN. “We were working on another project, but when we started doing FiGPiN, [Dan and I] just kind of looked at each other and said,

Batman: The Animated

Series FiGPiNs | Source:

‘we just want to do this. Let’s just do this.’ So we just really did. We still did our other stuff, but when there was any open moment, this is what we pulled all of our energy and focus on,” Haldi says.

Now, five years later, FiGPiN is the only thing that the foursome works on. It has grown into a business, produced more than 700 different pins featuring more than 40 licenses — including Disney, Star Wars, My Hero Academia, DC Comics, Harry Potter, Marvel, Stranger Things, and more — and developed a dedicated fan base.

SO, WHAT IS IT? The FiGPiN team was developing a product type that had been around for a long time: enamel pins. But what they chose to do with the hard enamel medium was entirely new. For those who have never seen one, a FiGPiN is not entirely a figure, nor is it entirely a pin. Each one stands about 3 inches tall and, while it does feature spikes on its back that could poke through fabric like any other pin, it also comes with a stand so you can display it like an action figure.

According to Batour, who now serves as the vice president of design and digital experience at FiGPiN, it is often hard to describe the product to people who have never seen one before.

“We kind of give our whole explanation, and they think, ‘oh, so you make pins, right?’” he explains. “And we’re like, ‘no, we make FiGPiNs.’ And they think PiN

FiG

we’re kind of full of ourselves when we say that. But then when they see the product, time and time again for more than three years straight, they’re like ‘oh, wow, this isn’t just an enamel pin. You guys did something else.’ And they have a hard time putting their finger on it. Like, ‘how did you make this thing more magical?’”

“OH, WOW, THIS ISN’T JUST AN ENAMEL PIN. YOU GUYS DID SOMETHING ELSE.” - AMADO BATOUR The FiGPiN team does a few things to create this “magical” collectible experience, Batour says. One of those things is maintaining a realistic, art-first design approach.

Instead of creating a distinct “FiGPiN” look and stylizing each character to match it, the designers — led by Haldi — literally draw every pin, adding details and pushing the limits of what enamel can do to make each 3-inch, metal character look as close as possible to how they appear on screen, on the page, or in person.

Michael Ruddy, a FiGPiN fan and the co-founder of Hero Complex, a company that makes the first officially licensed FiGPiN accessories, describes the deep sense of childhood nostalgia he gets from looking at the pins. He first started collecting Dragon Ball Z FiGPiNs when he came across the company on the showfloor at Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC). Talking about those pins, as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Batman: The Animated

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Series designs, he describes feeling like he can see the characters in action.

“Right now I’m getting the chills just thinking about it,” he says. “Like, looking at the Batman pin, I was like, this is amazing. I can just close my eyes and this thing can animate in front of me. … It just made me feel a certain way, because it was like a snapshot from my childhood.”

However, the realistic design on the front of each FiGPiN is only part of the story. The rest of the FiGPiN experience starts with a series of tiny letters and numbers, etched into the back of each pin.

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT

It was Batour who originally suggested that every single FiGPiN should have a unique serial number that could unlock a digital experience, even though he wasn’t entirely sure at the time what that digital experience would look like. But around the time when the team produced its 15th FiGPiN, the concept for a FiGPiN app started to take shape. And it would provide a full collector experience, utilizing those tiny, etched serial numbers.

“One of the things that kept popping up was, yeah, people like to buy collectibles and

Screenshot of the FiGPiN app Source: the Pop Insider/Freepik

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they like to put it on their shelf and kind of arrange it,” Batour says.

“But I think, more than anything, they like to share their collections.

They like to talk about their collections. They like to show off, display, get feedback on it, hunt for stuff, and — as with any physical collectible — you can’t bring that stuff with you.”

The FiGPiN app works to solve this problem: Collectors can enter the serial number from each pin they collect, which adds a digital version of that pin to their collection within the app. Collectors can also peruse the entire FiGPiN catalog, creating a wishlist and even shopping in-app for styles that are in stock.

But that isn’t even the most interesting aspect of the app. By entering the serial number, collectors receive two scores for every pin they unlock: a factory score and a story score. The factory score is determined by different manufacturing attributes of the pin, such as what edition it is, how many of that pin have been made (basically, if it’s rare), and what number it was in its manufacturing run. The app will tell you if your pin was the 100th or the 1,243rd pin of that design to come off of the assembly line, which is a level of detail that many collectors, like Ruddy, enjoy.

“You have that experience of, wow, there’s only 2,000 units, and this is, like, number 200 of 2,000,” he says. “ And I don’t know if this is the right word, but it kind of made me feel special. Like, oh, we got the same thing, but yours is number 2,000 and mine is number 100 … I guess the collector in me wants something more than you.”

The story score, on the other hand, comes from how collectors interact with the pin: Have you collected other characters from that collection? Did you register this pin before other collectors registered theirs?

How long has it been in your collection?

Then, the app multiplies these two scores to give each FiGPiN a “power.” Users in the app can see all of this detailed information about every pin they own, along with an overall power score for their collection.

Having so many ways to distinguish a pin as valuable — along with the verification

Source: FiGPiN

process that the app offers — created a strong resale market for FiGPiNs. Fan-made groups, such as “FiGPiN Buy/Sell/Trade” and “FiGPiN Chasers,” have grown on Facebook and remain consistently active, with collectors seeking out specific designs, offering up pins they no longer want, or simply showing off their collections.

Awstin Coslar, one of the founders and admins of the FiGPiN Buy/Sell/Trade Group, started his FiGPiN collection with Dragon Ball characters, just like Ruddy (though now, Coslar’s collection score has grown to more than 630,000). He says he was attracted to the collectibles because of the quality and the low edition size, and he started the group with a coworker in January 2019 to find FiGPiN styles they were both looking for.

“But it turned into a community,” he says. “And helped blow up the popularity of FiGPiN, once people saw the value the pins were demanding on the secondary market and the very low-run collectibility of the early run pins. It was super fun starting it and building it.”

FAN-FOCUSED

Interacting with fans is another core tenant of FiGPiN’s identity — for example, Batour maintains a Discord with a few dozen FiGPiN collectors, often seeking advice and feedback about the app and other aspects of the FiGPiN experience.

The founders also typically connect with fans and top collectors at conventions throughout the year — something they say they have missed the most throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Ruddy first conTHEPOPINSIDER.COM | #FuelYourFandom | 57

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MERCH MAKERS nected with the FiGPiN team at a convention. After buying those original Dragon Ball pins at SDCC, he wanted a way to display them, especially after his wife made a comment about them cluttering up their shared home office space. Ruddy, who works in 3D printing, designed and printed himself a wall unit that could hold eight FiGPiNs. “I hung two of them on a wall and my wife walked by and she said, ‘oh that looks nice,’” Ruddy says. “And she never really likes anything that I make, so I was like, well, maybe I’m onto something here.”

He and his business partner ended up creating Hero Complex, a company to manufacture and sell these displays. However, manufacturing costs were high, and he ended up reaching out directly to FiGPiN via Instagram, then showing the owners some of his prototypes at New York Comic Con (NYCC). The day of their first meeting, Batour told Ruddy that he hoped they could help manufacture the product and make it the first officially licensed FiGPiN accessory — and that’s exactly what happened. Batour and Ruddy worked together to refine the display, eventually developing a modular system, in which each display box holds one FiGPiN. Using Command Strips, collectors can arrange and rearrange those boxes in any configuration on their wall.

“He’s just the nicest guy in the world,” Batour says of Ruddy. “To be able to meet a fan and then be able to work with them and help them develop a product that is going to benefit us and them, it just doesn’t get any better than that.”

Originally, the FiGPiN team was going to announce the partnership with Ruddy last year, during its Awesome Fest event at Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC). But then, the pandemic upended everything.

BRIGHT SIDE TO A TOUGH YEAR

Like many companies, FiGPiN employees have been working almost entirely from home for more than a year. The company was gearing up for its major ECCC event when things started to look bad in the U.S. last March. Batour recalls how the company’s convention plans started to fall apart, as he describes it, like dominoes — “the product is going to be late” became “the product is not coming,” and “the convention might not happen” became “nothing is happening at all.”

“TO THIS DAY, WE STILL SIT THERE LIKE KIDS IN A CANDY STORE GOING, ‘OH MY GOD, THESE ARE SO NICE.’” - AMADO BATOUR

This left FiGPiN with a lot of stock that had been slated for the convention, and the team had to make a new plan, fast.

Fortunately, the company was able to use the challenges of 2020 to pivot and refine its goals.

“I know it’s hard to try to spin positive things out of such a horrible thing,” Batour says, “But this has been something that has helped us out a little bit.”

One major shift involved reallocating that ECCC inventory and some of the planned retail stock, starting to to sell it all on figpin.com. Previously, the website had only offered select exclusives, so this marked a significant change in company operations. However, it looks like one that is going to stick, with all non-retailer-exclusive pins now going on sale there, as well as in stores.

Within the past year, FiGPiN also altered its approach to new product launches, moving toward a wave-based release schedule. Basically, this means they release a handful of characters from each license at one time, as opposed Hero Complex FiGPiN display Source: Michael Ruddy to offering single characters at random

Jubilee and Rogue X-Men FiGPiNs | Source: FiGPiN

times. Batour says that this is better for fans, as they can choose a few of their favorite characters for their collection.

Both Williams and Batour have spent time working in the FiGPiN distribution centers, packing orders for customers, and noticed patterns in which pins people tend to buy together. For example, Batour says many fans selected just Jubilee and Rogue from the X-Men: The Animated Series set, or just Wolverine and Gambit.

“I’m like, wow, you could write a thesis paper on this,” Batour says. “Like, how are these character groupings happening together? So if we had just done, like, one character or two, our fans would have never had the chance to build the collection that they want to build from the license.”

Both of these shifts from 2020 combine to create what the owners hope will be a more fan-friendly experience, allowing collectors to pick their favorite characters and — thanks to the increased inventory on figpin.com — know they can come back in a week or two and get the rest of that wave.

In this new year, there are a few additional plans in the works for FiGPiN, including new licenses and a strict new policy of only offering FiGPiNs online that are in stock and available to ship that same day.

And as for the quad of co-founders, their joy in working on FiGPiN has yet to fade, even after 700 unique launches.

“To this day, we still sit there like kids in a candy store going, ‘oh my god, these are so nice,’” Batour says. “We still have the same reaction when we get the first samples back from the factories. … And the fact that we keep doing this, we keep reacting in the same way, I find it to be a good indicator.” ✪

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Madeleine Buckley is an associate editor at the Pop Insider, where she enjoys covering the latest trends in pop culture and the coolest new merch releases that come with them. She is a movie score enthusiast, a mediocre knitter, and an avid movie watcher.

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