Episode 277 - Toy Fair 2026 In Review

About this episode

The hosts review the highlights and experiences from Toy Fair 2026, discussing various toy brands and industry challenges.

We're back for what has now become our annual Toy Fair episode! Ian and Kris are here to give their takes on this year's trade show. How did 2026 compare, as the toy industry faces some real life hurdles such as tariffs and inflation? Highlights include their experiences at booths manned by Mattel, Hasbro, Spin Master, Lego, Bandai Namco, and Funko, thoughts on the upcoming Masters of the Universe movie and the related toy line, WWE x Street Fighter, swapping Barbie heads, Cars as a franchise turning 20 years old making us all feel old, Optimus Prime is our Truck-Dad, Pokémon pinball, the return of Crossfire to have its theme song get stuck in all of our heads again, KPop Demon Hunters toys EVERYWHERE, some New York City geography and survival guide tips, and so much more. Show notes: Mattel: 0:16:04 Hasbro: 1:21:04 Spin Master: 1:53:58 LEGO and Bandai Namco: 2:10:05 Kris' Day 2, including Funko: 2:36:16 You can support future releases of Comic Timing and get in on the occasional early releases of the show at http://www.patreon.com/ComicTiming. Video versions of most episodes are at http://youtube.com/@comictimingpodcast, along with Raph's new shorts series, Raph's Comic…

People in this episode

Host: Ian Levenstein

Guest: Kris

Topics covered

• Toy Fair
• 2026 review
• toy industry
• trade show
• pop culture
• toys
• entertainment

Keywords

• Toy Fair
• 2026
• Mattel
• Hasbro
• toys
• trade show
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Masters of the Universe
• WWE x Street Fighter
• Crossfire

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mattel, Hasbro, Spin Master, Lego, Bandai Namco, Funko, KPop Demon Hunters

Books & works: Masters of the Universe, WWE x Street Fighter, Cars, Pokémon, Crossfire

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