Toy Fair Day 3 – Part 2: Jurassic Park 3, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars & More!
Thu, Feb 15, 2001 02:04 AM EST
[This report is a continuation of events from Helen's third day at the American International Toy Fair; the first part can be
found here. Previous coverage can be found in Helen's Day 1 and Day 2 reports.]
My visit to Decipher counts as the second unexpected nugget of Toy Fair. I had just about given up hope of finding them when
I spotted their location on my way into Trendmasters. Makers of customizable card games based on movie and television
properties, Decipher is the long time producer of the Star Wars and Star Trek CCGs, and will add a movie-based
Lord of the Rings game to their line-up this fall. The Decipher representative couldn't give me any additional details
but said that the company is really anxious to work on this game and they will be putting a lot of effort into the
LOTR CCG – they were very happy to get it after losing the Harry Potter CCG to Wizards of the Coast. I can’t
wait to see what the LOTR cards are going to look like, but given the success of the Star Wars line, I am sure
the LOTR CCG will not disappoint.
Posters for Decipher's Lord of the
Rings trading card games.
(Click to see larger versions.)
Day three at the Toy Fair ended with a return visit to Hasbro, to visit some of the displays that I didn’t see on Day 2.
Passing through Hasbro’s rendition of the Star Wars Cantina, I noticed the laser-scanned busts of the Episode
II characters were gone from the display case. After the Hasbro demonstrator told me that they were on their way back to
Lucasfilm, I thought to get in one last Star Wars-related question – were these laser-scans going to be used to create
action figures, as the Lord of the Rings figures from Toy Biz were? The demonstrator very confidently told me that
they were going to be, on both the standard 3 ¾ and 12-inch figures. We’ll have to keep an eye on this as Episode II
nears.
New 12- and 3 ¾-inch Star
Wars figures; we're told that future versions will be laser-sculpted for high detail.
(Click to see larger versions.)
Even though the Planet of the Apes display was even more crowded than the day before, I was able to grab a few more
pictures of the standard size figure line and take in the promo again, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The promo
itself includes comments from Director Tim Burton and Special Effects Master Rick Baker, along with the make-up shots of
Michael Duncan mentioned in my Day 2 write-up. Other features of the promo are Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Giamatti discussing their
characters. The footage of the film contained in the promo is pretty limited. There’s a brief shot of Helena Bonham Carter
having to explain why she was in the company of humans; of Mark Wahlberg leading humans through a jungle, but most
significantly, a night time battle scene that when you consider what shooting this must have entailed, is rather impressive.
Over 500 extras were used in this sequence, plus it was shot at night, and contains many special effects shots using multiple
live fires – no CGI.
The additional Jurassic Park III information I have to bring you is a description of the theatrical trailer, and then
some other related toy offerings I discovered on my second visit to Hasbro. Let me describe the trailer for you first.
At the beginning of the trailer, we met William H. Macy’s character, who offers to fund Dr. Grant’s (the returning Sam Neill)
research if Dr. Grant will accompany him and his wife (Tea Leone) for a fly over of the island. Events occur during the
flight, which force the plane down against Dr. Grant‘s warnings that they can not land on the island. All heck then breaks
loose, and the humans must run for their lives. Even if the film appears predictable, the effect shots of the dinosaurs are
great – and show that with each addition to the JP franchise, they’ve improved something. Furthermore, in JP
III, there’s a new bad bully to contend with – the Spinosaurus. This is a Jurassic Park film – it looks to have
plenty of realistic and scary shots featuring people who may just not survive.
Playskool Jurrasic Park III toys?
Yep, even a cuddly "Roaring T-Rex."
(Click to see larger versions.)
That last point makes the toys I discovered on my second visit to Hasbro more than just a little odd. A Playskool
Jurassic Park T-Rex? Don’t get me wrong – this is one very cute dino, and I would have been happy to buy it for my
son if he were that age. Kids love dinosaurs and that’s a great thing. But these toys, by trading on the Jurassic
brand name, put parents in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why they won’t, and in some cases, should refuse
to take their kids to a movie they have just bought them a toy for. The preschool set is not the JP III target
demographic (the film has been rated PG-13), so this toy line struck me as something Hasbro could have given just a tad more
consideration. When I buy a toy for my son, I want it to be appreciated – not to have my son think Mom is being mean.
More Playskool JP3 toys,
including a bizarre "Terrible Pterry."
(Click to see larger versions.)
Passing from the Playskool area into games, I spotted the Jurassic Park III Island Survival Game, a neat JP III
board game in which the humans have to work their way across the board to safety. The fun thing here is that one player gets
to play as the dinosaurs, chasing after the humans. Somehow this appeals to my sense of humor. One other neat looking game
was a JP version of Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots called the Jurassic Park III Spinosaurus vs. T-Rex Battle Game. One
player is the T-Rex and the other is the Spinosaurus, who bash each other with their arms and tails.
The Jurassic Park III Island
Survival Game and the Spinosaurus vs. T-Rex Battle Game.
(Click to see larger versions.)
Continuing the tour into the Tiger Electronics area, I stumbled across the toys I had been told were not at Toy Fair –
Atlantis. There wasn’t much there, but what I saw was more than I had expected. There were a few games, and an
electronic hand held or two, one appearing to be a kid’s PDA called The Shepherd’s Journal. A television monitor was playing
a teaser, but the sound didn’t work that well and there didn’t seem to be anything explaining what the film was about. The
animation looked ordinary in comparison to some of the others I have seen in the last few days. I’m not saying it was bad –
quite the opposite – it was quite good. It just wasn’t extraordinary.
Various games based on Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
(Click to see a larger version.)
Due to a concert at the Hasbro building by the group Destiny’s Child, there was no access to displays located on the lower
level. During the concert I was trapped in the Tiger Electronics display, but that gave me more time to play with the little
token offerings for JP III – a flashlight, interactive key chains (but the sound chips hadn’t been added yet), and
such. When we bored of that, the demonstrator and I started beaming back and forth between our Handspring Visors, trading
games (I’d brought my toys with me, and I guess so did he). Unfortunately, being trapped meant missing the Wizards of the
Coast area. I’d like to ask one question however... Does it count as a concert if they’re lip-syncing?
– Helen, who is relishing the chance to play the JP III Island
Survival game as the Dinosaurs and crush those puny humans.
All information appearing in purple text is unconfirmed and should be taken as rumor. All information that appears in black text is either official information, or information that IGN FilmForce has confirmed as fact.
