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[This report is a continuation of events from Helen's third day at the American International Toy Fair; the first part can be foundhere. Previous coverage can be found in Helen'sDay 1 andDay 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 theStar Wars andStar Trek CCGs, and will add a movie-basedLord 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 theLOTR CCG they were very happy to get it after losing theHarry Potter CCG to Wizards of the Coast. I cant wait to see what theLOTR cards are going to look like, but given the success of theStar Wars line, I am sure theLOTR CCG will not disappoint.
Day three at the Toy Fair ended with a return visit to Hasbro, to visit some of the displays that I didnt see on Day 2. Passing through Hasbros rendition of theStar Wars Cantina, I noticed the laser-scanned busts of theEpisode 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 lastStar Wars-related question were these laser-scans going to be used to create action figures, as theLord 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. Well have to keep an eye on this asEpisode II nears.
Even though thePlanet 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 didnt 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. Theres 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 additionalJurassic 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. Macys character, who offers to fund Dr. Grants (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. Grants 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 theJP franchise, theyve improved something. Furthermore, inJP III, theres a new bad bully to contend with the Spinosaurus. This is aJurassic Park film it looks to have plenty of realistic and scary shots featuring people who may just not survive.
That last point makes the toys I discovered on my second visit to Hasbro more than just a little odd. A PlayskoolJurassic Park T-Rex? Dont 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 thats a great thing. But these toys, by trading on theJurassic brand name, put parents in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why they wont, 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 theJP 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.
Passing from the Playskool area into games, I spotted theJurassic Park III Island Survival Game, a neatJP 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 aJP version of RockEm SockEm Robots called theJurassic 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.
Continuing the tour into the Tiger Electronics area, I stumbled across the toys I had been told were not at Toy Fair Atlantis. There wasnt 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 kids PDA called The Shepherds Journal. A television monitor was playing a teaser, but the sound didnt work that well and there didnt 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. Im not saying it was bad quite the opposite it was quite good. It just wasnt extraordinary.
Due to a concert at the Hasbro building by the group Destinys 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 forJP III a flashlight, interactive key chains (but the sound chips hadnt 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 (Id brought my toys with me, and I guess so did he). Unfortunately, being trapped meant missing the Wizards of the Coast area. Id like to ask one question however... Does it count as a concert if theyre lip-syncing?
Helen, who is relishing the chance to play theJP III Island Survival game as the Dinosaurs and crush those puny humans.
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.
