WAn action figure is a poseable character toy figurine made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually marketed toward boys and adult collectors. The term was coined by Hasbro in 1964 to market G.I. Joe to boys.
WAnimal figurines are figurines that represent animals, either as decorative pieces, toys or collectibles. They are often made of plastic, ceramics, or metal.
WBeanie Babies are a line of stuffed toys created by American businessman H. Ty Warner, who founded Ty Inc. in 1986. The toys are stuffed with plastic pellets ("beans") rather than conventional soft stuffing. They come in many different forms, mostly animals.
WBrick Fiesta or BrickFiesta is a Lego convention and exhibition held yearly in Texas, United States. It was first held in 2011 at Austin, Texas. It is a four-day event, operating generally Thursday through Sunday, and is typically held during the late June or early July. The convention displays LEGO models, displays and trains covering up to 35,000 square feet of convention space. In 2011, several thousand attendees filled the convention throughout its public hours.
WBrickCon is a LEGO convention and exhibition in North America. It is held annually for adult fans of LEGO and hobbyists in Seattle, Washington. BrickCon runs 2-4 days, generally Thursday through Sunday, and is usually held the first weekend in October. The event brings together the fan community that has evolved as a result of the Internet and helps them explore and develop their LEGO hobby. BrickCon is not affiliated to the LEGO company. BrickCon is made up of two parts: the private convention and the public exhibition.
WBrickFair is a Lego convention and exhibition held annually in the Eastern United States. It was first held in 2008 at Tysons Corner, Virginia by Todd Webb, and in subsequent years, the Virginia convention has been held in Chantilly, typically during the first weekend of August. BrickFair is a four-day event, operating generally Thursday through Sunday. The convention displays Lego models, displays and trains, most often covering more than 100,000 square feet of convention space. BrickFair conventions are also held in New England and the Southeastern United States, with the advent of BrickFair Alabama in 2012 and BrickFair New England in 2013. BrickFair operates in every season and in four East Coast states. BrickFair is believed to be the largest Lego convention in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The Virginia convention has had up to 22,500 attendees in its public hours.
WBrickfête is a Lego fan convention held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It became the first Canadian Lego convention for adult fans of Lego at its inaugural event in 2011. It was created by volunteers and organized by the Ontario Brick Builders (OBB). The main focus of the convention is for Lego fans and hobbyists bring their creations to display and share with fellow enthusiasts. Brickfête's mandate is to offer any fan, regardless of skill level or size of collection, a place to display their creations and to promote their revered hobby to new potential fans. Like other fan conventions, it offers workshops, presentations, special events, contests and challenges.
WA die-cast toy is a toy or a collectible model produced by using the die casting method of putting molten lead, zinc alloy or plastic in a mold to produce a particular shape. Such toys are made of metal, with plastic, rubber, glass, or other machined metal parts. Wholly plastic toys are made by a similar process of injection moulding, but the two methods are distinct because of the properties of the materials.
WA figurine or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with clay, metal, wood, glass, and today plastic or resin the most significant. Ceramic figurines not made of porcelain are called terracottas in historical contexts.
WFour Horsemen Studios is a collectible figure design studio and manufacturer, specializing in creating sculptures of toys and action figures. The company was founded in the late 1990s as a contractor to Mattel, and have since grown to an independent studio creating their own lines of figures as well as manufacturing third party designs under license.
WGashapon (ガシャポン), also called gachapon (ガチャポン), are a variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys popular in Japan and elsewhere. "Gashapon" is onomatopoeic from the two sounds "gasha" for the hand-cranking action of a toy-vending machine, and "pon" for the toy capsule landing in the collection tray. "Gashapon" is used for both the machines themselves and the toys obtained from them. Popular gashapon manufacturers include Tomy, which uses the shortened term gacha for their capsule machines, and Kaiyodo. In the United States, "Gashapon" is a registered trademark of Bandai, and gashapon are referred to as blind box sets due to packaging requirements by retailers prior to official distribution of the actual gashapon machines. The gashapon model has been adapted digitally into numerous gacha video games, such as mobile phone games and massively multiplayer online games (MMOs).
WHarrods Christmas bears are signature plush toy bears created by the London department store Harrods and released every year to celebrate Christmas. They have been a tradition since 1986, and past bears are now considered valuable collectors’ items. Harrods bears can be recognised by a mark on their left paw, which shows the Harrods logo and the year they were released.
WKeshi aka keshigomu is the Japanese word for eraser. In modern "keshi" refers to a collectible miniature figure, often of a manga or anime character, made of coloured hard rubber. However, the word's reference has broadened beyond its etymological meaning, as keshi are made of several types of rubber, ranging in appearance from opaque matte to transparent. Also, some lines, such as the "Cosmos Souls Keshi Gum", use plastic parts. Keshi figures are not necessarily based on Japanese comic book or TV series franchises, since there are keshi dedicated to video games and some western lines are based on local mythologies and popular culture. A similar product is often mistakenly thought be keshi, the pencil cap toy which appeared around the same period.
WKinder Surprise, also known as Kinder Egg or Kinder Surprise Egg, is a milk chocolate consisting of a chocolate egg surrounding a yellow plastic capsule with a small toy inside. Manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero since 1974, it was co-created by Michele Ferrero and William Salice, and is one of several candies sold under the Kinder brand. Kinder Surprise was originally created with children in mind, replicating an Italian Easter family tradition in which adults give children large chocolate eggs with toys inside. However, Kinder Surprise toys have become collectible for adults as well. Since 1974, 30 billion Kinder Surprise eggs have been sold worldwide.
WKitbashing or model bashing is a practice whereby a new scale model is created by taking pieces out of commercial kits. These pieces may be added to a custom project or to another kit. For professional modelmakers, kitbashing is popular to create concept models for detailing movie special effects. Commercial model kits are a ready source of "detailing", providing any number of identical, mass-produced components that can be used to add fine detail to an existing model. Professionals often kitbash to build prototype parts which are then recreated with lightweight materials.
WA marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about 13 mm in diameter, but they may range from less than 1 mm to over 8 cm (3 in), while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 30 cm (12 in) wide. Marbles can be used for a variety of games called marbles. They are often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors. In the North of England the objects and the game are called "taws", with larger taws being called bottle washers after the use of a marble in Codd-neck bottles, which were often collected for play. These toys can be used to make marble runs, a form of art, or they can be used in marble races.
WMerrythought is a toy manufacturing company established in 1930 in the United Kingdom. The company specialises in soft toys, especially teddy bears. It is the last remaining British teddy bear factory to still make its products in Britain and is located at Ironbridge in Shropshire.
WA model figure is a scale model representing a human, monster or other creature. Human figures may be either a generic figure of a type, a historical personage, or a fictional character.
WPenny toys is a name used for inexpensive tin toys mostly manufactured in Germany between the 1880s and 1914 that were sold in the UK, Europe and America in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
WPlaysets, or play sets, are themed collections of similar toys designed to work together to enact some action or event. The most common toy playsets involve plastic figures, accessories, and possibly buildings or scenery, purchased together in a common box. Some sets during the 1960s and 1970s were offered within metal "suitcase" containers that also functioned as part of the playset.
WA repaint is a model that was created entirely from a mold was previously available; however, the colors of the plastic and/or the paint operations have been changed. Repaints differ from redecos in that repaints do not alter the actual placement of paint applications while redecos do.
WShopkins are a range of tiny, collectable toys manufactured by Moose Toys. Based on grocery store items, each plastic figure has a recognisable face and unique name. They also have special finishes like translucent, glitter, or squishy. The collectable toys also had expanded into lines of clothing, trading cards, and other related merchandise.
WSilly Bandz are rubber bands made of silicone rubber formed into shapes including animals, objects, numbers, and letters. They are distributed by BCP Imports and are normally worn as bracelets. Silly Bandz retail in packages with themes, such as princesses or animals, and fashion accessories. Similarly shaped silicone bands are also available under other brand names from a variety of companies. Silly Bandz are often considered an iconic piece of pop culture and were especially popular in the early 2010s.
WA tin toy, or tin lithograph toy, is a mechanical toy made out of tinplate and colorfully painted by chromolithography to resemble primarily a character or vehicle.
WA toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, American Indians, pirates, samurai, and other subjects that involve combat-related themes. Toy soldiers vary from simple playthings to highly realistic and detailed models. The latter are of more recent development and are sometimes called model figures to distinguish them from traditional toy soldiers. Larger scale toys such as dolls and action figures may come in military uniforms, but they are not generally considered toy soldiers.
WThe Trash Pack was a brand of collectible toys produced by Moose Toys, first launched in 2011. The toys were released in series, all with their own specific themes, and there are seven series in all. Along with the individual toys, the line also includes other merchandise, such as video games, activity books and sticker albums. A Trash Pack magazine has also been released through PONY Magazine.