I have this casual collection of keychain items, and the best ones always somehow come out of Japan - little adorable characters, Sound Drop devices that play a single sound from Super Mario Bros., and flashing solar-powered things, among other neatness. The most curious set of keychains to come out of Japan has been the ‘Mugen’ series.

‘Mugen’ means ‘infinite’ or ‘endless’ in Japanese - and these Mugen keychains are meant to simulate a certain feeling or experience infinitely,  usually focusing on experiences that are exhausted after one use : tearing open a new toy package (Mugen Peri Peri), popping soy beans out of their pods (Mugen Edamame), and now, popping bubble wrap with Mugen Pop Pop, which has recently entered the states via Bandai.

Of course, popping bubble wrap is something that translates to most cultures, whereas popping open soybeans isn’t something that the US does on a regular basis (though I do suggest going to your local Japanese eatery, ordering a plate of steaming edamame and trying it out!). The real question is this : is infinite bubble wrap worth $6, and does it suitably simulate bubble wrap, and does it warrant precious keychain real estate? I know that my PVC Batman mini-figure is looking fairly ragged, but I have no plans on evicting him until his thin little plastic arm gives way.

Mugen Pop Pop comes in four colors, and each has eight buttons across its face. These are pressed, and they make a clicking noise, and respond with that visceral little bubble-wrap-like ‘pop’. This has led me to analyze exactly what is it about the experience of popping bubble wrap that makes it enjoyable, and why that differs from the unique experience of this toy. Is is the louder sound of bubble wrap, or is it the very fact that bubble wrap remains defeated after it deflates, and doesn’t fight its way back into fullness?

One would also think that the general experience of a well-executed bubble wrap simulacrum would be enough, but this bubble wrap is battery powered. Two tiny batteries rest in its back, right neat a small speaker, and emit this quiet digital popping noise reminiscent of an 8-bit video game. Every 100 ‘pops’, the device also emits one of five or six alternate noises - a hiccup, a bark, a flatulent noise, and so on. If we’re going to digitize popping, we might as well add little animal noises and Hilary Duff song clips and hell, why not a button that shoots vanilla pudding at your face? That’s what bubble wrap is all about, right?

Most telling, though, is that after I put it down, I actually and genuinely picked it up again subconsciously and started popping away without realizing it - until the spell was broken by what sounded like a little digi-cat meowing at me from my hands. Popping during commercials, popping between writing paragraphs as I ponder my next hilarious and cutting observation - it’s unstoppable, and it’s a perfect little bizarre stocking stuffer, and I have little doubt that it’ll infectiously spread through the keychain owning population, and on into the younger generations who don’t have any use for keys just yet as well.

Since the scope of Toy Fair is larger than what any one human brain can sensibly absorb, here’s a summary of everything else worth noting from the halls of the event. Click back for a few weeks’ worth of recollections.

First, BanDai! BanDai’s strongest presence is in overseas markets, where they make all manner of tiny (and large) awesomeness, but their US branch is not without its awesomeness also. I’d like to note anyhow that they’ve always been one of the friendliest companies I’ve had regular communication with, and have always been willing to make time to see me when I come a-callin’. This years licenses include a return to Dragonball Z, and the continuation of Ben Ten, Power Rangers and Tamagotchi items. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in the showrooms.

Tamagotchi continues its online presence with the new Version 5, which my niece was pining for last time we went to Toys ‘R’ Us. With this new version, you play caretaker for a whole family of digital creatures, who evolve into different types of families depending on their treatment (until you inevitably forget about them in your backpack and they take their UFO back to their home planet). In addition to this new ‘family’ aspect, the game interacts with an online presence via a collection of passwords that can be exchanged between the game and the website, used to obtain new items & stuff. Finally, a chance to construct a family that doesn’t yell every word that they say and doesn’t let the dog lick the dishwasher clear. Seriously, guys, even hillbillies know better.

Ben Ten’s neatest item is the Alien Creation Chamber, a device which contains a collection of alien parts that are mixed and matched at the press of a button, with additional Alien Combination Figures sold separately. Making your own misbegotten alien creatures is a hobby of mine. And while I don’t claim to understand Power Rangers, (Red Ranger - TRIDENT WEAPON! Yellow Ranger - … dumptruck hands?), I love kaiju stuff. The neatest item to come out of the Rangers this year is the Jungle Fury Mission Helmet, which is a wearable role-play item that transmits secret missions, lights and sounds into your kid’s spongey head. Not only do you get secret, fun missions to play, but the device can be hooked up to a computer to download more missions, so the play value is constantly renewable. Clockwork Orange-style brainwashing is highly unlikely. But would be gnarly.

Huckleberry Toys is a relatively new addition to the action figure field, and their first products are a set of McDonaldland toy reproductions from the days of old. They’re expanding upon this original line of toys, though, with additions of various Ronald McDonalds, Mayor McCheese, Birdie, FryGuys, Chicken McNuggets, The Hamburglar, The Professor, Captain Hook, Big Mac, and even an upcoming Mac Tonite figure, who no one seems to remember but me. He was the piano-playing guy with the moon head, and he was BEAUTIFUL. I’m glad to see these pop cultural artifacts, especially in a world that’s embracing such an anti-fast food attitude. I grew up watching these brightly-colored, character-driven commercials, and I even ate McDonalds food occasionally (though I’m a Wendy’s guy myself), and I didn’t get eight kinds of heart disease by the time I was eleven. All things in moderation - especially fried foods and action figures. I’m working on the latter.

Shocker Toys is a well-known name in the world of action figures, though mostly for the notoriety that their fearless leader, Geoff Beckett, has brought to the entity. The company takes a very modern stance of ‘radical transparency’, which means that they openly talk about and reveal every step of the figure making process - something that the collecting public hasn’t been properly familiarized with. This open discussion of contracts that have fallen through, revealing unfinished figures, and the huge lead times between when a product is conceived and actually released has created some ill-will from collectors, who have yet to see any full-sized figures released from Shocker.

Where Marvel Toys’ Legendary Comic Book Heroes struggled in the mass market and failed after two waves, the far smaller Shocker Toys is trying to continue the existence of a line of similar figures from other independent comics and creators called ‘Indie Spotlight’. The first wave of their efforts was on display, with a potential release date of early June. This set will include fan-favorites like Scud, Katchoo, Shadowhawk, Kabuki, and The Maxx. In addition to these 6” figures, Shocker also has a line of ‘Shockinis’, another entry into the crowded world of mini block figures. These also address the same properties, along with The Tick and other things I’d love to see sooner than later. Here’s hoping I can play with these soon, Shocker!

McFarlane Toys also made an unexpected appearance at Toy Fair, after not attending for at least six years. They had a handful of 2-ups, or double-sized figural sculptures, on display - including a few figures from their upcoming ‘Warriors of the Zodiac’ line, which consists of dynamic, bizarre interpretations of the various zodiological icons, like the sultry Virgo, and the warrior-like Scorpio. Don’t even ask about Gemini, which is some kind of double-ended tooth-worm. McFarlane isn’t exactly known for their subtlety. Their long-running Dragons line has ended after eight sets, and has given way to a follow-up line called ‘Legend of the Blade Warriors’, presumably figures from what happens after the Dragons have been eliminated from the ancient landscape and humans begin to dominate. McFarlane’s revolutionary figures usually come with stories packed inside, but they’re so fraught with grammatical problems and cliché that it’s usually best to not partake. Let the figures be figures, not overwrought characters from some high school fantasy novel.

And we can’t forget about Diamond Comics, who produce and distribute a large number of modern science fiction licenses - mostly notably, Star Trek. While they continue to produce 7” figures from the original Star Trek movies, their Next Generation figure line will be ending shortly, after a fairly basic run addressing the main command crew and many variants of each - leaving us without neat aliens or any kind of real ‘enemy’ characters in the set. Diamond will, however, continue their new Deep Space Nine set, hopefully addressing the myriad aliens that pass through the space station in addition to the main crew. Can I have a Ferengi family, some Dabo girls, Morn, Gul Dukat, and a whole mess of Klingons, please? Diamond will also be continuing a series of Borg figures that Art Asylum started many years ago, and these will come with parts to build a light-up regeneration chamber. Which is almost enough to make me forgive them for giving us a Reginald Barclay, but not a Q in judge’s robes.

These Trek characters will also manifest as Minimates - tiny little blocky guys that are both cute and universal - meaning that your Captain Picard Minimate can go and meet your Professor X minimate and they’ll be in the same style and size. You can relive those awful pages of Star Trek meets X-Men that we’ve all tried to block from our memories. The Minimates don’t end at Star Trek, though, with Diamond picking up strange movie licenses for films like Desperately Seeking Susan, Platoon, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, and For a Few Dollars More. It seems like a pretty obvious move by Diamond to obtain a ton of fun celebrity semi-likenesses which can then be dissected by fans to make characters and situations from other movies, since Minimates are so easily pop-apart-able.

Diamond will no longer be producing Marvel polystone items (like busts and statues), leaving the main license for that with the impeccable Bowen, but Diamond will still be producing their ‘Marvel Select’ line of figures - slightly larger versions of Marvel Legends, produced in far smaller numbers. In this line, Hulk and Iron Man were on display - tapping directly into movie fever.

TV geeks will also enjoy the Jack Bauer figures from 24, both in 12” scale and as Minimates. If you’re into that kind of thing. Also, Diamond will be releasing Mego reproductions from Planet of the Apes and the original Star Trek, and 7” figures from Battlestar Galactica (modern) and Stargate Atlantis… you geeks. To add to the greatness, most of Diamond’s figures come with bonus parts, which you can build vehicles and scenery from. Who doesn’t want a massive Stargate? Besides people with girlfriends?

So, Toy Fair is over, and I’m just recovering from the annual wallet-splosion that it tends to be. The allure of seeing untouchable toys only serves to aggravate my desire for them, so go out and stimulate the economy with me, folks. That big ol’ tax refund announcement didn’t coincide with Toy Fair just by coincidence.

It seems like only yesteryear that I rolled up my sleeves and ninja-kicked my way through the icy corridors of New York City, in yet another epic snowstorm that happened to fall on the exact weekend of Toy Fair and brought the mighty city to a dead halt. I don’t know what it is about the myriad of toy powerhouses showing off their finest wares that draws inclement weather to a city, but it happens like clockwork. Still, no weather is too cold, no head-protecting fedora is too expensive and no toy is too small to make it all worthwhile. Hell, this year, I even bought new boots. Just in case.

I think that this will be my 5th Toy Fair, beginning in the days when my college roommate and I had just started All Nerd Review. We were toy and comic collectors (two things that are inexorably associated), and we managed to assemble enough credentials to break into the Fair (including, well, what turned out to be guest passes from someone working on the building at the time, whom we secretly met under a stairwell). Toy Fair is the holy land for all toy collectors, though access to the inner sanctums is only granted to toy industry professionals and the press. Once inside the multiple, cavernous floors of the Javits center, one is free to roam and observe everything from dolls to RC cars to candies, both available at your local toy store and as-yet-unreleased. Some companies hand out free toys that one can’t get anywhere else, and a choice few toy professionals shoo you away from their booths like a grandmother protecting her sacred bowl of hard candy that you didn’t want anyway because it has cat hair in it. I won’t name any names, but Spider-Man Backpack Lady? I’m talking about you.

Ninety percent of the action figure stuff is hidden away in top-secret showrooms. Since I have a highly articulated plastic Batman arm lodged in one of my ventricles, this is what I’ll primarily be exploring this year. For weeks beforehand, I’ve been setting up appointments to get personal tours of showroom from Hasbro, Mattel, BanDai, Mezco, DC Direct and Marvel Toys (formerly ToyBiz) over a three-day journey, crossed on foot, taxi, train and shuttle bus. This weekend, it all pays off. There’s nothing to buy at Toy Fair, since that honor is left to the various Wizard World and San Diego Comic Cons, but Toy Fair is an event designed primarily to work people into a fierce anticipatory lather without actually instantly gratifying them. Anyone who’s had a girlfriend knows what that’s all about.

In every year past, the larger action figure companies have arranged a singular meeting time for all of the press, which we all lovingly call a ‘nerd herd’ or ‘cattle call’. We all crowd into showrooms, sweaty and irritable, inadvertently rubbing against parts of each other we’d rather not discuss, snap our photos in the din, and stumble out for air. Curiously, many toy companies are giving each press outlet individualized tours this year. This massive change of strategy could possibly reflect the currently faltering state of the toy industry and budgets being redirected away from the large showroom and presentation expenses that these cons entail. McFarlane Toys stopped doing Toy Fair many years ago, and WizKids Games won’t even be attending this year.

We, as collectors, are constantly reminded that the ‘collector’ aspect of toy collecting is completely dwarfed by the general sales of the ‘play’ aspect, but even in the light of that, collectors are being catered to like never before and compromises between mass and specialty markets are being reached. Message board speculation is heavy, and this year, the talk of the town is Marvel Toys (formerly Toy Biz) and their Indie Legends line of action figures, which will approach popular characters of the early 1990s (arguably a revolutionary time for comics) like never before. Competing with them for the indie spotlight is newcomer Shocker Toys with their… well, Indie Spotlight line of toys, which will encompass characters that Marvel Toys did not license. Fans also look forward to new images and lineups from Hasbro and Mattel, who are the sole possessors of both Marvel and DC Comics action figure properties, respectively. Everything else, as they say, is gravy. Delicious polyurethane gravy.

Stay tuned for more toy news and revelations than any man, or man-child, should have to report.

Lenticular items, or ‘you know, those plastic things that look like one thing when you look at them one way and another when you turn them, what are they called?’, can usually be found, well, wedged in with other more noticeable things. They’re sidekicks, mere extras making cameo appearances in the shadow of more glorious, scene-stealing items. Small slips of cardboard and plastic in the bottom of a bag of delicious potato chips, or as a useless accessory next to a neato action figure, or an extra-showy slipcover to a new DVD.

Creating the illusion of motion where none is actually present is one of my favorite kinds of optical illusions - that which changes within your perception but makes no physical change whatsoever, tearing small rifts in everything you think you know about reality and time and where you left your car keys. These little perceptual glitches open up understandings about how the brain and eyes work, and they fascinate me. If you’re still not sure what I’m talking about, take a look at the cover to the Transamerica DVD, in which Felicity Huffman transforms from a man to a woman with a slight turn of the case, or the cover to the Napoleon Dynamite DVD that has him dancing all over the place with a slight shift of perspective. Please keep in mind that these things do not respond well to photography, as they’re designed to be perceived by the human eye alone and not a camera lens, otherwise I’d be showing you all kinds of clear examples from my awkward collection.

Essentially, what these lenticular items do is create a short animation using a series of frames that are broken up into narrow strips and interlaced together, creating a single image. A clear, ridged grating is laid over this image, and as it is viewed, light is refracted back to the eye at different angles because of the ridging of the plastic grate. Certain parts of the image are revealed and others obscured. Shifting the angle reveals (and obscures) another perspective and other areas of the image. This can reveal an instantaneous change between two images, or the animation can hold up to a full second of ‘video’ animation. A second’s worth of information might not seem like much, but keep in mind that all of this glorious information is stored in a non-electrical, static object. Instead of storing the video information of the entire World Series on one, you could definitely store video of the winning touchdown. Or whatever it is those guys do. I prefer Dungeons and Dragons and crying alone in my room.

And thusly, like I am a sucker for so many things (Batman, cephalopods, Slim Jims, Legos, girls with glasses, and so on), I am a sucker for lenticular images. They’re gimmicky and entrancing enough to be suitably hypnotic for use as promotional devices and are often just given away, all willy-nilly, to promote new films or action figure lines or toothbrushes. A Spider-Man that turns his head and spins a web, or a C-3PO that inexplicably transforms into an Ewok.

In the mid-80s, Marvel and Mattel’s Secret Wars line of toys (which is a story unto itself, defining the very word ‘toyetic’) each came with a ‘shield’ which bore that character’s portrait. Turn it slightly and it would reveal his alter ego, or a slightly different image. While I could never grasp the practicality of defending oneself with a giant banner that revealed to your attacker which of your friends and family to kill to REALLY get at you, it seemed to work for Iron Man. Mattel would use this lenticular gimmick a whole bunch, most recently repeating it in their JLU Mission Vision line. BanDai includes small lenticular discs in their Ben Ten line of toys which animate a three-frame transformation between Ben Tennyson and the character that he’s becoming. Of course, this (and smart character designs) was enough to sway me into picking up the line. DEVO used to sell ‘wiggle discs’ as part of their merchandise, printed on their record sleeve catalogues.

Marvel had also put out a small (and relatively unpopular) line of trading cards under the name ‘Marvel Motion’, which were entirely lenticular and featured such things as Beast swinging through the treetops or Danny Ketch morphing into Ghost Rider. So enamored with these I am that I’ve even looked into making some myself, and there are companies out there who will produce your mini-animations for you (and send you free samples). As someone who’d madly in love with animation, lenticular items seem like a perfect way to both collect small animations and create your own without a team of artists and photographers hovering around.

So please, spread the word. These things have a proper name. My mission will be complete if I never hear the phrase ‘really, is that what they’re called? I didn’t know that!’ ever again.