Ok, now that we’ve had a month or so to rest, relax, and recover from the whirlwind that is Toy Fair we’re going to give you a rundown of all the news that was there (yes, there was actually information given out and not just pretty pictures!) First, I’m sure there are still a lot of people out there who don’t realize that not only did AFi shoot a metric ton of photos in NY, but also labeled pretty much all of them! So go check ‘em out here if you haven’t already.

This first recap is actually going to highlight one of the more recent phenomenons of the Toy Fair experience: free swag. I remember back when I first went to Toy Fair in 1997 with Eric Myers. When we went as RTM it was the first time a website was allowed in as media and just getting them to take us seriously back in those early days of the web was very tough; we jumped through a lot of hurdles to be able to get photos and info out to the interwebs as the show was happening. It didn’t take long for other sites to jump on the bandwagon and go through the process to gain press credentials. And over time so many websites did it that now all you need is a blog or Facebook page even marginally devoted to toys to gain access.

But traveling to New York in Winter is time consuming and expensive, so many companies now give away various items just for going to the show and giving them free press. While in the old days it wasn’t terribly unusual for many companies to give out free samples to buyers/press/licensors, now you are likely to find exclusive, limited items being made expressly for the media at the show and nowhere else. Why? To be honest, most companies at this point expect people to sell them to help pay for the trip so they offer toys that have new paint jobs, packaging, etc. to make them a bit more desirable for collectors who aren’t at TF. Heck, some people go to Toy Fair now just to get these freebies! (Full Disclosure: I did put a few of mine on ebay to help pay for my trip, too! Kept some of them, though, and gave away a bunch to friends with kids).

I think Jakks might have been the first to do this with their exclusive wrestler repaints, but pretty much all major companies have something to hand out. Back in ’98 I don’t think we got anything, but this year we given some really nice items. Shown below are a few of the toys: MOTUC Trap-Jaw from Mattel (They also gave out some WWE figures), Glow-In-The-Dark Alien Force Ben 10 from Bandai (also given out was a new Tamagotcha figurine and a Harumika mannequin). BY far the most talked about goodie bag was that given out by Lego: a white Concept Boba Fett based on designs by Joe Johnston/Ralph McQuarrie and a fancy catalog of all the Star Wars Lego toys, AND a unique "Cube Dude" of Buzz Lightyear signed and numbered by its creator, Pixar Animator Angus MacLane. The most unique item, though, is probably the Hasbro Transformers RPMs Optimus Prime. This one wasn’t given out at the media event for the press (and I don’t think Hasbro gave out any goodies this year to the press at all), but instead was a sample for buyers and licensing partners. It has a custom paint job, exclusive packaging, and Toy Fair 2010 deco. I’ve only seen it reported at one site so far, so not sure how many of these got out but I think it’s safe to say that far less than any of the other collectibles this year.

More to come, with each company getting a recap in the next week! Keep checking back, or just hit the Toy Fair graphic in the sidebar at right to get all the 2010 Toy Fair reports in one place!