Greetings from Taipei. It’s that time — Taipei Toy Festival ’07 organized by Monster Taipei. Want to know what’s hot in the Asian designer toy market? This is the place.
Got in to Taipei 6 AM local time. Made it over to Mira Living Mall around 12:s30 PM. The first thing you notice are the TTF banners covering the elevator doors. Always seem to be a pretty serious line up at the elevators to get to the TTF exhibition floor. Apparently the crowd for the first day (Thursday) was massive — the line prior to the opening filled two floors beneath the show floor. People seem surprised at the heavier than expected turnout — much larger than last year. Perhaps it’s the maturation of the market, the growing expectations of a profitable secondary market for show exclusives and other hard to find toys, or a mix of factors. The surge in attendance would seem to suggest that interest in designer toys in Taiwain is not only strong but growing.
Lots of excitement while surveying the exhibition booths — some of it from seeing previouly announced and anticipated figures for the first time up close (never quite the same as from pics) and some from new products and companies we’re learning about for the first time. We’ll try to bring you as much of it as we can, as quickly as we can. Enjoy. Vinyl Pulse’s coverage of TTF is partially sponsored by Monster Taipei.