ToyLanta 2024: A Con Review!

On this fabulous third month of the year, I attended the greatest annual toy show in the world, ToyLanta!

Check out the fantastic toy magic below!

ToyLanta 2024 was held at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast in Peachtree corners from March 22-24!

Independent toy company Spero Toys returned again this year, and they were displaying their second wave of 1/12 Animal Warriors of the Kingdom (AWOK) line! Dad has a bunch of the 1/18 scale versions, and those were charming, articulated, and imaginative figures. I actually own a few of these, and I will have to personally vouch that these are some of the coolest 1/12 figures on the market right now!

I forgot this nice Spero rep's name, but he was giving out free General Thane hammers for anyone who talked to him about the line! I told him that I liked AWOK's articulation, durability, and easy availability!

Newcomers to the 1/12 fantasy action figure world is Savage Crucible!

It appears Savage Crucible focuses heavily on barbarians/fighter types and reptilian/aquatic men. I am really hoping they are durable like Marvel Legends and can bring some formidable competition to Mythic Legions!

Alan Dawson of the UK brought a sideshow Roger Moore to display his 1/6 Tommy Atkins British soldier uniforms. This is obviously a kitbash of Moore's character in the 1978 film, The Wild Geese!

Seth Cosby of Birmingham, AL's Sasquatch Toys made an appearance. I did not buy much from him at the show, but I certainly visit his shop when I am in his area!

I saw this Maxx FX figure and immediately remembered the one I played with that dad had. In 1989, this was an innovative idea by Matchbox to create a Captain Action type of figure for monsters instead of super heroes. The figure was a little shorter than G.I. Joe and fun to play with, but the line sadly died after the public found it offensive to sell a toy of an 'R' rated slasher film.

Derryl DePriest, former head of G.I. Joe at Hasbro, had a booth there! He was super nice and had so much cool intel on Hasbro from back in the day. He mentioned a few things that really stuck out to me. For modern 1/18, he thought the most innovative line was Pursuit of Cobra! For 1/6 Classic Collection, he also agreed that the line was at its highest shortly before ending. The figures had many more head options and the missions were better assembled!

Besides Alan Dawson, 2 other overseas figure enthusiasts set up booths. Here are some Mattel Big Jims from Europe. Unlike in the U.S., his missions overseas were not limited to just sports!

Custom toy maker Brent Sorensen of Brentz Dolz stopped by my hair rooting demonstrations. Brent is a super nice guy that coordinates custom parts to make cool 8 inch sized retro style figures!

I am not much for custom 1/12 stuff, but I liked this diorama display by MK Ultra Customs!

ToyLanta legend, EJ White, had a cool booth full of kitbash figures and dolls! He is holding a rare 1/6 female Power Team Elite figure!

Independent toy maker/designer Jason Schiermeyer is holding one of his groovy retro vibe Strike Force figures! Jason is the owner of White Elephant Toys, and he specializes in making high quality figures in most major scales!

One of White Elephant Toyz's products is this exclusive "Abominable Gor" of their 10 inch line, Adventure Command! This repro line was originally called "Super Joe Unlimited," but Hasbro's legal department is ready to attack any figure copyright with "Joe" in the title.

I ran into Wayne Scheiner, Jr. author of a new toy reference called, "The Toy Collectors Wish Book." He was actually at a table sorting through a pile of rare 80's Mask figures from Argentina!

Cosplay Team, Simple Tricks & Nonsense, showed up this year with some stellar Scarlet and Snake Eyes getups! 

Steve Bugg had his annual Maker's Table this year! He invited me to perform some toy customization demonstrations!

I finally met my favorite 1/6 YouTuber, Paul Knapp! Paul is a super cool guy and has the best 1/6 toy podcast, Live from the Mancave!

One of the best parts of a toy convention is seeing other hobbyists' custom work! Here is a WW2 bridge!

Fellow Joe enthusiast Matt Bill brought a small Adventure Team camping diorama!

ToyLanta regular, Jack Hall, brought a very intense miniature version of ToyLanta vendor, Puckett's Toys!

This diorama had a miniature version of everything, including Jack and the vendor himself!

Many of the boxes would open and even the figure or vehicle pictured!

Jack wanted to make sure I noticed the miniature Bulletman MIB!

One fellow custom figure creator brought these cool concept Super Joe figures! My favorite one is the guy with the glowing brain!

My custom entries were the Adventure Team Man of the Outback vs. the World's Deadliest Hunter! I won first place! More on these in a later post!

One of the after hours events was the annual "State of the Hobby!" This year was led by Greg Brown of Cotswold Collectibles! This night was roaring, filled with phenomenal input from current 1/6 toy makers to toy enthusiasts!

I have grown up with ToyLanta; I went to the very first JoeLanta in 2000, when I was just a kid. It is a very special show to me, and it is still as much fun even as an adult! One of the show's founders, Buddy Finethy, was sadly missing this year. The annual Toy auction this year was actually dedicated to Buddy, because of his recent hospital circumstances. The auction actually raised a record total; here's to seeing Buddy back at the show next year! So ToyLanta 2024... yes, still the greatest toy show in the world!

G.I. Joe Forever!

-Chuck