The joy, wonder, and weirdness of Toy Fair 2013

Toy Fair isn't what you would expect. The New York-based toy trade show is the largest in the Western hemisphere — it had nearly 30,000 attendees last year — but there are no children. Hundreds of thousands of square feet are dedicated to the things children love, like action figures, dolls, model cars, board games, arts and crafts, sports equipment, and video games, but there's a strict rule: no admittance to anyone under 18 years of age. In fact, you need to be in the industry to get in, but in case you couldn't be there, we figured we'd bring you a taste.

The atmosphere of the trade show is far more subdued than the tech conventions that litter our calendars. Like last year, businessmen and women seemed far more content to trade business cards than join in on the fun, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't plenty to see — once you get past the giant walls designed to keep prying eyes from seeing what competitors have up their sleeves.

The tech world has affected these toy companies greatly. We saw the beginnings of it last year, but at Toy Fair 2013 the largest companies are all integrating iPads and iPhones in some way into their product lines. Entire toys built around iPads were very popular; we saw everything from an iPad-enabled farm set for pre-schoolers to a magic Barbie mirror that takes advantage of Apple's tablet. It's no longer just "batteries not included" — you'll need to buy an iPad if you want to play with some of these toys.

Toy Fair celebrated its 110th anniversary this week. Despite the fun fonts, bright colors, and cornucopia of toys, not a single child is allowed through the gates: you must be 18 or older to play.
The convention is advertised as "the largest toy marketplace in the Western Hemisphere," and it had about 30,000 registrants this year. 1,000 exhibitors displaying everything from action figures, board games, plush toys, arts and crafts, sports equipment, model cars, books, and more fill the floor.
Booths for the big players, like Lego, are enclosed by 10-foot-tall walls and are guarded by press representatives. Visits are by appointment only, if you're lucky.
Slave Leia makes an appearance in Lego's latest Jabba Sail Barge kit, which will cost $119.99 this August.
Security was tight everywhere — a few companies marked off certain sections that couldn't be photographed. Lego's tie-ins for DC's upcoming Superman movie Man of Steel were hidden as they revealed plot points in the film. Bummer.
Crayola closely guarded access to its latest wares, which included a Magic Marker that only makes marks on special paper — saving your walls from "art."
Mattel, the world's largest toy company by revenue, set up its own sort of Fort Knox high above the show foor.
The center of Mattel's booth was graced by this massive figure of Max Steel. The brand is hugely popular in Latin America, and now the company is trying to bring it worldwide with a new TV show (and accompanying toys) that will air on Disney XD this March.
Last year the Barbie section of Mattel's booth featured a digital camera doll, and this year there was a doll with an LED-array digital dress you could "draw" abstract designs onto.
The highlight, however, was the Digital Makeup Mirror, which uses an iPad's front-facing camera and an accompanying app to let kids "try on" makeup. $69.99, this August.
iPad-enabled toys were all the rage. This Little People Apptivity Barnyard set from Fisher Price lets kids take care of a digital farm using toy tools and animals — all of which have little capacitive feet so the iPad can sense them.
Another iPad-enabled toy from Fisher Price offers learning games like this one, which reads letter cards and creates a virtual reality overlay.
This seemingly-standard Hot Wheels set could accommodate an iPad to offer an augmented-reality view of the track with dinosaurs wrecking havoc on the cars as they pass.
Hasbro, the world's second largest toy maker, rented out its own space outside of the convention at The New York Times Building. Still no children allowed.
Did you ever think Jenga would be better with Tetris? Us neither.
This Draw Something Party game is one of several attempts at turning popular apps into real-life games. The see-through drawing surface allows everyone to guess while you draw.
Perhaps more ambitious is this recreation of Angry Birds Star Wars, in which two players compete to knock down the target first. Rebuilding the pig TIE fighter: not as fun.
If you've been looking for Bejeweled in board game form, Hasbro has you covered.
Girls like Nerf guns, too, and now Hasbro has produced a lighter, more stylized line just for girls after plenty of research. An optional iPhone mount offers some dubious functionality that allows players to join squads together.
After over 50 years, Play-Doh has a new formula. It's softer and fluffier, allowing for creations like ice cream, icing, and other detail work. It's being offered alongside the original as "Play-Doh Plus."
A guard stands watch over the Transformers section of Hasbro's booth.
Bandai was celebrating the 20th anniversary of Power Rangers at its booth.
Traditional action figures, collectibles, and models were relegated to the lower floor of the convention center. This figure is from Bandai's set based on the manga series Saint Seiya.
Goku and Vegeta, from Dragon Ball Z, make an appearance at Tamashii Nations' booth at Toy Fair.
Products tie-ins to popular video games and TV shows weren't hard to come by. This 18-inch, $299.99 replica of the Normandy SR-2 from Mass Effect 3 sat alongside Game of Thrones figures in Dark Horse's booth.
Playmobil has made a habit out of making its booth a life-sized version of one of its toy sets. It may look like a child's dream, but this space is reserved for business deals.
The inspiration for this year's booth, the $149.99 Western Fort set. Playmobil sets are sold in Germany, where the company is headquartered, and worldwide. The Wild West is a favorite in Germany.
The largest Playmobil set on display is actually three separate sets that cost upwards of $300 all together. The boat floats and the train moves, but the plane doesn't fly.
The pseudo-fortresses of competing toy manufacturers' booths create long hallways.
Thought Beanie Babies were dead? You were wrong.
Lots of toys, and lots of men in suits.
Toy Fair is only open to the press and those in the toy industry.
The Jacob Javits Center, located on the west side of Manhattan near the Hudson River, houses Toy Fair. Last year, the show used up 366,339 square feet of space in the building.