Lego, Mattel, and Hasbro invite all of the bloggers to come at one time. They put out everything like a buffet, and you get maybe a half hour to shoot everything. Most of the bloggers are less than professional and act like it's every dork for himself.
You try to wait in line and take turns getting photos of everything, but all decorum is forgotten the instant they get into the room.
It's gotten worse the number of people with phones and iPads. They have to get closer to each object, often times blocking or ruining the shot for the people trying to take photos.
And each year they seem to credential more and more bloggers, and offer less new stuff to actually see. A lot of big reveals are now made at Comic Con, so you go through all this, and you're not even looking at more than one or two brand new items per series.
LEGO makes theirs at 7 am, so you can imagine the logistics of getting to that on time.
And finally, they used to give out awesome premiums. Freebies that said Toy Fair on it, and they would go for hundreds of dollars on eBay. You could often fund your travel expenses with the promos we got. Those days are long gone as well.
BUT the alternative is not having any Mattel or Hasbro or Lego coverage.
That's why I love visiting playmobil. They know me now pretty well, but regardless, they're very friendly and patient. They're excited to see me. They give me the tour, answer questions, and then let me go back around one more time to shoot video or any photos I missed. I know I'm geeking out a bit on them, but they're totally patient with me. That, is what Toy Fair should be.
