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Toyfare & Wizard Comics Magazine – Closed & Done

While not the biggest shock in the world, WIZARD Publishing has closed up shop on Toyfare magazine & Wizard (Comic Books).

In this day and age, of course, with the instant-on of the internet, hard for a printed magazine with its 1-3 month deadline required of a monthly magazine to compete. By the time the info is out in the magazine, it’s already old news … or like some crazy website where you can read 2,500 posts just on one particular diecast line … INCONCEIVABLE!

(first issue cover)

Of course, the other problem is that they while the behind-the-scenes features were excellent, coverage of actual toys and toy lines got weaker and weaker … of course, niche magazines always face that problem – the industry figures – why bother buying ads, they’re giving us free PR …

Yes, Lee’s & Tomart’s are still around but they seem really averse to words (or words strung together spelled correctly and with proper grammar …  😛  ). So, if you’re looking for photos of the Avatar action figure releases or Mego figures of 1971, it’s mostly there but beyond that, sadly not much more.

For diecast collectors of larger scales – there are two relatively new magazines that are ultra nice – excellent editorial, world class photos and excellent paper stock (full color throughout).

Both are generally available at Border’s & Barnes-Noble but may not be obvious as CAR ROOM is published 6 times a year and DIECAST MAGAZINE 4 times a year.

THE CAR ROOM MAGAZINE (also available by subscription at Amazon – they are having a February sale – buy $20 worth of mag subscriptions, get $10 Amazon gift card).

Or Diecast Magazine (direct subscription only – quarterly) – also excellent coverage & nice photos throughout – only tiny quibble being you get two fewer issues a year. Though a free registration entitles you to view the latest issue online free.

Neither cover the 1:64 market very much nor the Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS but are fun to look (or dangerous to your wallet – either way 🙂  ).

Or the Japanese way – a 250 page magazine with 1,000 photos and printed on heavy art magazine stock … though 200 of the pages are devoted to Gundam & like figures … (check your local comic book store).

Apparently there will be a digital magazine-website coming soon called Wizard World and the conventions are continuing as is.

You can read more at Newsrama.

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2 February 2011 Magazine, Mattel Disney Pixar CARS 9 Comments

9 Comments

  • daniel's dad says:

    Their early spoofs with Mega figures blazed a path for Robot Chicken!

    So Seth Green read Toyfare.

    • flarf says:

      Actually, Seth Green did used to read Toy Fare – one of the old Toy Fare editors left and went to work with Seth at Robot Chicken. Guessing that was a pretty good move.

  • Quixotequest says:

    I ceased subscribing to the mags years ago because of my disdain for the owner Gareb Shamus. Too bad that a business closure doesn’t impact him alone.

  • por356 says:

    I have found The Diecast Magazine at my local Borders. Of course, they also have a magazine about collecting athletic shoes! It makes collecting little lumps of metal, plastic and paint seem almost normal!

  • buckland-blowouts says:

    They had the toy fair here in Toronto which from what I hear is not the same as it used to be… AKA… The big box stores are forcing closedowns of all the mom N pops toy stores – And since they are only selling to those three /four big companies, there is no need for the fairs to attract and wow anymore… So SAD!!!!!

  • jess says:

    i used to love that mag. especially the mail away toy offers. the price guide was kind of a joke though (always on the high side). i havent bought it in years, but still sad to see it go.

  • flarf says:

    Totally bummed! Been subscribing for years, and my 13 year old & I would fight over who got to read it first. Guess I shouldn’t have renewed for 2 years….

  • MWH80 says:

    Toyfare originally just came out as a special publication, that was almost like a one-shot. Though I think they did a second one, and after that one was well-received, they made plans to publish them as a yearly magazine.

    The early issues were really great, but in the most recent years, they’ve been doing what TV networks have been doing: trying to put their hands in other cookie jars to draw attention from anyone. Alot of the articles these days felt like they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. Plus, once upon a time like Wizard, you could find action figure prices. These days, that’s all but disappeared, and the magazine’s page-count has shrunk.

    Of course, their big competitor is the internet: we can find leaked images of future product before it’s official thanks to places like eBay.

  • collectormom says:

    Darn, I really liked Toy Fare. I still have an old issue that has a profile of toys from The Tick cartoon (not the live action show), from ages ago!!

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