February 23, 2005 - Well, here we are at Day 2 of our Toy Fair 2005 coverage, and this is where things really start to heat up. There was plenty of jibber-jabber during the introduction to Day 1, so let's just cut to the chase – or, at least, the first company I visited…

MASTER REPLICAS

Long known for their wonderful line of prop replicas from Star Wars and Star Trek (as well as Aliens, Predator, and LOTR), Master Replicas is refocusing themselves this year with closer ties to their fan base via a soon-to-be-announced collector's club (with some excellent exclusives for diehards), a redesigned website, and a desire for more interaction (which includes a request for more feedback/suggestions).

While there are plans to expand the Star Trek and LOTR lines this year, the big push continues to be their Star Wars replicas, particularly with the release of Episode III. They're also on the cusp of going full tilt with their recently launched Walt Disney Showcase Collection, featuring props from classic Disney films – both live action and animated.


Based on the tremendous success of the initial AT-AT replica, MR is releasing a second version featuring a snow-covered-base (with crashed Snowspeeder) and a completely different pose.

Clone Trooper helmet replica. Colored variants will be available as retail exclusives.

Darth Vader Revenge of the Sith helmet replica, with the RotS Anakin lightsaber replica sitting in front.

Darth Sidious lightsaber replica.

And Yoda's lightsaber replica.

Friendly MR staff showing off the new RotS Vader ForceFX lightsaber (believe me – without the flash dampening it, the glow is even brighter than the original Vader ForceFX).