Convention Recap: ToyConNJ

Contributed by collector and Overstreet Advisor Art Cloos
Photos by Alice Cloos

Joe Veteri offers a series of shows under his Veteri Productions banner. These events include the monthly Wayne, NJ Toy Show that has been running for over 35 years, and the twice yearly Comic Art Con that is dedicated to comic art, and the twice yearly ToyConNJ.

Verteri got the 2024 fall convention season off to a good start with the latest ToyConNJ on September 14-15, 2024, in its new location at the Morristown National Guard Armory in Morristown, NJ. The show was billed as the next evolution of ToyConNJ with a bigger venue that has 31,000 square feet of event space. This meant there was room for more vendors and more collectibles. Also, vendors were given larger booths. Right away, we saw that the aisles were wide and there was no jostling for space between the attendees.

Vendors came from all over the New York tristate area, including Sparkling Pineapple, HallowsEve, Treats & Tricks, Duarte, J&J Figures, Terra Sabers, Rambo’s Attic, NJ Toys and Collectibles, JH Collectibles, Suzcraft Retrospect Customs, Steve Villegas’s Sumo Comics, Mbartistcollectibles, and Brooke’s Nook. Venator Class Collectibles had a display that was especially amazing with a large loose G.I. Joe collection, hundreds of loose Kenner Star Wars figures, many other loose figures from the ‘80s and early ‘90s like the ThunderCats, Bionic Six, Ghostbusters, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Mask, and Transformers. In addition, they had a huge assortment of AFA-graded Kenner Star Wars figures and an uncut sheet of Topps Star Wars green backs with the C-3PO golden rod card. Believe me when I say it took a while to go through their display.

That was true of the entire show, which had a lot of different categories including vintage and modern toys, movie memorabilia, model kits, playsets, superhero and character toys, antiques, anime DVDs, posters, military, action figures, sports and non-sport cards, dolls, statues, advertising, vintage Disney, gumball and vending machines, and even more. It was not a show that one could go through quickly.

There was a lot to do at ToyConNJ beyond looking for goodies to buy. For example, the show had gaming entertainment from Wedoca, which provides Japanese arcade cabinets and retro consoles to events along the east coast. They have a focus on ‘90s arcade games that include fighters, puzzles, beat’em ups and shooters, and everything was free to play for attendees. In addition, Iron City Anime brought together a lot of classic to modern anime video game stations for the ToyConNJ Video Game Arena both days of the show. Also, there were photo opportunities for the Back to the Future DeLorean which was inside the Armory.

The show partnered with RetroEsports.com and had additional video gaming systems and consoles on free play. There were high score challenges and speed run attempts activities both days of the show. All of this was sponsored by the East Coast Gaming Expo, the New Jersey Gamer Con, Jersey Shore Comic Book Show, and Buddys Auto Repair who handled the event prizes. F&M hobbies which is a full line hobby shop located in Flanders, NJ, hosted a radio control race track and they brought Traxxas 4-Tec on road cars for fans to race. The New Jersey Diecast Club, which has been around for 26 years, conducting racing, raffles, auctions, and buy/sell/trade events, was there. They brought their 25-foot, 4-lane race track and attendees had the chance to do a little free racing.

Cosplayers are welcomed at ToyCon and were given a discounted admission rate of $5.

Allie and I both found some nice things for our collections, and many of the dealers told us that their sales were good for the first time at this new venue. It is worth mentioning that despite this being a toy con, some people sell comic books there as well. At an earlier show, Allie bought a key All Star Comics issue and at another one I picked up a Captain Marvel movie comic from 1948. At this show in particular, there was a fair amount of comic books for sale from slabbed Silver and Bronze Age keys on wall displays to dollar boxes. Yes, the majority of them were Marvel books but there was some DC issues as well.

We were both happy about catching up with Brooke Haramija and Ken Lawrence who are both dealers and friends. My in-laws, Ben and John, came with us to the show and they told us that they just loved it (John was like a little kid walking through the aisles) and want to come back next year.

In terms of food, the show hosted a food truck festival that was run by Carr Event Productions. The Mexi Boys, Latin Bites, Aphono’s Catering, and Donut NV were there all weekend. On Saturday, Hadez, The Box Sanguiches, Sweet Escapes, and It’s Delicious Ice Cream were there, and on Sunday, Big John’s Burgers and Tommy’s Scoops were set up. Beyond the food trucks the venue is a 15-minute drive into Morristown where there was a very large selection of restaurants. Allie and I agreed that we can’t wait until the next edition of ToyConNJ in the spring of 2025.

General admission was $10 a day with special admission rates for early entry, and veterans get in for just $5 as a thank you for their service. This is something that a lot of other shows do not do. In addition, children 10 and under get in for free, and parking is free as well. The show was a short drive off of RT. 287 south from RT. 80 and there is room for a thousand cars in the parking lot. The show hours were 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and 10 AM to 3 PM on Sunday, with a special early bird rate of 9 AM on both days.

Dates for the spring and fall 2025 editions of ToyCon have not yet been announced, but they will be at the Morristown National Guard Armory located at 430 Western Avenue in Morristown, NJ. More information is available at www.veteriproductions.com or their Facebook page.

For more photos from ToyConNJ, jump to our In the Limelight section.