Nextoy and Israeli inventor Yair Shilo are honored to have won Toy Innovator of the Year at the 2024 TAGIE Awards for the Power Saber, produced in collaboration with Goliath. As the world’s first automatic extending and retracting saber toy, the Power Saber has captivated fans with its seamless motion, bright lights, and immersive sound effects. Years of dedication and innovation led to this groundbreaking product, which debuted to massive excitement at Comic-Con. We’re proud to have helped bring Yair’s vision to life and to see the Power Saber recognized as a true game-changer in the toy industry.

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Nextoy is honored to be recognized in the Mojo 100, highlighting the most influential figures in toy and game design. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do, and this acknowledgment celebrates our dedication to bringing groundbreaking ideas to life. From award-winning launches like the Power Saber to exciting digital and physical toy collaborations, we remain committed to pushing the boundaries of play. We’re grateful to our partners, inventors, and the entire Nextoy team for making this possible—here’s to another year of creativity and innovation!

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Yair Shilo tells The Verge it took five years just to figure out the right formula for a safely collapsing automatic blade, starting with prototypes made of paper and tin foil. He says he sold newspapers, trimmed lawns, and cleaned swimming pools while he worked on his Star Wars childhood dream,

eventually rallying a cousin and an investment group behind a provisional patent in 2019.

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The Power Saber is a groundbreaking innovation in the world of sabers. It’s the first toy in its category to feature automatic extending and retracting capabilities. While lightsabers are iconic props from movies, no toy saber has managed to retract automatically until now.

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In his 40+year career as a lauded toy and game inventor, Robert Fuhrer of Chappaqua has brought to market more than 200 toys and games — from Crocodile Dentist to KenKen

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Bob, it’s been over a year since we tied in. Been busy?
That’s not the simple question it should be. Near complete elimination of travel should’ve freed up time but somehow the days get filled. There’s certainly been more tuning into Netflix, though!

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Considered one of the world's top toy industry experts, Robert founded Nextoy LLC in 1981. Ever since, Nextoy has been connecting original toy and game ideas with the companies that market them. The company is regarded as product-placement specialists for toys and games, publishing, and gifts and novelties.

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Robert Fuhrer has played in the toy industry practically his entire life. His father held executive positions with toy companies like Matchbox and Topper Toys, and so the younger Fuhrer grew up in toyland.

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Since 1981, Nextoy has been one of the leading product invention companies serving the toy and game industry. And the last 12 months have proved to be another fruitful period for the firm.

Photo by Mick Hetman

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"We work to align the elements of an idea with whatever is required such as engineering, industrial design, theming and then figure out who could be the right partner for it."

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Chappaqua resident Robert Fuhrer opens up about his surprising life in the toy industry.

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KENKEN is a grid-based numerical puzzle that uses the basic math operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—while also challenging your logic and problem-solving skills.

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New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz introduces KenKen and gives a brief play-by-play demonstration of this new puzzle craze.

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"LightSeekers Awakening from PlayFusion and TOMY promises to bring toys to life, on a tablet, with no portal. The idea is to create an action adventure role playing game built for mobile phones and tablets that fuses together fantasy and reality."

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At 54, Fuhrer is a fixture in Japanese toy marketing circles, a 6-foot-1 American businessman who makes his living by bridging the cultural gap between the firm handshake and the diffident bow.

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 Robert Fuhrer never stopped being a kid. As the founder and president of Chappaqua-based Nextoy, LLC, since 1981, Fuhrer has been in the business of locating and developing new toys and games from Japan and designing them for American consumers.

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