ToyFare

ToyFare

Cover of ToyFare #80 (Feb. 2004) featuring Teen Titans action figures
Frequency	Monthly
Year founded	1997
Final issue	2011
Company	Wizard Entertainment
Country	United States
Based in	New York City, New York
Language	English

ToyFare was a monthly magazine published by Wizard Entertainment that focused on collectible action figures, busts, statues, and maquettes. It previewed new and upcoming lines and figures each month, as well as providing a price guide for toy lines, both new and old. ToyFare was also known for its satirical humor, which could be found on almost every page.

The magazine began publication in 1997, initially borrowing many features which first appeared in its sister magazine, Wizard. It maintained a steady monthly schedule, reaching its 100th issue in December 2005.ToyFare was well known for its use of alternative covers, a feature which was first utilized with issue #20, and was used almost every issue after #57.

Along with its sister publication,Wizard, ToyFare closed down on January 24, 2011. The final issue published was #163.

The most popular feature in ToyFare was Twisted ToyFare Theatre (TTT), a humorous comic strip done by photographing toys on sets built by the magazine’s staff. (This technique was likewise used for covers for much of the magazine's earlier run, though without the comedic intent.) The strips predominantly featured action figures produced by the Mego Corporation, toys popular in the 1970s, during the childhoods of much of the magazine’s staff. Most of the regular figures/characters featured in the strip were Marvel Comics characters, such as Spider-Man (popularly known as "Mego Spidey") and the Incredible Hulk. Twisted ToyFare Theatre's popularity was such that Wizard Entertainment released several trade paperback collections of the strips.

The magazine added "The Monthly Rag", a feature similar to supermarket tabloids, presenting parody articles using various toy and pop culture references. (An example would be an article reporting on the intelligent design debate on the planet Cybertron, home of the robotic Transformers). Originally, this feature's main articles were humorous exaggerations of actual toy-related stories (such as news of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series' release on DVD, reported as "Shocking He-Man Footage Made Public!"), and a sidebar column would appear somewhere within the "Monthly Rag" section with short summaries of the real news behind the exaggerated articles.