Earlier this week, I was invited to attend Blogger Bash NYC, an ever growing blogger convention, which was held this year at the beautiful Chelsea Piers along the west coast of Manhattan along the Hudson River. Throughout the event, different companies come in to sponsor different smaller events, whether it’s taking part in Sweet Suite (which I will write about in the upcoming days), Babypalooza, Brand “Speed Dating”, or a special meal. This year, our good friends over at Disney Infinity sponsored Friday morning’s breakfast, where Vice President of Production John Vignocchi (JV) and the team were there to talk about Disney Infinity 3.0, serve up some taste breakfast treats, and giveaway some awesome figures. Let’s check it out.

Presentation

On the presentation side of things, JV did not reveal anything new for Disney Infinity 3.0 that we did not already know before (later on in the day, Disney Infinity teased Ant-Man coming to 3.0, which I thought JV would announce at the event). This presentation was more of an overview of Disney Infinity 3.0 to a bunch of bloggers, some of whom might not know about Disney Infinity or, if they do, what is new for 3.0. JV went through all of the announced Play Sets and figures that have already been announced. He also talked about the new Toy Box Hub and the community inspired El Capitan Theatre (location central for Disney Infinity Toy Box TV and the wonderful creativity of the Toy Box Artists) and Flynn’s Arcade (where players from around the world can be paired up matchmaker style to see who can beat one another in gaming within the Toy Box). Finally, he teased about a lot more coming in the upcoming months, even referencing the SDCC display with the missing figures, and then announced that there would be two figures given away to attendees of the breakfast: Mulan and Han Solo, who both made their giveaway debut at Blogger Bash. Here are some pics from the presentation (click on the thumbnails to enlarge).

Now, here is one slide in particular that I wanted to highlight special, and that is a slide showing some of the Star Wars vehicles and mounts that will be available in 3.0. I do not think I have seen much mention of the ones we can get within the game aside from the Power Disc ones (Y-Wing, Slave I, and Grievous’ Wheel Bike) or the ones unlocked in the demos (X-Wing, AT-AT, Snowspeeder, and Speeder Bike).

For me, seeing the Skyhopper, Millenium Falcon, Tie Fighter, Sebulba Podracer, Star Fighter, Sand Crawler, Taun Taun, and Bantha actually confirmed is great. Granted, we might have seen glances of these in the Toy Box Speedway or in B-roll game footage, but we all know that even then they might not be in the final cut of the game.

Also, what I found surprising, and honoring, was that one of the photos from my Disney Infinity WDW Photo Shoot from this past January was used in the presentation.

While this was far from intentional, it was still awesome seeing Disney Infinity like my work so much that they included it in the presentation highlighting what you can do with the figures.

Breakfast/ Demo Time

Of course, you know that the Disney Infinity team would put out a great demo area and spread for the breakfast. And Brittany was there to make sure everything ran smoothly. Brittany was actually the very first person I met from Disney Infinity, back in a Chicago park during Taste of Chicago in 2013. She was the one who introduced me to JV and got the website and I started on this crazy journey with the game and the community.

Of course, Brittany had to make sure the food had quirky names to coincide with the event. With Jar Jar Bacon and Taun Taun Toast, I think she accomplished that task.

Throughout the dining area were a few different pieces of Disney Infinity concept art. Here are a couple of them. I especially love this look of Sadness.

While there were quite a few demo stations set up for people to demo the game, since I got a great one-on-one demo back during the Holiday Showcase, I decided to instead catch up with Brittany and then spend some time talking with JV. However, a lot of the other attendees demoed the game. Here is David Mayernik showing some of the attendees the game, and they were enjoying themselves.

I did, however, get to see Hulkbuster and Ultron in person for the first time and, though I could not snatch them up (I was tempted), I feel that these sculpts are amazing.

Before the event ended, like I mentioned earlier, I got to chat a bit with JV. Nothing formal, being that we are friends, but just some casual banter. We talked some about the competition coming out this year, how he did on the presentation (he did awesome, as always), and mainly about D23 and how excited he is about both the Sunday presentation (which he said will be a must see) and the Toy Box Summit, which he is still packing in fun stuff to. I shared in my excitement as I will be there that week reporting for the site, and he and the team are ecstatic about all of the fun that will be had. The convo was short lived, unfortunately, as the event was ending and he had to get on to a very busy day visiting other media outlets throughout NYC before leaving the next day to head home for a few hours before off on another whirlwind adventure.

Mulan and Han Solo Photo Shoot

Since Disney Infinity asked at the breakfast that Mulan and Han Solo see NYC, I was inclined to open them both up right there at Chelsea Piers and do an impromptu, and windy, photo shoot. First I did her unboxing video, which is currently live, and then took some photos of her riverside.

Then there is Han Solo, whose unboxing video will appear later today.

I really love the look of these figures, and cannot wait to play with them more in Disney Infinity 3.0. I have demoed both of them, but not nearly as much as I have liked to.

Overall, it was a wonderful event. Special thanks to JV and Brittany for taking time during the event to catch up, the team at Disney Infinity for putting on a great showing, and Blogger Bash NYC for hosting the event. I will have stories on other events that went on during Blogger Bash NYC that I took part in throughout the upcoming week, so stay tuned.