It’s unseasonably warm, but that has not stopped the Toy Industry and media from flocking to NYC for the annual American International Toy Fair. We spent 4 days at the Javitts Center previewing the latest and greatest from a variety of different toy manufacturers, and we’re thrilled to share our coverage with you. It all starts with the #1 Toy Company in the world right now: LEGO
The LEGO Group is the #1 toy company in the world, and also the undisputed leader in the construction segment. Last year, LEGO made it’s next foray into the motion picture arena, with the release of The LEGO Batman Movie. In addition, at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, LEGO announced the innovative new technology building platform LEGO Boost. Capitalizing on that momentum, LEGO brought a diverse slate of sets, from themes old and new, to Toy Fair this year. Here is our report on what we saw.
First up on our tour through the world of LEGO is Brickheadz, a new line which allows you to build collectible oversized versions of iconic characters out of LEGO bricks. There will be twelve sets in the series (4 LEGO Batman Movie, 4 Marvel , 4 Disney). Ten of them (41585 – Batman, 48586 – Batgirl, 41587 – Robin, 41588 – Joker, 41589 – Captain America, 41590 – Iron Man, 41591 – Black Widow, 41592 – Hulk, 41595 – Belle and 41596 – Beast) will be released in March. The remaining two (41593 – Captain Jack Sparrow and 41594 – Captain Armando Salazar) are based on the upcoming movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and will be released in April.
These actually look really cool. They’re like the LEGO equivalent of a bobble-head. They’re sort of oversized mini-figures, but you’re not meant to play with them. They’re made more as display pieces. As such, the faces are a bit blockier, but they still look liek the characters they are meant to represent. At $9.99 each, it’s easy to pick your favorites or collect them all.
NOTE: The Pirates of the Caribbean Brickheadz were announced and unveiled at Toy Fair in a separate display case. The images will appear later in this report.
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Next up is that most collectible of LEGO items, the minifigure. Each series of these sought after single blind packs contains an assortment of unique LEGO minifigures not available anywhere else. There will be two series released in the next eight months (71018 – Available in May, 71019 – Available in August). Each series retails for $3.99 each.
Alex Giannini
Rob Hull