Toys

Lego may have long ago surpassed the popularity of Meccano but Pete Wood demonstrates why the over 100 year old mechanical building toy still has devoted fans.

This September, Bandai will open a Gundam museum in Japan, where you can not only watch staff members manufacture Gunpla kits inside its factory, but also create a plastic mini mech of your own, as spotted by IGN.

In 2021, Lego collaborated with Adidas for a brick-built version of the brand’s iconic Superstar sneaker. This year the company has partnered with Nike for a 1,180-piece buildable replica of its Dunk sneaker that includes hidden storage, swappable lace colors, an exclusive minifigure, and a display stand featuring a spinning basketball.

To help commemorate the 75th anniversary of Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, Bandai will soon be releasing a new Tamagotchi Nano featuring characters like Snoopy, Woodstock, and Harriet you can take care of and interact with — presumably without the risk of them dying if you’re negligent.

Following brick-built versions of the Simpson’s home and Apu’s Kwik-E-Mart, Lego is releasing a 1,635-piece Krusty Burger on June 4th, 2025 for $209.99. The set opens to reveal a full interior with a kitchen, dining room, play area, restroom, and drive-thru window.

Available for preorder starting today for $69.99 and shipping on June 1st, 2025, Lego’s latest Pixar set recreates the studio’s Luxo Jr. lamp mascot which first appeared in a short film in 1986.

“Is this the maximum speed? Should we just crash?” the F1 drivers laugh. Then, they do — and Lego bits fly everywhere! Such a brand stunt, and yet I’m so jealous. More on the cars here.

It’s slightly smaller than the 2,354-piece Discovery set that debuted in 2021, but Lego’s new Space Shuttle Enterprise is part of a larger 2,417-piece set that includes a buildable replica of the Boeing 747 that NASA used for testing and moving its shuttles around the country.

Available for preorder today for $59.99 and shipping on May 1st, 2025, Lego has announced a 700-piece buildable version of the iconic Star Wars logo created by graphic designer Suzy Rice.

If you had any doubt where GI Joe’s antagonist would stand on the blockchain, Hasbro has repurposed this clip from S1E21, “Money to Burn.”

Following a 6,167-piece recreation of the elven sanctuary Rivendell released in 2023, Lego is revisiting The Lord of the Rings with a new 2,017-piece version of the Shire. The set launches on April 5th for $269 and includes nine minifigures: Frodo, Samwise, Merry, Pippin, Bilbo, Gandalf, Mrs. Proudfoot, Farmer Proudfoot, and Rosie Cotton.

Japan has shown the world that wonderful things can be distributed through a vending machine -- from tiny Nikon camera replicas, to Nintendo controller keychains. But I’m especially jealous of these server rack replicas discovered by Viktor Shpak featuring miniature Dell servers and Cisco switches plus tiny cables to connect them all together.

Lego leaked a new Lord of the Rings kit called The Shire in a since-removed event posting on its site spotted by Jay’s Brick Blog. The kit focuses on Bag End, the home of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins in the fantasy series.

3Doodler, known for its 3D-printing pens, has announced a kid-friendly version of its Chef 3D pen that prints with candy instead of plastic filament. The new 3Doodler Candy, arriving later this year, swaps a power cord for a 45-minute rechargeable battery and uses gluten-free vegan isomalt capsules instead of sugar.

One of the most iconic electronic toys of the ‘80s is returning, but instead of pressing glowing buttons to repeat an ever-growing pattern, the Simon Jump Game Mat requires you to use your feet. The gameplay is similar to the original Simon, but players are now presented with a sequence of colored lights right from the start, which you have to dance out on the mat.

ICYMI: If you’re on the hunt for a new handbag and want something chic that doubles as a reliable distraction during awkward dinner dates, Nik Bentel Studio’s new RC Car Bag is exactly that. You can’t drive an Hermès Birkin bag across a table.

It is still kind of hard to believe that Amazon MGM is producing a live-action Masters of the Universe movie starring Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man and Jared Leto as Skeletor. But it’s true, and Deadine reports that Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Vikings: Valhalla) have signed on to play The Sorceress of Castle Grayskull and Fisto, respectively.

Following Grogu and R2-D2 versions, Bandai’s latest Star Wars collaboration turns Anakin Skywalker into a digital pet. But no matter how you choose to raise him with regular feedings and even lightsaber training, the Tamagotchi version of Anakin is always destined for the dark side and will inevitably grow into one of ten different versions of Darth Vader.

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach weren’t contractually locked into making another Barbie movie after their first and a follow-up didn’t exactly seem like something Warner Bros. was rushing to make.

Areaware’s new 15-piece Blockitecture set was designed by James Paulius with hexagonal shapes and cantilevered features so you can build structures in Frank Lloyd Wright’s distinctive Usonian-style.

Following its excellent controller button keychain collections, Nintendo will soon fill the gashapon machines in its stores in Japan with collectible Zonai devices from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Six will be available for $4 each, including devices like rockets and flame emitters, and they’ll all double as magnets with an included attachment.

Following a buildable Mona Lisa, Lego has tackled another da Vinci creation with a 493-piece replica of the renaissance polymath’s flying machine. It still can’t actually fly, but a system of strings, hinges, and pulleys makes its fabric covered wings flap when you pull a trigger. It will be available starting on January 1, 2025, for $49.99, and will include a da Vinci minifigure.

If so, you’ll be able to add a Lego Shell-Walker and Sawtooth to your collection next March thanks to a new Horizon-themed Lego set that you can preorder now. Varl is getting a minifig, too.

Tesla’s Optimus robot is now available through the company’s online store, but in a version that’s even less capable than the ones at its recent Cybercab reveal. The $40, 1:10-scale Tesla Bot Action Figure stands 7.16 inches tall and is assembled from over 40 parts offering 20 points of articulation. It includes a tiny matching charging stand and a CyberHammer.

$20 direct from Retro Fighters, $28 from Amazon, or about $18 from VGP Canada, all before shipping costs.

Adding to its growing collection of doomed ocean-going vessels, Lego’s The Endurance recreates Ernest Shackleton’s ship that sunk in 1915 after being trapped in Antarctic ice for 10 months. Lego’s $269.99 version doesn’t float, but features a working steering wheel, four detachable life boats, sails, and removable panels revealing interior cabins and a replica of the ship’s steam engine.

Robosen, maker of self-transforming Transformers, has teamed up with Disney to bring its Space Ranger toy to life.