Return To Minifigland

Hey look, it’s another one of those sneaky kids, stuffing his backpack full of Toy Fair loot! You’d think they’d have better security at this place…

First up is the Harry Potter line (complete with the T.O.T.Y. award earned by the Chamber of Secrets set), though all but two sets have been released already. Technically all the rest are 2002 sets and should not be shown at Toy Fair, but the Harry Potter movies are released so late in the year that they aren’t allowed to show off the 2003 sets yet. The two unreleased sets are Knockturn Alley and Quality Quidditch Supplies , both of which are due out in April.

The Spiderman portion of the Studios line appears to represent the entirety of the upcoming offerings, though the entire “studio” aspect has been left behind (no cameramen in these sets). There are three new sets, with one focusing on his first chase (with the wrestling costume), another split between the two laboratory accidents that created both Spiderman and the Green Goblin, and the third covering the final battle between the two. I understand that some people were interested in seeing the new canopy piece used on the cablecar, so I threw in a closeup of that as well.

Getting into the mostly mundane stuff, we have the basic Town group (specifically called World City ), which consists entirely of police-related product and trains. Well-protected trains. One of the police sets even comes with a sorely outmatched criminal (11-1, by my count). The police sets include a basic squad car, a helicopter, an undercover van, an armored truck, a surveillance semi, and a headquarters building, while the train offerings include a cargo train, a high-speed passenger train, a cargo crane, and Grand Central Station (which does not appear to be based on the GCS in New York City).

But enough of reality. Back to the more fantastical stuff, we have the third section of the Adventurers Orient Expedition line, which focuses on China, land of Lion-Dogs. (Seriously, the black megafig with the red head is Jun-Chi, the Lion-Dog) Sets include Jun-Chi’s signature set, Johnny Thunder’s bi-plane, the Emperor’s ship, and the Dragon Fortress where Johnny & Co. must acquire the fabled Golden Dragon. Speaking of which, the bulk of the Golden Dragon is a lot more black than one would expect, though it does sport a new tail section and a vacuum-metalized gold-colored upper jaw (now everyone quick think of Johnny Thunder riding the Golden Dragon while wielding the Golden Shield and the Golden Sword).

Okay, so they don’t fit very well into this section, but I only have one good photo, and I had to put them somewhere. These are the Racers. The four motorcycles are starting to show up (except the Exo Force Bike, which won’t be available until April), but the piece I most wanted to photograph (the navy blue TOA NUVA chest armor) was not present on the display model. Upcoming sets include a few more medium-to-large pull-back cars, a yellow dragster with interchangable motors for different performance styles, a large mini-Racer race track, and two more RC cars (one of which is actually weather-resistant).

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