Mega Bloks sold to Mattel

[Hodgeman]

http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/02 ... _460m.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting perhaps, wondering what Mattel can do with this.

[Nepenthe7]

We have one of the Barbie MEGA Bloks sets (it was a gift) and the little building won't even stay together without anyone touching it. The Barbie hair is constantly falling off. It's sad. And the kids get frustrated. I saw a $25 set at Walmart for $11 and wouldn't go near it.

[Hodgeman]

I have a couple of the Call of Duty sets. The largest one (tank) was missing 3 rather critical pieces and came with a lot of odd extra pieces. I was able to get the missing pieces via Mega Blok's website, but I've built probably at least a hundred or more LEGO sets and *never* had a missing piece. (knock wood).

Also, the CoD minifigs are cool, but darn hard to put together correctly.

[lego the hutt]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that info. If Mattel can address some of the quality control issues (mainly clutch power) Megabloks could have potential. Lego is so far ahead of every other building brick company in that regard.

I'm always tempted to buy those Character Building Doctor Who and Scooby Doo sets but I just can't spend the money because of the horror stories I have heard about the clutch power. I have wanted to buy sets like those from other companies on multiple occasions because I like the theme, but 99% of the time I pass. (The only non-Lego building toys in my collection are 2 Oyo sports figures from my favorite teams).

[supercal]

The Mega Bloks super hero figures are a bit more like mini action figures with their extra points of articulation.

With Mattel owning Mega Brands, my first thought was...

Could we see Masters of the Universe sets?

[hatcher]

My sons love Skylanders, so we own practically all the Megabloks Skylander sets. The skylanders themselves are pretty good, but the bricks are hard to assemble. I have to help them assemble them. The bricks seem just a bit "off" in that the are either hard to click together, or won't stay together. They do make some parts that I wish Lego would make though. I do worry that with Mattel owning a building product, they'll be luring the Super Hero lines away from Lego.

[gorenoirmag]

Lego having more competition is a good thing. Means we'll be seeing higher and higher quality sets and hopefully higher licenses

[davedude]

no lego he-man now :(

[ninjagoyo]

The clutch power on LEGOs has been in steep decline, and there is not much difference now.
My kid's Mixels won't stay together under even the lightest play... the ball joints hold but the studs don't grip for crap... and that has been the case for at least half of new LEGO sets we get. Anything less than a 4x6 surface and the plates peel apart like warm cheese. On the other hand, after several excellent HALO MegaBloks sets, the last one we bought was a nightmare... maybe because it had lots of "Technic"-like pieces, which are no comparison to LEGO still, or maybe because it was a TARGET exclusive and thus cheaped out in some way to hit a price point.
In any case, TLG's quality is sliding rapidly, and that creates a market opportunity.