New York Toy Fair Coverage Part Twelve: Technic

[Aanchir]

Shortcut to Part One: Hero Factory

Shortcut to Part Two: Ninjago

Shortcut to Part Three: City

Shortcut to Part Four: Monster Fighters and Dino

Shortcut to Part Five: Super Heroes

Shortcut to Part Six: Friends

Shortcut to Part Seven: Creator, Racers, & Games

Shortcut to Part Eight: Star Wars

Shortcut to Part Nine: The Lord of the Rings

Shortcut to Part Ten: Bricks & More, Minifigures, and non-licensed Duplo

Shortcut to Part Eleven: Spongebob SquarePants, Cars, and Disney Princesses

This year, I was able to go to the New York International Toy Fair for the first time as a representative of the BIONICLE wiki BIONICLEsector01 and its sister site HEROsector01. Together with fellow BS01/HS01 staff member Chols, who took most of the photos, I attended the LEGO Collectors Preview where representatives of LEGO fansites can view and photograph the new sets for an extended two-hour timeframe (our invitations unfortunately did not cover admission to the full three-day Toy Fair event, so externally-produced LEGO products like clocks and watches were not among the things we saw).

Since our sites' normal coverage doesn't extend outside the constraction themes, we reached an agreement with Eurobricks to share with them our coverage of the LEGO Collectors Preview and all the sets and themes on display. Our coverage concludes with part twelve: the 2012 lineup of LEGO Technic. All of the sets on display came out in January, but hopefully since not all of them have been reviewed here on Eurobricks the coverage will still prove useful to some people.

9390 Mini Tow Truck

138 Pieces

USD $11.99

CAD $14.99

Other currencies from Brickset

B Model

It's hard to ignore the resemblance between this set and last year's Unimog U400. Action features include a winch and working steering. This set can be rebuilt into a Formula 1 race car.

9391 Tracked Crane

218 Pieces

USD $19.99

CAD $24.99

Other currencies from Brickset

B Model

This set's action features include a rotating superstructure, adjustable boom, and winch. It can be rebuilt into a bulldozer with a lowering blade and ripper.

9392 Quad Bike

199 Pieces

USD $24.99

CAD $29.99

Other currencies from Brickset

B Model

This set is loaded with action features like spring-based suspension, a chain-driven engine (unfortunately, the model is too small to actually motorize using Power Functions), and working steering. The alternate model is a race buggy boasting similar features (except the chain-driven engine).

9394 Jet Plane

499 Pieces

USD $49.99

CAD $64.99

Other currencies from Brickset

B Model

This sleek design features working landing gear and ailerons, sweeping wings, and an opening cockpit. It's the first set of its kind since this style of panel came into vogue, and it uses them well to create streamlined wings and air intakes. Its B model is an aerobatic plane.

9395 Pick-Up Tow Truck

954 Pieces

USD $69.99

CAD $89.99

Other currencies from Brickset

B Model

This set advertises a winch, folding tow lift, working steering, opening doors, and opening hood/bonnet that reveals a working piston engine. And yes, this one is Power Functions-compatible. It can be rebuilt into a truck with lift.

Sadly, that wraps it up for the sets on display at Toy Fair. I'm not entirely sure why the Technic sets for this summer were kept under wraps unlike the majority of other themes.

In any event, let me wrap up this last piece of coverage with a thank-you to all the people who helped me out with bringing this coverage to Eurobricks. This was my first time covering Toy Fair, and coordinating the coverage between two sites (three, if you count the Flickr account used to host the photos) was quite difficult, but having so many people's support was invaluable.

First, let me thank Swert. As owner of BIONICLEsector01 and HEROsector01, he was responsible for getting me admitted to the LEGO Collectors Preview in the first place, so none of this could have happened without him. I'd also like to thank Chols, who accompanied me at the event and brought with him valuable experience covering Toy Fair in the past. Chols was responsible for a great majority of the photos used in our coverage, and hosted all the photos on his Flickr account, sorted by theme.

On the Eurobricks side of things, Brickthing is the member who first approached me about sharing our sites' coverage with Eurobricks, and who gave me some guidelines about what to include in the Toy Fair coverage. He also is responsible for all the front-page news articles advertising the various Toy Fair coverage topics. Finally, I'd like to thank the Eurobricks community for having patience with the often-slow process of covering the various themes on display. Hopefully next year if I return to Toy Fair I will be able to make plans further in advance and thus avoid some of the stumbling blocks that caught me off guard during this first attempt.

Until next year, this concludes the HS01/Eurobricks coverage of New York International Toy Fair! Thanks for reading!

[DLuders]

Thanks for sharing your pictures, but it was a shame that these 2H2012 Lego Technic "flagship" sets were not displayed at the 2012 New York Toy Fair (like they were at the Nuremburg Toy Fair):

[allanp]

I wonder....we saw them appear at one toy fair, we gave alot of feedback about what we thought and what our hopes were, and they haven't been seen since. Could it be that they are making changes?

[Crtlego]

I wonder....we saw them appear at one toy fair, we gave alot of feedback about what we thought and what our hopes were, and they haven't been seen since. Could it be that they are making changes?

That would be very interesting..