Jazwares has just unveiled a new construction toy brand called BLDR. Designed for kids ages eight and up, the range will feature a wide variety of licensed playsets, minifigures and buildable action figures, and 15 lead SKUs are debuting at Target and on Amazon in the US this week. They’ll also roll out later in the spring at GameStop, Walgreens and other storefronts.
Jazwares has leveraged four IPs from its licensing portfolio to get things started: Hello Kitty and Friends (five SKUs); Crunchyroll anime series Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen (buildable figures); and Roblox game Adopt Me! (three SKUs). The toyco is also tapping into its own tentpole plush franchise Squishmallows for five products. Range highlights include a 354-piece Hello Kitty’s Dream Cafe set that opens up from the outside to reveal a detailed interior of Kitty’s restaurant, and a 245-piece Squishmallows Campout set featuring two Squishbrick minifigures that mimic the feel of Jazwares’ signature plush toys.
In related news, The LEGO Group will soon have some competition in the construction brick market. Roberto Stanichi (EVP and global head of vehicles and building sets) unveiled a new brand called Mattel Brick Shop at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair today, and the company plans to announce its first wave of fall-launching SKUs in the coming months.