Reuters is reporting that Mattel Inc., the world’s number 1 toymaker, has agreed to purchase Mega Brands Inc. for around $460 million. Mega Brands, who makes Mega Bloks, has been trying to compete in the in the construction toys segment for many years but has dominated by The LEGO Group. Mattel hopes this acquisition can help the brand better compete in the building blocks industry. They already create a number of different types of toys and may have more licences at their disposal. A couple of things that LEGO has an advantage on is quality and consumer loyalty which is why they are the world’s leading construction toy manufacturer. What impact do you think this acquisition of Mega Brands Inc. by Mattel has on The LEGO Group in the future?
When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.
The Brick Fan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
We partner with Rakuten Advertising, who may collect personal information when you interact with our site. The collection and use of this information is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://rakutenadvertising.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/
Well let’s see….
Hasbro created its own Kreo line to compete with LEGO. Now we have Mattel taking what I see as a cheap easier way of buying Mega Brands in order make their own bricks rather than develop their own line of building brick sets.
It shows the Toy Market is seeing the trend and what sells. the plastic bricks that LEGO is so well known for are clearly a classic toy. One that can get passed down generation to generation.
Taking my own daughter for an example… she still prefers LEGO. She’s not impressed with any off the offerings from Mega Bloks, even when “marketed towards girls.” And Kreo doesn’t have enough of an in-store presence, she hasn’t seen it and thus doesn’t care.
Both Mattel and Hasbro can try for selling cheaper brick sets. And that will help them to a point when relatives who “aren’t in the know” pick up a set because its cheaper.
Quality will win out, there’s a reason LEGO has a loyal fan base and the company, despite any complaints from the adult community, does an overall good job of listening to the customer base, along with providing support when a piece goes missing, breaks, ect. They are clearly able to demonstrate a long term goal of looking to the future.
I do appreciate the competition and that there’s more choices in terms of brick sets. However if the quality of the competitors isn’t on par with LEGO in terms of individual bricks to the sets themselves, I’ll be sticking with LEGO. They will see more of my dollars.
So there it goes the dreams of Lego having a Master of the Universe theme 🙁
Yeah, although Mega has their own licenses and Mattel has a couple of construction set lines, this means that any of Mattel’s vast arsenal of IPs is potentially up for conversion into construction sets as well. That means a LOT more slashing of CUUSOO projects.
This can’t be totally accurate. Some companies still hold their own licensing and mete it out as they see fit so Mattel and LEGO should both be able to purchase licensing for certain product lines. See: Disney Princess dolls by Mattel/Disney Princess LEGO Sets by LEGO
Considering how lame the Barbie building sets looked, I don’t think LEGO will have anything to worry about.
That’s very interesting. I’m actually very excited for this. Not for what it holds in store for Mega Blok getting any of mattel’s IPs, but for the potentially stiff competition it might present to lego. I certainly don’t want to see Lego go under or suffer, but I would like to see them met with some serious competition in this market so that they do have to be competitively priced and have lines that vie for the dollar. Lego of course has had to compete with other toy makers and video games, so I’m not saying lego doesn’t have any competitors overall, but when it comes to the buildable system toy, they have an unrivaled dominance. Its not that Lego has a Monopoly on the market, but with the pitiful offerings of Megablok and Kre-o or what ever else, they might as well. So I’m hoping this forces Lego to act like a company that has a direct competitor and do things that bode well for the consumer, who then might actually have some viable options outside of lego.
I wish LEGO would buy out Mega and close down their lines of MegaBloks. That way I wouldn’t have to sort out and throw away so many MBs!