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Toy Fair 2014: Mixels
 Wednesday, February 19th, 2014 at 8:56pm by Andrew, BZPower News ManagerThe Mixels are a new collectable theme from LEGO this year, and all three series were on display at Toy Fair 2014. There's a lot of variety in these sets, and some creative part usage. Of course, they're also some of the first sets to utilize the new, smaller ball joint system. To find out what makes these guys tick, read on!
Series 1
This first batch are all fire-themed, as indicated by the various shades of red. I love the new eye pieces, both the ball joint ones and the 2x2 round tiles. They can incorporate so much emotion into their expressions, which I think may help them sell a bit.
The second group of Mixels are rock themed. I like the inclusion of gold pieces and also appreciate the asymmetrical design that several incorporate. It's always good to see designers take a more 'natural' path.
Now we move onto the electric-themed Mixels, who are so charged that they spout electricity from their heads. We also see the first use of the 1x1 round tile eyes, which can give each character some good expressions. The yellow bush piece may also be a first in that color. Series 2
I think the second series coming out in June goes a good job of trying to top the first! The helmets on top of the eyes to make them look sleepy is brilliant, and I like the reuse of some recolored Ninjago (I think) weapons. Also, more trans-light blue, which LEGO seems to really like this year.
This batch is quite toothy, and I love the quadruped one with its mouthful of teeth. I also noticed an interesting build technique using the Exo-Force arms that I haven't personally seen in a LEGO set before.
The orange Mixels seem like they might be undersea-inspired, with lots of legs and tentacles to go around. Again the designers use an eye printed on a minifig head with some headware to help give a character a unique expression. Series 3
I love that one of these is named 'Glomp.' Anyway, green abounds in this batch, especially of the transparent neon variety. The designers continue to think up new things to do with the eyes by partially covering one of the 2x2 round tiles to give it a different look.
I would be running out of things to say about these, but that scorpion-like Mixel with those big eyes is just so adorable. The other two are interesting as well with the juxtaposition of the long arms versus long legs.
LEGO certainly seems to have saved the best for last. Ignoring all the purple here (which rocks), the dragon with wizard hats for horns/eye brows is a must-buy for me. The crab shooting lightning out of its mouth is pretty great too, and finally there's a wizard. I was skeptical when I first saw the Mixels, but they really have been growing on me and I'll definitely be picking a few up. It will be interesting to see how the line does and if it's something LEGO plans to continue in the future. Meanwhile, now that you're done here, please check out all our other Toy Fair 2014 coverage and let us know what you want to see next! Keep checking back on BZPower for more!
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