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LEGO DIMENSIONS ADDS CHARACTERS FROM DC COMICS, BACK TO THE FUTURE, AND LEGO NINJAGO Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has unveiled details about upcoming properties coming to Lego Dimensions, which merges physical Lego brick building with interactive console gameplay. In addition to Lego Batman, Lego Gandalf, and Lego Wyldstyle, the three minifigure heroes used to start the experience, Lego Dimensions will allow gamers to customize their experience post-launch and throughout the first half of next year with expansion packs, including DC Comics Team Pack, featuring Lego Joker and Lego Harley Quinn minifigures; three additional DC Comics Fun Packs, featuring Lego Superman, Lego Aquaman, and Lego Bane minifigures; the Back to the Future Fun Pack with a Lego Doc Brown minifigure; and two Lego Ninjago Fun Packs with Lego Sensei Wu and Lego Lloyd minifigures. These collectible Team Packs and Fun Packs will provide new buildable characters, vehicles, tools, gadgets, and special in-game abilities. Players can bring up to seven characters, vehicles, and weapons into the Lego Dimensions game all at once by placing them on the Lego Toy Pad to create gameplay crossovers, such as Lego Superman piloting the Lego DeLorean Time Machine through Hill Valley. Future expansion pack purchases will continue to work with the Lego Dimensions Starter Pack, even into the fall of next year. Lego Dimensions launches on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Wii U consoles on September 27. DC Comics Fun Pack
8 • THE TOY BOOK
featuring Lego Superman
FAO SCHWARZ TO CLOSE ITS FLAGSHIP LOCATION IN NEW YORK CITY FAO Schwarz, the oldest toy store in the U.S., is closing its iconic Fifth Ave. flagship store in Manhattan, citing rising rent prices. The store will shut its doors on July 15, exiting early from its lease. The three-level, 45,000 square-foot space is a popular tourist destination that has made cameos in multiple movies, most memorably in 1988’s Big, starring Tom Hanks. FAO Schwarz, which was acquired by Toys “R” Us Inc. in 2009, is actively searching for a new space in Midtown Manhattan to re-open its flagship store. The toy retailer began occupying the General Motors Building on Fifth Ave. in 1986.
TOY STATE ENTERS INTO SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT WITH GO BABY GO
In partnership with Go Baby Toy State/Go Baby Go workshop Go, a research-based, national at Tommy Baldwin Racing program that provides modified ride-on toy cars to young children with disabilities, Toy State is sponsoring four workshops in four cities across the country. Each car will be outfitted to model the Toy State Nikko R/C No. 7 car currently driven by Alex Bowman on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. The first workshop took place in Mooresville, N.C., at the Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) shop. Bowman, along with fellow NASCAR drivers Kasey Kahne, Michael McDowell, Blake Koch, and Cale Conley, were in attendance, along with other members of the NASCAR community. Toy State is currently in the middle of an 11-race
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MAY/JUNE 2015