If you thought the only brick-based toys worth collecting were made by those clever Danes in Billund, prepare to have your mind blown like a poorly assembled Lego spaceship. Mattel, the company behind Hot Wheels, has decided it wants a piece of the lucrative adult toy market and is launching its own range of brick-based car kits called Brick Shop. And when I say lucrative, I mean seriously lucrative. Apparently, Lego sets are now appreciating faster than classic cars, fine wine, or London real estate. That Lego Land Rover Defender you built while pretending it was "for the kids"? It's gone up 12 percent in value. The Volkswagen campervan? Up a whopping 27 percent. Some rare sets are worth thousands of dollars, and there's even a thriving black market for stolen Lego. Who knew those little plastic bricks could be more valuable than actual bricks? So it's no surprise that Mattel wants in on this action. The toy giant already owns Mega Bloks, a Lego-compatible brand, but Brick Shop appears to be a more serious attempt to court the adult collector market that has made Lego's coffers overflow with Danish kroner. The starting grid: what models are on offer? Mattel's Brick Shop lineup is entirely car-focused, at least for now, and will be available in three levels of complexity. Each kit comes with a matching 1:64-scale Hot Wheels car, which is a nice touch that Lego doesn't offer. They also include extra parts to build a "custom" version, because apparently what every scale model needs is the option to be turned into something that looks like it came straight out of "Pimp My Ride." The entry-level offerings are part of the Hot Wheels Speed Series, containing 250-300 pieces and building into 1:32-scale models. These include a Cadillac GTP racing car, Maserati MC20, and a hot-rodded '68 Chevy Camaro. Think of these as Mattel's answer to Lego's Speed Champions series, but slightly cheaper at $19.99 each (compared to Lego's $27 for similar-sized kits). Next up is the Elite Series, featuring 850-925 piece models at 1:16 scale, starting with a Corvette Grand Sport, a 1990 Acura NSX, and a custom 1962 Chevrolet pickup. These will retail for $49.99, again undercutting Lego's comparable offerings by about 20 percent. For the deep-pocketed collector, there's the Premium Series, kicking off with a 1,600-piece 1:12-scale Mercedes 300 SL complete with opening gullwing doors for $119.99. That's still $30 less than Lego's 1,400-piece Nissan Skyline GT-R, although to be fair, the Lego Technic models tend to have working parts like functioning gearboxes and steering. Differentiation or desperation: can Brick Shop actually challenge Lego? Mattel claims the new Brick Shop kits will have better brick fit than their current Mega Blok offerings, which are designed to be easy for small children to pull apart. The new sets will also include metal parts, which is something Lego doesn't do, and will feature more custom-shaped pieces to better recreate the curves and angles of real cars. From the photos, it's clear that Brick Shop models look a bit more like the actual cars they're based on than their Lego counterparts. The Brick Shop Corvette, for instance, appears to have a more accurate body shape than anything you could build with Lego's mostly rectilinear pieces. But this comes at a cost – all those custom pieces mean you probably can't use them for much else. The beauty of Lego is that the same piece that forms part of a car's bumper could also be used to build a spaceship or a medieval castle. This is where Mattel's strategy becomes a bit puzzling. One of the main reasons adult Lego fans keep buying those expensive sets is the versatility of the pieces and the joy of creative building. If Brick Shop kits are just glorified model cars that you assemble yourself, rather than a creative building system, they might struggle to capture that same dedicated audience. That said, Mattel does have one significant advantage: Hot Wheels. The brand has built up tremendous goodwill and recognition among car enthusiasts over decades, and they have licensing agreements with virtually every automotive manufacturer on the planet. If they can leverage this to secure exclusive rights to certain models that Lego can't make, they might carve out a niche. The pricing strategy is smart too. By undercutting Lego across the board, Mattel is clearly hoping to tempt collectors who have been put off by Lego's eye-watering prices. A $30 saving on a premium model might not seem like much, but to collectors buying multiple sets, it adds up. However, Mattel is clearly starting small. Their most complex offering contains 1,600 pieces, while Lego's high-end Technic supercars can contain close to 4,000 pieces and feature complex working mechanics. There's no Brick Shop equivalent of the $450 Lego Ferrari Daytona SP3 or McLaren F1 – yet. Will Brick Shop succeed? It's difficult to say. Lego has spent decades perfecting its brick system and building an almost cult-like following among adult fans. Breaking into that market won't be easy, no matter how many custom-shaped Corvette hood pieces you offer. But then again, Hot Wheels remained successfully relevant for over half a century in a world where children increasingly prefer screens to physical toys. If anyone can challenge the Lego juggernaut in the adult collector space, Mattel might just be the company to do it. And on that bombshell, it's time to end. The first Brick Shop sets are expected to hit retail shelves this summer, which gives you just enough time to clear some space on your shelves and come up with a convincing explanation for your partner about why you absolutely need another toy car in your life.
