There’s always a stigma attached to an adult with no children perusing the toy aisles in shops, so attending London’s Toy Fair was a nice opportunity to legitimatise this practice with the added advantage of seeing toys which would be available later in the year and in the build-up to Christmas.

To kick the show off there was a briefing from Director General of the British Toy and Hobby Association. The industry had done well, considering, in 2011 with sales up 3% overall and sales of building sets in particular up 19% (figures NPD). He announced a push for toys related to both the London 2012 Olympics and the Jubilee celebrations to encourage kids to be out and active. Ugh.

We’d lined up an appointment with LEGO but, having an hour to kill, decided to have a wander. The Playmobil representative who offered to show us around their stand visibly bristled when I mentioned some of the more questionable choices of sets they’ve produced. A few years ago the company brought out the Security Check Point playset, which was heavily criticised for introducing children to a paranoid fear-mongering world. If nothing else, the comment reviews on Amazon are fun to read and, if you’re interested, Topless Robot has a nice rundown on the 17 least appropriate Playmobil sets.

The Hasbro stand made us sign non-disclosure agreements with respect to their new Transformers and Star Wars: Episode I range. Surely by now everyone has all the Phantom Menace merchandise they could possibly want? When a sales representative showed us the new Transformers: Prime toys and mentioned a “pocket money price point” of £19.99 it became apparent that kids get far too much pocket money these days. The Nerf armoury on display, though, was amazing. It was like being shown an arsenal of weaponry by a pleasant middle-aged arms dealer.

In possession of what was easily the largest stand of the show, the LEGO Group’s fortunes have done a complete 180° turn since they almost went out of business in 2003. Due to a strategy of producing fewer larger unweildy pieces along with selling off the Legoland parks to Merlin Entertainment the company profits in 2008 rose 23% in comparison to the previous year. In the words of the CEO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, ”We changed everything but the brand.”

This success has also been in part due to the various licensing deals LEGO have made. Firstly with the popular Star Wars theme, which was swiftly followed by Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and various Disney properties. Of major interest this year, though, is the recent acquisitions of the Lord of the Rings and both Marvel and DC Superhero licenses. The first wave of DC sets is already available in stores now with the UK release of the Marvel sets due in early April.

Featuring sets and characters from both the upcoming Avengers film and the X-Men comics, the idea alone of a conflux between LEGO and Marvel Superheroes is enough to create a fever-pitch of excitement for me but going behind a thick black curtain and seeing the quality of the sets in person is nothing short of astounding. The near foot-long Quinjet is very swooshable and Wolverine’s iconic chopper is present and correct. The characters are all immediately recognisable fantastic representations of their “real-life” counterparts and, appropriately enough, the Hulk figure is much larger than the standard minifigure. The whole experience was a bit like taking a child to a sweet shop, letting him handle the candy and maybe even letting him lick them, but then saying he can’t actually have the sweets for another three months. 

Passing through the City range, the Universal Horror-inspired Monster Fighters and the controversial LEGO Friends theme we were led into the Lord of the Rings room, manned by a company rep dressed as Gandalf. Arriving in shops in the summer there are sets from each of the trilogy, including Mines of Moria, Shelob’s Attack, The Battle of Helm’s Deep and the Orc Forge. Everyone’s present - from Hobbits to a giant Cave Troll but, as can be expected, you do need to purchase all seven sets to obtain a complete Fellowship. Ranging from £11.99 for the smallest set to an eye-watering £99.99 for Helm’s Deep. It’s not by any means cheap, but the Uruk-hai have never been so cute.

Toy Fair 2012, the only dedicated toy, game and hobby exhibition in the UK, ran from January 24th to 26th at the Olympia.