Cobi (building blocks)

Cobi is a Polish toy company with its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. The company was founded in 1987, producing puzzles and board games. In 1992, it started producing building blocks with an interlocking stud and tube system, compatible with Lego blocks. Due to their popularity, the company switched completely to building block sets.

Themes

The Cobi catalogue is divided up by themes, with each theme having multiple brick sets. The majority of the catalogue consists of 20th and 21st century military equipment, like tanks, ships and airplanes. Lego has a policy to not make realistic weapons and military equipment,[1] leaving an opportunity for other building block companies to fill this niche.

Cobi has various licensing deals, including with several museums, but also for some Hollywood movies.

Comparison to Lego

Cobi produces a larger variety of custom pieces than Lego. In recent years they've often printed their blocks, rather than using stickers. The mini figures have the same size as Lego figures, but have a more three dimensional head, with the nose sticking out.

Merger

Cobi and Best-Lock, a British building block manufacturer with a strong presence in North America and Asia, announced a merger on February 2, 2006. The merger has since yielded co-branded building block toys. Toys are still sold under the separate labels Best-Lock and Cobi, but many Cobi sets appear in North American retailers such as Toys R' Us and Amazon.com under the Best-Lock brand.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Why Lego won't ever make 'realistic' military-related toys". ZME Science. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  2. "Best Lock Group Ltd. Is Pleased to Announce Its Merger with COBI". Business Wire. 7 February 2006. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.