Talking Toy Fair with Joe Meno

The Toy Fair in New York City -- a.k.a. the LEGO set upfronts -- was this past weekend and with it came a host of photos to dork out on. One of the most extensive collection of shots is courtesy of Joe Meno -- editor of BrickJournal.

Joe tirelessly documents adult fan conventions for his magazine -- you'll get sucked into his Flickr photostream pretty easily. He's consulted on LEGO sets and usually has a great idea of what's in development. Now that Toy Fair is come and gone, he can talk about some the 2010 releases from the LEGO Group. His impressions are below, courtesy of a quick e-mail Q&A.

Which of the new sets that are hitting shelves are you most excited about?

There are a few sets that I have already made plans on getting at release:

• the Jet (5892) - I love planes, and this model has moving flaps, folding landing gear and glowing engines!

• LEGO Truck (3221) - while the semi is pretty neat as a build, the truck is delivering a LEGO set, which are blue bricks with LEGO stickers on them!

• Star Wars Slave I (8097) - it's another version of the ship, yes, but it has a real Han Solo in Carbonite part, not the previous printed piece.

• the Jester (7953) - this will be an impulse set, and this one is simply too cute.

Which sets do you think might surprise some adult fans?

• Portal of Atlantis (8078) - there's a lot of neat details in the set, as the portal opens like a camera iris and the sharkhead gate opens with the bottom jaw splitting while the top jaw opens up.

• Motorized Excavator (8043) - A electrical LEGO builder's dream set with two remote controllers and receivers, 4 linear actuators, and 4 motors!

Have you had a chance to play the LEGO board games?

Oh yeah - have a few of them: Lunar Command, Ramese's Pyramid, and Monster 4. I like them all, but for sheer fun, Monster 4 is the best, as it's easy to learn and quickly played.

Any sets that have the Joe Meno stamp on them?

LEGO Truck, Atlantis Exploration HQ - 8077 (it's a sub too), Ostrich Race - 7570 (from the Prince of Persia sets), the Jester, and the upcoming collector minifigs!

Image via bucklava.