Lego at Comic-Con: An Array of Goodies Including 14-Foot Bowser

To celebrate 90 years of play, Lego delighted fans at San Diego Comic-Con with multiple experiences, integrating franchise partnerships such as Nintendo, Star Wars, Marvel and many others.

Here's some of what we saw when we toured the experience.

For this special anniversary, a timeline showcased the brand's milestone moments and how the world of Lego has evolved.

Waiting to greet visitors were fan-favorite character models such as Mario, Luigi and Yoshi, and a 4-foot-tall Darth Vader, who was unveiled earlier this summer at a Star Wars celebration. This vacation-mode Vader is a character from the upcoming Disney+ series Lego Star Wars Summer Vacation, which airs Aug. 5.

Keeping the experience true to the brand mission, an interactive play area included "Lego Catcher" machines set up for fans to play, and the prize for participating was a Lego set. They even had convenient play stations nearby so guests could start building.

There was also a video booth where fans were asked, "If you could be a Lego element, which one would you be and why?" The answers were edited into a video with graphics that celebrated 90 years of play.

Lego also had display cases around the booth filled with popular build sets, including Groot, the Infinity Gauntlet and The Mandalorian N1 Starfighter. 

The brand also revealed four new sets inspired by the Avatar franchise, allowing fans to recreate their favorite moments from the film and build anticipation for the December release of Avatar: The Way of Water. The highly anticipated Lego Avatar products will be available on Lego.com, in Lego retail stores, and globally at major retailers starting Oct. 1.

At the Nintendo booth, Lego unveiled an incredible king-sized build of The Mighty Bowser from Lego Super Mario. The character measured 14 feet and was made of 662,872 bricks—it took 3,290 hours to bring him to life. Bowser's arms, head, eyes, eyebrows and jaw moved and were accompanied by sound effects and background music. Fans were invited to interact with the giant Bowser, and the experience was captured in a video GIF.

"In our theme, we bring together interactivity and brick building. The same can be said of this king-sized version of Bowser, who is as ferocious as he is fun," says Federico Bagher, head of global marketing at Lego Group. "With its movements and sound effects, this massive build is one of our most interactive to date, and one that we absolutely loved building. We're excited to share it with everyone at Comic-Con this year."

Lego's presence at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con reminded us why this 90-year-old brand remains timeless and beloved by all generations. Its encouragement of imaginative play renengages the child in all of us.