 This is Ross with The Verge and I've got Addie Robertson with us and this is probably the greatest day of my professional career. It is a Sunday, I should be at home at a brunch or anywhere else for that matter but I'm working because it's a toy fair. I'm honestly very worried that this is going to be one of those very corporate conventions. I mean yes, it's a toy fair but it's a bunch of people in suits going, this is the greatest toy, these kids are going to love it. And it's like, you know, Star Trek action figures. Actually that would be cool, I like Star Trek action figures. Oh my god, this is awesome. How long did it take to make? It took about a month. It took a month to make. Over 250,000 blocks. 250,000 blocks? It weighs about a ton. Wow. Yeah. Where are all the kids? Well actually there isn't any kids allowed being that it's only among the distributors, the exhibitors, licensers, buyers and everything. So there's no kids at all this week? No, none. I understand it's a toy show and everything but yeah, there's no kids. But there's no smiling faces, everyone looks very serious, they're networking a lot. It's business. It's business but it's fun. Why aren't they having fun? I have no idea. Can you tell me a little about yourself? You better run from me to one of the other characters. This is Lola. Lola is a monster. Don't be scared. She's always smiling. You'll see them at retail throughout all the specialty retail stores. We're real excited about them. The price is about $5.99 to $10.99. Great pricing. We cover everything from plush to novelty to drinkware. We have slippers, we have pool toys, we have rubber balls, we have anything you could want for your home or your office or your car, we have. This is going to be the next big item coming next Christmas. We specialize in mostly light up products. Highway patrol, snow skateboarding, all sorts of different things that appeal to children. We're waiting outside the Mega Bloks. We tried going in but security won't have that. Apparently Mega Bloks is like the fortress of solitude in that it's an all white fortress and that's all I know about Superman. Apparently his fortress is probably more than eight feet tall. They're very secretive about letting people in. They're basically putting these large barricades up to block out all these smiling faces. Why is there this giant fortress hiding behind the Mega Bloks? Why not be open to everybody? Because we have a lot of new things coming up and a lot of secret things coming up so we can't have everybody see it right away. We are at Lego. We've actually seen a fortress of solitude much like this before and it is about, I'd say about 30 feet down that way and that is Mega Bloks. All we can say is that when the war finally breaks out between them we would not want to be Walters or those doll makers down there. Can I ask you about the fortress? Yeah, absolutely. The Lego group has a private booth because we actually show products that aren't on shelves just yet so there's sets that are coming out in August. So they're just stuff that we will show to the media, some of the one off sets but we never show the entire line. So we're the first ones to put it on the shelf. So we have DC Comics and Marvel Comics and then we will also have two sets based on the upcoming Avengers movie. The Power Rangers came back last year in a big way with Samurai and now it's coming Super Samurai for next year. The Lord of the Rings where we have everything. So I'm not sure if you're familiar with World of Warcraft or if you play. A little too much. And we also have Lego Star Wars sets based on everything from the Clone Wars to all of the movies. This is really bringing the world of Halo into construction with vehicles, characters. This is our third year with Halo. We've had a lot of success. We try to stay true to our licenses actually so now you'll see in our licenses that if it's something that's in the movie we will recreate it for them. But when it becomes our own licenses, the Lego themes that we create, we really still try to steer clear of violence. Who was the first to put the fortress? You guys or Mega Bloks? Oh my gosh. That's a good question. I have no idea. It almost feels like a Cold War how close you guys are. Well, yeah. I don't know. We were talking with Lego a little bit. Kind of curious about the fortress stuff and they said that like, that's just all the big companies do. They just have these big kind of fortress areas. And if you look up, you can see this very, very creepy ominous Mattel window. There's one here. There's one across the way. Kind of looking down. So basically, Mattel can see everything. It's kind of corporate overlords. These are like the master toy company. If they want to know all the Lego secrets, they just have to look down. How much did I get rid of in a day doing this? In a day, 150 to 200 bottles. Throughout Toy Fair, we had, last year I think we had 600 bottles. Oh my god. Innovation First is the parent company. We have several different divisions. One of them being robotics. We do educational based robotics. And that knowledge of the robotics is actually what drove us into the toy industry. So instead of other companies being a toy company trying to do robotics, we know robotics and we can then make toys out of them. So five years ago, on a whim, we kind of decided to make the original. This is kind of a six legged walking robot. So he walks and he's got little bump sensors. And so when he encounters an obstacle, he will stop and move. He also has a sound sensor. So that way if he hears this loud noise, he'll stop and he'll try to go another direction and try to get away from it. From there, we moved to a crab. It also has a sound sensor. The next product has bump sensors on the front and back. It changes directions and so it becomes very chaotic. The larva has got a really creepy motion. It has a wheel that spins. And so as the wheel moves back and forth, it's actually pushing a drive carrier. I'll show you this one here is called a scarab. And this is new for this year. Then we have two other products that currently are remote controlled but they're using an infrared remote. And the first one is the inchworm. You go forward and you go back. It uses a center pedestal to make it turn around left and right. And then it has big giant looping legs that go forward and back. So it's in combination where you get some really unique motions and turns and straights and stuff. Our goal is to try to make robots that emulate real animals but try to make them look like robots first, then animals second and try to emulate them a little bit and how they work. We're here with Randy Faulk, the man who actually designed the replica portal gun. So who came to you first? Did Valve come to you or did you guys go to Valve and say I want to make a portal gun? Valve actually came to us at Toy Fair last year. They were looking to get into consumer products and do more collectibles for a more affordable price to reach more of their fans and they saw what we were doing with Gears of War, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed and that's how it began. So we started developing figures from Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress and at the same time a portal gun was like a no brainer because everyone loves portal and portal 2 had just come out at the time. We've seen some fans make some really impressive replicas themselves but they're like crazy amounts of money. So how can we do one that's affordable, that anyone who wants one can have one. This is the initial prototype. We're making a few final tweaks but we'll be out on the market hopefully May, June of this year and 5,000 edition, $130 retail. And you mentioned you've seen the other portal gun creators out there. Have you ever reached out to them saying hey we like what you do, if you want to come work for us, these are expertise here? I haven't yet. I mean there's some guys that do amazing stuff. The problem is when you're doing one of a kind or doing it just for a labor of love, you can put all the bells and whistles in you want and make it balls out awesome but it's also $1,000 whereas we have to figure out how we can do this at a factory in China can mass produce it for an affordable price. All the original designs come from the game creators themselves but we adapted or make it work as a toy or as a replica. Oh my god I hope you're filming every detail of this. A little raised detail there, that circle, you press that. Oh my god.
 This is Ross with The Verge and I've got Addie Robertson with us and this is probably the
 greatest day of my professional career.
 It is a Sunday, I should be at home at a brunch or anywhere else for that matter but I'm working
 because it's a toy fair.
 I'm honestly very worried that this is going to be one of those very corporate conventions.
 I mean yes, it's a toy fair but it's a bunch of people in suits going, this is the greatest
 toy, these kids are going to love it.
 And it's like, you know, Star Trek action figures.
 Actually that would be cool, I like Star Trek action figures.
 Oh my god, this is awesome.
 How long did it take to make?
 It took about a month.
 It took a month to make.
 Over 250,000 blocks.
 250,000 blocks?
 It weighs about a ton.
 Wow.
 Yeah.
 Where are all the kids?
 Well actually there isn't any kids allowed being that it's only among the distributors,
 the exhibitors, licensers, buyers and everything.
 So there's no kids at all this week?
 No, none.
 I understand it's a toy show and everything but yeah, there's no kids.
 But there's no smiling faces, everyone looks very serious, they're networking a lot.
 It's business.
 It's business but it's fun.
 Why aren't they having fun?
 I have no idea.
 Can you tell me a little about yourself?
 You better run from me to one of the other characters.
 This is Lola.
 Lola is a monster.
 Don't be scared.
 She's always smiling.
 You'll see them at retail throughout all the specialty retail stores.
 We're real excited about them.
 The price is about $5.99 to $10.99.
 Great pricing.
 We cover everything from plush to novelty to drinkware.
 We have slippers, we have pool toys, we have rubber balls, we have anything you could want
 for your home or your office or your car, we have.
 This is going to be the next big item coming next Christmas.
 We specialize in mostly light up products.
 Highway patrol, snow skateboarding, all sorts of different things that appeal to children.
 We're waiting outside the Mega Bloks.
 We tried going in but security won't have that.
 Apparently Mega Bloks is like the fortress of solitude in that it's an all white fortress
 and that's all I know about Superman.
 Apparently his fortress is probably more than eight feet tall.
 They're very secretive about letting people in.
 They're basically putting these large barricades up to block out all these smiling faces.
 Why is there this giant fortress hiding behind the Mega Bloks?
 Why not be open to everybody?
 Because we have a lot of new things coming up and a lot of secret things coming up so
 we can't have everybody see it right away.
 We are at Lego.
 We've actually seen a fortress of solitude much like this before and it is about, I'd
 say about 30 feet down that way and that is Mega Bloks.
 All we can say is that when the war finally breaks out between them we would not want
 to be Walters or those doll makers down there.
 Can I ask you about the fortress?
 Yeah, absolutely.
 The Lego group has a private booth because we actually show products that aren't on shelves
 just yet so there's sets that are coming out in August.
 So they're just stuff that we will show to the media, some of the one off sets but we
 never show the entire line.
 So we're the first ones to put it on the shelf.
 So we have DC Comics and Marvel Comics and then we will also have two sets based on the
 upcoming Avengers movie.
 The Power Rangers came back last year in a big way with Samurai and now it's coming Super
 Samurai for next year.
 The Lord of the Rings where we have everything.
 So I'm not sure if you're familiar with World of Warcraft or if you play.
 A little too much.
 And we also have Lego Star Wars sets based on everything from the Clone Wars to all of
 the movies.
 This is really bringing the world of Halo into construction with vehicles, characters.
 This is our third year with Halo.
 We've had a lot of success.
 We try to stay true to our licenses actually so now you'll see in our licenses that if
 it's something that's in the movie we will recreate it for them.
 But when it becomes our own licenses, the Lego themes that we create, we really still
 try to steer clear of violence.
 Who was the first to put the fortress?
 You guys or Mega Bloks?
 Oh my gosh.
 That's a good question.
 I have no idea.
 It almost feels like a Cold War how close you guys are.
 Well, yeah.
 I don't know.
 We were talking with Lego a little bit.
 Kind of curious about the fortress stuff and they said that like, that's just all the big
 companies do.
 They just have these big kind of fortress areas.
 And if you look up, you can see this very, very creepy ominous Mattel window.
 There's one here.
 There's one across the way.
 Kind of looking down.
 So basically, Mattel can see everything.
 It's kind of corporate overlords.
 These are like the master toy company.
 If they want to know all the Lego secrets, they just have to look down.
 How much did I get rid of in a day doing this?
 In a day, 150 to 200 bottles.
 Throughout Toy Fair, we had, last year I think we had 600 bottles.
 Oh my god.
 Innovation First is the parent company.
 We have several different divisions.
 One of them being robotics.
 We do educational based robotics.
 And that knowledge of the robotics is actually what drove us into the toy industry.
 So instead of other companies being a toy company trying to do robotics, we know robotics
 and we can then make toys out of them.
 So five years ago, on a whim, we kind of decided to make the original.
 This is kind of a six legged walking robot.
 So he walks and he's got little bump sensors.
 And so when he encounters an obstacle, he will stop and move.
 He also has a sound sensor.
 So that way if he hears this loud noise, he'll stop and he'll try to go another direction
 and try to get away from it.
 From there, we moved to a crab.
 It also has a sound sensor.
 The next product has bump sensors on the front and back.
 It changes directions and so it becomes very chaotic.
 The larva has got a really creepy motion.
 It has a wheel that spins.
 And so as the wheel moves back and forth, it's actually pushing a drive carrier.
 I'll show you this one here is called a scarab.
 And this is new for this year.
 Then we have two other products that currently are remote controlled but they're using an
 infrared remote.
 And the first one is the inchworm.
 You go forward and you go back.
 It uses a center pedestal to make it turn around left and right.
 And then it has big giant looping legs that go forward and back.
 So it's in combination where you get some really unique motions and turns and straights
 and stuff.
 Our goal is to try to make robots that emulate real animals but try to make them look like
 robots first, then animals second and try to emulate them a little bit and how they
 work.
 We're here with Randy Faulk, the man who actually designed the replica portal gun.
 So who came to you first?
 Did Valve come to you or did you guys go to Valve and say I want to make a portal gun?
 Valve actually came to us at Toy Fair last year.
 They were looking to get into consumer products and do more collectibles for a more affordable
 price to reach more of their fans and they saw what we were doing with Gears of War,
 Bioshock, Assassin's Creed and that's how it began.
 So we started developing figures from Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress and at the same time
 a portal gun was like a no brainer because everyone loves portal and portal 2 had just
 come out at the time.
 We've seen some fans make some really impressive replicas themselves but they're like crazy
 amounts of money.
 So how can we do one that's affordable, that anyone who wants one can have one.
 This is the initial prototype.
 We're making a few final tweaks but we'll be out on the market hopefully May, June of
 this year and 5,000 edition, $130 retail.
 And you mentioned you've seen the other portal gun creators out there.
 Have you ever reached out to them saying hey we like what you do, if you want to come work
 for us, these are expertise here?
 I haven't yet.
 I mean there's some guys that do amazing stuff.
 The problem is when you're doing one of a kind or doing it just for a labor of love,
 you can put all the bells and whistles in you want and make it balls out awesome but
 it's also $1,000 whereas we have to figure out how we can do this at a factory in China
 can mass produce it for an affordable price.
 All the original designs come from the game creators themselves but we adapted or make
 it work as a toy or as a replica.
 Oh my god I hope you're filming every detail of this.
 A little raised detail there, that circle, you press that.
 Oh my god.