As you probably know already, Toys’R’Us went bankrupt and closed all of its stores in the United States and some other countries (see: Troubles in the Toy Word & at Toys’R’Us). Before all the troubles began, LEGO was planning to release a small set, featuring Geoffrey, the Toys’R’Us mascot. Unfortunately, it seems like we are not going to see this set materialize, although there is still a possibility that they may appear at Toys’R’Us stores that haven’t closed. 🙂
LEGO had a long lasting relationship with Toys’R’Us, and they released a number of sets through the years featuring Toys’R’Us stores, trucks, and the Toys’R’Us mascot. Three of these sets exclusively feature Geoffrey. This includes the #40077 LEGO Geoffrey set from 2013 with a brick-built giraffe neck and head, the #40228 LEGO Geoffrey & Friends set from 2016 featuring Geoffrey with LEGO Mixels articulation and two minifigs, and the unreleased #40316 LEGO Geoffrey set under the LEGO BrickHeadz line.
It seems like LEGO was really close to releasing the #40316 LEGO BrickHeadz Geoffrey, as they even uploaded the building instructions for a brief period. However, there has been no sign of this set even at Toys’R’Us stores that remained open. If he does end up getting released at limited locations, I’m sure collectors will gobble up whatever stock they can find.
Fortunately, with the instructions available, we can build our own Geoffrey. On the unfortunate side, the original set includes some unique printed pieces; six 1×1 bricks and 10 1×2 bricks with a star pattern. The #40228 LEGO Geoffrey & Friends set does include a sticker-sheet that you can repurpose for the LEGO BrickHeadz Geoffrey, or you can just replace the printed parts with plain bricks in bright-light-orange and regular orange (to add a bit of pattern).
Besides the printed elements, the rest of Geoffrey uses common bricks, plates, tiles, and slopes, plus a few modified (but also commonly available) pieces. The prominent color is bright-light-orange for the body, and there are also a few brown pieces for the hair, a black base, and a couple of pieces for the internal structure (which could be any color). If you already own some LEGO BrickHeadz, you will have an easier time, as the printed eyes, the base, and many of the internal parts are the same in almost all of the sets. Bright-light-orange is a commonly available color, so you probably have some already, but if not, the LEGO Classic brick boxes are a great source. And you can also just use yellow, as the two colors are quite close.
As I mentioned above, LEGO uploaded the instructions for a brief period, but since then they have removed them. I was able to download the PDF version before it disappeared, so I will share the pages here. All you need to do is gather the parts, and start building to have your very own Geoffrey!
If you feel nostalgic about Toy’R’Us and Geoffrey, both the #40077 LEGO Geoffrey set from 2013, and the #40228 LEGO Geoffrey & Friends set from 2016 are available on eBay. It might also be a good idea to set up a saved search for the #40316 LEGO BrickHeadz Geoffrey. Who knows? We may spot him in the wild one day. You can find the currently available eBay listings here:
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO BrickHeadz Geoffrey? Would you want to add him to your collection? And if that’s not possible, are you planning to build him? What other Toys’R’Us-branded LEGO sets do you have or would like to have? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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Cuter than the previous ones for sure. I wonder if they were actually produced and will be sold somewhere, or they were able to pull the product before it was too late. If they did make it, they will have all those bricks with star patterns to get rid of.
Not sure about that. I’m keeping my eyes on eBay to see if it pops up.
Poor Geoffrey! He looks sad. I might build him just for nostalgia. I don’t know if I have enough light orange parts though.
Awww… yeah, he does look kind of sad with his ears down like that. 😐
Although he looked rather creepy in the last set, so sad is still a step forward…
Yeah, it’s not an easy character to recreate in LEGO. Sort of an uncanny valley effect going on with him.
It looks all right. Too bad the bricks with the stars are not available. I want him to have a longer neck too! 😀
LOL! I guess you can build his neck as long as you want! 😀
Is… is the pink brick supposed to be his brain???? That’s disturbing…
All Bricheadz have pink brains. And yes, it’s disturbing. 😀
Yeah… 😈
This is actually a really cute Brickheadz, it’s too bad it won’t get put to its intended use.
It’s still possible the remaining TRU stores in other countries will carry this set. Haven’t seen it pop up anywhere yet, but it will take a while until the dust settles with TRU.