LEGO SPOTS for boys revealed as new extension of LEGO DOTS [April Fools]

LEGO has revealed SPOTS, a new extension of the DOTS product line targeted at boys. The initial wave of the 2D tile-based crafting theme features armbands, expressive emoji picture holders, a flaming skull pencil pot, and the first in a series of “Extra SPOTS” emoji booster packs surrounding space exploration. Prices vary from US $4.99 to $19.99 with availability beginning April 1st.

The creation of SPOTS is partially due to feedback on LEGO’s successful DOTS product line for exclusively targeting girls with bright colors, pastel packaging and glitter. The SPOTS theme again features building with 1×1 tiles (square, round, and quarter-circle tiles), but this time uses more black, white, red and blue colors along with unique prints of bugs, fire, road signs, grotesque emojis and space artifacts that more easily align with boys’ interests.

LEGO states that the intent of the SPOTS line is to offer boys a creative canvas to better express themselves as they grow into men. The products seek to allow boys to play the way they want to without the limitations of only using LEGO sets that were designed for girls.

Angela Kaufman, lead designer for LEGO SPOTS, said, “Now boys don’t have to play with their sister’s DOTS to have fun. We created SPOTS with only boys in mind, and we have utilized more action-oriented printed tiles and a more basic color palette since boys don’t really enjoy bright colors and sparkles like girls do.”

LEGO has reportedly been testing and refining the SPOTS product line extension for two months, conducting a “play study” with more than a dozen boys across the US and Denmark in combination with learnings from a quantitative survey conducted within the LEGO fan community.


41924 Boys Armband | 50 pieces
US $4.99 | CAN $6.99 | UK £4.99

First up in the LEGO SPOTS product line is the Boys Armband, a slightly longer version of the DOTS bracelets that features more subdued hues, metallic spikes, and white tiles printed with ants, skulls, bombs, barbed wire, radiation and explosions.


41920 Emoji Picture Holders | 413 pieces
US $14.99 | CAN $19.99 | UK £12.99

Next up is a trio of square Emoji Picture Holders. Instead of cute animal faces, these three cubes are decorated with the emojis that boys can more easily relate to including a chaotic winking tongue face, a sick and vomiting face, and the classic poop emoji.

The three emoji cubes include the new picture fastener element on the back so boys can display their favorite photos however they like, using SPOTS to better reflect their repressed desires and emotions.


41921 Skull Pencil Holder | 320 pieces
US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99

The flaming Skull Pencil Holder is the extreme spiritual brother of the cute pineapple in the LEGO DOTS line. This pencil pot features intense red eyes, exposed teeth, and firey flames flickering atop the skull’s cranium.

The skull’s head is removable so boys can stash their permanent markers, exacto knives, wooden sticks and magnifying glasses with ease.


41926 Extra SPOTS – Series 1 | 127 pieces
US $4.99 | CAN $5.99 | UK £4.99

Most excitedly for classic space fans, the Extra SPOTS booster pack features a random selection of 16 new exclusive tiles depicting space exploration. The prints include planets, space ships, rockets, telescopes, meteors, aliens, astronauts and ray guns–all things that boys will be more excited to play with and decorate their other SPOTS products with.


What do you think of the new LEGO SPOTS line? Check out our early hands-on review, and leave your thoughts and reactions in the comments below.

25 comments on “LEGO SPOTS for boys revealed as new extension of LEGO DOTS [April Fools]

  1. Dad of boy and girl

    My son loves DOTS… what the heck is wrong with all this “it’s for boys/girls” garbage that TLG seems to embody?

  2. Jody Padulano

    Someone isn’t able to tell an April fool’s joke and need to be enraged before thinking, it seems.

  3. Johnny Johnson

    Yeah, all this “boys/girls” stuff is dumb. Tell Marie Curie that radiation is for boys.

    The new tiles are neat. The classic Space one is obviously great!

  4. Purple Dave

    To be fair, this was written in a manner that was clearly meant to be extremely baiting. I didn’t make it halfway through the first sentence before I remembered what day it is, and that’s when it still sounded fairly reasonable. By the end, I was worried that I might pull a muscle with how hard my eyes were rolling.

  5. Exxos

    Plus, April Fools anything is always a bad idea and is completely unforgivable. So when a site that is supposed to be responsible and informative like TBB does an April Fools, it can be easy to buy into it because they should know better. Especially because most of the time April Fools is not funny, it’s turned into a ritual to be malicious or irritating.

  6. Mark

    Glad to remember what day it is a few lines into this announcement. Not because I don’t want to see most of these parts become real, but in relief that TLG marketing didn’t further embrace the unnecessary boy/girl toy dichotomy. Hopefully real product announcements for future extensions of the DOTS line will appeal to a broad range of interests for both girls and boys, including some of the prints shown here as a joke. LEGO is at its best when it is challenging stereotypes, not reinforcing them.

  7. Mark

    With ThinkGeek.com effectively killed off by GameStop, I hope this is a sign of TBB filling that void and stepping up in the realm of well-executed April Fools product announcements. And following ThinkGeek’s example, there is always the possibility (I hope) of turning a popular joke into an actual product by partnering with a custom brick printer in the AFOL community.

  8. Håkan

    Like many else, I actually feel tempted to get the black boys’ armband and (particularly) the Extra Spots pack…

    (I must also add in that even the original Dots theme features a poop tile, although it’s rainbow colored. Must have been laid by a unicorn…)

  9. Kristy

    We’ve had enough “pranks” for real pulled on us in the last few months…. if this is a prank, it is a mean one!!!!

  10. Some Body

    Some fun stuff here. Like many others I’m disappointed with the unnecessary bigotry that LEGO continues to perpetuate.

  11. Casper

    This should be put in Ideas, the extra Dots in special should raise 10,000 votes easily when backed bij the Brothers Brick.

  12. Joshua Tellez

    Part of me wishes this was real, some of the prints made for this prank are useful.

  13. WemWem

    Children’s interests should be nurtured and encouraged, regardless of whether or not they’re “traditional.” In an ideal world, DOTS would be gender neutral and there’d be bags with pastel colors, dark colors, black and white colors, earth tones, etc. etc. etc. and children could choose whatever appealed to their own sensibilities.

    Adhering to the binary limits the very creativity Lego was meant to foster, and is a product of marketing designed to drive sales rather than foster positive play experiences. I can remember as a young boy feeling affronted by the “JUST FOR HER!” banner underneath the Paradisa sets in the Toys R Us Lego aisle. Luckily I had a mom who didn’t care enough about artificial barriers and allowed me to buy Poolside Paradise and other classic Paradisa sets. Along with my usual complement of City, Pirates, Castle and Space.

    I also think the number of boys being shamed for liking girl stuff and vice versa is higher than the number of boys being shamed for being traditionally masculine. I’ve actually witnessed parents “correct” their young boys in toy aisles when they expressed an interest in a doll or something too “girly.” I’ve never seen Little Johnny get pilloried for picking up a football.

    TL;DR the binary is dumb and Lego should be the epitome of gender-neutral toys

  14. Deejay Dave

    Did someone REALLY do an actual review on an obvious April Fools joke? They NEED some kind of award LOL. I mean his credibility is forever gone along with his dignity so he must be left with something……….

  15. Edwinder

    @Deejay Dave, if you’re referring to Matt’s YT review, you may want to watch it till the end. It’s called an Inception (movie) style April Fool heist if you ask me. ;-)

  16. Five star reviewer

    This was a great joke! Props to whoever wrote that article, I love it. It’s surprising how many of the people in these comments still aren’t mature enough to take a prank, though. Toys are allowed to be targeted at a gender and no one cares if you think otherwise. Cheers.

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