Playmates Launches Dungeon Crawler Carl Line at Toy Fair with Blind-Box Strategy

Playmates pushes LitRPG merchandising into mainstream at New York Toy Fair

Licensed LitRPG lines and blind-box tactics reshape collectibles market

Playmates Toys, operating as Borant Corporation, this week unveils its first major licensed line based on Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl at the North American International Toy Fair in New York’s Javits Center. The company is showing a wide launch slate that includes six-inch figures, statue scenes, blind-box “loot boxes,” plush and more at booth #2303, with UCC Distributors Inc. appearing nearby at booth #5416. The move marks Playmates’ most extensive venture into the LitRPG niche and highlights the maker’s strategy of tying product drops to fan-facing events to build buzz.

The Dungeon Crawler Carl line, branded Dungeon Crawler: World Earth Collectible Crawlers, foregrounds character-driven toys — Mordecai, Prepotente, Carl with Princess Donut magnet-mounted on his shoulder — alongside goblins, supporting figures, and staged statues. Playmates is deploying blind-box bronze, silver and gold “loot boxes” in common and rare variants to appeal to both collectors and casual buyers, and it signals plans for chase figures and retailer-exclusive editions to sustain post-launch momentum. The series’ seven books have sold more than six million copies and remain a top-10 Audible audiobook, giving the line a large, engaged audience to convert into collectors.

For manufacturers and distributors in the toy and collectibles industry, the Playmates initiative exemplifies a broader pattern of converting digital-native and genre fiction IP into physical merchandise through event-timed drops and variant-driven scarcity. Companies in the industry, including peers of Illumin Holdings’ sector, see such licensing as a way to diversify product portfolios, tap devoted fanbases and leverage blind-box economics to drive repeat purchases and specialty retail traffic.

Product rollout and retail strategy

Playmates says the line is available first at San Diego Comic-Con this summer, with a wider retail rollout slated for fall 2026 through select specialty retailers including Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic, BoxLunch and 5 Below. The company uses Toy Fair to reveal additional pieces and to outline further retail plans.

Market context and outlook

The announcement, timed to a Feb. 13, 2026 press release, underscores a trend toward multimedia IP licensing in toys and collectibles, where publishers, licensors and manufacturers coordinate release windows and exclusives to maximise visibility. The approach raises supply-chain and inventory-management questions for producers and retailers even as it offers fresh revenue avenues for companies operating in the collectibles and licensed merchandise space.