Latijoy

Latijoy is the umbrella branding used by three distinct lines - a line of diecast cars produced since 1965 currently known as Diecax, a line of construction toys known as Brix and a line of motorized toy trains known as Trainz. The three lines are produced by the El Kadsreian toy and video game company Latikuu. Similar in concept, the Latijoy Diecax range can be thought of as the El Kadsreian Matchbox - but focusing mainly on Aritonazcan brands.

Diecax


The Latijoy range began in 1965. The line was the creation of Alphonse Bovet, a Swiss-French inventor living in the then-West El Kadsre who had been working for Latikuu since 1960.

Initially, Latijoy only produced British, Italian, French, Ralander and German brand cars and trucks, as well as cars built locally including models from Yakisu, Arata Motors, Kads and Hiyuki Motors. After the formation of the Vlokozu Union, Latijoy added American, Australian and Japanese cars to the line, as well as cars from newer local manufacturers such as the Vlokozuian Commonwealth Motor Company. This slowly made the Latijoy range become more "global".

Trainz


In 1973, Latijoy's second range, Trainz, was released. A series of S scale trains designed to "match" the size and proportions of the Latijoy diecast car range, it was marketed as an "affordable alternative" to traditional model trains, with most of the initial models and sets relying on battery-powered radio control for power rather than a controller that attached to mains power, though later on additional methods of control were introduced, including traditional mains power controllers and even a special PC/Mac/TSUG program. Initially, the range only had Vlokozuian and Ralander trains, with the unique feature of different gauge track for the two sets to match the difference in railway track gauge between the two countries, but when Latikuu's U.S. arm L•K Toys introduced the Trainz line to the US in 1975, they added famous American and British locomotives to the line, such as Union Pacific 844 (then numbered Union Pacific 8444) and LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman, to make it a "global" line like the original Latijoy line.

In the 1990s, the Trainz range expanded, with the 1993 introduction of the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends/Shining Time Station theme and the 1995 introduction of the Modern American Railroad theme.

Current Latijoy Trainz themes include El Kadsre Trainz, Raland Trainz, Modern American Railroad, Let's Go! Series, British Railway History and Thomas & Friends.

Brix


In 1985, the third Latijoy range, Brix, was released, as a competitor to as well as 's then-recently introduced Super Blocks range. All Latijoy Brix products are manufactured at Latikuu's factory in Patterson, Raland. Latijoy Brix's minifigures were designed to work with Latijoy Diecax and Trainz sets as well by way of compatible pieces within some Diecax and Trainz models. Latijoy Brix are compatible with most "studs and tubes" construction toy systems, including Lego, Mega Bloks Micro Bloks, Best-Lock, Zuru Max and Cobi, but require adaptor bricks to connect to those from other brands, such as Tente and certain types of K'Nex Building Blocks.

Initially, the range started with generic themes, such as "Army", "Space" and "Construction", before expanding into Latikuu's own franchises, such as X-Land, Galo Force, Gyobots and Digitkatou, and their licenses, such as Redwall and Technic Heroes. After the formation of Latikuu Edacra, Edacra's franchises were added to the Brix range, such as Nova Orbis and Antiblade. Additional themes and licenses have been added in more recent years, such as TH2, Bratz, Neopets, WWE, Bakugan and HotShots.

In 1998, Latikuu released Latijoy Brix Jr., a sub-range aimed towards preschoolers and consisting of -compatible bricks. Latijoy Brix Jr. initally featured more generic themes, such as "Farm", "Animals" and "Community", before getting themes based on Latikuu properties or licenses, such as Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat (which also received regular Brix toys) and Blue's Clues. The Latijoy Brix Baby range, which ran from 2005-2006, was compatible with Lego's Quatro system.

Lawsuits
In 1994, Latikuu was sued by The Lego Group over the Latijoy Brix toyline. Lego claimed Latikuu violated the trademark of “studs and tubes” interlocking brick system patiented by Lego although it has been expired. Due to this, The Supreme Court of El Kadsre upheld Latikuu’s right to continue producing the Latijoy Brix line and the lawsuit had been settled in 1997. However, Latikuu modified the minifigure designs for Latijoy Brix to look less Lego minifigures.