TYCO Industries first includes its Super Blocks line in the company's 1984 annual catalog. The Super Blocks product line includes both Pre-School and Super Blocks. TYCO's Super Blocks were Lego compatible, while the Pre-School Super Blocks worked with Lego's Duplo blocks. There are five different set of TYCO Pre-School Super Blocks in the 1984 catalog and six Super Blocks sets. The Super Blocks line expands in 1985 with the addition of Space and Castle themed building sets.

TYCO Industries introduced a LEGO compatible block in 1984. The story goes that LEGO's patents on their building blocks expired in the United States in the early '80s. LEGO reportedly sued TYCO in U.S. federal court and Hong Kong, demanding TYCO to cease using LEGO's name in advertising and reference to the Super Blocks products. As the patent on the block was expired, LEGO was not able to stop TYCO from manufacturing a similar building block. The lawsuit concluded in 1989. TYCO's reported share of the plastic block market was 10% by 1990.

The Super Blocks were part of an expansion that happened in the '80s for TYCO. At the time of the Super Blocks introduction in December of 1984, TYCO spokesman Bruce Macguire explained to the Gainsville Sun newspaper, "Any toy company in the world this year can make blocks that fit with Lego."

In response to the Lego lawsuit Richard Grey, who had been TYCO's president since 1973, stated to Forbes magazine in 1988, "We knew they had a reputation for being litigous." The court case reportedly cost TYCO $3 million dollars. The Super Blocks line however was reported to be a stable product line bringing in $20 million to the company. By the early 1990s, TYCO was stated as being the number three toy company in the United States.