Toyology

Big Fun

Oh my gosh.

Since the dawn of time – or rather more likely since the film Big – surely everyone in the world has secretly wished for a giant keyboard. Your dreams have officially come true.

Just imagine being able to re-enact that famous and weirdly cringeworthy scene, can you feel the nostalgia?

And it doesn’t stop there, this gadget has some pretty nifty features including an 80 note memory so you can listen back to the music you’ve made with your feet, ten demo tracks and even a choice of instruments.

At £49.99 here it’s a bit on the pricey side but we’re really hoping that a giant drum kit and guitar are on the way soon so we can start a giant band..

Tagged with:
 

Recipe for Success

The secret to Playmobil? There is no secret. Well that’s what owner Horst Brandstätter claims; but from the outside looking in it would appear that there is a simple formula that keeps this family owned brand working and, indeed, growing.

Playmobil first cropped up in 1974 and year on year has grown in success and popularity; whilst the toy market has remained relatively flat over the past 10 years, Playmobil’s sales have impressively doubled. So there must be a secret.

(more…)

Retro Robots and other Contraptions

 

I seem to remember Meccano being the “rich kid’s” toy when I was at school but their latest line is conveniently priced for a pocket money spend – two thumbs up to that!

The big set has a rather whopping 260 pieces that will make you 25 different models from a quad bike to a racing car including some rather hi-tech elements such as gearwheels, pinions, suspensions and several other words whose meaning I also don’t understand.

If putting together than assortment sounds a bit of a tall order the Metal Robots set is slightly less daunting and slightly cheaper (between £7.99-12.99) with a choice between a range of mini (above) and large (below) robots. Packed in attractive retro tin cases and with a very achievable 70-100 pieces to put together, these guys are good looking enough that you can disguise your trip down memory lane as a desk prop or mantelpiece display…

Tagged with:
 

There are twitter and facebook accounts aplenty out there for various toy characters but foraging around this week for one worthy of mention took us to some very uninteresting places. So called social accounts from brands trying to interact on a toy characters behalf are delivering a woefully bad experience, we’re glad we found the Mighty Beanz efforts earlier today. Its still a pretty small following online but the messages, and particulary imagery being posted on behalf of these collectables is pretty impressive, certainly worth a look even for Mighty Beanz virgins, well put it this way, we actually went out and bought some to get involved in the action. Take a look at the Twitter efforts @mightybeanz and their Facebook site HERE….

 

PaperJamz. Papercuts?

Not enough pennies for Guitar Hero? Not enough talent for an actual guitar? We may have the answer –

Paperjamz is a rather unique creation: a paper guitar. But before you say ‘Surely I could make one of those myself with some paper, a pair of scissors and some felt tip pens’ hold on. You can hook this paper guitar up to headphones and speakers and it has backing tracks for you to play along to.

There are five designs each with different tracks to choose from and there’s a no-cutting-your-fingers-on-metal-strings guarantee, just papercuts to worry about then… But at just £24.99 here you’ll have change to buy plasters

       

Personally, three years on, I’m still recovering from the film 28 Weeks Later, but for the less faint hearted - introducing Zombie Dice!

It looks pretty confusing on paper but the game is fast, easy and can be stored in your pocket for some impromptu pub fun or on boring car/train journeys

You get 13 dice, you roll three and keep going as many times as you dare to retain your score and keep your brain stash to munch on. Ick. Unless of course you’re unlucky enough to roll three shotgun blasts at once which will end your turn and render you dead, as any real zombie enthusiast will know

A sure fire winner that combines chance, gruesome consequences and trying your luck for just £9.99 and we’re told that it doesn’t scare the kids – checks all the boxes dunnit?

Tagged with:
 

Who’d have ever thought, thirty years ago, we’d still be driving ourselves mad trying to solve these things?

Not that it can’t be done of course, it can – the current speedcubing record is held by Scottish teenager Breandan Vallance at a rather impressive 10.74 seconds – it’s just that for the rest of us joe public type of people, the only thing we can do with a Rubik’s cube in 10.74 seconds is get angry and throw it at the wall.

And yet 30 years on 350 million have been sold worldwide, there are records for solving it one handed, blindfolded, with just your feet and whilst skydiving, there are medical conditions named after it (Cubists thumbs anyone?), it’s even been responsible for a divorce or two apparently. Nevertheless Happy 30th Birthday to Mr Rubik and his godforsaken cube, have a drink on us!

Still, with 43 squintillion different combinations (yes, that’s a real number apparently) and only one answer you can’t help but feel that the odds really are stacked against you…

National Escargot Day

But of course, May 24th how could you forget? It’s National Escargot Day.

So, whilst you could celebrate by indulging in the rather controversial French cuisine, one alternative which is slightly cheaper and most likely tastes slightly better is to play snail racing – it’s a bit sunny to go snail hunting, so if you can’t find the real deal you can use these, hours of fun to be had for only £3.99

Top Agents, Top Toy?

Top Agents is the forthcoming new theme from Playmobil which is based on a spy scenario and introduces somewhat of a dramatic move away from the simplicity for which the company is renowned for.

We’re used to men and women that move their arms and sit on a horse all fine and dandy, but Playmobil is a world where our imaginations are left to do the work – until now…

This new line is all bells, whistles and batteries from the Super Racer Car with hidden guns and folded wings to a lab and headquarters with alarms and flashing lights.

Although there are murmurs from naysayers that this new theme might be a step too far away from Playmobil’s more simple roots, particularly with the inclusion of such gadgetry as a spy camera, others might just say the company is embracing 21st century technology whilst still refusing to sell out to licensing.

Either way, sadly this line won’t be on our shelves until Spring next year but look at this little guy - surely he’s worth waiting for!

Tagged with:
 

Picture 1. Hundreds of kids write into Playmobil every month (and a lot of adults too apparently – lifelong devotees of course not at all odd) heaping praise on to the company yes, but also saying what they’d like to see in the future

Picture 2. Something rather magical happens – Playmobil listen. Now don’t get me wrong they don’t take every request, in fact they don’t take many at all. But if they get a million letters asking for some new fire gear, we get new fire gear. That, and it’s a chance for the show offs to try and upstage the kid’s drawings…

Pictures 3. Models, foam, plastic, cardboard, replicas, duplicates, things that get thrown in the bin, things that get thrown at the wall and things that actually end up getting made.

(more…)

Tagged with:
 

Looking for something?

Use the form below to search the site:

Still not finding what you're looking for? Drop a comment on a post or contact us so we can take care of it!

Visit our friends!

A few highly recommended friends...

    © 2011 Toyology
    Uses wordpress plugins developed by www.wpdevelop.com