Toyology

 

 

 

 

 

Marshmallow fun was once limited to the game of stuffing them into one’s mouth and trying to make others in your team comprehend the words you uttered – Or was that just us? Well, no longer is it the only non-eating based fun to be had with the king off confectionary, the Marshmallow blaster lets you load one of the (full sized)mtreats inside, pump up the gun and sent yours soaring to a grateful recipient up to 40 ye  FORTY feet away. The evolution of marshmallow based projectile technology continues apace, we’ve discovered the Bow and Mallow, this one with a magazine style storage unit that feeds up to 25 mini-marshmallows into the firing chamber for launches of up to 30 feet, and, in more medieval marshmallow news, here’s the marshmallow crossbow, it also fires mini marshmallows, again at up to 30 feet but the double magazine lets you fire off 25 from each magazine – marauding marshmallow enemies do not stand a chance. Have a butchers at Maps Toys they’ve some other interesting lines too

 

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Launched in Vegas this week into what is likely to be the biggest toy genre for 2012 the AppGear range is an evolution from the iOS “appcessories” we saw last year from AppToyz with the unputdownable AppBlaster. These Augmented Reality toys herald the beginning of a raft of toy launches in this area over the coming weeks but Wowwee are first out of the blocks with theirs, and mighty impressive they look too. A range of six is set to be unleashed in the next month, each game requires a physical purchase and then a download of the free app, and happily they all support iOS and Android.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The titles are Alien Jailbreak, Zombie Burb, Elite Commander, Foam Fighter, Akodomon and Mysterious Ray Gun – Look through your smart device and virtual worlds appear in your room, there is little doubt these will, at between £10 and £20, be a sensation. Beware people walking around with toys attached to their mobiles, an increase in lamp post related incidenets is certain to ensue the release of these games. A question to Wowwee if we may though, is the Mysterious Ray Gun so named as it is a mystery to what this particular product is actually about? More Videos of the range in action this way please….

 

 

Presenting the most magnificent, magical and Mosterrific MoshiBus! – It’s going on tour this Christmas to Bluewater shopping centre and at The Trafford Centre. Climb on board and the kids can draw and colour monsters at the art and craft sessions, enjoy clay buddy modelling and trade Moshling cards, There will also be Moshi giveaways, quizzes and competitions to win Moshi merchandise, including a special “Busling” Topps trading card. And of course you’ll be able to buy your favourite Moshi merchandise in the Mobile Moshi Monsters Store on the top deck. When it’s time to leave jump on the slide that’ll take you back to the ground floor! Check out www.moshibus.com for the latest Moshi bus news.

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Since back in June (thanks Tesco) we’ve been inundated with top tens (lots of them), fab fifteens (fewer of those), eclectic eights, super sixes etc etc……then yesterday, the one which the media come out in force to see,  is the annual Toy Retailers Associations announcement of their Dream Dozen. It’s an eclectic round up of 12 toys across many categories that the organisation, which represents 75% of Toy retailers in the UK, reckon are going to be the hottest property this Yule, so, laydees and gentlemen without further ado, here they are :

Doggie Doo, John Adams, RRP £22.99
Fijit Friends, Mattel, RRP £54.99
Fireman Sam Pontypandy Rescue Set, Character, RRP £29.99
Kidizoom Twist, Vtech, RRP £49.99
LeapPad Explorer, Leapfrog Toys, RRP £79.99
Lets Rock Elmo, Hasbro, RRP £69.99
Milky the Bunny, Flair, £59.99
Monster High Lagoona’s Hydration Station, Mattel, £39.99
Moshling Tree House, Vivid, RRP £18.99
Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster, Hasbro, RRP £44.99
Ninjago Fire Temple, Lego, RRP £91.99
Star Wars Ultimate Force Tech Lightsaber Assortment, Hasbro, RRP £39.99

This year there were two new award categories,  the Kid’s choice and Mum’s choice awards, tested and voted by the people who really matter, read on for those results :

(more…)

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Winter Warmers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brilliant ideas are usually the most head-slappingly simple ones, here is one of them there finds folk – Scooterearz. With the pavements of the UK nearing capacity at school run times with scooters the preferred method of kids commuting the problem of cold hands was identified by a couple of savvy mums. After making a few samples, getting loads of requests to make them for freinds, they decided to put them into production, and, here they are, the £12.99 a pair Scooterearz. Select your colour from a range of four, upon arrival stick them on your scooter and enjoy hassle free hands warming on your way to school.

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With a White one near guaranteed across the UK the onset of the annual snowfall in this country has led to one major benefit – better snow based gadgetry. Best of the bunch is this new arrival from our old favourites at Wham-O, the Arctic Force Snowball Blaster, enough in the name to have many on the opposition cower for cover, the ones who do not are in for a surprise. Load the blaster with snow and it’ll create three perfect projectiles, pull back on the bands and release yours up to 80 feet, a distance only Olympians could acheive unaided. So impressed are we that a Toyology Gold has been allocated to this supreme snow machine. £24.99 HERE

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They’re a very visual lot those playthings aren’t they, but we thought we’d try out a media platform where toys weren’t getting an airing. We approached the UK’s leading  parent and kid focused radio station to ask for a Toyology slot. The lovely people at Fun Kids radio said we could have tuesdays at 6:45pm and we said YEEEEEEEES. There are over 300,000 people across the UK tuning in every month on their DAB radios and also online and it infally confirms our status bestowed upon us by a few individuals of having “faces for radio” – FOr you 80′s kids check out this link to the Donna Summer classic tune that’s ben in our heads since securing our place on-air.

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Looking to make an impact in the blaster space is the new Max Force range from Jakks, all new, brightly coloured, slightly cartoon-esque style projectile delivery systems. It’s a tough place to be right now, NERF just launched their impressive Vortex range and some people might have been put off this product category altogether earlier this year after a hands-on with Xploderx gel ball blasters. What Jakks are bringing is something quite new, the projectile is a paper based product that, needs some soaking before loading and then, upon impact makes a satisfying splatter. They’ve four in the range, the top end Shadowhawk (pictured with two highly qualified PR professionals), the handy Maximiser and, for us, the best of the lot, the Blowgun (below). This latter item reminded us of our school antics where the plastic outertube of a BIC pen would be used to launch small pieces of paper, this toy is a simple must purchase for kids of all ages, childish fun in the extreme. A pop-up sight, multi chamber for quick repeat fire and a set of specs for safety. Office warfare just went to the next level, we’re investing in more, RRP’ed at £12.99.. – A Toyology Gold is well deserved.

 

 

Van Gogh, eat your heart out

You know those people at school fetes at the like who offer up their services to do the kiddies face painting? They act all nonchalant, like anyone could do it, like they haven’t been perfecting that tiger face for weeks on end in the run up to the big day. Well, we have discovered their secret…

Snazaroo Face Painting Sticks and iPhone App are your one stop shop to face decorating perfection.

Use the iPhone app for practice sessions to perfect your brush strokes, blending and glitter application etc (much better than using a real child as the iPhone will not complain, wriggle or annoy) and then, when you are akin to Van Gogh, you’ll be ready to use the sticks to achieve the real thing.

The app is a pretty good practice tool, and even allows you upload to social networking sites to share your masterpieces, with different brush sizes and shapes available, it’s like ‘Paint’ for your phone. Fun even if you’re not planning do any actual face painting we’d say.

The app is a freebie (our favourite kind) and you can get your sticks of joy for under a fiver here

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Would you Adam and Eve it…..

 

 

 

After running a UK wide competition to name the Olympic football Adidas have gone for Albert. A good old-fashioned name, also happens to be cockney rhyming for Ball (Albert Hall) and synonymous with Albert Bridge, Albert Dock, Albert Memorial and of course, Albert Square EAstenders and Manchester City centre). They’ve not offered us a butchers (hook) at the design as yet, we’re keen on the camouflage ball, reviewed here earlier this year, now that’d make for interesting TV.

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