Pit Stop

Hunger Games has legions taking up Archery

Heroine Katniss sports a bow and arrow, and does plenty of damage with her accuracy in the UK release of the blockbuster Hunger Games today. Since opening in the US kids (of all ages) have been signing up for lessons at Archery clubs, that's far too faddy for us, just pick up the finest toy bow/arrow kit around in the shape of the fine Z-Curve launcher and have yourself some grin inducing fun. A couple of round-nosed projectiles that easily reach 80 feet and a sucker dart that'll pretty much latch on to any flat surface (foreheads not included), we ...

Helium shortage is no laughing matter

We are, according to the Guardian, running low on Helium and one scientist in particular is putting the blame squarely on the party balloon industry and, that'll now include our favourite flyers the Air Swimmers. Pressure on stocks aren't likely to let up anytime soon from our end, we're eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bass and Whale version of these surreal R/C's - Air Swimmers are the only brand that'll not have you trying to cancel your credit card transaction. Here's an Angry Bird version too (pictured) selling only in the US righ now, looking forward to a video ...

ARCHOS steps in to Kids Tablet market

ARCHOS have shown their hand in the Tablet market for kids this morning wading in with this, the Child Pad. It joins the MEEP and Kurio although it could well steal a lead as it is launching at the end of March, the others have a TBC date and late September. In the looks department all seems perfectly acceptable, it 'll run on the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software has 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM - And it'll be just £99. Kids friendly features include access to the Kids App Store powered by AppsLib which is filtered down to ...

Angry Birds getting Flash

Yup, the licensing wagon rolls out once more for the Angry Birds mob and this time we're treated to a quadruplet of the crew, red bird, yellow bird, king piggy and white bird as USB flash drives. They're each able to carry around 4GB of your precious data and we think hat wanting to fling them into a structure of Jenga bricks or LEGO will be overwhelming, so buy one (or more) and get on with it. £14.99 a piece from FIREBOX

Angry Birds evolution continues, moves outdoors…

When Mattel took on the board game last year it was met with shrieks of delight from bird lobbing fans, within just a couple of months version two was amongst us, we eagerly await the next installment. From iPod docks, PC speakers, noise producing plushes and a raft of other beak based accessories nothing new or very exciting to see here, it is with unbridled enthuisiasm that we bring you Angry Birds, The Outdoor Action game from Tactic. From May and for about £25 you get the main game, that's a playmat, blocks, pair of Angry Birds, a pig and ...

Jubilee must-have

Lets face it, until just now you'd never realised how much you wanted a solar powered waving minature figure of Her Maj, did you? Pick yours from either pink or blue or buy both - Head THIS way for your purchase and to pick up some interesting facts about this great lady, our favourite is that she has opened 15 bridges in the UK!

keeping one amused

We're unlikely to see the veritable amount of tat that surrounded the Royal wedding last year, we're hoping that celebratory and commemorative kit will all attempt to be as classy as this chess set (over optimistic perhaps). Each piece is handpainted, it truly is a glorious piece of kit that's certain to find favour with those who refer to parts of their abodes with terms such as East and West wing. It'll set you back almost £300 HERE for those interested parties.

Star Wars slot sets – At last

We've been treated to a fair few Scalextric licences over the years, James bond ones were pretty good, Toy Story didn;t float our slot-car racing boat, this pair of beauties has us grinning from ear to ear. Why we've had to wait for so long to get Star Wars and Scalexctric to tema up Darth only knows, and frankly we don;t give a Yoda because it's finally happening - Exactly when we're no sure. So, we have the Micro 1:64 scale Death Star Attack set with a Lord Vader Tie Fighter battling a Luke Skywalker X-Wing, the spaceships have working ...

Steady Eddie

On March 12, 2012, In Collectables, Pit Stop, by Features Ed

As if Eddie Stobart wasn’t getting enough publicity at the moment what with that god awful programme following one of the driver’s around that keeps getting featured on Harry Hill’s TV Burp…urg. Well, now everyone’s favourite haulage truck has been immortalised in our favourite form – toy form, of course.

Launching at the end of the month to mark the first anniversary of Eddie Stobart’s death the set consists of two types of the iconic trucks. For the mega fans among you they are the Scania 4 Series with Curtainside Trailer and the Scania III ‘Julia’. For the less die hard fans this translates roughly as model big lorry and slightly different model big lorry.

Available from Hornby from 31 March, we’re just working out how much freight we can fit in them…

Slice of the App Pie for Wowwee

On January 11, 2012, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Family fun, Figures and Dolls, Film Fun, Get Involved, Outdoor Escapades, Pit Stop, Pocket Money, by peter jenkinson

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….

Cherry picker is a sweet build

On December 21, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Collectables, Edutainment, Featured, Figures and Dolls, Get Involved, Girls Allowed, Pit Stop, Reviews, by peter jenkinson

It took us a while getting around to building our LEGO Technic Bucket Truck, that’s cherry picker to most of us or elevated platform to those perhaps allergic to cherries or very posh indeed. It’s the machine used to rig up local Christmas lights or fix street lights, very clever vehicles they are too. Just like its real life ride this Bucket Truck has a set of gears to raise and rotate the platform on the back, two more gears let you deploy the outriggers at the side of the vehicle to keep it stable when the platform is fully extended; and a large gear knob on the rear even lets you steer it. With all of these functions in mind, and of course the nifty looking design, this rig is as much fun to build as it is to assemble and so we pay homage with our 10^th, and final Toyology Gold of the year. Around £40 at John Lewis

What Kids Really Want – Toyology’s pick for Yule 2012

On November 22, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Collectables, Figures and Dolls, Film Fun, Get Involved, Girls Allowed, Pit Stop, by peter jenkinson

Not all of our suggestions made the final edit in this weeks Sunday Mirror, but we’re mighty delighted with the ones that did – A fine combination for all the family we thinks? Thoughts?

Tagged with: news • reviews • toys

Love lists? Read on……

On October 27, 2011, In Adults in mind, Board Games, Boys Toys, Collectables, Current Affairs, Deal of the Day, Edutainment, Figures and Dolls, Film Fun, Get Involved, Girls Allowed, Music, Outdoor Escapades, Pit Stop, by peter jenkinson

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…)

Tagged with: awards • bunny • hot • milky • new • reviews • top • toys • xmas

Wall, Cars….Action

On October 19, 2011, In Boys Toys, Get Involved, Pit Stop, by peter jenkinson

Not only will a set of Mattel’s new Wall Tracks add a touch of colour to your wall, enable you to cover up some rather dodgy wallpaper, force you to say goodbye to tatty looking posters but offers a marvelllous place to let your Hot Wheels carsreally rip. There are floor based sets aplenty from Mattel for racing your mini motors but this Wall Track system keep yourcarpet free from clutter, and this one is far less likely to need “Tidying up”. This is just the starter set at about £30 but there are others in the range, look-out for the monster sized one coming to the UK soon for about £100 – Resistance, as the great man said, Is Futile.

Tagged with: cars • hot wheels • mattel • news • review

Full size LEGO Ford Explorer

On September 28, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Family fun, Get Involved, Pit Stop, Tales from Toytown, by peter jenkinson

We haven’t made it over to Florida to see the new Legoland, yet, but if this installation is a taste of their “think big” policy we might well put it on our tour map,one day less at Disney and Universal. It took a team of 22 chaps in Florida about 2500 hours with 380,000 bricks to build this Explorer which will be displayed in front of one of the new park’s attractions, the Ford Driving School (messy collisions there we think, but easyand cheap fixes).

On the radio whoa oh oh

On September 26, 2011, In Adults in mind, Boys Toys, Electronics, Family fun, Get Involved, Girls Allowed, Interviews, Music, Outdoor Escapades, Pit Stop, Playground Crazes, Pocket Money, Puzzles, Retro Road, Tales from Toytown, by peter jenkinson

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.

Tagged with: fun • kids • news • radio • reviews • toys

Kids collectable Key Ring cars

On September 22, 2011, In Boys Toys, Collectables, Get Involved, Pit Stop, by peter jenkinson

There’s a new collectable in town, a couple of samples arrived at Toyology Towers and caught us unawares this afternoon, small die-cast cars from Maisto, not much to talk about so far…But Wait. These £1.99 pocket sized rides each come with a key, slip it in the car and rev your pretend engines (that’s make a sound yourself). Press the button on the fob and your mini-motor will speed along your floor surface and give great satisfaction. We’re keeping our trio of test units, buying more, and having Race-Off friday for a few weeks, setting up some ramps probably, going home now so we can get in early for set-up tomorrow. Grab yours HERE

Aggressive little RC

On August 3, 2011, In Pit Stop, RC's and Robots, by peter jenkinson

Fortunately the action delivered from this small RC car is much zippier than it’s title – Air Hogs Hyper Active Stunt Car – It’s left us breathless in the office this afternoon, flying around at super scale speeds, flipping and impressive jumping action from high places. You can pretty much launch this one from anywhere and it’ll land and keep motoring, whichever side hits the floor as it’s a double sided driver, so there’s little to stop it….well, apart from sand. Indoors or out, race A channel cars vs the B channel cars, the video even promotes mid air collisions between a pair, now hat does look fun. At £34.99 it’d seem a tad top end for something of it’s size but we think the video will have you hooked.

Previous Entries

Hunger Games has legions taking up Archery

Helium shortage is no laughing matter

ARCHOS steps in to Kids Tablet market

Angry Birds getting Flash

Angry Birds evolution continues, moves outdoors…

Jubilee must-have

keeping one amused

Star Wars slot sets – At last

Steady Eddie

Slice of the App Pie for Wowwee

Cherry picker is a sweet build

What Kids Really Want – Toyology’s pick for Yule 2012

Love lists? Read on……

Wall, Cars….Action

Full size LEGO Ford Explorer

On the radio whoa oh oh

Kids collectable Key Ring cars

Aggressive little RC

Toughest reviews from the

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Hunger Games has legions taking up Archery

Helium shortage is no laughing matter

ARCHOS steps in to Kids Tablet market

Angry Birds getting Flash

Angry Birds evolution continues, moves outdoors…

Jubilee must-have

keeping one amused

Star Wars slot sets – At last

Toughest reviews from the

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