Tag Archives: Cool Toys

LEGO Fairgrounds Collection Loop Coaster: Just Take My Money

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LEGO has just announced a 3,756 Loop Coaster build set as part of its LEGO Fairgrounds Collection. The $400 set includes a gravity-driven roller coaster complete with one train, a boarding station with opening and closing gates, a control panel, and an elevator for the train to return to the top of the ride. I can’t wait to build it! Probably incorrectly, with a bunch of important pieces left over.

The set can be upgraded with an electric motor so you don’t have to crank the train back to the top yourself. That’s a great addition for someone who hates cranking, like myself. Thank God I don’t have to draw up buckets of water from a well at home, or I’d probably be chronically dehydrated.

Did I just add the set to my birthday list? Of course I did. Will I get it? Of course I won’t. But that won’t stop a man from dreaming. You want to know what I got for my birthday last month? Nothing. Turns out my so called “friends and family” refuse to honor me changing my birthday so I can celebrate one every month. And they pretend to love me!

[via TechEBlog]

Van Gogh’s The Starry Night LEGO Set: Painting with Plastic

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Van Gogh’s The Starry Night: I remember the first time I saw it at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. I was the only one in the room at the time, and it was surreal: just me and one of the most famous paintings in the world. I still think about that often. Also: all the tasteful nudes I saw while I was there. But enough about my appreciation of fine art, LEGO has just announced a building set based on the famous piece.

The 2,316-piece set creates a plastic replica of the famous painting in a slightly 3D (it’s 5″ deep) plastic form, along with a frame and a small Van Gogh minifig. The finished build measures approximately 15″W x 12″H. For reference, the actual painting measures 2’5″ x 3′. It was much smaller than I anticipated when I first saw it. I don’t know why, but I imagined it would be like eight or ten feet wide.

The $170 set will be released on June 1st, and, just like the actual painting, I’ll have no choice but to admire it from afar since it’s out of my budget. Knowing me, I’ll probably try constructing my own version out of LEGO pieces I already have, and it’ll end up looking like some sort of unrecognizable abstract expressionist piece. My wife will not be thrilled when I ask her if we should hang it on the fridge.

[via The Awesomer]

Dogs vs. Cats Chess Set: The Battle for Pet Supremacy

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Dogs or cats – which makes the best pet? Depends on who and when you ask, but if you ask me on a day my dog pooped on the living room carpet, I’d probably say cats. Ask me on a day that my cat knocked a picture of my wife and me on our wedding day off a shelf and shattered the glass, I’d probably say dogs. But here to settle the debate once and for all comes this Dogs Vs Cats Chess Set available from Uncommon Goods.

The $179 set includes a folding wooden game board that doubles as a storage case for the pieces, and two sets of resin figures: one of dogs, the other of cats. Which would you choose to play as? I always choose the top hat, but that’s just me and chess makes my brain hurt; I’m more of a Monopoly kind of guy. Especially if I can be banker and steal money without getting caught.

I set up a chess board and tried to get my dog and cat to play a game to decide who was the better pet but my cat just swatted the pieces off the board, and my dog started chewing on them once they hit the floor. So who won? Definitely not me, that’s for sure. Maybe my fish will actually take the game seriously…

[via DudeIWantThat]

Borg Cube and Picard Plushies Must Be Assimilated

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Because Kidrobot refuses to stop taking my money, the toy company is releasing a $50 combo plushie pack featuring an LED-lit Borg Cube and Locutus of Borg (the Borg designation for Captain Jean-Luc Picard after his assimilation in 2366). Obviously, these will be perfect for cuddling during a weekend-long Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon.

The Borg Cube features LED lights that glow green when turned on to “create the perfect ambiance for assimilation.” I didn’t know there was a perfect ambiance for assimilation, but you learn something new every day. The top also opens to reveal a hidden compartment inside, large enough for storing Borg Picard. Like a genie in a bottle, except a Picard in a cube.

I’m surprised I even have to go through the motions of buying stuff like this; you’d think Kidrobot would just automatically deduct the cost from my bank account and ship them when they’re available. I guess they’re probably just unsure how many of a particular product I want. Which, in this case, is all of them.

Plushie Skull with Hidden Organs Inside: Braaaaains!

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Apparently, existing plushies just weren’t scary enough for young children, so Uncommon Goods is selling this Giant Skull With Hidden Organs plushie. The larger-than-life skull measures approximately 10″L x 9″W x 6″H and features a removable brain, hidden inner ear and brain cell mini-plushies, and two removable pop-out eyeballs. Sweet dreams, children!

The plush also includes a card of facts about the skull and brain so you can teach your children while simultaneously scarring them for life. And isn’t that what parenthood is all about? Well, plus the free, poor-quality labor. It’s just awesome having my children do household chores so incompetently I have to do them all myself again afterwards.

They should make a whole plush skeleton with internal organs next for the full-body learning experience. Then I can hang it up in my son’s closet and remind him before bed every night that this is what happens when you don’t eat your vegetables. Father of the year over here!

Artist Creates Spaceballs Pizza the Hutt Toy Playset

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Handcrafted in the style of vintage Kenner Star Wars toys, Retro Custom Art’s andytdesigns made this Spaceballs Pizza the Hutt action toy playset. Andy imagines the toy was made for a national Spaceballs x Pizza Hutt line of toys that were released to the public. I don’t know about you, but I need this in my life. In my office specifically, but only because I know my wife won’t allow it on my nightstand where it actually belongs.

Andy has also made several other custom Spaceballs action figures, most of which are available in his Etsy and eBay stores for around $50 – $75. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the Pizza the Hutt playset for sale (I dug deeper and found out he’s not selling it and only made it for an upcoming art show), which is a shame because that’s the one I wanted the most. Granted, I wouldn’t be able to afford it even if it was listed, but a boy can dream. I’m going to be a space ranger when I grow up!

I guess I’m left with no choice but to make my own. And if my version just so happens to be an actual piece of pizza with a pair of googly eyes stuck in the cheese, so be it. It’s not like my apartment doesn’t already have a rodent problem anyways.

[via LaughingSquid]

Pac-Man NBA Team Buildable Model Kits are a Slam Dunk

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With the team colors and logos of six different NBA teams, these Pac-Man Entry Grade Model Kits are the perfect addition to any video game and sports fanatic’s collection. The models, being released by Bandai Namco this spring, require no paint or glue and can be assembled straight from the box. That’s a good thing, too because me and modeling glue are a disaster waiting to happen.

These Pac-Man models will be available in Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, and Milwaukee Bucks varieties. Not a fan of any of those? Cross your fingers and hope they decide to make one for your team. Or desert your team for one on the list. That’s what I would do, but I have no allegiance to anybody or anything.

I love building models; the only problem is they never turn out as good as they look in the picture on the front of the box. Or, in my case, even resembling anything remotely like the picture on the front of the box. And why do I always finish with so many extra parts left over?

[via Bandai Namco on Facebook]

Man Builds a Functional Tabletop Flight Simulator Out of LEGO

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Because if you can dream it, you can build it (at least with LEGO bricks), Riley of Youtube channel Brick Science wanted to build a tabletop flight simulator entirely out of LEGO. Something that would sit on the table, and you could move with functional controllers. And that’s exactly what he did.

The LEGO EV3 joystick and throttle control the plane, with the throttle making the airplane’s propeller spin faster and the joystick controlling the plane’s axis of movement. In addition to the biplane, Riley also demonstrates a helicopter and jet that also work on the flight simulator platform. Impressive! Now submit it to LEGO so they can make it an actual set you can buy!

Personally, I love flight simulators. They’re way less scary than actual flying, which is terrifying. Especially when your older brother and all his friends convince you to repeatedly jump off the roof with a pair of cardboard wings because you weren’t flapping hard enough on the previous attempt. Now that I think about it, maybe that’s where my lifelong fear of flying comes from.

[via TechEBlog]

LEGO Luke Skywalker and Yoda Dagobah Training Playset: Do or Do Not Buy

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Master Yoda training Luke on Dagobah: it’s an iconic movie scene. And what better way to immortalize Luke’s struggle to gain control over the Force than with an official LEGO set? I can’t think of any. Come on, Luke, lift that X-Wing out of the swamp – you can do it! No? Dammit, Luke, Darth Vader is your father!

The exactly 1,000-piece set will retail for $79.99, and you can pre-order it on the LEGO site now. It includes Yoda’s modest hut, a large Gnarltree, Luke’s X-Wing peeking one of its wings out of the swamp, as well as Luke, Yoda, and R2-D2 minifigs. Remember when Yoda made Luke carry him around like a backpack? That was my favorite part. My cousins make me do the same thing for them.

There’s no question this will make a lovely addition to all the other Star Wars LEGO sets I already own, which is all of them. Yep, all 700+ of them. Can you believe there are so many Star Wars LEGO sets? My wife sure can, especially when she’s trying to navigate absolutely anywhere in the house without stepping on any.

[via The Brick Fan]

Combat Wheelchair Miniatures for Tabletop Role-Playing Games

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To ensure tabletop role-playing games are inclusive to all, designer Sara Thompson has created a line of Combat Wheelchair miniatures that feature adventurers in wheelchairs. The characters are available as 3D printing files for £5 (~$6.50) or metal or resin models for £15 (~$19.50) in Strata Miniatures’ ‘Dungeons and Diversity’ collection.

The incredibly designed miniatures are available in a variety of different races and classes, including human fighters, bards, druids and monks, half elf wizards and rangers, tiefling warlocks and clerics, elf rogue, dwarf barbarian, dragonborn paladin, gnome artificer, and halfling bard. Sara also makes note in the official rules that the Combat Wheelchair isn’t designed to overpower players with disabilities, but rather make them equally suited for adventure as abled players.

One of the cornerstones of tabletop role-playing games has always been an inclusive environment, and the Combat Wheelchair is a great addition to help ensure that. Now if I could just locate a magical map, maybe I could actually guide my party safely out of this dungeon before we’re all consumed by a gelatinous cube.

[via Nerdist]