Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

Archive for August, 2011

This is a guest post from Mike Hawks

A toy is an object used by kids to play. Toys have helped kids in developing different mental capacities. Some use tactical toys which improve their thinking and planning. Some use toys for role playing; this helps them improve their character and allows them to prepare for different situations. Dressing up dolls helps a child develop a sense of style. The success and popularity of these toys are often determined using the sales statistics of these toys. Given below are the top five most popular toys in history.

The original Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear
The favorite and most probably the first toy most of us ever received, is the “Teddy Bear”. It is a toy bear which is stuffed with amazingly soft high quality cotton and covered with fur-like outer layer to make it more attractive. Over the decades, these toys have won the hearts of both genders. In 2006, there was a $1.3 billion sale of these toys. The older teddy bears, of the 1920s, would cost a fortune these days. They can fetch up to $131,380 per piece. Other than that, every year there are exhibitions of teddy bears which generate millions of dollars. This toy is not a copyright of any particular organization; there are thousands of manufacturers that make these toys. This is the reason why the revenue generated by the sales of teddy bears cannot be calculated, but it is estimated to be in high thousands of billions of dollars.

Lego
Next in the big names comes LEGO. These are plastic building blocks used to form buildings, weapons, vehicles and several other structures. These blocks have helped millions of children develop a high creativity level over its sixty year existence. Launched in 1949, these blocks really showed companies how to build-up. Today LEGO is the 4th largest manufacturer of toys in the world. It has an estimated worth of about $4.7 billion. It has several theme parks named after it. 

Barbie
Another name that comes up while talking about popular toys is Barbie. Launched in 1959, the name of the toy comes from the name of the founder’s daughter, Barbara. A Barbie is the dream of every little girl, their princess type appearance being the main attraction. During its first year of production approximately 350,000 dolls were sold all over the world. Mattel claims that Barbie is the best selling toy of the century. From $23 million dollar sales in 1963, the dolls helped bring in over a hundred million dollars in 1965. By 1968, the Barbie fan club had over 1.5 million members.

Mr. Potato Head
Launched in 1952, Mr. Potato head came out at a cost of $0.98. It was a great hit with kids as it was the only toy at that time that had a moveable face. It became the first toy to be advertised on TV, giving a rise to its demand. It made more than $4 million in its first year and grossed up a staggering $30 million in 2005.

Play-Doh
Last but not least is Play-Doh. It is a clay-like substance but softer and cleaner. Play-Doh was launched in the mid 50s. It is used for modeling figures or building anything you want, and allows you to let your imagination run wild. It is used in educational institutions to help kids with arts and crafts. In 1958, almost two years after it came into existence, Play-Doh brought in around $3 million. They are sold worldwide and produced sales of more than 2 billion pieces/cans from its existence till the year 2005. Today Play-Doh sells around 90 million cans a year on average.

Mike has been selling educational toys for the last 5 years. Mike is still amazed about the fact that today’s popular toys have been invented nearly 60 years ago!

	Disney-branded pogo sticks

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Bravo Sports has recalled about 160,000 Pogo Sticks, made for Disney. The sticks have a rubber bottom that can wear down prematurely and cause the user to lose balance and fall. Also the end caps on the handlebars can come off, exposing sharp edges.

Bravo and CPSC have received 82 reports of the bottom tip wearing out on the pogo sticks, including five reports of injuries. A 9-year-old girl suffered a skull fracture and chipped a tooth. Another 9-year-old girl cut her lip and chin, requiring stitches. Other injuries included scrapes, hits to the head and teeth pushed in.

This recall includes pogo sticks in various colors. The models included in this recall are the Disney Hannah Montana Pogo Stick, the Disney/Pixar Toy Story Cruising Cool Pogo Stick, the Disney/Pixar Cars Pogo Stick, the Disney Princess Pogo Stick and the Disney Fairies Cruising Cool Pogo Stick. The pogo sticks have Disney labels between the handlebars. The manufacturing date codes between 01/01/2009-022CO and 11/30/2010-022CO are on a clear label on the stem of the pogo stick near the foot pedals.

They were sold at: Burlington Coat Factory, Kmart, Kohls.com, Target and Toys R Us from February 2009 through June 2011 for about $20.

Consumers are advised to stop using the pogo stick immediately and contact Bravo Sports at (855) 469-3429 between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT for a full refund.

	Love. Hugs. Peace. lapel pin

The U.S.Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Build-A-Bear Workshop, voluntarily recalled about 26,500 Love. Hugs. Peace lapel pins in the U.S. and another 2,200 in Canada. Surface paints on the lapel pin contain excessive levels of lead, which is prohibited under federal law. No injuries have been reported.

They were sold by Build-A-Bear Workshop stores nationwide and online at www.buildabear.com from July 2009 through October 2010. Consumers should return the lapel pin to any Build-A-Bear Workshop store to receive a $5 store coupon or, if that’s not possible, contact the company for alternate instructions on receiving a refund.

Three Lego Minifigs ready to blast-off

Three Lego Minifigs will (hopefully) blast-off on their way to Jupiter today, August 5, 2011 on the Juno space probe.

They aren’t actual plastic production Minifigs. Rather, they are specially constructed aluminum Minifigures created just for the mission. They are the same size all the standard Minifig.

The three figures are the Roman god Jupiter, his wife June, and Galileo.

The Lego project was a secret until August 3, when it was announced. It was initiated by NASA scientists, who apparently love Lego. They approached Lego and the company loved the project, and underwrote the cost to produce the three figures for $5,000 each. They had to be specially constructed to assure that they wouldn’t interfere with the spacecraft or it’s instruments.

Lego will feature the trio’s adventure on their Lego Space site.

Soon, the three Minifigs will be the fastest moving toys in the universe, they will eventually be the farthest toys from Earth (that we know of), and eventually, the Juno probe will purposefully de-orbit and crash, along with it’s "passengers" into Jupiter, so that the Minifigs will become part of the planet.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief. Juno was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter’s true nature. Galileo Galilei made several important discoveries about Jupiter, including the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honor).

Each figure includes features that represent these characteristics. Jupiter carries a lightning bolt, Juno has a magnifying glass to represent her search for truth, Galileo is carrying a telescope and a model of the planet Jupiter.

The launch period for Juno opens Aug. 5 and extends through Aug. 26. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2016. The mission will investigate the gas giant’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and will provide close-up images of Jupiter, including the first detailed glimpse of the planet’s poles.

Recalled B. FunKeys

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Battat Inc., voluntarily recalled about 1,080,000 toy keys with remote in the U.S., and 3,600 in Canada.

CPSC and Battat have received 17 reports of keys breaking, and 14 reports of key rings breaking, posing a choking hazard. No injuries have been reported.

The recall includes all B. FunKeys with factory code H58000-01 or H26300-01, sold at retailers nationwide and online sellers from April 2010 to May 2011, and Parents Magazine Electronic Keys with factory code H26300-01, sold January 2006 to December 2009.

Battat has a statement here.

Consumers should take the recalled toy keys away from children and contact Battat to receive replacement keys.

We think this is Svetlana, the miniature giraffe

The latest cool toy of the rich and famous are miniature giraffes. Or are they?

Sokoblovsky Farms is supposedly selling miniature giraffes that they have been breeding for many years. According to their website, their Great Grandfather Nicolas escaped from the circus with their miniature giraffe and he’s been breeding them ever since. They don’t explain how he bred them from one giraffe. You are also welcome to visit the farm, if you’re ever in the vicinity of Krasnodar, Russia.

If you visit their website, there is "live feed" on their Giraffe-Cam of the little creatures walking around and mostly sleeping.

	Raina the miniature giraffe

But if you want to purchase one, you may have a bit of a wait. I added my name to their waiting list and I was 1,222,619th in line. No word on how much these pets will cost when my number comes up.

But once you get your new pet, their care is simple. They eat bonsai tree leaves and drink distilled water, have zero health problems, love being indoors in the air conditioning, require a bubble bath once a week and love to listen to Rimsky-Korsakov.

There is an 800 number on their site, but it is not a working number (surprise!).

My best guess is that this site is a tie-in to the DIRECTV commercials which "featured" the little creatures. The site seems to mimic the broken English of the commercials as well.

Well, if it is a hoax there are always other ways of getting your miniature giraffe.

Star Wars Blue-ray Box set

Pre-order the Star Wars original trilogy (episodes IV-VI) at Amazon now for only $39.99 (save $30.00 off the list price)!

The set will be released on September 16, 2011.

And, if the price decreases between now and the release date, you receive the lowes price.

I’m having some trouble determining if this is the original version of the first three movies, or the CG enhanced versions. I’ll post if I can get that cleared up.

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV – VI) [Blu-ray]

Victoria Cristofis with rescued "baby"

I read a news item on Gizmodo this morning that I found interesting. Police in Workshop, Nottinghamshire, received a call that a baby was left trapped in a hot locked car. They arrived on the scene and saw the baby in the car and smashed the window to get in and rescue… a doll.

The doll they rescued was a "Reborn Doll", named Sam, and was so lifelike it even has anatomically correct veins. Victoria Cristofis bought the doll for her daughter Chanel’s birthday in June and it not only looks like a real baby, it even smells like one (hmmm). This is not the first time Ms. Cristofis has had people mistake the doll for a baby. She’s been accosted by people while shopping and accused of mistreating it because she was handling it like a doll, she’s had people shout at her because she was allowing her daughter to shake her baby, and she’s had people come up to her and touch it, thinking it was real.

	Original and "Reborn" doll

But this brought up a bigger question for me. What is a Reborn Doll?

Reborn dolls are realistic manufactured dolls that have been enhanced to be even more realistic. They are also known as "living dolls" or "unliving dolls" (a term which fits best for me). The hobby of enhancing dolls began around 1990 and has grown into quite an industry in recent years with finished dolls selling for as high as thousands of dollars. There’s also an extensive online community. At first doll collectors were purchasing them, but it has expanded to parents and even to women who "adopt" the dolls and treat them as infants. You can even get a doll customized to look like a particular infant.

Consumers can either buy a finished doll, or they can buy a kit to do the enhancements themselves. Manufacturers have responded by creating dolls meant just for the reborn process.

A Closeup of a reborn doll

The process of "reborning" can be quite extensive involving removing the factory paint from a doll, applying layers of paint for realistic skin appearance, replacing eyes, manicuring nails, drilling out nostrils, adding hair, weighting the body with pellets, weighting the head so the owner must support it just like a newborn, adding magnets for pacifiers, etc., implanting devices that simulate heartbeats or breathing. They can also include an umbilical cord, heat packs (so they are warm), and voice boxes, or anatomically correct genitals.

One problem with Reborning is that it runs the risk of dolls falling into the "Uncanny Valley". Meaning that they become so realistic that they become creepy. As human-like features in robots, animation and such become more lifelike we tend to like them up to a point. Once they start approaching truly lifelike features, they become creepy. Apparently for this reason department stores don’t carry the dolls.