Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

Archive for the ‘Cool Toy of the Day’ Category

As I’ve mentioned before, I get a lot of emails from manufacturers that want us to carry their toys at Dave’s Cool Toy. A few get immediate response from me and we get them in stock as soon as possible. Most are deleted with a quick scan. The one I received today fell somewhere in between, falling more into the "What were they thinking?" category. Check it out below.

To top it off, they used inappropriate language in their add. I suppose that it was translated from Chinese and they didn’t realize that one of the words used was not appropriate in English for a children’s product. I blurred the questionable word in order to include it here.

I particularly like the part "A good decoration item especially in the bedroom." Yeah, what every child needs. A plush puppy pooping tissues.

No, you will not find this product on www.davescooltoys.com anytime in the near future.

	Email for a new product called the Tissue Pot

Dave as a toy

Have you ever wondered what you would look like if you were in Toy Story? I know you did. Well, now you can find out.

Head on over to the Toy Story 3 Toy Creator. It’s a very cool online application that lets you choose from many variables (not too many, though) such as skin color, hair, facial features, clothes, etc. to create yourself as a toy.

When you are done, you can save your creation in various formats such as a full size cut-our, iPhone image, IM icon, or a wallpaper. Check out my picture below posing with Buzz and Woody.

The application is also very fast and yet uses a great industrial interface for changing features.

And there’s one other great feature using what’s known as Augmented Reality. Once you are done with your toy, customize and print your toy box, print it out, and use a webcam to hold your toy box in your own hands… virtually. Very cool, although I had some trouble with this feature. And I expected to be holding my toy, but instead it was the box. Odd.

	Dave and friends

Silly Bandz

After yesterday’s post about the most expensive toys on Amazon, I started wondering what the most popular toys on Amazon were.

The single most popular toy on Amazon at this time is Silly Bandz. Specifically, Silly Bandz Fun Shapes 24 Pack. Silly Bandz and similar items have become extremely popular everywhere in the last few months and is certainly the hottest toy this summer. Originally just rubber bands, kids have started wearing them as bracelets, giving them away, and trading them. We recently had a family trip to the beach in New Jersey and the boardwalk was full of crane games with Silly Bandz as the prize. Apparently they are so popular that they are causing a distraction in some schools, causing them to be banned. This is a sure sign that kids will want them. Titus Elementary School in Warrington, PA had a novel idea. They banned Silly Bandz, but if students or parents donated $1.00 to a Haitian relief fund, they could wear a few Silly Bandz, and if they donated $5.00 they could wear as many as they want. The school raised $1,700 in less than a week.

There are even entire websites and blogs dedicated to Silly Bandz

The most sought-after Silly Band is reportedly the Phoenix
, with the dollar sign in second place. The top ten (from most- to less-popular) is:

1. Phoenix
   

   	Silly Bandz Phoenix

2. Dollar Sign
3. Dragon
4. Gecko
5. Baseball
6. Tree Frog
7. Rock Handz
8. Gorilla
9. Longhorn
10. Bronco

They are made from Silicone, so there is not a latex allergy issue with them. And they are relatively inexpensive at about $5.00 a pack. You just may want to check with your child’s school before letting them take them along.

Lots-o’-Huggin Bear

In April I posted about the Lots-o’-Huggin Bear fake retro commercial on YouTube. Lots-o’-Huggin Bear is actually a new Toy Story 3 character and Pixar posted the "commercial" complete with fake video tape noise, washed-out colors, and poor audio as if it were a commercial from 1983.

Well, if that commercial made you want a Lots-o’-Huggin Bear, you’re in luck! He is now available. For real.

The Collectors Edition Lots-o’-Huggin Bear from Disney/Pixar is 14 inches tall and is created from Disney/Pixar’s digital data. He has unique facial expressions and laughs if you tickle his feet. Press his left hand to hear Toy Story phrases and his right hand to hear Come Alive phrases (whatever those are). He responds according to the tone and volume of your voice and when hugged. The description on Amazon says he has Velcro hands and his eyes close when laid down, but the one customer review posted says that is not so, so I’m not sure about that. He requires 2 AA batteries which are included and includes a Toy Story Collection Certificate of Authenticity.

Oh, and he smells of strawberries.

Toy Story 3 is in theaters June 18th! Check out the official site.

I read an article yesterday about Eddy Goldfarb being awarded the 2010 Toy and Game Inventors of the Year Awards Lifetime Achievement award.

You may not have ever heard of Eddy, but I’m sure you’re familiar with one of his inventions, Chattering Teeth . Orginally called Yakkity Yak Teeth he invented them in 1949 and they’ve been around ever since. Back when I was a performing magician (yes, really), I used to get "bitten" by a pair of chattering teeth in my act. It was always a big laugh.

Among his more than 800 toy inventions, Eddy invented one of my favorite games when I was a child, Ker Plunk (also still available).

But one of the toys he invented that was mentioned in the article caught my attention and I did a little research on it. Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow.

	Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow

I don’t recall Milky the Cow, and apparently it was very short-lived. Milky was created by Kenner in 1977 through a licensing agreement with General Foods to promote one of their breakfast cereals. Some online sources say that Milky was created by Mattel, but photos of the box clearly show "Kenner".

You filled up Milky’s trough with water, and inserted a little "pretend milk" tablet into her udder before attaching them to her abdomen (weird). Now she’s ready to do her thing. Pumping Milky’s tail caused her to drink up the water. When she’d had enough, she would let out a "moo" and lift her head. That was your cue to reposition the water bucket under Milky’s udders and begin milking her just like a real cow. Milky produced a cloudy milk-like liquid that you couldn’t drink, although it was non-toxic. Supposedly it tasted bad.

Milky must have been at least somewhat popular. Apparently she goes for as much as $150.00 on eBay.

Here’s the Milky the Cow TV commercial.

Muno looking quite happy

I love the Kia Sorrento commercial where the toys sort-of come to life in their fantasy world. The commercial is called "Joy Ride" and was originally a 2010 Super Bowl commercial.

But I was wondering what the bumpy red guy was. So I finally decided to look it up and discovered that he is Muna from Yo Gabba Gabba. Obviously I’ve never seen that show (my kids are older now) or I’d have known who he was. He’s very cool.

If you’d like your own Muno Vinyl Figure, Kidrobot has one on Amazon for only $299.95. Don’t have quite that much to spend? How about a Muno Clip-on Plush for only $8.99?

	Sock Monkey gets tatted

One of my favorite bits in the commercial is when the Sock Monkey is getting a "tattoo" sewn onto his arm. Genius! I wonder if they’ll make a Sock Monkey available with the tattoo. I found a handmade one on one website, but it was no longer available. It also wasn’t stitched per se. It looked like felt that was sewn on.

Other than the Sock Monkey and Muno, the commercial features a robot, a Teddy Bear, and Mr. X . I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t familiar with Mr. X either. Although he is not terribly prominent in the commercial. Mr. X is the shaggy guy wearing a bowler hat. He’s also very cool.

All-in-all a great commercial with great toys.

Bubba the Bottom Feeder

Following in our current theme of pool toys, today’s Cool Toy is Bubba The Bottom Feeder
. This is another interesting pool diving toy that makes diving to the bottom of the pool more interesting than just retrieving things.

Place the empty Bubba on the bottom of the pool. Players take turns choosing a little goldfish and diving down and "feeding" it to Bubba. Once Bubba is "full" he floats to the top. The first player to make Bubba float, wins! Each of the little fish are weighted differently, so every game is different and you won’t know how many fish it takes to float Bubba up to the surface. You can play in either the shallow or deep end of the pool

	Bubba gets fed

Bubba comes with eight gold fish and his mouth snaps shut to form a self-contained carrying case.

Bubba The Bottom Feeder Pool Toy. Ages 5 and up, 1 or more players (best with 2-4). $11.95-$17.99

Let the Crazy Chase begin

Today’s Cool Toy is the Crazy Chase Dive Ball.

Since it’s coming into pool season (although it’s way too cold here in the Northeast right now) we are featuring yet another pool diving toy on Dave’s Cool Toys Blog. There are lots of diving toys available, including just using pennies that cost, well, pennies. So to be featured here a diving toy must be unique and innovative.

Crazy Chase Dive Ball has a great twist on the simple diving toy. It moves!

Drop the ball into the water and let it fall to the bottom of the pool. Then dive in (if there’s enough diving depth) and retrieve it. But wait! It’s not there anymore.

Crazy Chase rolls along the bottom of the pool in an unpredictable "crazy" pattern, making it more difficult to retrieve. It might roll away just as you’re about to grab it.

I think this is a great idea for a diving toy that makes this game far more fun than just diving and retrieving

Crazy Chase Dive Ball requires 2 AA batteries, not included and is for ages 6 and up. Price range $9.95-$12.50

Caption

As you can imagine, I get a lot of emails from manufacturers that want us to sell their product. Most of them are items manufactured in China that are blow our standards. But every so often one catches my attention.

That was the case with Bumper Balls. They look very cool. They are large, inflatable balls that you crawl into. Your legs are left free to "run" around. Once you are set, you can roll around and crash into each other. Just like bumper cars, only with balls.

At first glance, it seems a bit dangerous to be encased in what is essentially a large, inflated, plastic bag. But it’s open at the top and there seems to be some sort of slots in the center to allow air circulation. I’d have to be concerned if one pops, though.

Obviously, they are best for large, open areas, and more of a party situation. They are also a bit costly. I found them on one site for $300.00 (plus $150.00 shipping from Hong Kong). I can’t quite figure out if this is for a set or just one.

Parental warning: Don’t search for "Bumper Balls" on Amazon when there are children around. Trust me.

In any case, they are very cool.

I had a bit of trouble linking to their video since the page is all in Chinese, but I eventually figured it out below. I’ve also included a video from YouTube in case the first one stops working. You can see the original page here.

Sonic Search Package

Our Cool Toy today is another pool toy, the Sonic Search Game. This is another twist on the diving toy. But this time it’s sonic! Turn on the cool plastic device, toss or hide it in the pool, and it starts to emit a sonar-like beep that you can hear underwater. Use the sound to try to locate it and disarm it before 60 seconds are up. After 60 seconds, the alarm sounds. Once you have found and stopped Sonic Search, it will tell you the time, so you can try to best it or keep score (no more timing the kid’s dives). Once the alarm sounds, it will no longer give a time.

I would expect that because Sonic Search is clear, it might be hard to see in the pool, making the beeps more useful. But it does seem like you could just look for it. It also hadn’t occurred to me that you could tell the direction of the beeps underwater, but it seems you can!

Ages 5 and up. Suggested retail $11.99

What a cutie!

Today’s cool toy is the the Submergibles diving pool toy from Swimway. There are tons of inexpensive diving toys for the pool. Lots are available at the dollar store. But this one has a very cool feature. You can adjust them to either float, sink to the bottom, or suspend in between. What a great twist on diving games! They also look like little mines and the knobs make them easy for little hands to grip. They come with two bright colors in each set (green/blue & yellow/red). Ages 5 and up.

A quick plug for our e-newsletter. This month’s newsletter includes helpful pool safety tips for the home pool.