Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

Archive for the ‘Toys’ Category

Advertising vs. Reality with Insta-Set Pool

I came across this photo comparison of the "My First Insta-Set Pool" today.

We’ve posted a similar one in the past, but this one is a doozy!

The top photo shows the box and the bottom photo shows the actual pool. As you can see, the size is not the only thing inaccurate in this portrayal. The pool decoration isn’t quite the same either.

I was able to find this pool on Toys R Us (I’ll complain about the backwards "R" in their name later). It sells for $9.99 and is listed as being 3 foot x 8 inches. I’ve posted their photo of the box below.

One look at the advertising photo should show that there is no way the pool shown is 3 foot x 8 inches. The water is up to the little boys armpits, even with it filled to the very top, that’s not possible. And it’s certainly larger than 3 feet across.

I also don’t know where these kids legs would be if the pool was 3 feet across. There’d be no way to get 3 children those ages in a 3-foot pool with that much room around them.

I’d also have to say that it would be extremely difficult to keep more than about 5 inches of water in this pool. With, say 7 inches of water in an 8 inch pool, one child sitting down would overflow the pool.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I try to be very careful with our descriptions at Dave’s Cool Toys and it irks me to see this kind of false-advertising on toys.

Via Failblog.org

A clearer photo of the box of Insta-Set Pool

Rare wind-up doll. Is it Betty Boop?

I came across this item as I was browsing eBay. It is listed as "MUSEUM Celluloid & Tin ULTRA RARE Toy Japan BETTY BOOP?"

The listing says it is Japanese and made of Celluloid & Tin, completely original from the 1920’s, "untouched", with a built-in key to wind it. The listing does mention some skipping and a missing rod for head action. She is 6.5 inches high and "Made in Japan" is marked on the bottom.

The asking price? $19,001.00. Or you can make an offer. For your money, you get free courier delivery to anywhwere in the world.

It is listed as possibly being Betty Boop. But nothing about this doll looks anything like Betty Boop to me.

And although it lists it as being complete, it certainly looks to me as though there should have been a dress over it. That would explain the way the arms are attached.

If you are interested and you have $19,000 laying around that you don’t know what to do with, check it out here. There are much more photos in the listing.

UPDATE – 5/24/10
The price on this item has been dropped to $11,001.00!

The Lego Rubic’s Cube robot

How fast can you solve a Rubik’s Cube
? My answer? "Not very".

This robot can solve it in under 25 seconds.

The robot is made from Lego Mindstorm, Lego Technic pieces, and a Droid cell phone running a custom-made application. The cell phone takes pictures of each side of the Rubik’s Cube from above, the uses solves the puzzle and sends instructions to the Mindstorm robot with Bluetooth.

The robot was built by ARM to show off their processor in the Droid phone (which explains the skateboarding Droid robot in the upper right corner). Even though it’s a promotional video, it’s still one of the coolest uses of Lego I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some cool ones.

(via Gizmodo)

My friend, Rich, recently alerted me to the coolest flipbook he found on the web. I loved it and had to have one for myself, but they were only available from one website in Japan. Since Dave’s Cool Toys only sells toys that I think are very cool, I imported the flipbook from Japan and as near as I can tell, we are the only place in the US that they are currently available.

	Masashi Kawamura

Rainbow in Your Hand Flipbook

The flipbook is called Rainbow in Your Hand. Most flipbooks create the illusion of a little movie when you flip them. Rainbow in Your Hand instead creates the 3-D illusion of a rainbow floating above the book when you flip it.

Each page is printed front and back with the visible color spectrum on a black background. When you flip it as shown in the photo, the flipping pages with the image of the spectrum are what creates the illusion as they fly past.

It’s very creative and was the brainchild of Masashi Kawamura, a Japanese art director. He created it as a personal project. Rainbow in Your Hand also won the NY Art Directors Club Silver Cube award.

It seems that Rainbow in Your Hand works best against a black background as shown in the photo. I’ll get a video up on YouTube as soon as I can shoot it.

Little Tikes Smash N Mash Picnic Sand Toys

Toys R Us is having a Buy One Get One Free sale on Little Tikes toys. Buy one Little Tikes toy and get a second of equal or less value for free up to $29.99. This offer expires 3/27/10, so you’ve got to hurry!

And, if you order $100 or more, they are also offering free shipping (excluding video game hardware, software & accessories).

Choose from lawn mowers, spiral sprinklers, dolls, strollers, bath toys, toddler swings and much more. Hurry as this offer expires 03/27/2010.

Measuring snakes on my desk

Sometimes my job is very surreal. This morning I find myself measuring rubber snakes.

The other day we had an order for the Amazon Tree Boa (my favorite of the snakes we sell). When the customer received it they felt that it was far smaller than was on our website. The description on our site lists the guy as 56 inches long (which is what the manufacturer says). The customer measured it at 50 inches.

I try to be as accurate as possible in describing our toys and I never just use the description the manufacturer uses because I don’t like "puffery" (with apologies to Domino’s) and don’t feel they are always adequate. So I do research, I check out the toy myself, sometimes I play with it, and I write my own descriptions.

Well, after measuring the Amazon Tree Boa myself, I found he fell a little short of 56 inches. Yes, it’s true, I’m not perfect. I measured him at about 51 inches from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. I used string to measure every twist and turn in his body, then measured the string.

So, this morning I have updated the description with a slightly more accurate one.

And I spent my morning measuring a plastic boa constrictor.

TV Hat being worn by one of the girls in their booth at Toy Fair

We made our annual trek to New York City this past Sunday to attend Toy Fair. We saw lots of very cool things, many toys that are not a good fit for Dave’s Cool Toys, some toys that I don’t quite get, and some that never should have seen the light of day. I also saw some "must have’s", which we’ll be carrying in the near future.

One item we saw that I think fits into the "really?" category is the "TV Hat". Also, apparently, called the "As Seen On TV Hat". This is a visor that you wear. You put your iPod Touch, or iPhone into the far end of the huge visor, turn it on, put the TV Hat on your head, and watch movies through the Magnification Lens positioned in front of the iPod.

OK. As I see it, there are several problems with this device. The first and most obvious is you look like a dork wearing it. The second, is it doesn’t seem to stay on your head right. Third, the magnifying lens didn’t seem to work very well. Fourth, why do you need it? It’s not like watching an iPod is that much work. And the visor covers your field of view, so you can’t really do anything while you’re watching it. As you can see in the picture of the girl selling them at Toy Fair, she is supporting it while simultaneously holding the part around her head taut, indicating that it really doesn’t even fit right. It also seems a little too difficult to get set up and get your iPod or iPhone back out to use it.

	The inside workings of the TV Hat showing the Magnifying Lens.

The instruction sheet for the TV Had says "Do not use this viewing device if you are subject to claustrophobia, panic in tight spaces, have spinal or neck injuries, or with heavy phones". It also warns "Do no use while driving, bicycling, running, or in motion". "…discontinue use if you experience neck fatigue, blurry vision, or any discomfort". "Prolonged use may cause fatigue".

The TV Hat retails for $19.95, so at least you won’t go broke buying one.

The TV Hat did have one suggested use that might be worth it. It might be useful for video producers for use with a video camera monitor in bright sunlight when you can’t see the camera viewer. I’m not sure how you would use your iPod for that, but if you can get it to work, it might be useful for that.

Many, many years ago I had a great little toy. It was a small top that you spun on a black base. It didn’t float like the Levitron. But it had a great trick of it’s own. It would spin for days! My friends thought it was the coolest thing when they would see it in my room (yes, we were dorks). But it WAS amazing. The top didn’t just sit there spinning it bopped around on the base and sometimes it would spiral around toward the center.

Many years later, when I started Dave’s Cool Toys, this cool little top was on my list of toys I wanted to carry, but I couldn’t find it. But recently, one of our suppliers began to offer it and we recently added Top Secret to our line of cool toys. Of course, the minute they came in, I took one for myself and it’s been spinning on-an-off ever since. My kids love it.

HOW IT WORKS: No, it’s not perpetual motion. It cheats by using a hidden battery and circuitry.

This is how the manufacturer explains it on their website:
"Top Secret" consists of a spinning top with a radially oriented magnetic field and an associated base that houses a conductive coil. When the top spins past the center of the base, its changing magnetic field induces a current in the coil which momentarily opens the switch to the battery resulting in powering up the electromagnet. The electromagnet then delivers enough torque to the spinning top to allow it to speed up and spin away from the center. Since the electromagnet is only engaged when the top crosses near the center of the base, one 9 volt battery can last for over a week of continual use!

I do not know too much about electronics, and my eyes sort-of glazed over when I read this. But, here’s the way I understand it. There’s an electromagnet in the base run by a 9 volt battery and a magnet in the top. The base is concave, so it slopes down in the middle. The electromagnet turns on when the top gets near the center (when it’s slowing down). This turns on the electromagnet, which spins the top faster and sends it on it’s way until the next time.

My friend Richard added "it’s exactly like a brushless DC motor where the armature is free to roam about." Yes, Richard was one of those dorky friends. Still is.

More importantly, it’s a very cool toy. Check it out here.

And check out a short video I made of it below.

Bubble Wrap Turns 50!

Bubble Wrap, the iconic packaging material, turns 50 today, January 25, 2010. It also happens to be the 10th Annual Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.

Sealed Air, makers of Bubble Wrap brand will be running their factory line entirely in gold today, rather than clear, to commemorate the event.

Originally invented in a garage in Hawthorne, NJ as a textured wallpaper. When that didn’t work out, they tried to market it as a greenhouse insulator. Eventually, they hit on the idea of using it to cushion fragile items and an icon was born.

Why am I mentioning the 50th anniversary of Bubble Wrap in my toy blog? You know why. Bubble Wrap stands with the Cardboard Box as one of those products that is not used as intended, but instead often used as a toy. You know you love popping it. Bubble Wrap has more than two million fans on Facebook.

But what do you do when you are stressed out and would love to pop some Bubble Wrap, but you have none handy? No problem. Just visit the Virtual Bubblewrap page to pop as much as you like (Be sure to try "Manic Mode" to pop at hyper speed).

Want to pop even when you’re not at your computer? Check out the Electronic Bubble Wrap Keychain. You can pop your virtual bubble wrap anytime.

Happy Birthday Bubble Wrap!

Square maple baby rattle.

I added two new items to www.davescooltoys.com today that I think are both great.

The first is a new Wooden Baby Rattle. I really love this rattle. I don’t know how to tell you how this rattle feels in your hands. It’s very smooth and tactile and I just can’t stop holding it. The rattle is concealed inside so it appears as one single block of wood. The price may seem a little steep at $17.99, but it is handcrafted in the USA by our supplier (no mass-produced overseas stuff here) and is sanded smooth with all rounded edges making very safe. It would make a great heirloom gift for a new baby.

	Wooden race boat

The second item is a Wooden Race Boat. This little boat is a great item for the bath, the pool, your local pond, or even a puddle. This items is also hand made in the USA and costs $15.99. I’m not crazy about the picture I have of this item right now, but I’ll get a better one soon because it doesn’t do it justice. Wind up the propeller (make sure you wind in the right direction or it will go backwards) and set it in the water to watch it go. Obviously, it would be great to have two for races. It’s finished with simple mineral oil so that it will stand up to use in water. You might want to give it another coat now and then to keep it in good shape.

This is by the same craftsman that makes the rattle and we are always pleased with his items (he also makes one of my favorite items, the Wooden Decoders Set. They are both made from all-natural materials with a natural oil finish.

GI Joe poster

We watched G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra this past weekend and I was most disappointed with it. Aside from the fact that I was slightly surprised with the amount of violence and profanity in a movie that is based on a child’s toy, it just wasn’t a very good movie. Too many villains, too many things blowing up, too many sound effects, and visually a mess.

I recently read an article that blamed the demise in recent years of Disney’s animated film juggernaut on the fact that parents began to feel exploited by Disney. Many parents began to feel that the long list of animated films such as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, etc. had become nothing more than a tool to sell merchandise to children and parents, cranking them out each year just for the sake of toy and video tie-ins.

It certainly is true that not only Disney, but all major movie studios strive to have films that tie in well with toy and merchandise. In some cases, effects and gadgets are written into films just because they would make a great toy, or the toy already exists.

Years ago I remember hearing the little creatures from the original Star Wars trilogy referred to as "the oh-so-merchandisable Ewoks". That didn’t work out too well for George Lucas (if that’s what he had in mind), since parents didn’t flock to the store to buy plush Ewoks, but he has certainly made up for it with subsequent movies.

	A quiet moment in GI Joe when nothing is blowing up.

The article I read wondered if the recent trend of big-budget movies aimed at boys such as Transformers and G.I. Joe may have reached its end for the same reason.

I have always disliked marketing that tries to make you feel inadequate if you do not have the entire line, summed up with the statement "collect all 37!" Licensed merchandise plays upon that by having an entire line of characters from a movie, the full complement of children’s sheets, or limited edition items such as Disney video’s that will only be on the market for a few months. I don’t like feeling manipulated.

I recently posted about Toy Story 3, and this got me thinking a bit about Pixar and their films. Pixar has had a string of film success that is unprecedented. I love Pixar. Now this may be partly because an old friend of mine worked for Pixar for a while (prior to Toy Story) and their CEO is Steve Jobs, also the force behind Apple Computer. But is it also because of the wonderful films they produce and the talent and creativity at the company. Many years Pixar has released the only great "G" rated film. I know this from experience trying to choose child-appropriate films for middle school band trips.

But Pixar’s first film, Toy Story, was almost made for merchandising. That may have partly been because the very new medium of computer animation lent itself well to animating toys. But the movie, either by accident or design, reinvigorated some classic toy lines such as the Slinky and Mr. Potato Head. One anecdote about the Toy Story movies is that Pixar wanted to include Barbie in the first Toy Story movie, but they were turned down by Mattel because they didn’t expect the movie to succeed and didn’t feel they needed them. By the time they made Toy Story 2, Mattel was calling Pixar to get Barbie in the film. The point is that Pixar certainly capitalized upon Barbie in the film.

On the flip side, the recent Pixar film, "Up" was nearly un-merchandisable. There really were very few opportunities for toy tie-ins in the film. Pixar seems to have elected to concentrate on making a good film rather than concern themselves with merchandising.

Pixar is now owned by Disney and they are making Toy Story 3 (something Pixar fought against for many years). Will Pixar eventually succumb to the temptation of cranking out films in order to drive merchandising? It will remain to be seen.

	Pushalong wooden toy

At Dave’s Cool Toys, we do not carry any licensed toys. We prefer toys that are not tied to the popularity of a movie franchise. We don’t concern ourselves with fads or worry about what is "hot" this year. Some of the toys you can purchase on our site have been in-stock for 14 years, since we first started out. Some of them have been around long before that, but are now hard to find in the giant big-box toy stores. Sometimes toys we loved have become fads, but that’s not our fault, so don’t hold that against us. Many of our toys are also low-tech. Batteries die, electronics stop working, video games get old. But a great wooden toy can last for generations.

A ball.

On November 5, 2009, the National Toy Hall of Fame inducted three new toys.

The first one is the Ball. The ball, I assume, includes all balls. Dodge balls, baseballs, bouncy balls, etc. The ball is been around almost as long as Man. A ball is often a child’s first toy, yet they might still play baseball as an adult (or at least watch it).

Next is the Big Wheel. The Big Wheel was invented in the 60’s by Ray Lohr, head designer for Louis Marx & Co. After they went out of business in 1985, the big Wheel was marketed by Carolina Enterprises, and later Enterprise Industries. Currently it’s made by Alpha International. The Big Wheel put kids low to the ground, making skidding and spinning-out safe from rollovers (mostly). I did a quick search for the Big Wheel and was somewhat surprised to see that the price on Amazon for the Original Big Wheel
was $62.99. Yikes!

	The Big Wheel

And last is the Nintendo Game Boy. The Game Boy portable video game came out in 1989 and was an immediate hit. The Game Boy certainly revolutionized video gaming and allowed kids to play on car trips, summer camp, and in school (which thrilled teachers).

The Ball and Big Wheel I have no argument with, but the Game Boy I’m not so sure about. Especially when you look at the list of previous inductees, which includes Crayola Crayons, Hula Hoop, Jump Rope, Teddy Bear, Lego, and, even the Cardboard Box. An argument could certainly be made for it, but it just doesn’t seem like a natural to me.

Thinking about the Ball, got me thinking and remembering a great commercial for Sony Bravia TV. The commercial features many bouncy balls (generic SuperBalls) bouncing down the streets of San Francisco and is set to music by José González called Heartbeats. Did they really do that? Yes! It took 23 cameras over 2 days with 250,000 balls on the streets of San Francisco. My favorite part is the riot shield that the director used to protect himself. Sony removed the original commercial from their site some time ago, and for some time all I could find were the crappy YouTube copy, but I just found a high-res "Bouncy Balls" Sony Bravia commercial on YouTube. View it below. It is amazing!

Elmo’s Tickle Hands

Many holiday shopping years there is a breakout toy that everyone wants and nobody seems to have. In past years it was Cabbage Patch Dolls, or Tickle Me Elmo. Obviously, toy manufacturers want to be the one who has that item and toy stores want to have them in stock. Tyco, the manufacturer of Tickle Me Elmo has tried ever since to repeat their success with various "Tickle Me" items including more and more complex Elmo’s with varying success. This year they will try again with the Elmo’s Tickle Hands.

For 2009, both Toys "R" Us and Kmart have released their list of what they believe will be the hottest toys this season. Following are their lists:

Toys "R" Us "Fabulous 15"
Bakugan Battle Brawlers New Vestroia Maxus Helios 7 in 1
ChixOs Pink Design-A-Luxury Loft
Color Me a Song
Disney Netpal
Toy Story Interactive Buddies Talking Action Figures (Buzz and Woody)
Disney Princess: Just One Kiss Princess Tiana Doll
Fast Lane JLX Over Drive RC All Terrain Vehicle from Toys "R" Us (they listed their own item, nice.)
Laugh & Learn Learning Farm
Little Mommy Baby Ah-Choo
Mindflex
NERF N-Strike Raider Rapid Fire CS-35
Star Wars Fan’s Choice Anniversary Edition Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (Lego)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Construction Devastator
Wii Sports Resort
Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters

Kmart’s Fab 15 Toy List:
Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo
Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Dragnoid
Chixos Design Luxury Loft
Dora Loves Puppy (sold exclusively at Kmart…surprise!)
Handy Manny’s Repair Shop
Holiday Barbie
Laugh & Learn Learning Farm
Littlest Pet Shop Adoption Center
Liv Dolls
Moxie Artitude Airbrush Gallery
Nerf n Strike Raider
Paperoni Deluxe Studio
Sesame Street Tickle Hands Elmo
Transformers Bumblebee Helmet
Trio Kings Castle

Of course, they both have their best interests at heart when it comes to these lists. This is really just what they hope will be the hot items this year because they have them.

Mr. Squiggles

But there is one item that may be poised to be the big breakout toy this year and it only appears on one of these lists (sorry K-Mart).

Zhu Zhu Pets (formerly called Go Go Pets) had a pre-season launch in Phoenix that sold-out. They are now gearing up for the Fall holiday season and are expecting to ship between 4 and 5 million pets. Already they are having trouble keeping up with demand.

What are Zhu Zhu Pets? They are electronic hamsters that scamper about like the real thing without that pesky feeding and poop. You can let them run around on the floor in "explore" mode and have the run of your house. Or you can put them in "loving" mode and they will be receptive to petting, making squeaks and chattering. Each hamster has it’s own unique personality and sounds. Suggested retail price for the hamsters is supposed to be $7.99 with accessories ranging from $3.99 to $19.99. However, they are already selling for far more on sites such as Amazon and eBay with hamsters in the $15.00-$30.00 range (if you can get them).

	Arnold on the hunt

Of course, there are also accessories. There are hamster balls, wheels, play houses, carriers, beds, and the Giant Hamster City Playset for around $85.00.

And there’s another wrinkle in this story. Unlike hot toys from other years, Zhu Zhu Pets are not only popular with children, but they are also being bought by college students for their dorm rooms. This may make them even harder to find in the stores.

Will you be able to find Zhu Zhu pets this holiday? Although they were on the Toys "R" Us hot list, at the time of this post they had none in stock on their website. So, if your child (or college student) wants a Zhu Zhu hamster this Christmas, you may want to rent Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwartzenegger to get a feel for what you may have ahead of you.

The tunnels are multiplying

I didn’t post over the weekend, so there has been quite a bit more progress on my ants tunnels. These ants weren’t very imaginative so far, making their tunnels along the bottom and corners of the AntWorks habitat. But now they are branching out and making some more complex tunnels. You can see the partially complete tunnel they’ve been working on today (although it doesn’t have any ants in it in this picture). It is about halfway down in the gel, sticking up from the curved tunnel toward the right of the photo. It comes off the tunnel in the back and goes forward through the gel until it hits the plastic front. After I took this picture, the ants started enlarging the end of that tunnel. There were 3 ants all working on it at the same time.

You can’t see it in the picture from the front, but they have also been tunnelling through the gel piles that they have made on the top of the "surface" So I’ve taken a photo from the top, looking down to try to show them. The surface is quite bumpy from all the holes and tunnels.

	Cross Tunnels

At the bottom of the AntWorks, they have created two cross tunnels, which look like a little cavern when you look in from the front or back. I’ve tried to get a picture of it here, but it didn’t show it too well.

I think I’ve had 2 casualties. I’m pretty sure there is a dead ant encased in the gel pile in the upper right. When there are no ants on top I’ll check on it and remove whatever is there. There also seems to be a dead ant in the bottom tunnel. Hopefully, they will bring her out.

Tunnelling through the gel piles

The ants mostly seem to congregate in the bottom-most tunnel, where they are all hanging out in most of my pictures.

The instructions tell you to open the lid once every week or so. For the writing and photography of this series of posts, I’ve opened the lid much more often than that. I didn’t think it would matter, but I have noticed that the gasket around the lid has begun to get smooshed up a bit, which could cause trouble if it got worse, so we won’t be opening it up quite as much and I’ll be more careful with it when I do. I would suggest following the guidelines that came with your AntWorks and not removing the lid as often as we have.

Today our ants are tunneling again in their AntWorks home, so I’ve uploaded a video of their new tunnel. They are just about to break through. Once they do, they will create a sort-of Grand Central Station with 5 tunnels all converging in one spot. This is lit with the AntWorks Illuminator.