Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

I came across this excellent video today. In the same category as the "Pixels" video we posted recently, it is a video game come to life in the real world featuring Mario.

I found the original site (I think) that this was posted and got a very poor translation from the Japanese description.

The best I could determine was that it was posted on June 8, 2010. The video was made with Post-It Notes (or generic versions) for some sort of festival. It took 2 weeks to make in an empty school and cost about 5,000 Yen (about $55.00 US).

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

Dave’s Cool Toys site has been down and the shopping cart is still offline at this time. There are also some little glitches in some spots and our email was down for a while.

As we mentioned in a previous post, we are in the process of moving our site to a new server and updating the shopping cart software to allow us to improve it in the near future. We expect to have things back up and running shortly.

Watch for better product layouts and more features on our shopping cart in the near future!

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.

Jet Service Vehicle from Playmobil

Out of curiosity, and a comment from a friend, I went looking on Amazon for the highest priced toys. What I found stunned me.

The highest priced toy I was able to find on Amazon was the Playmobil Jet Service Vehicle, priced at $100,000,000.00. That’s One Hundred Million Dollars (if I’m reading it right)!

Oh. Plus $5.99 shipping.

So what is the deal with this toy? Is it really selling for this much? I don’t know. I would have to guess it’s a typo or a publicity ploy or something. Or maybe they used the wrong photo and it’s an actual Jet Service Vehicle.

I found the same item on eBay for $13.00, so it doesn’t seem like it’s worth that much. I also found it new for $18.19.

	Stephensons Brothers Rocking Horse

The next lowest toy price on Amazon was the 123 Soft Activity Book by Kaloo priced at $39,099.00. I suspect this was supposed to be $39.99.

The first legitimate item I found with a high price on Amazon was an outdoor modular play set for $21,295.00. It’s a lot of money, but it seems at least appropriate for the item.

The first item with the highest price, that’s an indoor toy, and seems legitimate, was the Stevenson Brothers’ Limited Edition Rocking Horse for $7,600.00. Each horse if custom built to customers’ specifications. This limited edition horse is made to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen of England’s Golden Jubilee.

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

Edible Crayons

Person Style Blogger, "Ji" has made some edible crayons and posted the whole process on her blog.

She has made a set of eight crayons, which, as you can see, actually work as crayons. But they are also healthy and edible. The yellow crayon, for example, is made from peanuts, dried veggies, dried bananas, bee pollen, dried pineapple, freeze dried corn, freeze dried apples, chocolate covered sunflower seeds, Fruity Pebbles (yellow ones), and Marshmallow (OK, maybe Fruity Pebbles isn’t that healthy.) One of the main ingredients in all the crayons is melted marshmallows. I’m not sure of some of the taste combinations either, such as peas and blueberries.

The dried ingredients seem to have been ground just like pigments would be, then combined with the carrier and binder ingredients.

	Some of the ingredients getting mixed

Clearly these crayons aren’t too practical as either crayons or as snacks, but they are amazing. If you want to try your hand at making your own, Ji has listed the ingredients on her website, Luxirare along with additional photos. I found this Crayon Candy Molds on Amazon, but I’m sure you could find them locally.

If this seems like too much work for you, I did also find these Chocolate Crayons on Amazon.

Ji’s identity is a bit of a mystery. She’s very careful to hide her face in any photos of her on the blog. She prefers to feature the products rather than herself. I must say her photography is absolutely stunning. Every image is a work of art. Even the photos of her ingredients are artfully composed.

Ji is way more organized than I am

Picture perfect crayons you can eat

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.

Stock up on Bangsite now for the 4th

The Fourth of July is right around the corner. If you have a Big Bang Cannon, it’s time to get it out and make sure it’s cleaned up and ready. If you have an older cannon you haven’t fired in a many years, go find it and clean it up. With just a little effort, it should work fine. (Check out my prior blog post where I cleaned up a neighbor’s old cannon.)

It’s also time to stock up on Bangsite and Spark Plugs so you’re ready to celebrate.

Go find your cannon and any bangsite you may have. First check the cannon for any buildup in the firing chamber. If you have lime buildup, I suggest soaking it with CLR to clear it out (it’s available at most grocery stores). A clean firing chamber will give you the best performance.

Next, check the spark plug and be sure it’s still making a good spark.

Our Best Selling Big Bang Cannon

Lastly, check your Bangsite. If you have an open container, it’s probably not good anymore. If it looks like dust or flour, dispose of it. It won’t work. It should look dark and granular. Unopened tubes should still be good, unless they’re very old. If you need Bangsite of Spark Plugs, order them now to be sure you have them when you want to use your cannon.

Dave’s Cool Toys has a great 3-pack deal on Bangsite and Spark Plugs for $27.49. You get 3 tubes and 3 flints.

Be sure to check out our Big Bang Cannon page for other tips and lots of great information.

I came across this unfortunate typo on a wading pool this morning on the web. It’s made even funnier by the body language of the girl in the pool. At least they got the pricing signage right.

	Poop Up Pool

	Another version

Then, I found this one as well. Although in this picture, it doesn’t look like a three-dimensional box.

	Another version

Hmmm. maybe some field research is needed.

Via failblog.org

We don’t like it either

Dave’s Cool Toys’ blog gets lots of comments. But you won’t see most of them on our posts. That’s because most of them are Comment Spam.

Comment Spam results from unscrupulous bloggers and webmasters attempting to get link-backs to their site to boost their search engine rankings artificially by posting as much as possible on other blogs by leaving comments. Sometimes they do it themselves, sometimes they use software bots to post for them.

It’s a pain. Fortunately, we use software that does a great job of filtering out this nonsense.

But, there are times when I read through the comment spam just to see what’s there before deleting it and it gives me a laugh. I really must say I don’t understand what they think they are doing at times.

So, I thought I’d share some of the odd comment spam we’ve received recently. This is the first installment. My comments are in italics. I have not edited the comments, so misspellings, punctuation, etc. are as they were written. I’ve deleted or changed links, phone numbers, etc.

Dave’s Cool Toys Blog Comment Spam

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Very cleverly inserting a link in the middle

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Brilliant and well deserved! Enjoy the moment and the prize!
What prize? Did I get a prize?

right now I will come in the picture and join you.

Welcome First time jumped here on your site, found on Yahoo. It really helps to have sombody to talk to other then my divorced parents. Thanks again Mr. Grey.

I am final, I am sorry, but you could not paint little bit more in detail.
At you a uneasy choice
I think, that you are not right. Let’s discuss. Write to me in PM.
Better late, than never.
What charming message
I’ve received several variations of this one such as the next one.

Do not give to me minute?
The word of honour.
Bravo, excellent phrase and is duly
In my opinion it is very interesting theme. I suggest you it to discuss here or in PM.
I can believe to you :)

Don’t hold it in! Tell us more!

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They couldn’t even be bothered to write something, just posted Greek Type

Check this Out!
2 days ago I received a message from 000-000-0000 (number removed) and was convinced the caller was a scam.
I decided to file a complaint with the Gulf Coast Western and complain.
Anyway, I feel like such a fool Gulf Coast Western -an oil corporation- called me back We’re contacting me about employment. Apparently I got the job
Any idea how to uncomplain and fix this????
This has what to do with toys?

I would equal to add your journal to my blogroll gratify bowman me what mainstay should I use?

I thank for the help in this question, now I will not commit such error.
I am sorry, that I interfere, there is an offer to go on other way.
What good question
You Exaggerate.
Not your business!
That was all one post

Im surprised to have found this blog, I though I was the only one writing about this…thanks.
This was on a post about my son making "Dave’s Cool Toys" out of K’nex. Who else would write about this?

Your babble makes me want to poop my pants…

In all, the theme was 121 comments and 120 of them spamskih – well is not that fox?

Many bukaf not mastered, but the author credit.
Hopefully "bukaf" is not slang for something I’m not aware of.

looking for information for propagation of sea sponge, does anyone know of any other articles besides the one i posted.

This is a good and organization site. I like this in internet and here it exist. Ok and good.

Drop the high class, everything need to be flashy and expensive idea. You need to entertain in your budget and your abilities. Make sure that you will enjoy yourself also. If you spend most of your time worrying that your gathering is as great as it should be, you will not be able to have a great time as you should.

If I must say something, then nothing will stop the chatter inside

On March 3 we posted about OK Go’s amazing "This Too Shall Pass" video with one of the most incredible Rube Goldberg devices we’ve ever seen. In that post I mentioned that it brought back memories of the game Mousetrap. I also mentioned that we never actually played the game, but just built the mousetrap.

Well, I’m not sure if someone read my blog post, but the comedy troupe, The Station has posted a video parody of OK Go’s video called "Mousetrap Never Works" on YouTube.

Check it out.

Parental advisory: there is some violence toward the end of the video.

Kenny "K-Strass" Strasser

A very strange man has been appearing on morning TV shows throughout the midwest. He is booked as a yo-yo champion and hosts expect to be dazzled by his yo-yo tricks. He claims to be a representative of the Zim Zam Yo-Yo Corp., "the only non-profit, environmentally conscious yo-yo manufacturer in the world". Although some videos say "Zip Zap".

But when he gets on-air it turns out he is painfully inept at the yo-yo, strangely dressed, and awkward in general.

His name is K-Strass, or Kenny Strasser, or Karl Strassburg, or probably something else, and he has duped at least six different TV stations into booking him on their morning shows.

K-Strass sometimes claims to be divorced (twice), a recovering addict, and has family issues, sometimes taking calls from his father in the middle of his segment. His yo-yo "tricks" are often little more than swinging yo-yos around, dropping them, and sometimes hitting himself in the face or crotch. In one video he gets 7 yo-yos hopelessly tangled. He raps (badly), be-bops (badly), and falls down. He also seems to talk much more than play with the yo-yo.

Kenny also talks about going green, and Zim Zam is supposed to be environmentally friendly, however He seems to use plastic yo-yos, so I’m not sure how they are green.

So who is K-Strass? Nobody seems to know for sure. But there is a Zim Zam Yo-Yo website with nothing more than a yellow cap with the date "May 31". Hmmm. But there’s also another Zim Zam website as well. There is also a Zim Zam Facebook page. And, of course, there’s a Twitter feed, which clams that the www.zimzamyoyos.com page is a fake. Whew!

How bad is K-Strass? Check the videos below. Warning: some of K-Strass’s videos have been removed by their TV stations, so I can’t be sure how long these will be available.