technabob » stuffed toy

warcraft invades our world with wow plush pets

lambert v. — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:01:14 +0000

Blizzard will soon unleash cute plush pets for World of Warcraft fans, starting with the Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling.

Each adorable widdle monster will come with a special code that will unlock its virtual, non-combat, account-bound equivalent. No word on the price or exact date of release yet, but they will be sold exclusively at Blizzard’s online store.

If Blizzard starts selling level 80 character stuff toys or action figures or whatever with codes for their in-game equivalent, I bet a lot of lazy gamers will snap that up. Maybe they should also start selling plush gold coins with codes for their in-game amount. Take that, gold farmers!

[via Destructoid]

spock monkey: half-vulcan, half-sock, half-monkey

lambert v. — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:51:05 +0000

That’s right: each Spock Monkey is a combination of three halves, resulting in one logical, emotionally detached yet huggable primate. I used Vulcan math to calculate Spock Monkey’s constitution.

Each Spock Monkey is lovingly handmade, so each of them is unique. Some are uglier than the others. There’s also a Captain Kirk Sock Monkey. No monkey McCoy though.

Each Spock Monkey (or Capt. Kirk Sock Monkey) sells for $46 (USD) at Cottage Linen. Don’t feel bad about separating the Spock Monkeys from each other, because they’re all adventurers, seeking new frontiers. Every Spock Monkey is also sent off with one hell of a going-away party. Seriously, check out the party. It’ll make your day.

[via irrg! orrrrg!]

ozaki imini pet ipod dock/radio/alarm clock: cute or just plain creepy?

lambert v. — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:35:31 +0000

I’m pretty sure that the guys at Ozaki love Brando. My proof? Ozaki’s iMini Pet. Like most of Brando’s gadgets, it’s a mish mash of functionality – in this case an iPod dock, a radio and an alarm clock – with a touch of weird – a stuffed pet that can “dance” as music is being played. They nailed it.

Look at that demented frog’s face. He’s called Rap Frog by the way. There are four other pets available – House Dog, Jazz Panda, Classical Bear (who is pink), and Rock Lion. If Brando made this they’d have clams and anglerfish and centipedes as well.

The iMini Pet is equipped with a pair of 3-watt amps and also a pair of 4-watt drivers. As you can see it also has a backlit 64 mm LCD screen. The digital alarm clock also has a snooze feature as well as auto sleep. The FM radio has auto scan and can save up to 6 preset stations, while the dock can charge an iPod and play music at the same time. And the pets can move their mouth, hands and head. Except for Jazz Panda, who for some reason can’t move his head. I’m not kidding. Look at the spec sheet if you don’t believe me.

There’s a video of the iMini Pets moving awkwardly and mouthing along to the tune of Don’t Worry Be Happy, and I guess they’ve got that Sesame Street vibe goin’ on. I don’t know if it’s just me but the video is freakin tiny. Another touch of weirdness I guess?

Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge says that the iMini Pets will sell for $99 USD, but he didn’t say when or where will they be available.

Verdict: Cute. Until you make it dance to Lamb of God or Children of Bodom, that is.

giant plush microbes: cute, huggable and possibly lethal

lambert v. — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:00:56 +0000

Ever wanted to hug an accurate representation of the Black Death bacterium? Or punt an Athlete’s Foot fungus for all those embarrassing years in high school? Or play house with a sperm cell and an egg cell? Or stage a play featuring a cast of microbes? Rejoice, you nerd: the Giant Plush Microbes are here to fulfill your wildest dreams.

The toys above are just four of the 65 available microbe models that Giantmicrobes are selling. Nerds, all together now! From left to right, we have Syphilis (Treponema pallidum), Stomachache (shigella), E.coli (Escherichia coli) and Athlete’s Foot (Trichophyton mentagrophytes)! Yaaaay! Did everyone get it right? Good job! Now go away.

Giant microbes come in three sizes: Original (5″-7″) that sells for $7.95 (USD), Gigantic (15″-20″) for $24.95 and mini packs of three for $12.95.

[via ForeverGeek]

make your own monster brings your horrible drawings to life

lambert v. — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:50:39 +0000

Toy store FAO Schwarz has a special service whose results could either be really cool or really abysmal. Although the store’s name sounds like it should be a division of the German army, the name of their service is straight to the point: Make-My-Own-Monster.

As you might have deduced from the image above, the Make-My-Own-Monster service is so simple it’s magical. Or diabolical. I still can’t decide. Anyway, customers just draw a monster and FAO Schwarz turns it into a stuffed toy. FAO Schwarz will send a kit that contains a set of colored pencils, paper and a “detailed questionnaire”. I imagine the latter will have something like, “Do you certify that your monster is not a crudely disguised depiction of a sexual organ? (Yes/No)”. But seriously, the questionnaire is actually pretty neat; FAO Schwarz says that it’s included so that customers can create a back story for their monsters. The story and other details will then be written on the monster’s tag.

Although Make-My-Own-Monster is certainly impressive because the finished trash product looks really close to the original drawing, it’s disappointing that the store has to send you a kit first. Who doesn’t have pencils and paper? Wouldn’t it be faster if customers could just send or email their drawings? And what if I want to use ketchup and mustard to draw, so that FAO Schwarz will also know how my monster smells like?

Now before you get your kids excited about having a green Pikachu, you have to warn them that they can’t draw any copyrighted entities. Then explain what “copyrighted entities” means. If they refuse to obey you and keep on making Ben10 figures, ditch their copyrighted entities and just send a drawing of your router. Or a dot. Or your face. That’ll teach them.