Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Pulled from the pages of the Edge of Spider-Verse #1 comic, Spider-Rex (aka Pter Ptarker) is a Spider-Man/t-rex hybrid learning about his powers. And now, the character has been immortalized as a 16-inch action figure released by Marvel and Hasbro and available at Entertainment Earth.

Who hasn’t dreamed of walking down the side of the road and motorists stopping to ask if you need a lift to the gas station and you explaining the gas can you’re carrying is actually a leather bag?

Modeled after the band’s ninja star logo, the Pro-Ject x Metallica Ninja Star Turntable is a record player in the form of a throwing star, complete with pointy edges. As far as record players go, it’s certainly one of the more aggressive-looking ones I’ve seen.

Unveiled at Comic-Con 2022, Mattel has created an official Jurassic Park toy of the t-rex eating lawyer Donald Gennaro as he attempts to hide inside an outhouse. A classic cinema moment for sure. The $80 playset includes a 3.75″ Gennaro action figure, a significantly larger t-rex, along with destructible outhouse with lighting and sound effects, sure to provide hours of lawyer-eating fun.

Discontent with just bringing a portable gaming system like a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch into the bathroom to play games while on the can, YouTuber Basically Homeless went and assembled a full-fledged gaming PC in the tank of his working toilet.

Because high fashion is something I probably won’t ever understand, Studio Cult is selling rings that resemble tiny swimming pools. Available in Blood Bath and Skinny Dipping varieties, the $375 silver rings feature little resin-filled pools, complete with a ladder and diving board.

Who hasn’t dreamed of resting their rear on some soft green sprouts while they go about their bathroom business? Good news! YouTuber Ali Spagnola created the Sprouthouse: a toilet completely covered in chia seedlings. As far as good ideas go, I think we can all agree this one is Nobel Prize-worthy.

Because dream it, and, with enough funding, you can achieve it, the gang at the Hacksmith channel on YouTube went and constructed a massive 2-ton version of Thor’s Hammer, Mjolnir. Admittedly, that is probably the largest Thor’s hammer I have ever seen.

Art collective Meow Wolf’s immersive art exhibit Omega Mart in Las Vegas is full of surprises, and new to the store’s lineup of WTF-ery comes Butter Frenzy 2 – a claw machine full of unwrapped sticks of butter you can win.

Because there’s a festival for everything, programmer Phil Ashby went and took an electronic badge from the 2022 ElectroMagnetic Field Festival (aka EMF Camp) and got it to run DOOM. I am not surprised. I also won’t be surprised when somebody manages to run DOOM on my Casio watch; it’s simply the natural progression of things.

Because there are few things in life a cat loves more than chasing lasers, the KiTiDOT Collar (affiliate link) is a cat collar with an integrated laser pointer that points down at the floor in front of your cat so they can chase that little red dot to their heart’s content.

A group of researchers at Texas’s Rice University have developed a method of turning wolf spider carcasses into robotic grippers, making the legs open and extend when a small amount of air is applied inside the carcass and close and grip when the air is drawn back out.

Presumably, to prove that Mario Kart can be used as a realistic driving simulator when coupled with the Nintendo Wii Wheel, TikTok user Tyler Atkin created the ‘Wiiata,’ a Mazda Miata with its steering wheel replaced with the Wii peripheral.

Because terrible ideas come in all shapes, sizes, and price points, someone bought a $3,000 robot dog (knocked-off of Boston Dynamics’ SpotMini) on AliExpress, then went and strapped a Russian PP-19 Vityaz submachine gun to the top of it.

The Love In Bloom porcelain flower vase is shaped like a realistic human heart, complete with ventricles, atria, and arteries. Made by Seletti and available on Amazon (affiliate link), the heart measures approximately 4″ x 7″ x 10″, making it bigger than mine, and significantly larger than the Grinch’s.

The $9,125 MARS Project ONE Dual Time Zone Watch from Behrens tells the time simultaneously in two different time zones: one on Earth and one on Mars. You know, because it’s always important to know if you’re going to be late for a Martian meeting.