Category: Cool Toys

Oh, that Arduino. Is there anything you can’t accomplish with an Arduino and a little bit of know-how? Whether your project is of a serious nature, or dedicated to playing Pong with your eyebrows–like this one is–the potential here seems limitless.

Welcome to another edition of Cute or Stupid?, where we examine stuff and mull over their existence, whether they are useless but cute or just plain useless and therefore stupid. Today we have Perfect Petzzz, “life like” puppies and kittens that do nothing but sleep.

Here’s a warning to all the bullies out there who like to make fun of nerds: don’t mess with people who can build flamethrowers out of LEGOs. See, all they need are some bricks and a bottle of butane, and they’ll be pwning your ass like a Pyro on a Spy.

Just because you’re a robot in disguise doesn’t mean you have to be huge. These tiny little versions of two popular Transformers autobots prove quite the contrary. The latest in TakaraTomy’s Robo-Q series, these palm-sized Optimus Prime and Bumblebee robots are just too cute to be capable of any real destruction.

Remember playing with ant farms when you were a kid? You know, the type where you’d get sand all over the place and proceed to kill all of your insect friends within a matter of minutes as you tried to fill it up?

For many of us, the days of arcades are long past (and if you’re lucky enough to have one nearby, cherish it!), but we remember plugging in all those quarters with a particular fondness. Well, prepare to have that fondness exploited, in the form of adorable miniature arcade cabinets.

Perfect for closet crime-fighters, this replica Bat Signal will definitely give you extra geek cred the next time your friends come over. The miniature replica Bat-Signal features a sturdy metal construction and stands about 12-inches tall.

Crafty Star Wars fans will have their goods on display this year at Stitch Wars this summer, and one contribution is this pair of plushies from The Empire Strikes Back. One part Luke, one part tauntaun, all chilling-in-innards fun.

You know the Terminator franchise has officially jumped the shark when 1) Terminator: Salvation can get trounced at the box office by a Ben Stiller movie and 2) they start making bobble-head versions of the deadly T-600.

Ever wondered if there was a way to turn any surface into a trampoline? Me neither. But there is an answer to that non-existent question that doesn’t involve taking illegal substances: wear Air-Trekkers. They’re 3-foot long jumping stilts with an aluminum frame & carbon-fiber springs.

This Blaster 4-port USB hub is a minor fail. I mean, it’s cool that it transforms into a laptop (which you can then connect to a real laptop); it’s just that Blaster doesn’t transform into a laptop.

German toy company Tucher + Walther’s tin toy-making methods have remained unchanged, going as far back to 1880. Want to know their secret? They have vampire craftsmen; the ones around now were the exact same workers that they had in 1880.

As devices go, the Roomba is pretty cool on its own. It’s a useful machine and a fun toy all in one, so dressing it up can seem a little gratuitous. But if you turn your Roomba into Pac-Man… well, that’s just awesome.

Stare at the Staremen Watchmen 24/7, thanks to Medicom’s Watchmen Kubrick mini figures. The minifigs are divided into two sets of threes: set A has Nite Owl, The Comedian and Ozymandias, while set B has Dr.

We’re still months away from BioShock 2, but you’d never know it from the projects that have been cropping up in relation to the sequel. And while the Big Sister isn’t nearly as cute as the Big Daddy doll we’ve seen (which produces automatic “awws”), it’s still an incredible figure!

This palm-sized robot can wind its way between the cubicles at your office, snapping digital video of unsuspecting parties with a built in wireless video camera. The Surveyor SRV-1 Mobile Robot cruises around on smooth and rough surfaces thanks to a pair of tank-like treads, and can be controlled anywhere your Wi-Fi connection can reach.