Category: Cool Toys

Batteries schmatteries. Electricity shmelectricity. Who needs modern energy sources when you can have scalding hot steam to power your gadgets? This unique robot from Germany gets its juice from good old H2O. Strenco’s ST-2 Steambot lumbers along thanks to a tiny copper Wilesco steam engine that’s been implanted in his chest cavity. Now don’t expect to just flip a switch to get this retro robot going.

The solar-powered toy monkey is meant to help children “appreciate the power of alternative energy.”  It comes in a kit that customers have to assemble, so it can also be a fun way for you and your kids to bond. Once you’re done assembling, expose the monkey to sunlight and watch it move.

2008: What a year it was. Every year there are a handful of posts that really make readers go wild. But at the same time, not everyone can be expected to read every post on the site (as much as I’d love for you guys to).

This robot kit from Japan lets you build your own ball shaped robot that can pull off all sorts of wild and crazy moves as it gyrates around your floor. While the Tornader robot from Elekit can drive slowly around the floor like most remote-controlled vehicles, the real fun starts when you set the Tornader into one of its insane spin modes. Once the ‘bot builds up sufficient speed, it’ll fly around in a wild orbit that’s reminiscent of an out-of-control breakdancer who drank a few too many Red Bulls before hitting the dance mat.

Some people want games to be as sweet as sugar, with showers of fresh blossoms and lollipops instead of blood, and frolicking in place of combat. Those aren’t the people who made this custom Wii Zapper.

Red5’s aptly named Robot Arm helps budding Dr. Wilys work on their assembling skills. £30 (appx. $44.23 USD) gets you a kit which you have to put together to form the arm, but I don’t think it’ll require Junkyard Wars-like skills; you don’t have to solder anything to put this one together. When assembled, the robot arm has  “a maximum lift weight of 100g, opening gripper capable of grasping anything up to 1.7”

I had my fair share of toy weapons as a kid: laser rifles that spark and pop when you pull the trigger, swords of all shapes and sizes, a slingshot. Apparently kids these days have much higher standards.

While no one can fault the crafstmanship or creativity of this Lego Reinbot, there’s just something about him that’s a little lacking in joviality. He’s got sinister style in spades, though, and while I like him, I’m pretty sure he thinks I’ve been naughty. Maybe it’s the giant red nose, or the lack of soft, welcoming lines, but this particular reindeer looks like he hauls Futurama‘s terrifying Robot Santa around.

So maybe it won’t make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, but this Millennium Falcon sled should take you down the neighborhood snow mound in 10 seconds flat. The colorful snow sled doesn’t have the battle scars that the real Falcon has seen, but I’m sure after a few wipeouts (or laser cannon blasts from your neighbor with the personal TIE Fighter), you’ll have it looking pretty close.

Do you constantly oversleep? Does your snooze bar get a serious workout every morning? Here’s an alarm clock that should help you get your ass out of bed the next time your feel the urge to sleep in. Instead of just beeping when it’s time to get up, the Rocket Launcher Alarm Clock offers up a vocal countdown every morning, then fires a rocket into the air if you don’t turn it off before the timer runs out.

Got mad paper, scissor and tape skills? How about a fondness for old school video games and computers? Then have I got a fun afternoon project for you. Graphic designer Marshall Alexander’s cutout characters includes a veritable menagerie fantastical creatures and critters all made from boxy paper cutouts, but his latest series, Foldskool Heroes 3, has got to be my favorite.

Sony Insider claims that a new, touch screen-equipped Walkman will be unveiled at CES 2009. The player is also rumored to have a 3-in OLED display and will come in 16 GB and 32 GB versions.

Square Enix just had a big day in Japan, with details on the new Dragon Quest X announcement for the Nintendo Wii, and more on the slightly-older (and still unreleased) Dragon Quest IX, which is slated for the DS.

Real fans don’t buy action figures, whether or not they’re commercially available. Buying things is for wimps. No, the real fan breaks out the paint, dismembers currently-existing figures, and then the real fan makes their own action figures, like Chris Hooton did for the horror game Dead Space. Dead Space borrows heavily from other material–most notably, science fiction classic Solaris–so it’s only fitting that Hooton’s custom figure borrowed heavily from another figure.

Remember that time the Honda ASIMO robot took a spill? At least it maintained its composure and dignity after the fall and just laid there. Not so with this new desktop robot. Japan’s CUBE Works decided it would be much more robot-like for their walking ‘bot to bawl its little eyes out if it ever falls over.

Having a bad morning? That’s no reason to should suffer alone! And what better way to pass on that a.m. headache than by adding kickin’ sound effects to your lurching gait? These squashy slippers sound off with the crash of earth-shredding stompy robotics with every step, turning a previously-mundane trip to the coffee machine into an epic journey of destruction. If there’s a better way to start the week, it doesn’t come to mind. At $39.99,