Dave's Cool Toys Blog

Today’s post has nothing to do with toys. It’s a "unique" video I came across today.

Enjoy.

An excellent video of soap bubbles by Sterling Johnson on Stinson Beach. That’s all.

Peepee Teepee in action. Well, waiting for action.

This past weekend we visited Gift Fair in New York City. Had a great day wandering around and visiting vendors.

One of the oddest things we saw was the Peepee Teepee. It’s a little cloth teepee that you put over a baby boy’s penis during changing to avoid those dreaded urine fountains.

As far as I can tell, the Peepee Teepee doesn’t adhere in any way, so I don’t really see how it could possibly stay in place during a diaper change. And, as one reviewer on Amazon pointed out, one good stream of urine would knock it right off. Now you have urine spraying and flying, wet Teepees too.

They come in a set of five in a little laundry bag. They’re made of cotton and are machine washable. You can also get different patterns such as Camouflage.

My guess, not too practical, but would make a talked-about gift at a shower.

Peepee Teepee, set of five, washable. Selling for about $10.00 on Amazon.

My Dream Home

The next time you rent a Bouncy Castle for your kids party, you may be getting something a little extra… lead poisoning.

OK That’s a bit extreme.

The New York Times reports that the California Attorney General has filed a lawsuit that claims that some, if not all, of the rented inflatable houses, castles, and amusements contain unsafe levels of lead in the vinyl they are made from.

An investigation by the Center for Environmental Health, in Oakland, tested several dozen houses and found that they contained between 5,000 and 29,000 parts per million of lead. Those measurements are way above the federal limit of 90 to 300 parts per million.

Robert Field, a defendant in the suit, and senior vice president of Cutting Edge Creations argues that the suit could put thousands of small-business owners that rent the inflatable fun-houses out of business, hurting California’s economy.

OK. His argument is "let us continue to rent party toys that have thousands of times the legal limit of a harmful substance because the economy is bad and you should ignore the problem for financial reasons".

The suit and investigation did not include Bouncy Castles sold to consumers. These should fall under the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and require testing prior to being sold. I only found one recall which was for a problem with the fan housing breaking and one alert in which children were bouncing out of a Playskool Moon Bouncer due to overinflation.

What is a parent to do if you want to rent a Bouncy Castle? One spokesman for the Center for Environmental Health recommends that parents should have wet-wipes available and children should wipe their exposed body parts (hands, feet, face) after bouncing to reduce the risk.

Haven’t you ever wondered what The Chimpmunks really sound like? Here’s the The Chipmunk Song, Christmas Don’t Be Late, slowed down to hear their actual voices.

The song isn’t really slowed down, rather pitch shifted. Althought when they made the original, they recorded the voices at half speed, and, when played back at full speed, their voices would be higher. I would guess they needed to also speak and sing more slowly when they recorded it. But by electronically shifting the pitch in this video, the song stays the same length.

My friend, Rich, sent me a link to this video of a Wooden steam engine model. It is clever, useless, fun, and beautiful. What every toy should be! The engine is powered by a vacuum cleaner and runs quite fast.

The creator has posted a website with detailed information on how he built the engine and plans available to purchase ($10.00).

Jedi toy painting

Artist Robert Burden has created a wonderful work of art entitled "The Birth of a Jedi". It’s oil on canvas, and stands 10 feet x 7feet.

If you’re wondering how this fits in to a blog about toys you will understand towards the end of the video for the closeups

Of course if you’re wondering that, you probably haven’t visited my blog before (I go off-topic a lot).

The painting covers events in Return of the Jedi when Luke is rescued by Han and must be kept warm in the belly of the TaunTaun. Although I remember them being white, or gray.

Scroll down for a time-lapse of the 7 months it took to paint.

via Gizmodo

Have you ever wondered what you might look like as a Bobblehead? Unless you are a famous sports figure or celebrity you might never know.

Until now.

Personalized Bobbleheads

Yes, now you can have your very own likeness as a Bobblehead. The price is steep… at around $80.00-$120.00 depending on your choice. The head is fully customized from a photo you supply and you choose from 190 body types which includes variations for many occasions. Some body choices are female doctor, bodybuilder, TV reporter, cheerleader, lawyer, etc. There’s even a "Man on Toilet" Bobblehead.

Of course Personalized Bobbleheads are a perfect gift for a graduation, wedding, or many other special events. They can even be used as cake toppers.

The heads are hand-sculpted in poly-clay to your likeness. There are also couple versions and versions with accessories, such as riding a motorcycle (these cost more).

There are various competing companies making Personalized Bobbleheads. Most work basically the same way. You send in a quality photo that complies with their guidelines, choose a body to go with it and in some cases select hair choices. It takes anywhere from 3-6 weeks for your Bobblehead, so plan ahead (pun intended). Your finished Bobblehead will be about 6-8 inches from most suppliers.

As you can see from the photos, Personalized Bobbleheads are caricatures. Some suppliers don’t allow returns.

	Some Personalized Bobblehead Real-Life Examples

A few weeks ago I posted about “Poop Up Pool” and wondered in the post whether it was a real photo or a photoshop fake.

Yesterday I got a message from a Krissi in Sweden that she’d seen this product, live and in-person in her local store. She took a photo with her cell phone and it’s posted below.

Here is what she said about it:

“This is from a Coop store, one of the major grocery chains in Sweden. It looks like the source from the first photo in your blog post was also at a Swedish Coop, since the price tag is the same. This isn’t the first time that poorly proofread Chinese import products have been on the shelves here…definitely the biggest howler though.

I tried to find this product on Amazon again and the only product that came up was “Dirty Jobs Season 4“. This says a lot about the show.

	Poop Up Pool Confirmed!

Toy Story 3 Silly Bandz Version 2

I posted before about the Toy Story 3 Silly Bandz and complained that they didn’t include the new toys from the movie.

Well, I stand corrected (sort of). There are 2 new versions of the Toy Story 3 Bandz and one of them includes the new characters.

Version 2 once again seems to be characters we’ve already seen in previous movies including the Alien, Piggy, Potato Head, Rex, and Buster (or is that Slinky Dog?)

Version 3 includes Lotso and the crew of bad guys from Toy Story 3.

Both versions are selling on Amazon for about $6.00

Toy Story 3 Silly Bandz Version 3

Banzai Falls Original Water Slide

I’ve blogged previously about the Banzai Waterpark and their deceptive advertising.

Today I came across some reviews of the Banzai Falls Original Water Slide.

First of all, let me say that the manufacturer’s images seem to me to be deceptive. I will let you decide, though. Check out their images and those of customers posted here.

It seems like this category of toys is notorious for at least somewhat deceptive photos of their products.

Customer reviews on Amazon and elsewhere bring up another problem with the slide… durability. Some customers had seams ripping out almost immediately, others found that by the second summer, the liner had crumbled and it would no longer hold air. One customer got about 2 hours of use out of the slide before it was shot. Reports include the water hose popping open at the seam, seams coming undone, footholds ripping around the edges,

	A more accurate photo of Banzai Water Slide

One customer pointed out that the splash-down pool at the bottom of the slide was far too short and that the kids keeps hitting the edge, sometimes going over it.

The slide carries a 200 lb. weight limit. Users must be careful that this limit is not per child, but overall, so that kids must climb and slide entirely one at a time to avoid going over the limit on the inflatable hilltop.

Reviews almost always said that it was a great item that the kids loved while it lasted. Even though it may not be quite as big as implied by their product shot, it certainly looks fun. But you would have to be prepared for the fact that it may only last a few days or weeks. One summer at the most.

Banzai Falls Original Water Slide lists for $379.00. Oddly enough, between the time I began writing this review and the time I posted it, Amazon no longer had this item available. It wasn’t sold-out, just gone along with all the bad reviews.

Two more user images of the slide

Lego version of Escher’s Ascending and Descending

I seem to be stuck on Lego lately. Oh well.

Today’s post combines two of my favorite things, Lego and M.C. Escher.

Who would have thought that you could create the wonderful visual illusions of M.C. Escher in three dimensions with Lego? Apparently Andrew Lipson did. He has created some amazing lego versions of Escher’s artwork along with his friend Daniel Shiu. He has used some photographic cheating in a couple of instances, but mostly they are pure models that depend more on the photographic angle for their illusions.

He makes other great things from Lego, but his Escher works are truly masterpieces and I can’t even imagine the amount of time, space, and clutter it must take to plan and construct them. Apparently he has too much spare time.

Scroll down to see some examples of his work and be sure to visit his website to see how they were done and information about construction.

	Lego Balcony

	Lego Belvidere

	Lego Relativity

	Lego Waterfall

Just ran across this terribly disturbing video. After a little research I discovered the little creepy thing is called the Magic Monster. If you find that you really need more information on this strange contraption, check out this website for lots more information on it than I’m prepared to post here (lots of pictures).

I must have one!

Dastan

Today’s cool toy is the Lego Barechested Dastan Prince of Persia Minifugure.

I have not seen The Prince of Persia movie. But this minifigure character is Dastan, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. The princes in the Prince of Persia video game world did not have names, known only as "Prince".

	Skeleton Minifig

The Dastan Minifigure is a great likeness of the character. He even comes with two swords! Although at $10.00 he is a little pricey (and this is apparently a reduced price). By comparison the same character with his shirt on is selling for $5.00 and Hassansin
is only 49 cents.

Another great Minifigure from the movie is the Skeleton. I love him and he’s only 25 cents.

The Dastan Minifigure is very cool and is a great example of the incredible variety of characters created by Lego. These little "action figures" are only about 1.5 inches tall, and yet the designers have managed to capture incredible unique traits in them.

Early Lego characters had no moving arms or legs and no facial features. Their character was mostly defined by the hat they wore. They certainly have come a long way since their release in 1974.

There is also a large community of Minifigure enthusiasts that not only collect the little guys, but modify them through the use of painting, decals, mixing and matching pieces, or even remolding them. For the collector, you can even buy Minifig Stand (in various colors) for displaying your favorite characters.

One of my favorite items is a poster of the anatomy of a Lego Minifigure.

Toys exposed by x-ray

Have you ever wondered what mysterious mechanisms might inhabit the depths of your favorite toy? If you recall my earlier post about the book Bears with simple images of teddy bears turned inside out to reveal their inner workings you’ll know that I have.

Modern toys often have lots of electronics, batteries, gears, and motors to discover. But even older toys had hidden mechanical workings such as dolls who’s eyes close when they lie down. I must admit I’ve always wondered how those actually work.

Scan Toys is an exhibition of x-rays taken of toys at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires. But it’s far more than just a collection of x-rays. It transforms common toys and their inner workings into art.

I don’t recognize some of the toys and I haven’t been able to find much explanation of each individual image. Some of the images also have non-toy items in them as well. But each one is beautiful and fascinating.

Don’t think you’ll be getting to Buenos Aires anytime soon? No problem. There is a wonderful Flickr set of at least some of the images.

Via Gizmodo