Toyology

Ex-ter-min-ate

Ardent Dr Who fans will love this impressive piece of kit. This 18 inch radio control interactive Dalek responds to spoken commands as well as having traditional radio control functions via a special multi-function control unit. Quite a close resemblance to the real thing (yes we know they’re fictional extraterrestrial beings), the Dalek features over 50 phrases so you can make it say “EX-TER-MI-NATE!", as much times as you like, it has poseable & removable sucker arm with rubberised suction cup and will guard your room in either a well lit or completely dark area as well as an abundance of other cool stuff. The Daleks are the ultimate bad guys, even with the introduction of other baddies such as the Cyber men they are still at the top of the list. With independent head, body and eye movement as well as multiple sensory inputs including touch, voice programmable movement – seek, locate and follow me mode -   this really is the 'supreme being in the universe'. Make a Dr Who fan VERY happy this Christmas. Visit The Toy Shop – around £100

Go Back in Time

How cool was the Back to Future Trilogy and how much did you wish you could jump into your very own Flux Capacitor and travel through time? Now you can...well sort of with the BTTF Minimates. The collection includes Minimate versions of Marty McFly, Lorraine Baines, the crazy Doc Brown, big bully Biff and the romantically inept George McFly...and did we mention...wait for it – yes a Flux Capacitor. Recreate scenes such as the Enchantment Under the Sea dance when Marty sings ‘Johnny be good’ or when he’s trying to appear unattractive to his future mum when he accidently goes back to 1955 - or something like that. Available only through BTTF.com but they are happy to ship to the UK.

Monster Mash

These MoPod Moshi Monsters are actually two things in one: a flashy spinning mobile phone charm-thing and an interactive web-pet tamagotchi-puzzle thing. As a Phone trinket it has the ability to light up and twirl whenever you receive a call, text, email or voice message. Annoyingly, it might decide to do this when your phone is not actually ringing. Never miss a call again. Attach it to your jacket or bag and wait for your MoPod to spring to life. Compatible with most phones, GSM and CDMA simply by proximity – so need for Bluetooth pairing or anything fancy like that. As an interactive web-pet-thing unlock the code unique to each charm so you can adopt a virtual version of your new little pet with its very own unique personality. You ‘nurture’ it by playing puzzles and earning tokens to buy trinkets for your mini monster to wear or to decorate its home with. Take pictures of your virtual pet and send to friends and have people post comments about how much cooler your pet is than theirs. Interested? Well the bad news is if you’re over 12 it’s not aimed at you and you might be considered creepy when you enter your age on the website – You have been warned! These little trinkets are available from Firebox for £4.95.

Let Your Walking do the Talking

We’ve seen a lot of shoe crazes this year. First there were Heelys that had little kids rolling around EVERYWHERE you looked – from supermarkets to shopping centres you were and still are guaranteed to see a happy little roller somewhere; then there was the phenomenon that is Crocs – the shoes that mould to the shape of your foot - which were great until like Heelys, everywhere you looked you saw an army of people sporting brightly coloured footwear and they became the irritation of people everywhere. Now there is Bamz – the interactive shoe soles which activate and display messages when you walk for everyone to see - which aren’t a national craze just yet but has the potential to become an obsession amongst kids, teens and quite possibly adults everywhere. Bamz are being marketed as the coolest new accessory that will bling up your trainers and allow you to express yourself as you walk. So do you have something on your chest but don’t know how to express it? Go and get a pair of Bamz - Especially good if you have a bit of a cheeky side or are incredibly shy. Simply programme any message you want using up to 49 characters and then start strutting your stuff. Just make sure you don’t attempt to get a visually impaired person to read your messages – they will just see a red blur. Cool new accessory for your shoes or a waste of money? You decide.

Wonderful World of Webkinz

Forget Facebook and Myspace...let us introduce you to the new trend that is Webkinz – the interactive plush toys that combine classic stuffed animals with cool online trends/obsessions such as social networking and instant messaging. Toys will come to life – not in a scary horror movie kind of way – and digi native kids can play with their virtual friends for as long as their little hearts desire. With a little help from their imaginations their webkinz can come to life offline too. Designed to be kiddie friendly, the instant messaging function is word protected meaning they will have to write messages by choosing from lists of stock phrases. These loveable pets come with their very own secret code that gives you access to the wonderful Webkinz World – www.webkinz.com - so you can adopt your new pet and discover what it’s all about. In this interactive world you can name your new pet, design a room for it, try trivial challenges, meet up with your Webkinz friends and much much more. It’s a game, it’s highly nurturing, interactive and around £10 from a range of leading toy retailers.

The Humble Rubber Band

Remember the days when rubber bands were the boon of mischevious kids everywhere, adults too in fact, fun was derived from nicking a few bands from a pack at home or in the office (the more devilish amongst you would have turned to the staple gun at some point). The many highlights of a rubber bands arsenal include being able to carry out stealth attacks, concealment of your weapon and hitting your opponent in a variety of methods when they least expect it...hilarious. Proving to be one of the most effective forms of fighting warfare ever, rubber bands have come a long way from its early roots and oh how times have changed. We no longer have to mount a rubber band on our thumb to shoot it, experience misdirected and/or painful misfires because these days you can take your pick from a variety of launching devices. Avid rubber banders rejoice and enjoy our selection of dispensers and toys:

Rubber Band Gatling gun - £400 – iwantoneofthose
Especially good for the chronic shooter. With a fire rate of 560 elastic bands per minute, a 360 degree field of fire and over 60 degrees of elevation, you will indeed have the last laugh with this ever so powerful rubber band Gatling gun.

Make and Play

The Charlie and Lola playset from our freinds at Golden Bear Toys is a toy we thought little of when it arrived at Toyology Towers but after we unleashed it on our testers it has us sitting up and paying plenty of attention. It comprises the two main characters from the show, a lion, tiger, odd elephant, cheeky looking monkey, crocodile and a tree all made from sturdy carboard, very colourful and glossy coated wipe-clean. Just slot them together, and try to resist joining in. The kids made up endless stories of their own and when they tired of the characters, introduced other dolls and toys into their tales, before long we had the entire toybox empty and the entire story revolved around the Charlie and Lola playset - What fun we all had.....Toyology Gold - Yours for £9.99 from the Early Learning Centre

Easy Pieces

Build this little buggy from scratch, the box contains all you need to get going and start pulling some rather smart stunts. The pieces are of the "timberslot" variety and all come together easily to form the base for the rest of your motor. There are loads of other vehicles to assemeble in the range and start at £7.99 over at Amazon.

Red Hot Review – Not One For the Faint Hearted

Hype

Paladone’s 4 multiplayer choice Shocking Quiz is designed to test your general knowledge. Answer correctly in the time given and you’re laughing, get it wrong however and you’re in for quite a shock - high or low voltage at the quiz master’s discretion.

Another Automaton

We’ve become a bit robot obsessed in the Toyology Towers recently. We just can’t help ourselves; with such a cool range of robots on the market this year we can’t help but get ridiculously excited about the prospect of having a robot filled Christmas...or robot filled office – whatever sounds less childish. This new edition to our ever-growing robot family is the Robotic Air Defence Radio Control Flying Robot which boasts the latest in toy technology. This one drives, flies and even talks and is capable of performing amazing aerial stunts – of course that all depends on your remote control skills. That’s not all folks; the R.A.D flies up to 30 MPH and can go over 20 stories high with a flight range of 300 feet. For extra effect it also has user-controlled speaking and missile sounds. To get yours before the Christmas rush starts (it’s started for some already) go to Hamleys – around £100.