Toyology

LEGO on the lookout for a Builder

Open auditions will be taking place in Manchester to find a LEGO fanatic who can turn their hobby into hard cash. The job will involve developing new features at the centre as well as maintaining existing ones, upon arrival at the open audtiions there'll be millions of bricks and applicants will first have to make an animal in 15 minutes. Get past stage one then you're next challenge is creating a famous face from the collection of bricks, if reckon you're up to to the challenge email register@legolanddiscoverycentre.com

Toy Fair fun with Top Gear fella

Not content with an hour a week of James May and his Toy based shennanigans then perhaps you'd like to purchasetickets and meet the man himself as he hosts his very own Toy Fair. On offer, for the moderate sum of £20 (which includes a signed copy of his book) is a show of some fabulous LEGO models, the chance to ask the man a few questions, race against him on a Scalextric track, enter a Meccano building comp, make your own Airfix model and even mould a Morph. We wanted more feature based stuff on toys on TV and have a "careful what you wish for"  feeling now that the prospect of a James May action figure becomes closer to reality. Still, £20, not bad for a day out - HERE

Trekkies and Transformer fans form an orderly queue

As huge fans of both films we'd have been happy to splash out on either of these USB drives for our data storing enjoyment, it just so happens that each one of these 4GB devices is pre-loaded with a full length film, this years Star TRek release on one (available today) and Revenge of the Fallen is out monday. Limited to 20,000, each one is individually numbered and will set you back £19.99 at PLAY - Fans of the film will thank you forever and why not treat yourself too? They're collectors items , so probably worth a few quid in a few years time so what you are doing is investing in heirlooms? Possibly, perhaps anyway thats all our assistance in persuading you to part with your cash.

Secret Santa goes Global

Fire, Wheel, sliced bread, Global Secret Santa - Yup, we're that impressed that such a head-slappingly simple idea was not ours or indeed has not been done before. So what if it is a commercial ruse to shift a ton of stock, the sheer joy of receiving something from a far flung land, or indeed closer to home,from a complete stranger has us all here at Toyology Towers trying to decide how many we'll send. The idea is simple, choose a product from Bungee Bird feeders to Chocolate Ants, flying monkeys to giant microbes, pen a few words to accompany your gift and its done  -All you have to do now is await your package from the postie,finding out who and where its from is almost as exciting as the gift itself. The cost of this potentialy record breaking activity, a paltry £9 - What are you waiting for the FIREBOX elves are waiting.

Shoot some hoops whilst you're slaving away

Small enough for even the most vertically challenged to take a slam dunk this shin high basketball stand with built-in backboard is looking for a little more skill than just popping the ball through its et. Supplied with two minature plastic replicas of the dribbled sphere and a couple of launchers. The idea is to set yourself up, against opponents is preferable, for a three point shoot-off. As the little hand slowly takes itself toward the five don't you wish you had one? £5.95 at Seriouslynuts

Lots-of-fun-o-Bots

This trio of non-earth threatening automatons are ideal for those budding robotics engineers in your life. Select your comedy droid from Tim Can, the one who turns any standard tin can into your very own walking, wobbling, bog-eyed robot! Tim can be built into two distinct styles and features long, bendy spanner arms., change how he looks by changing the can, think of him as a halfway house to the recycling bin. There's Sweep , the on-the-move robot who scours work surfaces as he moves, an interesting way to clear up after-dinner crumbs and then we have Bump, witch him and and marvel at his high speed zooming about, he'll never get stuck though as when he bumps into an object he'll alter direction. Each one is £13 over at Red5

Start a Swarm

The latest arival in the Hexbug range are these multi-coloured ants, great additions to any robotic collection, making a fine companion for any Robosapien or a plaything for your PLEO. Even on their own they're enough to entertain us humans, each one has six rotating legs with three feet attached that spin into motion at the flick of a switch. The antenae at the front are usedto detect obstacles and when they do the ant changes direction, a sensor at the rear end performs the same function and so continually bounces off walls and scrurrys about until you  bore of him. Grab a few and set them to work. £9.95 each at RED5

Frustrating Spheres

The patience involved in getting a small silver ball to balance itself in one place for longer than a nano second is well known, guiding one of these said spheres down a course of any kind can only add to the desire let the said puzzle slip from your hands and accidentaly offer you a quick solution. Addictaballs won't do this of course as you'll have paid a few pounds for your maze encased in a transparent sphere and that you're grown up and past that "breaking" things stage. Twist, turn and tilt the sphere to guide you through the numbered 1-100 sections to reach your goal, at this point please do not revert to the behavious previously mentioned just pass it to someone else and watch with glee as their faces contort with frustration. From £6.99 at Iwantoneofthose.com

Desktop "Operation Overlord" set

Not content with just a couple of minature soldiers and vehicles that you'll randomly pit against one another in some unknown battle of the front room?  Then opt for a set such as this that lets you re-create the 6th of June 1944 when the Allies landed on the Normandy beaches. The D-Day collection set contains over 100 pieces including including beach head panoramic backdrop, tanks, landing craft, trucks, gun emplacements and soldiers plus all the brushes, paints and glue to make this set come alive. £36.99 at Argos

Operation outfit is a fancy dress winner

Thanks DVICE