Toys

Panasonic resurrected the legendary Technics 1200 turntable eight years ago, but Tamás Borján’s version will appeal to both nostalgic DJs and Lego fans.

This 2,215-piece Technics SL-1200 MK2 won’t actually play records but it’s got a motorized platter that spins, a movable tone arm with an adjustable counter balance, and a sliding pitch fader.

We are officially in the “if you can dream it, someone can build it” stage of foam warfare. This is the Final Condition, a true break-action shotty worthy of Destiny or Doom. Its designer plans to release files in the near future — despite a recent setback.

We knew Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, a four-part animated miniseries airing September 13th, would play amusingly fast and loose with canon.

But an entire Dark Falcon with Darth Jar Jar and Darth Rey and a Beach Luke?! Amazing. That’s the leak from Clay Bricks, who says it’ll cost $179.99. “X-Fighters” and “Tie-Wings” are reportedly coming too.

I am so torn. The Anbernic RG35XXSP — which I’ve mentioned here before — is a beaut. I love handhelds, I love emulators, and I’ve got my own Game Boy cartridges and access to a GB Operator so I can (legally?) back ‘em up.

On the other hand, Anbernic is shipping these with truckloads of pirated ROMs! Didn’t ask for those; I’d happily buy without.

I’m not actually playing Duck Hunt with darts on an OLED screen, of course, but this blaster did shoot that suction tip dart! The free files are designed by Gemeneye, and I’m really digging the inline clip mod that gives it three short dart shots.

It’s now on my wall next to the telescoping Master Sword.

Sorry for messing with your wallet, and possibly your next Tuesday morning — the 1:64 die-cast model’s going on sale at 9AM PT / 12PM ET on the 21st. It’s got a Spectraflame paint job, so it might actually look as wonderfully shiny as it does in these photos.

Aibo — Sony’s “Four-Legged Entertainment Robot” — hit the shelves in 1999, to the utter horror of parents (like my own) who had barely recovered from Furbies launching the year prior.

Happy 25th birthday you old dog! My inner child is heartbroken to have never owned you, but my now 30-year-old self will happily skip the current model’s near $3,000 price tag.

They got the 10,000 votes to join these amazing Lego Ideas candidates. Outer Wilds and Interstellar builds come from fan designers I profiled here!

Many will enter, few will win: on Thursday, Lego greenlit a steamboat and a prize gumball machine but disqualified dozens, including the working mini bicycle I coveted and five Taylor Swift sets.

I swear, I did not dress my daughter in Mario duds just so she could do real-life Mario Kart! It’s too perfect, I know, but she picked them out herself hours before she ever saw the toy.

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looks like a beaut. JB Spielwaren is listing it at a suggested retail price of €220, and Lego’s likely to charge the same in US dollars. (via Jay’s Brick Blog). There’s also a handful of new Lego Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Marvel sets coming, including a fantastic Milano ship from Guardians of the Galaxy with room for every Guardian in the cockpit.

I'm a big kid. I play with amazing toys. Recently, I discovered the joy of sharing minute-long videos of them with you.

Now, I've started a Threads account where you can freely subscribe to my vids, get alerts for new vids, and ask me anything. (It's best viewed in the mobile app.)

This self-transforming Megatron? There's a lot more where that came from.

The epic Saturn V and Space Shuttle Discovery didn’t come with a gantry, but Lego’s making up for it with the 3,091-piece NASA Artemis Space Launch System, coming May 28th for $259.99.

How much better is it? Here it is alongside all the other official Lego launchpad examples I could think of:

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Post-Barbie, Mattel has been making a lot of noise about its plans to keep the toy-to-movie ball rolling with projects based on IP like Hot Wheels and Magic 8 Ball. But the company also wants to channel that energy into series meant for the small screen, and it has just hired Sidney Clifton, Cory Bennett Lewis, and Amy Suh to spearhead those efforts.

Spyra recently sent me its new $54 SpyraGo electric water blaster, so I decided to bring back a literal blast from the past: a 1998 Super Soaker CPS 2500, one of the most effective hosers ever made.

Below, see how they perform against the flagship $179 SpyraThree and the $15 X-Shot Epic Fast Fill, one of the best budget soakers you can buy!

The Tie is definitely the star, but I admit nostalgia for the rolling destroyer droid too. There’s also this kid-friendly version of Maul’s Sith Infiltrator with a slightly less-than-kid-friendly $70 pricetag, and an $80 Mos Espa Podrace diorama. I heard “Now THIS is podracing!” the instant I saw it, which I guess is a compliment!

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