The world offers a lot of lovely toys for children, and while we love the usual, the practical ones have a special place in our heart. This playset for example, is an engine repair set that encourages children to “fix” the engine. Tasks include various things like changing the oil, swapping the air filter, checking the dipstick, removing the spark plug, and of course, checking various nuts and bolts.
Malaysian photographer Zahir Batin photographs clone trooper action figures going about their life; enjoying the simple things. You don’t always have to be shooting at things.
Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. And real creepy dolls would make Chucky poop his pants and cry; all he needs to do is visit the haunted dolls island in Mexico. The island is located near a rural area called Xochimilco (tranlated to ‘a place of flowers’). Canals run through this area, and in this web of canals lives the “Island of Dolls.”
Little Tikes Cozy Coupe has been a staple car for children for decades, and of course, several of us adults have memories of the little car. Little Tikes now has a sibling, a street legal car that resembles the famous toy car, but is fit to be driven on the road. The adult-sized version is called the Toytown Coupé and was built by Attitude Autos in the UK.
Putting skills of forced perspective to use, Finnish photographer and illustrator Vesa Lehtimäki aka Avanaut has a set of beautiful images where Star Wars reaches out for our planet. The photographer used toys for photography in the real world, and with a bit of perspective, actually managed to make them look like full scale objects out for action.
Say hello to Little Maddie, a mashup of My Little Pony and Cthulhu. Created by Bigshot Toyworks, the Cthulhoid is first in line from a series of toys and animation shorts for the new toy line Friendship is Maddness.
Teddy Bears are meant to be cute, cuddly, and when you’re done with them, you friggin bite their heads off and call it a meal. Artist Victor Ivanov stitched together chicken skin to make the creepy teddy bear that for all intent could follow the path of Frankenstein’s monster. For its part, this is just a regular teddy bear, who got chicken skin sewed all over it for the freaky look. Although one could argue that this one looks fairly less creepy than the artist’s previous chicken skin teddy.
We might be settling duels with thumb wrestling, but we need to get it done in most fun way possible. Taking inspiration from the good old fighting robots, the Omnibot Battroborg Fighting Robots play the same line, but on thumbs. The hand to hand combat robots are available in blue and red, each with its special moves and the ability to block attacks. Red robot is a master at uppercuts, the blue bot prefers jabs. If a robot manages to hit the other in the accurate spot, the nemesis is “knocked out” with its torso jumping off. Costs $37.
Get creative with making your own Hot Wheels cars with this Hot Wheels Car Maker. Granted it’s no 3D printer, or perhaps a very crude version of one at a stretch, but this contraption allows you to have the joy of creating your own hot wheels cars. Turn on the press, melt down the wax and use the available molds to build a car of your choice. The molds offer vehicle shapes of hot rods and muscle cars. A choice of colors and decals and graphics that you can add to the car add further to personalizing your vehicle. Costs $40.
Via Amazon, Uncrate
At a fan festival in Barcelona, Hot Wheels tried their hand at the world’s highest wall track. Track builders put a track together and placed it along an apartment complex. A Hot Wheels car sporting the number “01” then proceeded to race the track from the top of the building to the bottom. They are claiming this to be the world’s highest wall track, which it very well might be.