The Toy Fair's Top 10 Strangest Products

FloggingMollyrox writes "UGO looks at the recent 2004 Toy Fair's Top 10 Strangest Products. Forget about Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man, the real stuff was an art farm that grows vegetables, a pogo stick that shoots you over the moon, 'real' shrunken heads, and an educational plush toy based on an alien invasion."

Huh...

I'm not sure if the Baboochi story is a really cute tale about pacifism (proper spelling optional), or if it's a really screwed up tale of what happens when you try to be nice to people who don't appreciate it...

Either way.. I suppose it's an interesting concept... and they are kind of cute...

Re:Huh...

Now if only somebody combined the Baboochi with the super pogo-stick and the move-around AI of that hedgehog...
It would be the ultimate, most satisfying shooting range target ever invented.

Re:Huh...

The Baboochi is an attempt to indoctronate children in the cult of scientology. Do a little research about Laura C. Byrnes the creator, just a second on google and you can see how screwed up this really is.

http://home.scientologist.org/laurab/

I for one do not like the idea of children playing with a toy created by a long time cult member, especially when it includes a pamphlet to introduce them to the relegion.

Re:Huh...

You catch this from the summary in the article too? Just from the awkward names and the space refugees I was thinking it sounded a lot like an L. Ron story. That and the way they had a booth guy willing to pump out a 10 minute spiel about blue aliens to everybody who walks by. Only Scientologists command that kind of attention span.

I'm sure...

I'm sure all linux sysadmins would love the "Root-Vue Farm."

The "Root-Vue Farm" is a good example -- envision something that looks like an ant farm, but instead of bugs and sand, it's filled with soil and half-grown vegetables.

The only downside...now root is viewable by anyone! And the ID labels make it even clearer!

Re:I'm sure...

I'm sure all linux sysadmins would love the "Root-Vue Farm."

Actually, I hear they come bundled in certain recent Linux kernel versions *duck*.

All the things I ever wanted...

and was too normal or poor to get

Notstalgic Rant

My parents would have laughted their heads off if I had asked for this stuff. Back in my day, the toy store was up hill both ways, and we liked it, damn it!

No seriously, this stuff is a joke! My first toy was a set of wood sticks notched so I could make log cabins & stuff. That and a piece of cheap astroturf & I had a farm! Naturallyt he farm required animals so my father swiped a couple of drones from the bee hive. If you pull their wings off they make perfectly acceptable "cows," "horses," or "mules."

My next toy was a little broken down wagon my dad got from the dump. A little sledgehammer action on the axle & some paint and it was good to go. Of course it took about 30 seconds for us to go to the nearest hilla nd go for a ride. My devil worshiping brother helped me go a bit faster than I liked, usually. I've been thrown at speed and straddled a small tree at speed when rides went wrong, which could account for my present baldness.

Surely somebody else bombarded Destro & Snake from "space" with pellet guns & firecrackers?

Kids these days are getting the shaft. Childhood was a lot more fun before safety and responsible parenting were necessities. The fake vomit from Ned might get a few screams from mothers still. I want that now.

Re:Notstalgic Rant

>>My first toy was a set of wood sticks notched

you should be so lucky...our parents told us to play with dirt.

Re:Notstalgic Rant

>>My first toy was a set of wood sticks notched
>you should be so lucky...our parents told us to play with dirt.

Luxury. I had to get up at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down at the mill and pay the mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our mother and father would kill us and dance on our graves singing Halleluja!
Aye, and you try telling young people of today that. And they won't believe you.
Aye, they won't!

Ralph Wiggum's Nose Goblins

They hoped to make a killing selling Simpsons-branded "Ralph Wiggum Nose Goblins". Then they found out that all the kids could easily make these themselves.

Ever been to Tokyo?

A few hours browsing at souvenir shops or department stores in the Akihabara district will teach you the meaning of 'strange'. These toys are soothingly ordinary in comparison.

And don't get me started to the Tokyo fish market *shudders*

Re:Ever been to Tokyo?

Any fish with three eyes? I lost Blinky while I was over in Japan...

Re:Ever been to Tokyo?

Don't worry, at least Blinky tasted good. *burp*

Re:Ever been to Tokyo?

"A few hours browsing at souvenir shops or department stores in the Akihabara district will teach you the meaning of 'strange'."

Why does the teddy bear transform into a dildo welding killbot? WHY!!!!

"BABOOCHI"

Baboochi left their planet because they were invaded by the evil Zartans and came to Earth to find a new home in the arms of children.

Baboochi(TM) will help teach your children to brush their teeth, clean their room, share with others, and many more important lessons that parents want their kids to learn.

Holy shit WTF. I must own one of these.

Re:"BABOOCHI"

Great, interstellar refugees, that's all we need.

So, Baboochi, since you're so into 'sharing,' howzabout making with the interstellar-capable spacecraft? C'mon, sharing is good!

Uhh ohh, here comes another SCO suit

Having just read this [groklaw.net] Groklaw article, I must admit - I fear poor SnowMold Industries (See toy#2) could be in for a lawsuit!

You got it wrong

It's Log!
It's Log!
It's big, it's heavy, it's wood!

It's Log!
It's Log!
It's better than bad, it's good!

Re:You got it wrong

Or another old toy reference...

Do NOT taunt HAPPYFUNBALL!

On the Fly Bar

hang on The Cheat...we're takin this baby TO THE MOOOOON!!

Hi. I'm Troy McClure

Hi. I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such toy-fair debut documentary films as "Tickle-Me Elmo - the NC-17 Version" and "Coleco Adam: Miracle in Silicon".

#1 has Double Use

Tellmi's illuminated quills are made of soft rubber and viciously vibrate when he's turned on. I'm not going to examine the double uses for such an item, but at the very least, I could see some necks being massaged.

Yes. Necks. That is the only thing this will be used for, i promise. Cartman's mom is on the other line wanting to order one....gotta go!

Early geek toy...

The earliest/weirdest toy I ever got was a drawer full of these weird plastic canadian locking blocks.

My parents, coming out of their hippy-ness, got them for me to "expand my mind and creativity". Being 7, what did I make with them? guns/firearms/rocket launchers/etc.

*sigh* good times.

The SCO-MOLD

The SCO-MOLD squeezes your somewhat generic *nix operating system into a form that SCO can demand a license and sue you for.

Ba-who?

You know, for a minute, when I saw the last item, I thought somebody had come out with a plushy version of these little bouncy guys [weebls-stuff.com]. Ah, well.

Glowing, vibrating...um...hedgehog?

Tellmi's illuminated quills are made of soft rubber and viciously vibrate when he's turned on. I'm not going to examine the double uses for such an item, but at the very least, I could see some necks being massaged.

I've read that toy companies target adult buyers via product design, with products for young children- teddy bears for example, have proportions similar to babies, which supposedly triggers a [mat/pat]ernal instinct in parents.

Tellmi's figured out a much better instinct to trigger in the parents, it sounds like :-)

"Mommy, stop borrowing Mr. Quills! Every time you do his batteries are dead!"

I see this as a great strategy. A second one gets bought shortly after the first, for sure. The second one is in part responsible for the purchase of the third, anywhere from 9-36 months later...perfect! What's their stock symbol?

Re:Glowing, vibrating...um...hedgehog?

I actually owned a hedgehog for a while, an African pygmy hedgehog (Mr. Pembleton didn't like Connecticut, unfortunately, and passed away a few months back). While the glowing aspect is not quite accurate, the vibrating very much is. Hedgehogs are rather nervous little guys, and whenever he was startled (i.e., whenever anyone looked at him), he would ball up and vibrate. If he didn't have quills of death it would have been rather cute. As it was, he became a vibrating death cactus.

and the whole "internal sensor that'll keep 'em from idiotically walking into stuff, much like real hedgehogs" this is just wrong, either that or Mr. Pembleton's sensor was quite broken. He would repeatedly walk into the same object (apparently under the mistaken belief that every object was my hand, and I'd surely move it after being stabbed for the fifth time).

Orgasmic the Hedgehog

Check out "Orgasmic the Hedgehog", that blue sex toy thingy shown on the first page.

Flybar's the coolest one

Looks like someone [andymacdonald.com] already got their hands on a Flybar. With video!

Aw.

Well. That was...disappointing. Here I was, waiting for him to go to the stratosphere, but he just went...about how high you would expect. Feh.

(Still, you deserve +1 Informative for posting the link.)

Blade Racers == Micronaut Rocket Tubes ??

[ugo.com]
This sure reminds me of my favortie Christmas present of 1979, this [ebay.com], although the modern one is so big it must include an expansion set.

This reminds me of...

Flat Eric [punchbaby.com]. Not that the Baboochi isn't a good start, it seems that toys that grown-ups can laugh at through one marketing channel and kids can appreciate on their own level will always endear themselves more effectively than simple flat blue animals.

Not unlike the Buddy Lee campaign... which succeeded both as doll-based jingle silliness for TV people and as more mature viral webmercials for the internet set...

Who needs a Tellmi?

Tellmi's illuminated quills are made of soft rubber and viciously vibrate when he's turned on.

So do mine.

...and the cow jumped over the moon.

I may be a fat bastard, but having...a pogo stick that shoots you over the moon...doesn't make me a cow! -Grump

toys

Oh damn... they left out "Bag O' Glass" again!

Ned's Head

it's a plush head containing fake vomit, bugs, moldy cheese, rats and worms. -- you just never know which disgusting, vile thing will pop out of his mouth, ears or nostrils next!

Watch out for the lawyers. This is a direct infringement of SCO's business strategy.

Overview

In case of Slashdotting:

#1 - TELLMI (Digitspace): interactive hedgehog with blinking lights and moving limbs

#2 - THE SNOMOLD (SnoMold Industries): plastic bag filled with snow makes instant snowman

#3 - BLADE RACERS (Dynatech Action): "High velocity infrared racing system"

#4 - VOOT-VUE FARM (HSP Nature Toys): plexiglass box to see vegetables grow

#5 - MARVEL MYSTERY BAGS (Visionary Concepts): Plastic Marvel figures hidden in water-dissolvable bags

#6 - THE REAL SHRUNKEN HEAD (Witch Doctors?): "extremely lifelike", or deathlike, as it were, plastic shrunken human heads

#7 - THE FLYBAR (Flybar Inc.): Pogo stick.

#8 - WHAT'S IN NED'S HEAD (Fundex Games): Plush head containing fake vomit, bugs, moldy cheese, rats and worms

#9 - TKO FIT KIDS (TKO Sports Group): Inflatable child-size wrestlers

#10 - BABOOCHI (Baboochi World): Anthropomorphic blue furry M&M-shaped doll

Re:Overview

Damn, kids are so spoiled these days, when I was a kid all we got to play with was a stick and a warning not to poke your eye out.

Re:Overview

You got a warning? Lucky bastard...now stop moving, my depth perception sucks.

-moitz-

Re:Overview

Sticks? Luxury! We didn't even have rocks. We were too busy jumping around to keep the slowly cooling crust of the earth from burning our feet to think about playing with rocks or sticks.

Shrunken heads

" "The Real Shrunken Head" collection consists of six different novelty heads, each based on real life artifacts."

Can you nominate heads? What about Bill Gates, George Bush, the CEO of SCO, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Eminem?

The Flybar

even on the second bounce, one of the demonstrators had to have himself at least five or six feet above ground

Sounds really cool. I wonder if it comes with a padded helmet for indoor use.

Just Great

I try to follow the link from work and our firewall has it blocked. If I'm real stupid, I can try the link three or four more times so that IT can start an investigation into my web viewing habits. Wahoo!

Developers Action Figures

I say they should design real-life action figures of characters like Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds, and Steve Jobs! Maybe we can even bundle them in two-packs. I think a Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds would look nice together.

What if we throw a CEO for Motorola and Kevin Mitnick in one pack? You know people would dish out the cash for this.

Re:Developers Action Figures

Could we get McBride added to the set? Having Gates, McBride, RMS, ESR, Jobs, Linus, and EvilBill all in one set would be fun. Just to round it out maybe throw in Larry the Oracle guy. It could be sold as a "battle set", give 'em little weapons to use and all that. I'd buy 'em (thinkgeek, you guys interested?).

Infrared Blade Racers?

I really wonder why the blade racers are called a high-velocity infrared racing system...
Even if they could be steered by infrared remote controls this would be utterly senseless since they'd loose contact to the remote control when doing some loops etc. -huha

Jumping

That FlyBar reminds me of a toy we saw a few years ago... The Death Wish Shoes [superdairyboy.com]. :D

Anatomical mummy mear spills its guts

Check out this anatomical mummy bear [actwin.com], for which there is a thinly veiled advertisement at http://summum.kids.us [summum.kids.us].

There are stranger..

These may be wierd in a 'oo! It's japanese and odd' way, but for my money, the wierdest toys ever can be found at Disturbing Auctions [disturbingauctions.com]. Just look at the emotionally scarring toys and weep. Half of those are home made and beat hands down anything Japan could come up with.

The Blade Racers need a warning on the box...

I mean, if some kid combined that with his Habitrail he could put a powerful hurt on his pet hamster...

[I'll get back to work now.....]

Talking of weird and wacky toys..

I'm sure many of the ideas on this [reemco.com] site really are available in Japan...

Flybar

I've got to say, that Flybar teaser photo is pretty effective [flybar.com]

Slashdotted, sort of

Not ugo's main site, but Digitspace's [digitspace.com], due to all of us sickos that want a vibrating hedgehog.

Notice!?!?

Did anybody notice that none of the "Major" toy brands made the list??

It just goes to show how much a company will go to, just to attract consumers!!


I always though that the slinky was the strangest toy!!

Hmm

Spongebob Joystick TV missing in top 10?

Spongebob Joystick [i4u.com]

What ever happened to playing cops & robbers?

Root view?!? This toy looks about as much fun as watching grass grow...wait a tick...I AM WATCHING GRASS GROW!

ObSimp

Bart: Hey Lis', check it out, Pogo Stilts. These were banned in all 50 states

[they fly off his feet and hit Homer]

Homer: Oooow!! Ow! What happened!?

Giant Microbes?

No mention of Giant Microbes [giantmicrobes.com]? They now include such cute cuddly toys as the Black Death [giantmicrobes.com] and Ebola [giantmicrobes.com]!

X-Entertainment

The guy who wrote this piece for UGO has an excellent toy/nostalgia/toy nostalgia site. [x-entertainment.com] Check it out.

Babooch? Don't sleep in the same room...

... he treated us to a ten-minute tale about an alien race of happy blue monsters who fled their home planet after a naughty race of "Zartans" messed things up and tried to eat them ...

An obvious cover story, it's the invasion of the body snatchers I tell you!

They're here already! You're next!

The other 50 percent maybe?

A simple game for simple kids, Ned's Head is sure to bring frowns to at least a few parents, but come on....name any six-year-old who isn't fascinated with things like vomit and old cheese.

Uh, girls? The other 50 percent, remember?

and maybe you know what that ad is for?

I'm just wondering - the concept of Lenny Kravitz underneath at least six feet of water is okay, but what was the point?

Re:Ads...

That ad sucked up like 90% of my CPU and delayed every action in Mozilla. Geez, I thought Flash ads were bad because of my "old" my Athlon-750. When something sucks up 90% of an Athlon-2400, it's just evil. Because of that, Ugo, mediamgr.ugo.com went very quickly into the list of domains that my Squid proxy blocks. It was just intolerable.

Re:CPU Usage?

Many flash adds use as much cpu as they can get to give you a GREAT framerate. sadly.