The Force Trainer Biosensing Game

I think the first thing I should point out with this Star Wars toy is that it isn’t a dollar store toy at all, in case the “biosensing” in the title wouldn’t have been the first clue. I mean come on, a biosensing dollar store toy, am I right? Anyway, Mark Baard, who writes for Boston.com, got a look at a picture of the game and that was all it took to get him hooked. The game consists of a headset that reads the brainwaves of the wearer which operates a fan that blows a ball to the top of a clear chamber. The harder you concentrate, the faster the fan spins and the higher the ball goes. It’s as simple as that, although, it’s mentioned that the concentration need not be directed at the ball or fan for it to work. The Force Trainer features the voice of Yoda as the trainer for the game and it offers 15 levels where the player starts as a Padawan and works their way up to Jedi Master. It’s supposed to be out in August and is expected to cost about $130 and, if you’re in Hanover, MA, why not check out South Shore’s #1 toy store The Toy Box, it’s rumored to show up there. I hope they come out with a Sith Lord version. Who wouldn’t want Darth Vader teaching them the dark side? I don’t remember any recent Star Wars games involving Yoda teaching you the Jedi way, but I do remember Star Wars the Force Unleashed where you are Darth Vader’s apprentice. That’s right, people would rather play the latter. Here’s an idea for the Sith version of the Force Trainer, have a fan at the top in addition to the bottom and if you concentrate hard enough, the ball gets sent up into the fan at the top and it gets zinged. That or something along those lines. Would you rather have Yoda teaching you the force or Darth...

Stretch Armstrong The Movie

I guess they are really running out of ideas in Hollywood. Universal is teaming up with Hasbro to make a movie about the popular 1970s toy Stretch Armstrong, who made a comeback in the 1990s. He was a doll type thing that could be stretched. Arms, legs, body and neck could all be stretched and twisted all sorts of ways, but that’s all it could really do. Many people are familiar with Stretch Armstrong, but would it really make for a good movie? Check out the commercial for the more recent version. Pretty silly commercial, I mean, wouldn’t the crooks just be able to keep driving and continually stretching him? The stretch superhero thing has been done already in Fantastic Four with Mr Fantastic and they really needed the rest of the group with other powers to mix things up a bit. Then you have Plastic Man who could change into anything but usually stretch himself to and he never really caught on. But as the commercial shows, it would more likely be a comedy most likely laughed at than with. It’s slated to be written by Steve Oedekerk with Ace Ventura 2 When Nature Calls and Bruce Almighty being some of his accomplishments. It’s your call if that makes it good or bad depending on whether or not you liked those movies. Don’t get me wrong, Hasbro did well with the Transformers movie and they have an upcoming sequel and the all new GI Joe movie, but both of those were well established through cartoons, comics and toys. Stretch Armstrong was basically a stress release toy, something you could take your frustrations on without causing permanent damage since he would go back to his normal shape after. Hardly worthy of a movie. Plastic Man would be a better choice since at least he can change into things instead of just...

Safe And Unsafe Dollar Store Products

There are so many articles online about what things are good to buy and what things should be avoided at dollar stores. Dollar stores are popular because they’re great places to get certain products for less money than a name brand store. It’s a common misconception that all brands are knock offs, but you can find name brand products for a dollar. Many of the bad products are knock off products with names sounding like familiar products, those products could be harmful. Good Buys: Top buys from the dollar store include cleaning supplies, such as soaps and detergents and kitchen items, such as mops and brooms. Other products that are ok to buy are shampoos and other hair products. Some places carry name brands for less money. Party supplies are great buys and much cheaper than name stores or party specialty stores. Party munchies can also be purchased for less at dollar stores. Name brand chips can be bought cheaper than regular stores and they’re still well within their expiry date. Unsafe Buys: Items that should be avoided with good cause include vitamins and electrical cords and equipment. Since you eat vitamins, knock off brands are poorly made and may not even contain the listed elements. Many electrical cords and components can get by without passing safety standards and can cause fires or other electrical mishaps. Obviously there’s the problems with toys in regards to lead paint, choking hazards and strangulation problems, but they aren’t exclusive to dollar stores. Batteries should also be avoided. Many are knock off brands and are known to leak, including batteries already included with toys. The mobile phone toy I got didn’t work and the batteries were plump and most likely ready to leak. Be a Wary Dollar Store Shopper In these bad economic times, more people are likely to flock to dollar stores to save money. It’s just a matter of knowing what is saving you money and what could cost you more in the end. Basically, if a brand sounds familiar, but you think it might not be an actual brand, skip it until you can find out for sure and if the product can cause serious harm then you should reserve those buys for a regular store. Read the entire channel 2 story...

Crank Dat Soulja Toy Drive

The Toyz N Da Hood toy drive charity event is getting help from Soulja Boy. He is the Hip-hop artist with the hit song Crank Dat Soulja Boy. Toyz N Da Hood is in it’s 6th year now and Soulja Boy will be there to assist in hosting duties at the Old National Highway’s Walmart in Atlanta on December 19th. He will also help with the presents and even be signing some autographs and copies of his newest album “iSouljaBoyTellem“. He’s quoted saying that he didn’t have much when he was a kid, so he knows what it’s like. Now he wants to help out and make a difference for kids. I think it’s great when artists get into those charity events because it’s a great way to rally support. They’re also trying to increase donations by working together with the Kids with Strong Opinions to hold a toy drive at middle and high schools in Atlanta where the winning school will get a free concert with the top local hip-hop artists. It would be interesting if many of the donated toys were Superman and Robocop toys. That would be awesome. Read the entire Ace Showbiz article...

Lego Sales Up While Cheap Toys Shunned

Good news for all you kids who are used to getting dollar or discount store toys for Christmas. According to Telegraph.co.uk, British parents are opting for the higher quality toys over the lower quality cheaper toys. This can be for any number of reasons, up to and including, all the toy recalls involving the cheaply made toys. So, what toys might you get instead of the cheap dollar store toys? Well, it seems that Lego is having a great year, same with Playmobil. Lego is on par to hit an annual sales record, despite a drop in overall toy sales. Lego has been around for a long time and since their toys are made in Europe, they have control of the overall safety standards instead of relying on standards of the country the toys are imported from. Lego pieces are also much sturdier and don’t break easily. You’d have to take a hammer to them or something. Even stepping on them merely hurts the foot, not the piece. However, any and all Lego creations can break easily. There are so many cool Lego sets available like Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman and Lego Star Wars, all of which have video games made about them, but other sets are available. For the boys, there are Sponge Bob Square Pants, Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine sets while the girls would be interested in the Belville horse jumping Lego sets. Lego sets are great since they can be made into many different things and it’s a chance to be creative. They can be disassembled and reconstructed, only limited by the number of pieces you have. Some people have thousands of pieces and make large, detailed Lego...