Monday, December 1, 2008

Super Mario Toys

These were found from our local Toys'r'us. Toys are from Popco.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Star Wars Lego display

At the same visit in Hong Kong, in the same Toys'r'us where I found Super Mario toys, was this nice Star Wars Lego display.

In the country I live in, Finland, Lego toys are quite expensive. As many other things too, the Lego sets were quite a lot cheaper in Hong Kong.

For example the set 7667, Imperial Dropship, costs around 18 euros in Finland. In Hong Kong the same package costs around 128 HKD, which is less than 12 euros.

I tried to count the figurines from the image, and I guess there is approx 250 figurines (not all of them are visible) in the display. To create a display with 250 Star Wars Lego figurine, you would need 63 sets with 4 figurines in each. For a Finn, it would cost around 1134 euros.

Luckily there was a sale in our local toy shop, and you could get every Lego set with 50 % discount. I can post some pics of the sets we bought, after Christmas...





Wednesday, September 24, 2008

XXL PEZ Dispenser

As a PEZ dispenser collector, I noticed this item at once I entered the store. Too bad, I was travelling (in Hong Kong), and the dispenser was too large to bring back home, as my luggage was already full. I did buy another PEZ, a smaller one, which I was able to squeeze in my bag.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Unique wooden Janosch Tigerduck toy

My kids got as a gift this great children book by Janosch. The book contains all of the Panama-stories (link to a Finnish online bookstore). My kids love to hear the stories about Little Bear and Little Tiger, and what is the best, I like to read them!

There is this little Tigerduck toy that can be seen in almost every page. It seems to be great fun for kids to try to spot the toy from different pages, over and over again.

I was trying to look for toys based on these Janosch books and characters, but could not find any from local toy stores or supermarkets. So I decided to do one by myself! Here is one image from my kids unique Tigerduck wooden toy.

The toy was made about two years ago, and has been played with quite a lot since given to kids, so there might be some marks from playing. I basically made the toy in our kitchen, with quite a limited set of tools. I know, it could be better, but my friends and family could not tell it was handmade by me! And when the toy is also accepted by children, I am pleased.

The wheels are connected with long screws, that were cut to correct length. To secure the wheels, I riveted the ends of the screws. I used non toxic paints, found from ordinary hardware store. I did not buy black paint for eyes, I drawed them with a waterproof marker. I used tape to mask yellow base color before painting brown stripes.


Monday, September 15, 2008

Super Mario capsule toys

June 2008, when I was visiting Hong Kong, I found from Toys'r'us a wall with capsule toy vending machines. Some of the machines contained toys I had searched with no luck already from Taipei's huge malls and toy stores; Super Mario toys!

I had just spent my coins to other toys, so I had to change bills to HK dollars. The young female behind counter already knew what I wanted, and changed my bills to coins with a smile, without asking.

After I got my coins, I rather quickly bought 5 Super Mario items, one keychain toy (which was actually a mistake) and 4 bouncy balls.







Read more about capsule toys: Capsule toys at Wikipedia
Read more about bouncy balls: Bouncy balls at Wikipedia

EDIT: added images

Note: I wish I had more time to take better pictures. These images were taken in a hurry, on the living room floor. My kids drawings were on the other side of the white background papers...