We pick interesting products and trends for you!
One of the things New Zealand is known for is the Weta Workshop. They world’s premiere movie making special effects and design studio. Adam Savage from Tested got a taste of their magic for the upcoming Ghost in the Shell movie with the Major’s iconic thermal silicone suit.
Gather the family around the table for board game night. Build, create and stack. It’s like Jenga, well kind of. First you will need to spend $100 bucks on the “starter pack” that includes the Plinth, which is the electronic interactive base plate and 24 “Artefacts” which are the animals. You will also need an iOS or Android device to play the game.
Over the weekend I had a White Elephant party with my cousins and one of the cool gifts was this Jakks Pacific World of Nintendo MarioKart 8 Mini Anti-Gravity R/C Racer. Who has time in this social media ADD era to build R/C cars like those Tamiya models? This cute MarioKart 8 R/C package is truly plug and play, Just open the item, put the batteries in, turn the R/C & remote on and you are good to go! The MarioKart 8 speeds around the house pretty fast with good range. Old kids and young kids will have fun with this.
Photo: Invision for Nissan
Like the Hot Wheels X-Wing Carship, at the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story red carpet event, Nissan also had their Rogue SUV outfitted to look like a X-Wing fighter. The Nissan Rogue SUV was painted to look like the iconic X-Wing with jet engines and laser blasters fitted onto the sides of the car. And to top it off, an R2 Droid sat on top.
The first Back to the Future film was beloved by many fans and over the years there have been many officially licensed products from the film and here’s another cool geeky item – the Back to the Future Flux Capacitor Wall Charger.
Hot Wheels is well known for some of their crazy and wacky car designs. With the life-size build of the Star Wars X-Wing Carship, Hot Wheels also announced the 1/64 scale diecast model for their toy lineup.
The 1960s anime Speed Racer left an impression with this car fanatic and customizer Jerry Patrick. His dream was to build the Mach 5 car from the cartoon. What was once a 1994 Chevy Corvette has been chopped, sliced and converted into Speed Racer’s Mach 5. The car uses fiber class for the shape and look. The process takes about 3-5 months to build one.
I do admit that I find the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Electronic Chewbacca Mask annoying! The “Chewbacca mom” got her 15 minutes of viral fame and let’s move on. This is what I really want – the Hasbro Black Series Imperial Stormtrooper Electronic Voice Changer Helmet. This helmet is aim for adult fans that don’t want to “cosplay.” The adult size helmet has sound effects and electronic voice changer so you can talk like a Stormtrooper.
One of the most popular Star Wars toys was the AT-AT Walker and in the upcoming Rogue One film, a variant version of the AT-AT is introduced, the Imperial AT-ACT. While the AT-AT is a heavy offensive weapon and troop carrier, the AT-ACT carries heavy materials and weapons.
Besides the Autobahn and Oktoberfest, Germany also has a neat miniature train museum in Hamburg City. If you fancy Tyco train sets as a kid, then this miniature model train land is for you. The Miniatur Wunderland is always expanding every year. They now have on display 9 city/landscape sections. This model comes alive with sights and sounds that are run by Miniatur Wunderland employees using specific built computers and software.
If you were that kid that grew up with the Atari 2600, you will definitely remember the distinctive box art packaging. As a kid seeing the Atari video game box art made me go to my mom and say to her, “I want you to buy me those games!” This October 2016, Dynamite and author Tim Lapetino take Atari fans on journey of video game artwork with The Art of Atari.
Snapchat is a popular photo/video sharing app has now released a physical product. The Snapchat Spectacles are video camera sunglasses, kinda of like mix of GoPro and James Bond spy glasses. There are 3 different color choices to choose from and with a tap of a button the glasses records 10 second of video and transfers your “Memories” via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to Snapchat.
What is it like to watch a battle between a giant Gundam Mobile Suit and Zaku? Well, Bandai Namco in Japan will take you there VR-style with there experimental VR Zone Project iCan in Odaiba. The Gundam VR attraction is located in the Divercity Tokyo Plaza shopping mall right next to the giant Gundam statue.
Special Effects guru Julian Checkley is not just your ordinary Batman cosplayer, he makes working Bat-gadgets as well. Inspired by the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, he designed the Bat-costume with working Bat weapons, like LCD video screen, smoke bombs, flashlight, communications unit and more.
Besides Tapatío hot sauce, my other favorite hot sauce is Sriracha. Sriracha fans get a dose of USB charge with this BAIT x Sriracha Bottle External Power Bank.
Early this year, Disney announced a new line of official authentic film replicas of props from the Star Wars franchise – the Star Wars Collectibles: Ultimate Studio Edition. This ain’t know Burger King-style run and gun operation, these are made to order (takes around 16 weeks) with custom display pedestals and packed into wooden crates. Different helmets, lightsabers and weapons are available to order. These props are for the high-end Star Wars fan collector and likely used for display purposes. Expect premium prices.
This spacecraft toy looks like it’s from the 1980s’s Silverhawks cartoon show, remember that? But, this is Space Hawk from Ravensburger. Space Hawk combines the toy element, while adding the smartphone (sold separately) interactivity and board game aesthetics into one. Fun for kids and adults trying to save the galaxy!
It is time for me to upgrade my “cosplay” Halloween Iron Man costume. As you can see from the picture above – that Iron Man helmet barely fit me and yes it’s for kids, but I made it work using red duck tape to help expand the helmet because my head is too big.
Now Marvel will be producing “adult” role play gear. This new Iron Man helmet is badass. This is great for people who want to cosplay but don’t have time to make their own Iron Man helmet. This is the Marvel Legends Series: Iron Man Electronic Helmet with LED light eyes and sound effects.
The housing and rental market is crazy here in the SF/Bay Area. Insane to the membrane. Time to find a 3D printer and build a house. Yes, that’s what is happening in Beijing, China. Chinese company HuaShang Tengda created a two-story 4,305 square feet house using a 3D printing technology. The building job took 45 days and it supposedly withstands 8.0 earthquakes too!
I admit I’m too selfish to have a dog or cat, plus it’s hard finding apartments that allow animals. But I could use a low maintenance mini-robot friend. The time is now for the kid in me to drop some dollars on this Anki Cozmo robot. Anki states Cozmo has a high-tech A.I. and straight out of the box, it will be compatible with your iOS or Android devices. It can roam around my apartment floor and make emoji faces at me.
What if Spider-Man’s webbing can be a reality? When a spider creates a spider silk webbing it has many properties, like it can be used for food, protect it’s babies, be an alarm system and trap prey. Scientist are intrigued by the spider silk and especially how it never tangles up and stretches so perfectly. Now scientist on “paper” theory have created “liquid wire” replicating the spider silk web.
It’s time for fun rides at the YomiuriLand amusement park in Japan. On March 2016, YomiuriLand opened a new attraction called Gujjoba aka Good Job Attractions, which is aimed at children about Japanese manufacturing pop culture. It took about 7 years and $90 million USD involved to build the new attractions. It features 4 factories: Food Factory by Nissin Food Products, Stationary Factory by Kokuyo, Fashion Factory and for the car geeks – CAR Factory by Nissan. Nissan Dashboard show takes us on a tour of the CAR Factory.
Mattel Hot Wheels has released several 1:64, 1:43 and 1:18 scale “Back to the Future” AMC DeLorean cars, now this summer June 2016, Hot Wheels will be releasing a limited production run of the 2016 Hot Wheels Elite 1:18 Ultimate Edition Time Machine. This elite edition will feature LEDs, sound effects and extra car parts, so “Back to the Future” fans can make all 5 versions of the AMC DeLorean time machine from the series.
If you remember the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System and the Zapper gun accessory from 1980s, well this Zapper is a real-life gun. Texas gun company Precision Syndicate, LLC specializes in customizing weapons like this Nintendo Zapper made from a Glock gun.
In two years time in hospitals, airports, office buildings, train stations and malls – you might find yourself talking to a Hitachi customer service robot, the EMIEW3.
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