Printers, I think we can agree with some relief, are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Still, plenty of people have the hulking old things plugged in somewhere in their homes, and Mattel’s gonna put ‘em to use. For printing real (fake) hair extensions for you and your Barbie.
Hot wheel sets are a staple of many a childhood, but they’re also a staple of creating a huge sprawling mess that someone will inevitably trip over and start cursing. So! Take that racetrack off the floor and put it on the wall.
One weird thing about Toy Fair is all of the stringent gender norms that are pushed in marketing-speak. Trucks are for boys. Transformers are for boys. Nerf is for boys. So what do girls get? This exceedingly creepy robo-baby, designed to train them to be mothers. Seriously.
Playing with toys alone is pretty fun I guess, but any kind of amusement is at its most amusing when you’re subordinating your friends to the might of your will. Mattel’s Radica Mindflex Duel does that. With your brain waves.
Cars 2 is coming, which means an unrelenting onslaught of licensed toys. Chief among them is Disney’s Lightning McQueen Alive 1:55 scale car – pat it on the head, and it wobbles, shrugs, and – get ready: talks in Owen Wilson’s voice.
