Toys

Many readers may fondly recall building rubber-band-powered balsa wood model airplanes. While the things were kinda cool, they didn't fly for long, nor could they be remotely controlled. Such is not the case, however, with the new Tornado Updraft 12.

When you played with action figures, you probably tried picturing yourself having the same adventures they were. Well, doing so is about to become easier, as Hasbro is offering to a put a 3D-printed miniature copy of your face on one of its figures.

Back in 2013, California-based startup Shark Wheel hit Kickstarter with a very odd-looking cube-shaped skateboard wheel. Now the company has supersized the design for a pair of funky electric cars for kids – the Shark SUV and the Shark UTV.

Ferrari plans to sell scale replicas of the fabled 1950s 250 Testa Rossa supercar, all built to exacting standards with hand-beaten aluminum bodywork, a sophisticated electric drivetrain, suspension modeled on the original ... and a $US109,000 price tag.

Lego has been taking steps toward more sustainable practices and has just revealed the first prototype of its classic brick element crafted from recycled plastic that meets the company's quality and safety requirements.

Upon first seeing a dog-like quadruped robot for the first time, many people jokingly ask where they could buy one. Well, they can now get a fully functional miniature dog-bot of their very own via a Kickstarter campaign, for just US$195.

A couple of years ago, Playtime Engineering launched a colorful portable synthesizer on Indiegogo, and now the startup has reworked the hardware and software, and toned down the cuteness, for the Blipblox After Dark.

Construction kits have been a blessing in lockdown, and a new one might appeal to those interested in tinkering with robots. ArmPal is a robot arm kit that you build yourself, then pit against other robot arms in battles based on picking stuff up.

Looking to take down a playtime target with a few rubber band bullets but can’t quite get them away quickly enough? Weaponized T-Rex is out to offer some rapid-fire capabilities with a motorized rubber band toy gun based on the Gatling machine gun.

We didn't want to write about this, we really didn't. I mean, it's a battery-powered Barbie car for kids, those have been around forever. But one look at the product video and a flip through the photos and we were hooked.​

Almost 50 years to the day since Neil Armstrong uttered the words "the Eagle has landed" Lego will launch its Eagle Lunar Module set to celebrate the anniversary. Developed in cooperation with NASA, the set will be available from June 1 at a price of just under US$100.

Almost 25 years after the ill-fated Virtual Boy, Nintendo has finally jumped back into the VR game with a new Labo Kit for the Switch console. The fourth of these DIY cardboard construction kits is built around a pair of VR goggles that slide into different contraptions to play a range of games.