FAO Schwarz Selling Exclusive Cabbage Patch Dolls

It's the 30th Anniversary of Cabbage Patch Kids Dolls and FAO Schwarz is celebrating by being the exclusive seller of Cabbage Patch Kids Collector Edition Dolls. Pretty cool! The 3 new dolls seem pretty successful to me. They have that over the top Cabbage Patch cuteness along with that hard to pin down but definitely weird edge. Enjoy!

Check 'em out here.

3 Best Plank Building Toys for Kids and Adults

Blocks aren't just for kids anymore. In fact, some blocks aren't even called "blocks" anymore - they're called "planks," and an entire world of very entertaining and fun building play has opened up thanks to these relatively new plank building toy sets.

The idea is simple but compelling. Push "blocks" to the next level by instead making high quality wooden "planks" that are precisely cut and sanded, feel great to the touch, and where each piece weighs almost exactly same. Thanks to the quality workmanship of these plank sets, playing with such simple but high quality planks feels very special, as if you're working with an architectural modeling materials - which explains why these toys are so popular with architects and engineers!

I recommend at least considering toys made by the following 3 brands if you're in the market for building sets which are well made and which stimulate creative and imaginative play.

Kapla Planks are the original plank toys, made in France, out of pine wood. Kapla Sets tend to be the priciest. The packaging for Kapla planks is truly beautiful, as they come in simple wooden boxes which can be used to store the planks.

Keva Planks are a more moderately priced rival to Kapla planks, made of maple wood. My survey of the marketplace at the time of writing shows that Keva planks tend to be less expensive than Kapla planks. Keva planks are the same size as Kapla planks, and could thus be used as a lower cost complement to a  collection of Kapla planks, or as an alternative.

Citiblocs are similar to Keva and Kapla plank systems, but go off on an interesting, somewhat different direction. The biggest difference is that their sets consist of  planks (or "blocs") of different sizes. These differences might make for some welcome variation in structures and play. The other big difference is that many Citibloc sets come in different color themes which really are quite beautiful. Like the Keva and Kapla sets, Citiblocs are well made wooden toys. They also seem to be the least expensive option.

I have played with all three and they're all great. You can really feel the quality with which these building sets are made, as they have a great tactile quality to them and feel wonderful to the touch. Overall, these sets are a welcome alternative to the world of cheaply made (and often over priced) plastic toy sets which dominate today's toy market.

Lego is the Biggest Toymaker in the World.

Yep, according to this Guardian article, Lego is the biggest toymaking business in the world.

It's quite a remarkable story actually, as the once ailing corporation has made such a big turn around that it has quadrupled its revenues in less than 10 years, making it bigger than Mattel (the maker of Barbie), the next biggest rival toymaking corporation.

How has it accomplished such a feat? As the article points out, it boils down to simple profitability - Lego can take one kg of plastic that costs less than $1 and then package that plastic into sets that it then sells for $75 per kg. You have to be an idiot to fail with a business model like that.

Frankly, I'm not surprised that their profits are so high. Over at my household, we've been diving into Legos and the price of these sets is intimidating - especially for what you get. My youngest just had a birthday where she received a few Lego sets, and I have to say, as much of a fan of Legos as I am, with a soft spot in my heart based on loving them as a child, it is kind of shocking the paltry amount of plastic bricks Lego sells for $15 or $20 dollars. These sets are small, as in you don't get a lot of pieces, and the pieces you do get are tiny.

I could go on and on about why I think Lego overprices their stuff, but let's just say that they make an excellent example of toy miniaturization taken to absurd levels that I talked about in a recent post about ripoff toys.

For example, I saw my daughter struggling - even with her tiny fingers - to take a Lego composed of one single square bit of plastic that was meant to represent a piece of food and place into a slightly larger teeny tiny food bin. Anyone want to take any guesses as to how long it will be before this tiny single square Lego brick is lost forever, vacuumed or swept up or lodged in some nook or cranny in the floorboards? The set had a lot of teeny tiny single square pieces.

On a more positive note, I hope that Lego designers and marketers are getting good salaries for the value that they add to these piles of plastic! They're the true heroes here.

Toys R US and FAO Schwarz Sales

Toys R Us is having a 15% off sale this week, for both online and in store purchases.

FAO Schwarz is having a Buy 1 Get 1 for 50% Off sale for all Calico Critters items. This is an online only sale. See site for details. That Calico Critters play set looks pretty cool.

The Lego Movie: Not So Bad.

So, like millions of other fellow Americans, me and my kids checked out The Lego Movie recently. Verdict? A qualified thumbs up - a thumbs up for sheer laughs and entertainment value, a more measured so so for being a standard Hollywood flick which doesn't get to the level of greatness.

To pick up from my last post, I was incredulous about this film, since any film so blatantly linked to a commercial product just seems like an extended advertisment and/or product placement opportunity.

And there's no doubt there's an aspect of this to The Lego Movie - it's unavoidable. But what's also unavoidable in this flick are a lot of laughs. A surprising amount.

The plot? Well, the plot isn't that clever, novel, or frankly, that interesting (it's the classic tale of a child seeking parental love and affection from a distant parent who has lost the "spirit of play"), but it does propel the story forward in a way that keeps the laughs coming.

And as I said the laughs keep flowing, from start to finish. It's the kind of humor that works for both adults and children alike. A lot of sarcasm and snark between characters that's funny and never mean. There are plenty of pop culture references, but never in a too over the top sort of way which might alienate little kids who don't get the references.

Visually, it's quite stunning. Needless to say everything is made out of 3D cgi'd Legos. I mean everything. Clouds in the sky are made out of Legos. Explosions, smoke and fire are made out of Legos. One sequence set at sea is particularly amazing as waves that are made completely out of Legos rise and fall in sort of a realistic way.

By sort of realistic I mean that none of the movement in the Lego world happens smoothly or realistically. It all happens "lego-ishly." That is, in sort of a herky jerky stop animated style which somehow seems to be correct for a world made entirely of plastic bricks.

This flick resides squarely in the cinematic terrain mapped out in movies like Wreck It Ralph, The Incredibles, and of course, the Toy Story movies. These are all movies with perfectly acceptable and commendable stories which function as premises for a series of engaging, entertaining, and "wow, cool!" visual sequences. It's hard to criticize these movies as they do what they're supposed to do - entertain - and they do it well, but at the same time, I would hold them up against movies like, say, those made by Hayao Miyazaki (Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Arietty, etc.). where the story and visual world's they take place in mesh together seamlessly in one engrossing experience.

In Miyazaki's movies, the moral of the story isn't treated as sort of an afterthought pasted on to a series of gags - in fact, in some Miyazak movies you'd be hard pressed to find any heavy handed "lessons for kids" at all. They're simply wonderful, rich fantasies that stay with you. Does The Lego Movie get to this level of movie goodness? No. Not even close.

What The Lego Movie provides is about 90 minutes of laughs and diversion. And within 10 minutes of leaving the theater, my oldest turned to me and asked, "can we get some more Legos?" Kind of says it all, doesn't it?

The Lego Movie: Maybe Not So Bad?

Legos! When I started this blog I knew I'd end up talking about Legos sooner or later, but I didn't realize I would be talking about a Lego movie. Funny that.

Right away I will admit that I have a negative initial reaction to movies with names like "The Lego Movie," and I doubt my reaction is all that special or strange.  I mean, when the name of a product is front and center in a movie's title - especially in a kid's movie - isn't it normal to think the flick is just an extended exercise in product placement and just an expensive (both to make and to see) form of extended-length advertisement? Well, that's my reaction anyway.

On the other hand, the title "The Lego Movie" also has a hip ironic read as well, right?

"Dad, can we go see the Lego Movie?"

"What's it called?"

"The Lego Movie!"

Might as well name it what everyone would call it anyway.

So my initial reaction to hearing about the film was negative, largely based on the name alone. But I'm hearing that it's a decent film.

Both the LA Weekly and the LA Times give it good reviews.

And I'll admit, this faux "bloopers" reel made me chuckle. Maybe this flick's worth a viewing?

When Toys Become Art

Okay, so this post isn't exactly about kid toys - but I have to admit I relate to this guy's level of creative obsession. I'm no child psychologist or child development expert, but I wouldn't at all be surprised to find out that there's a connection between imaginative, creative play during childhood and the kind of intense, tenacious creativity shown by the creator of this amazing model train setup, Bruce Zaccagnino.

h/t Gawker