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02/23/2004: Toy Fair 2004: The Best of the Rest.

Toy Fair is a pretty difficult thing to cover, mostly because everyone is only interested in pics pics pics, and there's really not much to add. By the time UGO got a video crew down there, I realized that my worth as a reporter had fell down to "guy standing in the background looking somewhat interested." So, I tried to think of something different to add. Here's what I came up with… Toy Fair 2004: The Best of the Rest features ten toys seen at the Javits Convention Center that — perhaps with good reason — you probably won't see covered anywhere else. It's not just about Transformers and G.I. Joe at these events; there's more distributors than anyone could possibly visit in a span of three days, and while they're not peddling items that are going to see their stars shine in the aisles of Toys 'R' Us anytime soon, there was a lot of cool stuff. Shrunken heads! Inflatable ninjas! Carrot growing kits! Baboochi! Check it out.

I love Tellmi. I NEED it.
Only, not really. But it is sort of cool. Like SNOMOLD.

I need one of those Baboochi. The origin story is just so inspirational, and even though I am not a "small earth child who takes care of things called toys" I need one.

The guys at kinnikuman.com's forums are worried that they killed the line before distributing them nationally… many places havn't gotten the first wave of figures, yet…

Man, inflatable wrestlers. Just one of the many members in the "It's-not-violent-because-it's-inflatable-so-it-doesn't-hurt."

Whoa. Talk about a guilt trip. If we DON'T love the Baboochies, they'll be forced to live on a planet of big mean people that want to eat them. Let's hope the little guys catch on. The entire Baboochi race is at stake!

Blade racers is just about the coolest looking thing since the original Optimus Prime!
:D
Please tell me you have a set Matt?

That flybar looks cool. It reminds me of those kangaroo shoes that you sometimes see circus folk or dance teams wear.

I also thing Blade racers sound awesome. There is no info on their corporate web site; any idea as to when these products will be available?

Baboochi and the root-vue thing were awesome! God, I would have LOVED that carrot growing kit when I was a kid….come to think of it, I'd love it now…nice job

who the hell wants to grow carrots? If anyone bought me that, I would bury them in the box with their heads sticking out and cut their vocal chords and make beef jerky out of them. (motel hell)

yeah, i LOVED growing things when I was little…I would have wanted the root-vue. I second whoever said that Baboochis should come in hot pink

I'm fond of the Mystery Bagz myself, if only because the article misspelled the misspelling! I thought I was a little sick last week, but Ned's Head is way, way more sick than I could ever be. Plus, it redefines what a bug one catches is.

Hey, Duck! Baboochi-oochi-koochi-smoochi. Those're cool. Make some Day-glo ones, and I'd buy them for my various nieces and nephews. Or eat them. The Root-Vue reminds me of those terrariums we used to get in Sugar-Crisp, back when dinosaurs and George Burns walked the Earth, just a plastic dome, three seeds, and a sponge. Tiny mustard plants.

I second King's hello to Duck. I'm kind of amused that the thing she came back to comment on seems to have deviant uses as a really strange sex toy…

I know I've requested this before, but the Mystery Bags reminded me of Magic Nursery Babies too much to let the opportunity to ask for a review slip by. You'd buy the doll, but you wouldn't know if it was a boy or girl until you took it home and dunked their little cap into warm water and it turned into a birth certificate. I think there's plenty of girly X-E-ers to justify such a frou-frou article.

I had one of those magic nursery babies, and the gimmick was to buy one and it might be a twin. You would then have to send away for the second doll. I remember getting one for Christmas and it ended up having a twin! 6-8 weeks later it was like Christmas all over again.

Hey, good thing you're not hosting this article. Here come the slashdot nerds. I'm not sure how the hell none of their comments on slashdots mentioned XE.

Eep! Slashdot is a-comin' here? Somebody hold me! -!?!- Not you, heeloyd. If we turn the lights off and stay quiet, they might think no-one is home. I'll be under the sofa with the cat.

By the way, did I mention that the guy running the Baboochi booth actually gave me one of the dolls? I love this thing. Actually, of what's mentioned on that list, there's five or so that I plan on shelling out some cash for. Root-Vue, for example. That screams "article" to me.

Are you sure Root-Vue qualifies as an article Matt? I mean as long as you don't screw it up too terribly, you'll have edible vegetables at the end as opposed to a wilted Chia pet, or McGriddles.

I dunno, maybe not a traditional article…but then again, Cobra's Chia Plot only came to be because I needed some way to review a Chia Pet before it actually grew.

Baboochi was *this close* to getting an article…there just wasn't enough there, unfortunately.

Hey King, sounds like we are from the same era. Back when cereal premiums were cool, like those little plastic submarines that would dive and rise in water if you put baking powder in them. The terrariums were cool, I wish they still made them. Any way, you and I are probably from that select group on this site that saw Star Wars in the theatre ( first release )and remember it. Am I right ?

Mystery Bagz seems like a dumb idea… probably the kids'll buy one or two poorly articulated figures and then decide to stop wasting money.

Root-Vue is an awesome idea, though! I want to get it and throw some worms in there with the veggies too. It's like an ant farm for edible foods… and worms.

Snowmold is an awesome idea– all my snowmen end up looking like deformed versions of E.T. I know I'm going to buy some, and when it snows, make a bunch of snowmen and take off the mold. I'll be a snowman king!

Mabye if the Baboochis don't sell well they'll find a way to get big and mean and eat us.

I wonder if eventually they will make snowmolds inspired by Calvin and Hobbes. That kid made some of the best snowmen ever.

Re:Huh… (Score:5, Informative)
by glk572 (599902) on Tuesday February 24, @06:35PM (#8379686)(http://www.wwu.edu/~krausegLast Journal: Wednesday January 21, @08:13PM)

"The Baboochi is an attempt to indoctronate children in the cult of scientology. Do a little research about Laura C. Byrnes the creator, just a second on google and you can see how screwed up this really is.

I for one do not like the idea of children playing with a toy created by a long time cult member, especially when it includes a pamphlet to introduce them to the relegion."

Flybar's the coolest one (Score:5, Informative) by heptapod (243146) on Tuesday February 24, @03:34PM (#8377412)(http://heptapod.org/ Last Journal: Monday April 21, @11:06PM)
"Looks like someone [andymacdonald.com] already got their hands on a Flybar. With video!"
http://www.andymacdonald.com/news.body.htm

Jumping (Score:5, Funny) by Reality Master 101 (179095) on Tuesday February 24, @03:57PM (#8377639)(http://slashdot.org/ Last Journal: Wednesday February 05, @04:17PM) "That FlyBar reminds me of a toy we saw a few years ago… The Death Wish Shoes [superdairyboy.com].

"
http://www.superdairyboy.com/recreational%20Items/Poweriser_...

Oy. Too bad the Dynatech Action website is still under construction. Those Blade Racers sound sweet. Like Darda only moreso.

Tellmi's kinda cute. I have to say though, the "Beetle Cannon" on their website looked much cooler. Of course, being a cool toy, there's little to no chance it'll ever reach the american market. (Much like Optimus Prime got stuck with short smokestacks and Power Rangers Zords suck ass compared to the Japanese toys.)

Flybar I'm of mixed opinion. One part of me says "Dang, that looks cool." another part says "Say hello to the new Lawn Darts."

I agree with Regault, the flybar and poweriser both are lawsuits waiting to happen. I know when I was a kid the first thing I would do would be to climb up on the roof of my barn and jump off with those things. I imagine if you can jump 6 feet in the air on those by yourself, jumping off a 20 foot roof would either send you 30 foot in the air, or they would immediately explode and rip your legs apart.

Who am I kidding, if I had one now I'd probably do the same thing. After all I still have a steel plate in my leg from when I jumped off my fraternity house roof 4 years ago.

"I wonder if eventually they will make snowmolds inspired by Calvin and Hobbes. That kid made some of the best snowmen ever."

Both Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. And The Cat From Outer Space. The stodgy grown-up cereals have DVDs with old TV shows on them right now. I'm getting the one with Barney Miller on it.

hehehe- I can see it now…"The newest craze sweeping the nation!!! People playing lawn darts while pogoing on a flybar!!! " Ugh, only when "extreme" sports aren't so extreme anymore. Maybe in post apocalyptic earth….

Oh and by the way if anyone remembers me and wants to talk to me you can always E-mail me at phunqsauce@yahoo.com, message me on yahoo and AIM at phunqsauce.
Alright, later……

Nice writeup…wow that wrestling ring is somethin else. that is truly every 12 year olds dream…ok i confess, when i was like 18 i used to wrestle my friends on a trampoline and when they were hurt we'd use pillows. yeah. pillows. they didnt get hurt as much and weighed less so you could do lots of cool moves. and these are lifesize unlike those hulk hogan pillows or pillow people. i used to kick the ass of pillow people when it came to wrestling.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2004 at 8:45 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.