Listening to what customers want is crucial for any company to survive, but in 2008 Lego took that idea farther than most by enlisting its dedicated fanbase to actually help it design new sets. The approach has led to some of the company’s most memorable creations to date, including a towering new Voltron set that…
The elderly can be a lucrative demographic to target, at least until your customers die and stop buying your products. So in an attempt to get a new generation hooked on collecting its doe-eyed sculptures, Precious Moments is expanding with a series of pop culture-inspired pieces featuring memorable film characters…
Instead of relying on just his imagination to make Lego toys fly, Adam Woodworth supersizes his favorite sets and upgrades them with motors and electronics so they can take to the skies all by themselves. But with a blocky rotor that’s clearly not designed for flight, can you figure out how this Lego helicopter…
When I was a kid I always wanted to electrify my Lego creations. I wanted my Lego planes to fly, and I wanted my Lego cars to drive. The latter is finally possible thanks to Lego’s new Power Up platform, a set of features that lets you add motors to Lego creations and control them with a smartphone app. One of the…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly round up of the most delightful toys we’ve seen tempting our savings accounts on the internet. This week: S.H. Figurarts finally brings Princess Leia to its Star Wars line, Overwatch’s best dad gets the chibi treatment, and honest to god Pokébutts. Check it out!
In the escalating arms race that is entertaining airline safety videos, Turkish Airlines has just dropped the equivalent of the atomic bomb on its competitors. Its new in-flight video features characters from The Lego Movie inside a fantastically detailed Lego airplane. It’s...awesome.
Nerf ranks up there with Lego, Hot Wheels, and Barbie, as one of the most recognizable brands in the toy industry, but can you have just as much fun pinging your co-worker with foam ammo fired from one of its competitor’s products? I went hands on with two Nerf alternatives: the Adventure Force Commandfire and…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly round up of all things fun, collectible, and frivolous. San Diego Comic-Con is but a distant memory at this point, but thankfully there’s still plenty of toy news to be had. Lego’s still pumping out new sets, Jell-O’s trying its hand at making edible toys, and we’ve got some fun…
Designing robots that emulate how creatures move and walk helps us not only understand the world around us, but also improve how automatons of the future will get around. But on the other hand, that same research has given birth to this creepy centipede robot toy that squirms around on 18 flailing legs like a tiny…
Lego might be the most popular toy on Earth, but it’s about to get some stiff (jiggly?) competition from Kraft-Heinz, which just tweaked the recipe of its Jell-O gelatin mix, making it thicker and sturdier. It’s only available in new Jell-O Play kits that also include plastic molds for making squishy bricks that can…
Until the Super Soaker came along in 1990, water guns hadn’t changed much in over a century. But the Super Soaker was 28 years ago, and a group of German engineers and designers think it’s finally time for water guns to evolve again. They’ve created the self-filling Spyra One that fires quick bursts of water instead…
Over-the-top Nerf battles are a fun and (mostly) painless way to determine who in the office has to buy the donuts this week. What’s not so fun is having to hunt down every last missing dart afterwards. Hasbro’s eliminated that hassle with its new Laser Ops Pro blasters; an updated version of laser tag that might feel…
Kano’s first product was a computer that kids could build as easily as a Lego set, helping to demystify the technologies we obsess over. The company’s next product is a buildable, motion-sensing wand that swaps spells for simple programming making it easy for kids to conjure up magical interactions with a flick of the…
Saturday is always a huge day at Comic-Con, and this year was no exception, as Warner Bros. came to rule the roost with an earth-shattering Hall H panel, including trailers for Aquaman, Godzlla, Shazam, and more. But that wasn’t all—as ever, there was so much news, and io9 is here to help you catch up on anything you…
You guys, so much happened at Comic-Con yesterday I’m not even sure I know what’s going on anymore. What is time? What is space? What is existence? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I do have every bit of news, trailers, and all the rest of io9's coverage of everything that happened during Comic-Con day…
The Brothers Chaps’ Homestar Runner cartoons are one of the few good things to ever come from this internet thing. It introduced the world to countless quotable characters, but few became as immediately popular as the S-shaped, one-armed, flying, burninating dragon called Trogdor, who’s now starring in his very own…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly round up of the toys that we’ll be buying immediately after we’re done staring at everything at San Diego Comic-Con next week. While there’s all that ahead of us, right now we’ve got Lego Movie 2 sets, a very stylish Half Life hero, and, as always, adorable porgs. Check it out!
Brio’s magnetic wooden trains are as iconic a toy as Lego bricks or Hot Wheels cars. Traditionally kid-powered, a few years ago electric motors were introduced to the line, but this year Brio trains are being upgraded with smart features that allow them to interact with tracks and playsets. Don’t hit the panic alarm…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular roundup of all things toys. This week, San Diego Comic-Con marches ever closer with even more exclusives, Batman Ninja strikes at your shelf, and Nerf is getting into laser tag. Check it out!
In recent years, Nerf has added some gigantic blasters to its lineup, at times necessitating the need for a shoulder strap. But they still can’t compare to one of YouTube’s Ryan & David’s recent creations: a four-foot long custom-built bazooka that fires oversized darts made from pool noodles.
