After nearly half a century of injuring children and occasionally baking things, things are about to change for the Easy-Bake Oven as its traditional heat source is set to go the way of the dodo. [More]
toys
Why Do Happy Meals Have To Be Sexist?
By 1.7.11
Rose has a problem with McDonald’s. It’s a relatively tiny one, but something that she wishes McDonald’s would fix. See, for her occasional visits to buy Happy Meals for her kids, she would prefer not to be asked whether she wants a “girl toy” or a “boy toy.” [More]
Here's One Gift For That Child You Hate And Want To Scare The Bejeezus Out Of
By 12.20.10
Be glad it’s 2010 and not 1890, if only for the fact that your child (or niece/nephew, or precocious sidekick) will not be asking for one of Thomas Edison’s talking dolls. [More]
Report: Walmart Jacks Up Toy Prices Just In Time For The Holidays
By 12.15.10
Walmart might have had some decent toy prices on Black Friday, but a new report says that not only did those low prices not last — many of them went up. [More]
FBI Warns Video Camera Barbie Could Be Used For Kiddie Porn
By 12.8.10
The FBI is downplaying a leaked internal memo that reminded field agents that “Barbie Video Girl”, which has a video camera embedded in her necklace, could be used by pervs to produce child pornography. [More]
VTech Tech Support: "Sometimes Our Product Works, Sometimes It Doesn't"
By 11.18.10
Juan writes that his granddaughter has a cute little digital picture frame marketed to children. He tried to hook it up to his computer to load some pictures on it for her, and couldn’t get it to cooperate with his computer. Juan tried to connect the picture frame using both Windows 7 and Vista, both of which the product’s marketing materials claim are compatible operating systems. Only…not so much. “Sometimes the program works and sometimes it doesn’t,” an employee helpfully told Juan after asking if he has a Windows XP system lying around. [More]
Hilarious Toys You Won't Want Near Your Kids
By 11.5.10
As you get ready to go Christmas shopping for the little ones, be thankful you won’t find toys like this in the aisles any longer. [More]
Santa's Elves Had Better Get Cracking On Retina Displays
By 10.26.10
Parents looking in the aisles of the toy store where they sell hula hoops, baseball gloves and baby dolls will want to start looking elsewhere to buy Christmas presents for their ungrateful ankle-biters. In face, they may want to avoid the toy section altogether and head toward the electronics department. [More]
This Is A $300,000 Barbie Doll
By 10.21.10
A Barbie doll dressed in a black cocktail dress, pink heels, and a sparkly pink necklace sold at auction at Christie’s yesterday for $302,500. Well, perhaps it’s not a Barbie doll so much as some plastic and fabric that happens to be attached to a custom-designed Cubist pink and white diamond necklace made by Australian jewelry designer Stefano Canturi. [More]
Toy Submarine Recalled After Doing Damage To Little Boys' Private Bits
By 10.18.10
Munchkin Inc. and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled 34,000 of the pictured toy “Bathtub Subs” because they have been a little harsh on the most personal parts of some young lads. [More]
Should Hasbro Be Allowed To Own A Kids' TV Channel?
By 10.6.10
New kid-centric cable channel The Hub hasn’t even debuted yet, but it’s already receiving a lot of criticism from parental and consumer watchdog groups, not because its programming is too violent or racy, but because it’s co-owned by toy and game giant Hasbro. [More]
If You Think Your Dog Will Destroy Kong's Nearly Indestructible Toys, Save Your Receipt
By 10.1.10
Pet owners (and pets) prize Kong brand toys for their indestructible qualities and incredible funness. What happens when one of their toys fails? Mike tells Consumerist that if you want a replacement toy when yours breaks, you’d better hold on to the receipt. [More]
Fisher-Price Recalls Millions Of Toys, High Chairs, Trikes, Oh My!
By 9.30.10
Apparently aiming to become the Toyota of the kiddie products industry, Fisher-Price has issued four different recalls today, covering dozens of products and millions of units. So if you have a young kid, you’ll probably want to at least scan the list. [More]
Have Silly Bandz Peaked?
By 9.29.10
Now that adults are using them to flirt, it stands to reason that the shaped rubber band sensation Silly Bandz might be on the wane among its original core user group: actual children. [More]
Man Arrested For Spilling His Midichlorians On Star Wars Toy In Florida Walmart
By 9.21.10
The Smoking Gun website has posted an affidavit describing a particularly skeevy toy aisle incident in a Florida Walmart. A man allegedly took a copy of the February Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue over to the toy aisle, then masturbated to it in front of the Star Wars toys. When he was done, according to a Walmart employee who witnessed the incident, he wiped his hand on a nearby toy; a police source who spoke with TSG says it was a Star Wars lightsaber. [More]
Parents Group Calls Happy Meal Version Of The Human Torch A "Horrifying Spectacle"
By 8.10.10
I’m having trouble telling whether the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is serious, or whether someone at the organization saw that Venture Brothers episode and got confused, so I’ll just describe what they’re doing and you can decide for yourselves. The group has launched a letter writing campaign to demand that McDonald’s stop giving out Marvel superhero toys, specifically The Thing and The Human Torch, because they’re too violent. [More]
Are You Ready For The Return Of Bratz Dolls?
By 7.22.10
After a 2008 court ruling found that the creator of the Bratz line of dolls had stolen the idea from Mattel (or rather, from himself, when he was working for Mattel), all Bratz products were supposed to be destroyed, and Mattel had the right to take over the brand and do whatever it wanted with it. A judge put the mass annihilation on hold, and today an appeals court overturned the initial ruling, meaning your local toy store may soon be carrying the next generation of the once-popular dolls. [More]
Sorry, Girls: Your Toy Blocks Cost More, Have Fewer Pieces
By 7.21.10
The first rule of toy marketing: if you want to sell something to girls, make it pink! And in the case of the Fisher-Price TRIO building blocks set on Amazon, make the girls’ product cost $8.50 more than the “standard” product, for no clear reason. Even though it contains fewer blocks. [More]
