Kinder Surprise

Sorry it has been so long since my last post! No excuses, I just didn't make the time. So it means I have a backlog of ideas...I am going to start with a recent acquisition.

While traveling to Spain on a work project, I purchased a Kinder Surprise egg for John. You might recognize it from the YouTube video I shared in a previous post. These little treasures are hollow chocolate eggs with capsules inside. The toys vary widely, sometimes specific to Kinder eggs, sometimes licensed characters such as Kung Fu Panda.

From what I gather they were traditionally filled with pieces that require assembly to create the toy. Of course, kids liked to eat these parts, so today there seem to be more eggs filled with little toys. Though several countries have banned the toys. The U.S. has, of course, banned them. You can read all about it on the Consumer Product Safety Commission website. While I am not a fan of kids choking, I am also not a fan of toy banning.

Getting back to the toy...John was lucky enough to crack open his Kinder Surprise and find a fuzzy, delightful dinosaur. It is one in a dino series.

I will definitely be scouring the globe for these treasures. And I promise I will not inhale any small toys.

Buying in Bulk

So what do you do when you have tried to get the perfect toy only to end up with a handful of goats and an empty coin purse? How about buying a bucket full and picking out your favs? I think it might constitute cheating in the world of capsule toys, but thanks to the internet, it is possible.

Here are some of my favorite bulk buy picks...(thanks to John for sending me some vendor links!)

Cutie Monsters - Why haven't I found these in a machine yet?!? I want 'em!

Sticky Maggots - Ewwwwwww! I can think of a hundred places to hide these at the office.

Bouncy Balls! You can get 1000 for $69!

So, when you have all the toys you wanted, what can you do with the remaining quantity? Certainly it depends on your motivation, doesn't it? Having 200 extra sticky maggots is quite different than having an extra pile of Cutie Monsters. But if you have 1000 bouncy balls you can start working on something like this...

Recent trip to NYC kidrobot

First I must say that I love the Prince Street kidrobot. Being downtown always rocks, and this slick updated store is really a treat. During a recent business trip I stopped in to buy me and John some designer vinyl goodness and picked up a few things I thought I would share. Yes, all of these toys cost more than $.50, but hey, they are cool, and are all blind boxes, so suck it up and enjoy them.

First up is the Debilz series. Produced by kidrobot, designed by Mist, the series comes in a graffiti covered blind box that makes you feel good about the possibilities. I was very hopeful, but my enthusiasm was muted by the appearance of JeanClaude, the grinning venus fly trap. Not the worst toy ever, but definitely not the coolest in the series. I would certainly buy another one of these toys, but instead of JeanClaude I would hope for one of these guys:

I bought two zipits, both were adorably awesome. One for me and one for John. Also produced by kidrobot, these are designed by Kat Leuzinger. They are teeny and stylish and can be used to jazz up any zipper pull or another seemingly functional item. They were inexpensive, and that's a good thing since there are a million different variants (okay, maybe more like 35, but still that's a lot)!

The last thing I bought was a Cannibal Funfair! Mini Figure. These are designed by TADO and come in a variety of colorful animals with even more colorful stories. John was lucky enough to open up a bearhouse figure.

A visual delight, this little guy is very fun with his pencils, though his back story is a bit troubling, described in the printed material as, "BearHouse is a turmoil-ridden artist. He has 8 children all of whom are with different mothers." Overall, a big thumbs up for this series.