Awesome Toys

When we were kids, we loved making little LEGO cars. Thanks to Travis Pastrana and the gang from Nitro Circus, we now have life-size LEGO race cars. As part of their Life Size Toys series, they assembled giant LEGO bricks atop go-karts and raced them around an indoor track until bricks started to fall off. At least they’re easy to snap back together.

Do you find yourself vegging out on the couch too much? Tayto won’t judge! This jumbo couch potato is happy to hang out with you while you lounge. This huggable tuber measures about 13″ tall, and is filled with soft and squeezy polyester stuffing. Just don’t give in to the temptation to slather him in butter and sour cream.

What’s cooler than a regular katana? One that hides in its handle and extends like a lightsaber. After seeing an example of this awesome collapsible katana design at a convention, Maker David Miao printed a copy of it at home on his Prusa XL 3D printer. He made it look even better by printing it with Fixdry’s tri-color PLA, which gives it a rainbow sheen.

Playforever makes some of the coolest toy cars you can buy. Their latest creation is the Luft, a wonderful little drop-top inspired by a 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Targa. The 6.9″ long 2-seater features the iconic Targa band and a right-hand driver wearing a shiny helmet. It’s made from ABS plastic and suitable for ages 1+.

This metal spider looks like some kind of creepy-crawly robo-arachnid. It’s made from dozens of tiny stainless steel parts and can be assembled or disassembled without glue. The finished model measures about 4.92″ x 4.92″ x 1.38″. They also make a more complicated steel scorpion kit.

What’s the best design for a LEGO vehicle to conquer a difficult off-road obstacle course? LEGO Technic expert Dr. Engine created four very different vehicles and tested them on a tricky course with loose, uneven terrain and a steep slope to see which design was the most capable in challenging conditions.

It’s amazing what you can make with cardboard. The S shows off a fantastic cardboard blaster he built called “The Transformer.” Rather than cutting all the pieces with a hobby knife, he used a Two Trees laser cutter to get nice sharp edges and repeatable shapes. The blaster doesn’t just look incredible; it fires projectiles using exploding butane.

There’s a concept in the LEGO community of an “illegal” build – using construction methods that go against the traditional conventions of LEGO stacking. Brick Bending shows off a challenging but impressive technique that involves carefully combining dozens of 1×3 plates to form a robust, spine-like structure that ultimately gets turned into a wheel.

Mark Rober and his pals made one of the largest NERF guns ever. This time, he went in the opposite direction, putting the popular toy through the shrink ray so many times it’s only visible with an atomic force microscope. After using a compliant mechanism to engineer a simplified version that can fire a dart, he worked with scientists to make NERF guns from DNA.

The NERF HyperFire can launch about 300 darts per minute. Michael Pick built a custom NERF weapon that can (theoretically) fire 2560 darts in the same amount of time. It’s powered by a dozen motors and has four 15-round magazines. We’d love to see how many darts it could fire with a larger magazine setup.

Cedar Point’s Magnum XL-200 is one of the world’s most beloved roller coasters. CoasterWriter shows off a backyard replica of the thrill ride, built using K’nex construction toys, and dubbed the “Magnum XL-300.” Johnny from 3D Coaster created the detailed 3D-printed coaster car replica. Be sure to take the POV ride too.

The Galactic Senate scenes in the Star Wars prequels weren’t always the most captivating, but the Senate chamber was an impressive set piece. A team of LEGO builders created this incredible Minifig-scale replica of the chamber. Christoph, Tobias, Hendrik, René, and Markus built the main structure, while attendees of a LEGO conference each made a pod.

Hypno Motion makes stop-motion animation. In this short clip, they took some brick-built LEGO chicken legs, battered them up in 1×1 bricks,  and fried them in a pot. Of course, you can’t have fried chicken without a side dish, so they also cooked up some french fries. Their Hidden Patterns Inside video series is a fascinating watch, too.

Some of our favorite LEGO bricks are the ones that shoot darts. Jason from JK Brickworks came up with a fun use for these spring-loaded shooters – a chain gun that fires dozens of darts with the turn of a crank or a motor. From what we can tell, the only limit to how many rounds it can fire is the number of shooter bricks in the chain. Build instructions here.

Weapons are usually built from durable materials like metal or plastic, but The S built this one primarily from cardboard. The oversize toy blaster fires plastic balls and uses a corkscrew to feed them into its motorized chamber for launching. Bonus points for incorporating those flip-flops into the firing mechanism.

Funko is best known for its POP! collectible vinyl toys. Now, you can create your own POP! character. Just head to the POP! Yourself website, choose your body shape and skin color, add hair and hats, select an outfit, and add accessories. There are millions of possible combinations, and you can download your avatar for free or order it as a figure.

Do you collect LEGO minifigures? This display case from sfDisplay makes it easy to show off and protect your collection. The case is handmade from beech hardwood and has six shelves that can hold up to 180 standard minifigs. It has locking brass latches, a black felt background, and a UV-protective acrylic viewing window. Measures 37.5″ W x 19.75″ H x 2.5″ D.

Keep your loose LEGO blocks and other small toys or accessories inside these giant LEGO bricks. The plastic storage bins come in stackable 4-stud and 8-stud variants in vibrant primary colors as well as grey, white, and black. LEGO also sells a premium series of drawers made from natural oak wood.

Not long ago, Aboringday entertained us by sending too much voltage through some electromechanical toys. If that didn’t satisfy your appetite for destruction, he’s back to subject another bunch of toys to more power than they were designed to handle. We still can’t decide whether to laugh or cry for the toys.

Everyday Carry shares its latest list of tactile toys to keep your frolicking fingers and bored brain occupied. Among the 15 fidget toys on this year’s list are a cool ring-shaped spinner, a three-axis gyroscope, a balisong practice rig, and a decision-maker coin that lets you decide if the devil or angel on your shoulder wins for the day.

From dice towers to dice spinners to dice cups, you can roll dice in many different ways. Pixelcadet’s dice-tossing blunderbuss might be the best dice roller yet. This large-bored, rubber band-powered gun uses dice as ammunition instead of bullets. Here’s how its cartridge works. You can purchase the .STL files to print your own on Etsy.

There are lots of collectibles based on the DeLorean DMC-12 from Back to the Future, but Tomy has the most accurate replica yet. Their 1:10-scale die-cast metal time machine measures 17″ long, has working interior and exterior lighting, gullwing doors, and even emits smoke from its rear fins. Early birds can save $100 off what is likely to be a pricey toy.

After engineering NERF darts that can fire themselves, Joel Creates thought he’d try the same with those larger NERF missiles. Typically launched with a pump-action weapon, Joel’s capacitor- and flash cotton-powered missile launchers are self-contained and launch with the push of a button. Those wrist-mounted launchers look super cool too.