Toys | Reviews | Wood Toys | Toy Dolls

Last week’s popular release of Iron Man in theaters has galvanized our fascination with robots and cybernetics. The original Iron Man was drawn up in 1963 as your average, metallic American freedom fighter. But the new movie’s styles have taken hints from robotics portrayed in Japanese anime, reminiscent of vintage tin toys from the 1950s.

The distinctive styling is really an example of American and Japanese cross-pollination. As C.B. Cebulski reports in Anime fringe:

“Keron Grant is the new penciler of Iron Man for Marvel, and he was asked to redesign Iron Man’s armor. When Keron met Kia Asamiya at Wizard World, he confessed to Kia that for inspiration for Iron Man’s new armor, he looked at Kia’s character from Steam Detectives, the Emperor of Steam. Kia just looked at Keron and rather matter-of-factly replied, ‘That’s cool! When I was designing the Emperor of Steam, I looked at Iron Man for my inspiration.”

There is just something satisfying about armor and robots made of real metal… is it nostalgia for when the whole world wasn’t seemingly encased in plastic?

Just for fun: check out this article that lists some perfect excuses next time you lose at playing a boardgame. The folks over at Boardgamenews.com are industry leaders, so be sure to check them out for news and information about the latest boardgames and role-playing games.

My next 2 minute review is for KidKraft Toys and furniture. KidKraft has been producing heirloom-quality wooden toys for years. They specialize in wooden chairs and tables, classic toy boxes, fantastic wooden doll houses, and classic train sets.

KidKraft definitely passes our test of “Imagination First.” I had an opportunity to poke around with their Savannah Dollhouse recently and became quite engrossed in all the details. The little furniture can be moved around, and is remiscent of the master  wood toys from the last century.

More recently, KidKraft has gotten into “activity toys” like pirate ships and firetrucks that have a lot of movable parts and accessories. These kinds of toys are always popular with children, but the parts are easily lost, and swallowable.

My advice is that an adult should be in the house when children play with these kinds of toys. Otherwise, they are high quality, imaginative and durable.

Last week’s International Toy Fair has put us in a toy-reviewing mood. Today’s favorite are HABA Toys, which makes high quality traditional toys for infants, toddlers and the under five set.

What impresses me about HABA is that their wooden toys are made in Germany - it doesn’t get more traditional than that. The wood used is Maple and Beech and smells great.

With all the worries about toxicity and toys these days, wooden toys are really the way to go. Wood is naturally a germ-repellent surface, and HABA wooden toys are often natural, or coated with non-toxic paints and finishes.