Imagine peeking over a cubicle wall. Oh hi Bob, just had a question for you. Bam bam bam!! And unleashing rubber band fury. The Rubber Band Machine Gun makes those dreams come alive. A fully automatic rubber band gun, built to Gatling machine gun principles. 672 rubber bands loaded onto a birch plywood frame (choose also from black and burnt wood colors). Beer bash Fridays will never be the same with one of these.
Akira. Classic anime movie. Legos. Classic children’s AND adult toy. Mash them up and look, it’s the Arvo Brothers creation of the Kaneda bike from Akira. Maybe this can’t be ridden (though this one can), but their DIY manual teaches anime and Legos lovers how to build it. All parts can be readily purchased. No estimate how much money and time this beauty requires. Before deciding to construct this, seriously ask yourself whether or not you have the patience. Or else you’ll come home every day to a giant pyramid of red Legos.
If you never could find the ultimate toy car as a kid, here’s your chance to achieve that (modest) dream. The Hot Wheels Car Maker ($40) is a do-it-yourself playset that lets you make your own cars. It also involves cool stuff like melting wax and slapping decals on your creations. It’s pretty much just like being on an assembly line, only there’s no nagging boss around telling you you can’t toss back a few while manning the heavy machinery.
The word ‘drone’ has taken on pretty some serious overtones in recent years, but Ziphius ($195+) is here to lighten the mood a bit—without resorting to the fake mustache and glasses bit. This is an aquatic drone that lets you see what lurks beneath the water’s surface, as well as play games and bring you a cold one in the pool. Control Ziphius via your smartphone or tablet (Wi-Fi range goes to 300 ft) and get it going up to 6 mph as you use the 160º tilting angle HD camera to snap pictures and record video. Nice droney, nice.
One of the saddest parts of growing up in a poor to lower middle class home always came at Christmas, when Santa saw fit to bring you a remote control car… with a cord attached to it. The Mammuth Rewarron seeks to stomp out all those memories of inferior R/C cars as this off-roading beast is exactly one-third the size of the real thing. Featuring more than 180 handbuilt and custom designed components, it gets up to 40 mph on a four stroke engine and its steel frame stops with oil disc brakes with ABS. First stop on the R/C Vengeance Tour: North Pole.
For the machine cultist looking for that certain robot to worship, check out the Series-800 Terminator bust by T-STUDIO. Described as “completely awesome” and “amazing” instead of the more appropriate “kill it with fire”, this one-quarter of a Terminator was crafted by animatronic artists at T-studios who seriously enjoy tempting fate. The bust has the same jerky, unnerving movements seen in the films, and the glowing red eyes are perfect for your child’s next night-light. Plug it into Skynet and watch it learn how to build its bottom three quarters, then watch it murder you.
Ingeniously striking while this AC/DC fan craze is at its fever pitch, Stern Pinball Inc. now gives us the AC/DC Pinball Machine. Transport yourself back to 1979, when pinball ruled the arcades and AC/DC ruled the rock world, with this table that features 12 classic AC/DC hits including “Back in Black,” “Highway to Hell” and “You Shook Me All Night Long.” Two separate ramps, a lower play field, ball shooting cannon, eight drop targets, a mechanized Hell’s Bell and animations of the AC/DC band add to the frenetic frenzy. We’re also assuming this machine comes with “Big Balls” since it’s priced from $5,699 – $8,499.
Lucky you if you’re ambidextrous. Musical group, Fol Chen, along with Monome and Machine Project, created this intriguing new handheld instrument, the Tetrafol, which allows users to control sound with their bare hands. The new Tetrafol features a battery-powered wooden tetrahedron, which contains the hardware that detects orientation and movements. These movements are then used to change the playback of sound. Fol Chen includes their own creations in the instrument, but users can also upload their own sounds, then play them back through built-in speakers. The Tetrafol team is only making 100 of these instruments, so if you snooze, you’ll lose. Retails for $110 and available here.
