guest post by RICK!

talapz, a very industrious gentleman and LEGO wizard, has created a pop-up version of the Kinkaku-ji Zen Buddist temple in Kyoto, Japan.

via MetaFilter

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A few weeks ago Laura Fitton showed me the Zoomdoggle’s BuckyBalls she had with her, which is made up of 216 tiny BB sized metal balls that are super magnetic and can be combined in infinite ways. It’s a highly addictive toy.

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guest post by mikl-em

photo by Petula Yeyé

Dispatchwork is a project by German artist Jan Vormann that puts toy bricks into holes in real world buildings. His first installations were in Bocchignano in Italy and Tel Aviv, Israel. His latest is in Berlin where he is specifically targeting damage from World War 2.

From an interview with the artist in Wired:

“The idea for the Dispatchwork project came about while I was strolling through the medieval village of Bocchignano. I found that the buildings there are put together using all kinds of materials. It’s a case of necessity and design is secondary.

“If you have a hole in a wall, and a variety of different kinds of stones, it doesn’t matter to the builders there what kind of shape, colour or composition these stones are as long as they fill the hole and assure the wall’s stability. The stones leftover from one house will not be thrown away and wasted, but be used for fixing another building or adding to the original one.

Vormann has several other projects up on his site, a solo show coming up in Berlin, and he will be participating in a group show at Platform 21 in Amsterdam called “Repair Project”.

See the Repair Project manifesto below. It’s a nice corollary to The Maker’s Bill of Rights from Make: Magazine.

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photos by Archie McPhee

Offbeat novelty and toy store Archie McPhee has relocated to a new store in the Wallingford neighborhood in north central Seattle. Here are some photos of the new store and a history of Archie McPhee locations since they opened in 1983.

I shot some photos old store in Ballard back in 2005.

I’m looking forward to checking out their new digs the next time I’m in Seattle.

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Gooberry, a talking plush toy designed by Attaboy that was years in the making, is finally being released and is now available for pre-order through Silver Sprocket.

Each Gooberry has been freshly picked from a secret Gooberry Patch before ripening just for you!

Like a newborn’s skull, their soft skin has yet to be fully formed, so a Gooberry is very impressionable and extra-sensitive to your each and every touch!

Please, please, DO NOT attempt to eat a Goobery, as they taste like strawberry whipped crème.

DO NOT pull a Gooberry’s string, as each pull, although wholly satisfying to you, brings the Gooberry that much closer to a most painful death.

Measuring 12.5 inches tall, the Gooberry squeaks in pain when you squeeze her pinchers, and cowers in fear from your every snuggle.

Truely an interactive experience, the Gooberry is the first designer plush to feature a pull-string sound box and squeakers!

photo by Brian McCarty

The first batch of 45 Gooberry’s will be available for harvest at Attaboy’s “A Touch of Evil” art show on June 13th at POV Evolving Gallery in Los Angeles.

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Archie McPhee presents “Funny or Not Funny” featuring brutally honest reviews of Archie McPhee products by longtime employee Nai.

Nai has been with Archie McPhee for almost 20 years and is the person we go to for wisdom. He is also one of our most opinionated employees and is not shy about sharing what he thinks of our products. After the many long discussions we’ve had with him, we decided to film one and share it.

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guest post by Burstein!

In an era of video games and San Francisocializing (where being social means being in a room with other people working on their individual laptops), there is something immensely refreshing about a neat take on a classic toy. ShapeMaker is set of 25 colorful wooden blocks with geometric shapes that can be arranged in tons of beautiful ways as shown by the above video and in this Flicker pool.

photo via Miller Goodman

Even better, these toys are the product of a mom and pop shop, Miller Goodman. Zoe Miller and David Goodman are UK designers that also write children’s books on art. Neat toys for exploration, spatial reasoning, and imagination. Woo!

via Swiss Miss

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guest post by Burstein!

“You must not fail, Zero M. This mission is critical…” With those words the commercial for the Zero M Sonic Blaster staring a young Kurt Russell opens and quickly turns into bizarre parody world where a lone 10 year old and his ruptured eardrum is gamely protecting his home with poofs of air. The Blaster itself is effectively a hand-pumped compressed air gun, which did not make the approval of Consumer Reports back in 1966:

The Mattel Agent Zero M Sonic Blaster 5530 fires compressed air with a deafening blast. Our measurements top out at 157 dB–above a level that can do permanent damage to the hearing of an adult. We rate the toy Not Acceptable.

Check out the other fun retro reviews and photos as posted by Mikl-em back in the day.

via RetroThing

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Cryptozoological Play Set by Archie McPhee

Have we discovered all of the major species on this planet or are there some out there that have managed to avoid our prying eyes? Cryptozoology is the search for those creatures, called cryptids, that don’t appear in any textbooks just in grainy pictures and shaky video. This Cryptozoological Play Set features some famous creatures that most people have heard of, but few have ever seen. Are they real or are they just figments of an active imagination?

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guest post by mikl-em

If you were to bet that the most incredible model railroad in the world was constructed by Germans, you would win that bet. Miniatur Wunderland, located in Hamburg, is an epic achievement in diminutive transport.

The video above is divine, building in 5 minutes from dry tourist pitch to high novelty then ultimately into the kinda surreal. The attention to detail is obsessive to say the least. All framed by the sweet poetry of stilted translation: “see wild animals/and other very shy herds/and above all you examine the life like it is real”.

The wunders also include thousands of model cars, hundreds of thousands of lights, and scenes recreated from busy harbors to red light districts to football matches to hauling a body out of a river, across countries including the US, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The fully functioning airport scene, you should know, is still under construction.

For more videos about MiWuLa you can check out their YouTube Channel (mostly in German). And of course thousands of photos on Flickr including the ones below…..

And to make this little world go it takes a staff of 150+ and a control room that looks like something that James Bond or Bruce Lee is trying to sneak up on and destroy:

photos by robs80, delawega, Jens_Petersen, and michael_urspringer

via liveleak.com with thanks to wayneco

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Nick Drummond shot a great series of photos featuring a Star Wars AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport ) Walker as a family pet named “ATilla”.

I wonder what the adoption process is like and are they easily housebroken?

via Super Punch & Neatorama

photos by Nick Drummond

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guest post by Simone Davalos

Many of the illustrious members of the Laughing Squid diaspora are familiar with the Snarky McF*ckbutton, a culturally indicative bit of personal accessory that saves the wearer the time and toil of actually verbalizing how much cooler they are than you (we have written about the illustrious McF*ckbutton in this space before, here).

CTP, the mover and shaker behind the Snarky McF*ckbutton, has been quietly supplying buttons for all occasions, often for free, at many exciting Bay Area events. He would like to continue snarking up the environment in a bigger way, and to this end he has a proposition for you:

The Snarky McF*ckbuttons Factory Improvement Campaign

So what’s this whole thing about? The popularity of our buttons has really taken off over the past couple of years, and it is time for us to take the next step and get a motorized button maker. This will allow us to not only be able to fill your orders more quickly, but will also allow us to finally accept large bulk orders that up until now we’ve had to refer to other companies. It will also allow us to give away even more buttons to even more fund raisers for good causes. Only trouble is the machine is pretty expensive. In order to help us get it we’ve put together a pretty simple and straightforward investment idea that we’re sure everyone will love. In order to help us get it we’ve put together a pretty simple and straightforward investment idea that we’re sure everyone will love.

We are asking for $100 from each supporter, limited to the first 70. We will collect the money over the month of February, 2009, and once we have reached the target of $7,000 we will get the button machine. What’s in it for you? In return for your $100 we will give you 100 snarky buttons of your choice (a $150 value), or a bulk order of 300 buttons of one design (that’s 33 cents each!!), plus you’ll get a 10% discount on all your orders for the coming year. We will fill the orders during March, 2009, in the order that people signed up.

Help Snarky McF get a primo button machine! Enable the advancement of technology that furthers the cause of sarcastic, pithily written button comments everywhere! Be able to say you were there back at the beginning, and whatever, it was way better then.

Details and ways to pay at The Snarky McF*ckbutton website.

See Previously: Snarky McF*ckButtons – Wear What You’re *Really* Thinking

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Archie McPhee, an wonderfully unique toy company based in Seattle, recently published “Who Would Buy This?”, a book chronicling their 30 year history of making bizarre stuff.

This book features some of the strangest and most amazing products we have created or found over the past 30 years. Some were great successes, some utter, miserable failures. A few even got us into trouble with the Secret Service, the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Transportation! The story is told with luscious color photographs and insightful commentary.

When I’m in Seattle, I often try to make a trip over to Ballard to visit their amazing Archie McPhee store. Here are some photos I shot there back in 2005.

See Previously: Archie McPhee, A Unique Toy Company In Ballard, Seattle

image via Archie McPhee

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WHAT I AM SEEING recently stopped by the The Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia, Plug1 has a great write-up and photos from their visit.

Curator and owner, Gary Doss has been collecting Pez dispensers for almost 15 years. The space was originally a computer retail and repair business. He set up his personal Pez collection as a distraction for the customers. Over time, word spread and the computers had to go to make room for the rapidly growing collection of mechanical candy dispensers.

Last November Irina Slutsky, along with special guest Justine Ezarik, did a GETV report from the Pez Museum.

See Previously:

- Tcritic Presents The Prez Dispenser T-Shirt by Eric Rewitzer

- Modified Pez Dispensers by ATYPYK

photo by WHAT I AM SEEING

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The 50′ Snowball Launcher, available from Hammacher Schlemmer.

This toy blaster makes and launches softball-sized snowballs up to 50′, allowing rapid, long-range assaults during neighborhood snowball confrontations. Simply place snow in the forming chamber and close the lid; it packs three perfectly spherical snowballs. To blast your mark, place one snowball in the muzzle, aim the launcher, and pull back the slingshot mechanism. Because the blaster is powered by elastomers instead of batteries, it provides uninterrupted, fast-action play. Made of durable, cold-resistant plastic.

It doesn’t really snow here in San Francisco, so for us there is the Zero Fog Blaster.

via Scott Simpson

image via Hammacher Schlemmer & Think Geek

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FAO Schwarz has a really cool Whatnot Workshop where you can build your own custom designed Muppet for $90. Muppet Whatnots are the extras in Muppet shows.

See Previously: Sam the Eagle & The Muppets Present Stars & Stripes Forever

via Tim Hwang

image via FAO Schwarz

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guest post by Aaron Muszalski

With the interwebs still abuzz from last week’s debut of Joss Whedon’s independently-produced musical miniseries, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, reports have surfaced of a budding rivalry in the (evidently crowded) world of singing super-geniuses.

Dr. Phineas Waldolf Steel, a musical mad scientist with a secret laboratory in Los Angeles, California, is asserting a prior claim on the title of “future World Emperor.” An artist, philosopher and composer, Dr. Steel has been performing in labcoat and goggles since 1999 as part of his lifelong goal of “manifesting as much creativity in the world [and] utilizing his multi-talented mind to build a Utopian Playland.”

On his fan club site, Toy Soldiers Unite, Dr. Steel has issued a directive to his followers instructing them to post Dr. Steel propaganda – a term he proudly embraces – wherever Dr. Horrible is mentioned, and to point out that their Doctor is the one true original. However, upon closer examination, the two doctors are actually quite distinct from one another, despite their outward similarities.

For example, while both aspire to usher in a New World Order of their own devising, Dr. Horrible seems to have taken a more traditional route to super-villainy, performing a variety of criminal acts in the hopes of securing a place in an elite crime syndicate. (In this case, the Evil League of Evil.) In contrast, Dr. Steel’s goal is the creation of a “Utopian Playland” in which the people of the Earth are required to do nothing but that which makes them happy. To achieve these ends, Dr. Steel uses musical performance, puppets, and a line of modified toys. Whereas, to achieve his ends, Dr. Horrible uses his Wonderflonium-powered Freeze Ray.

Despite his claim that the “status is NOT quo,” Dr. Horrible’s musical tastes are also fairly traditional, featuring songs that would hardly seem out-of-place in any of the currently popular contemporary Broadway musicals. Dr. Steel, on the other hand, has chosen to spread his message via a more dance-oriented style: funky, industrial, and heavily sample-laden. Consequently, Dr. Steel’s music would make a better soundtrack for leading an army of giant robots into battle, while Dr. Horrible’s songs are more instantly memorable, and easier to sing along to.

Dr. Steel is also a supporter of organized labor (Member, Mad Scientists Union Local 42) while Dr. Horrible, insofar as can be determined from his actions thus far, appears to be a Libertarian.

Given these differences, and in the hopes of averting a potentially dangerous feud between these two misunderstood visionaries, Laughing Squid would like to humbly suggest that – at least for the time being – the world is big enough for two spuriously-degreed, mentally-unhinged masters of scientific mayhem.

See Also:

- Doctor Steel interviewed by Fractal Suicide
- Plans for the Toy Soldiers Invasion of ComiCon

via io9

Dr. Steel propaganda images by Dr. Steel

photo by Chad Michael Ward

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TCMHitchhiker has posted a bunch of great 1960’s Sci-Fi toy commercials to YouTube including “Robot Commando” (Ideal, 1961), “Zeroids” (Ideal, 1968), “Billy Blastoff” (Eldon), “Major Matt Mason” (Mattel, 1968) and several others.

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The LEGO brick turned 50 today. Google is celebrating this historic date with a LEGO logo tribute on their home page.

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Mr. Bacon vs. Monsieur Tofu from the fantastic folks at Archie McPhee.

Mr. Bacon and Monsieur Tofu are fired up and ready to rumble, but only one can remain at the top of the food chain! Mr. Bacon stands 5-5/8″ tall and fights for everything salty, greasy and meaty. Monsieur Tofu is 3-3/8″ tall and represents all things made of coagulated soy milk. The winner gets eaten for dinner! Each vinyl figure has bendable arms and legs.

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