By Chris Scott Barr

Stuffed animals are for little children, right? Wrong. This awesome ChumBuddy is awesome, regardless of your age. After all, who wouldn’t want a 7-foot stuffed shark? Okay, so maybe some of you aren’t quite sold on the idea. I understand where you’re coming from, as a giant stuffed animal is still just a big toy. The real selling point here is that the opening for its mouth actually extends the entire way down through the body.

That’s right, this gigantic plush can eat you! It can be used to reenact scenes from Jaws, or as a sleeping bag if needed. It’s not your average lightweight plush either, this monstrosity weighs in at over 30lbs and is hand-swen. The only thing that’s not awesome about this item is the price. You can pre-order it now for $200. I still think it would be completely worth every penny.

[ PatchTogether ] VIA [ UberReview ]

Baby Bidou says you’re old enough at birth. The Baby Bidou is available in pink or blue, and can be preloaded with a Brainy Baby soundtrack for an additional $4. Soundtracks include sleepy, peaceful, cheerful, and happy, and do cost extra. Parents can also load their own music on the Baby Bidou, and select the volume for the child so junior doesn’t accidentally destroy his eardrums listening to “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. The Bidou also has a microphone built it to allow parents to record their own voices, and the volume can be set to fade so as to slowly lower the volume of the sound being played for the child.

The Baby Bidou is priced at $59.98, and currently out of stock on the company website.

Do you like the feeling you get when you break a chocolate bar in half? Do you want to experience that feeling over and over for some reason? Then you’re in the target group for a new Japanese toy called Mugen Chokoreeto [JP], which (kind of) translates back to “Endless Chocolate Bar”. It’s the brainchild of major Japanese toymaker Bandai.

It’s essentially a mini toy made of plastic that looks like a small chocolate bar and that you can “break” into two parts repeatedly. You can choose between three “flavors”: milk chocolate, high-milk chocolate and white chocolate. The “bars” have a case, too, and weigh 22g. The Meiji branding you see on the picture above is actually the result of a licensing deal Bandai made with a real Japanese confectionery company called Meiji Seika.

Bandai plans to start selling the Endless Chocolate Bar in Japan on January 30. The official target group are men in their 20s. The bars will cost $7 each and are the newest addition to the Mugen series Bandai started a while ago.

The Mugen Pop Pop, for example, made it to America. But if you don’t want to take a chance, I suggest you contact import/export specialists Rinkya or the Japan Trend Shop in case you’re interested but live outside Japan.

By Chris Scott Barr

It’s hard to find a geek that grew up in the 80’s/early 90’s that doesn’t love the Transformers. Thanks to the fact that the Robots in Disguise are celebrating their 25th anniversary (oh, and those two movies) we’ve seen a huge influx of transforming merchandise. Of course, some of the coolest pieces have come not from Takara/Hasbro, but rather from fans of the series. Back in July we showed you someone’s custom-built Devastator,which unlike the movies, stayed true to the original design. Well here’s another custom work for you to feast your eyes on.

Yes, this Optimus Prime is based off of the second movie, which may turn some of you off to it. However, the sheer level of detail here should be enough to give you pause. Before you ask, yes it transforms. It’s actually based on the TFTM 07 Leader Class Optimus Prime figure, which does take away some of the appeal. However, the crafter replaced a number of pieces and hand-painted it to reach the more realistic level of detail. If you absolutely must have this piece, you can find it on eBay. The bidding is currently at $730, so you’d better have some deep pockets.

[ eBay ] VIA [ Dvice ]

Just yesterday we featured Bandai’s cool remote-controlled heli-robot Sky Armor, and now the same company (its subsidiary CCP, to be exact) announced the Mission Carrier SWAT [JP], a combination of a truck and helicopter. And this toy is even better than Sky Armor.

The cool thing about the SWAT truck is the sound and the elevating deck: Push a button on the remote to make the panels in the back of the truck open and reveal the mini helicopter inside of it. The helicopter can then be controlled just like every other RC helicopter (for 5 minutes after a 30 minute charge). Needless to say, you can also let the truck itself drive around.

The Mission Carrier SWAT set will be available only in Japan from the end of this month (price: $90). Contact the Japan Trend Shop or Geek Stuff 4 U if you want to get one shipped outside Japan.

This video shows the truck and heli in action:

This is a pretty cool RC toy from Japan. Bandai has announced the Sky Armor, a remote-controlled robot that can fly around using not one but two propellers. The robot stands 17cm tall and weighs 21g. One battery charge (30 minutes) is enough to play with it for 4 minutes.

The Sky Armor will hit Japanese stores in the next days (price: $45). Contact specialized stores Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya to get one shipped outside Japan since it’s unlikely the robot will ever be sold outside this country.

Watch this short video to see the robot in action:

Via Mycom [JP]

Just in time for summer, Japan gets a new toy that won’t require you to go out to get the BBQ experience anymore. This actually doesn’t make much sense, but Bandai has  announced [JP] an-indoor BBQ simulator toy yesterday, the Yakiniki Ou (roughly: Grilled Meat King).

Yakiniku is the name of a number of Japanese grilled meat dishes. Buyers of the Grilled Meat King get the grill, 14 fake food items (sausages, bite-sized meat and vegetables etc.), dishes, sauce, tongs and even a menu. Up to 4 players are supposed to grill the food, flip it and get it off the grill as quickly as possible.

The Grilled Meat King drops into Japanese stores July 23 and costs $40. Ask specialized stores Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya to get one shipped outside Japan if you can’t wait for Bandai to announce their international sales plans.

Via Akihabara News via Gizmodo