National Post

npostlife:

Does playing with Lego blocks end with childhood?
For AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego, and yes, that’s what they call themselves), the fun only starts when you’ve got between $500 and $1,000 a month to blow on this oddly addictive pursuit.
[Photo by Tyler Anderson/National Post]

toysnparts:

Child’s Play: Smart toys for tots

Retro toys with a brainy bent are having a block party in Junior’s playroom. These are by Uncle Goose, a small toy company that still hand-manufactures each cube in the U.S.A. using sustainable wood — including Michigan basswood — and non-toxic paint.

Lego’s ‘pink ghetto’ draws fire over gender-specific marketing
The Lego backlash was perhaps inevitable. When the maker of countless little coloured bricks sold all over the world decided to create a line of products designed specifically with girls in mind, it was broaching a delicate subject.

Sure enough, as Lego Friends was being rolled out this month, sets in which the girls of Heartlake City can do things like visit the vet and hang out at an ice cream café, criticism descended upon the Danish toy giant.

“Lego’s pink ghetto,” read one headline. An advocacy group compiled 50,000 signatures on a petition that decried Lego for implying that “girls are not interested in their products unless they’re pink, cute, or romantic.” Among the thousands of critical messages on social media rallying around the “LiberateLego” hashtag was a typical post: “There’s already a type of Lego for girls. It’s called LEGO!!!”

Mess with the gender-neutral bull, you get the horns.

Iran cracks down on Barbie, plans toys of captured U.S. drone
Iran’s morality police are cracking down on the sale of Barbie dolls to protect the public from what they see as pernicious western culture eroding Islamic values, shopkeepers said on Monday.

As the West imposes the toughest ever sanctions on Iran and tensions rise over its nuclear program, inside the country the Barbie ban is part of what the government calls a “soft war” against decadent cultural influences.

“About three weeks ago they [the morality police] came to our shop, asking us to remove all the Barbies,” said a shopkeeper in a toy shop in northern Tehran.

Iran’s religious rulers first declared Barbie, made by U.S. company Mattel Inc, un-Islamic in 1996, citing its “destructive cultural and social consequences”. Despite the ban, the doll has until recently been openly on sale in Tehran shops. (Photos: Reuters)

Heroes Force, Canada’s answer to G.I. Joe
Shannon Thibodeau is a vintage toy collector, a father with two young sons and a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, with two tours of Afghanistan to his credit.

He is proud of everything he is and everything he has done. But the aircraft metal fabricator instructor at Canadian Forces Base Borden, near Barrie, was also deeply perplexed and mildly miffed by the fact that whenever he went shopping for military action figures for his boys he could never find a figure that resembled him.

Sure, there were G.I. Joes to be had, but no brave Canucks. Nothing to commemorate the Canadians Mr. Thibodeau served with and, in some cases, helped bury.

“Shannon wanted to make something that would represent his buddies and acknowledge our troops,” says John Alan Sperry, a civilian and longtime friend of Mr. Thibodeau’s from Truro, N.S.

The result was “Heroes Force,” a series of Canadian military action figures that has stormed the toy market and struck an unforeseen emotional chord among buyers. (Photo: Pte Dave McDonald/DND)

$100?! That’s a lot of money for something people will probably want to smash.

doubledoublepolitics:

Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever intentionally clicked on a Facebook ad….but this one popped up this morning! Canadian politician bobbleheads. Hilarious!

A set of commemorative Pez dispensers, to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, is seen in this handout photograph distributed by the company March 29, 2011. The dispensers will be auctioned on the Internet to raise money for a charity determined by the couple. (Reuters/Pez)

Will and Kate to follow English wedding cake traditions
Royal wedding etiquette: How to fit in with the royals
Post Primer: Royal wedding transportation
Post Primer: Kate Middleton’s royal wedding headgear
Prince William and Kate Middleton ask guests to forgo wedding gifts in favour of donations