Having gone through childhood in the 1960s and ’70s, I’m of the generation who first experienced toys that “did things” by themselves. There was nothing cooler than a toy that moved on its own, or flashed lights and made sounds, talked, or did some other sort of action generated by tiny motors, crude electronics, and an endless supply of C-size batteries. Also, toys that were based on our favorite TV shows were cool; toy licensing wasn’t quite as prevalent as it is now, but it definitely was well on the way even then. So, toys from our favorite TV shows that DID something were pretty much the coolest possible toys in the world.
And yet there were gaps. Outside of a few model kits, there weren’t many Star Trek toys when I was little, nor were there ever any toys based on the Thunderbirds, which was my personal favorite TV show when I was 7. There might have been some Thunderbirds toys in England, but I don’t recall ever seeing a single one. Eventually there was a whole line of Star Trek stuff in the late 1970s, but nothing at the point when I was Charlotte’s age.
So my unrequited geek childhood lust for anything that looks and feels like it has some Trek or Thunderbirds provenance remains strong, even though I stopped collecting Trek stuff a long, long time ago.
This little project (via) isn’t an official licensed toy of any kind, it’s a DIY project that makes a programmable lucite photo holder with embedded LEDs. Connected to your Skype phone service, it uses CallerID information to light up the picture of the person who is calling you (if they’re on your list of recognized numbers).
But anyone who has ever seen a single episode of Thunderbirds will recognize it immediately as a simple version of this:
The picture wall in John Tracy’s secret tropical island home with photos of all his sons in their International Rescue uniforms. Whenever one of them would radio in to the base, the eyes on their portrait would light up and the picture would beep.
Now this one is a bit more identifiable. It’s a standard issue Type II Phaser from Star Trek. In fact, it’s an actual toy and already comes with lights and sounds from the original show, which totally qualifies it as a Coolest Toy Ever in my book. But the folks at Instructables.com have take it up to 11 by removing the electronics and replacing them with an honest-to-goodness blue laser from a Sony Playstation 3. So instead of just some flashlight bulb and a little bit of light-up action, you’ve got yourself a genuine laser gun. Of course, the blue laser is extremely low power and won’t vaporize those Klingons who’ve been harassing you, but you can have endless hours of fun with your cat with this.
