Radio controlled excavators, long-range snowball launchers and fully-automatic Nerf rifles - 2010 was a great year for people who take their playtime seriously. These are some of the most fun toys we could get our hands on.

1. Solving the Smallest Rubik Cube In the World
At 0.39 inches (10mm) this is the smallest Rubik Cube in the world and the smallest piece of the 80s you can have in your hands-this side of Simon Le Bon’s fake eyelashes.

2. TRON Controllers Make Any Game a TRON Game
Prince of Persia, Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption-it doesn’t matter what you’re playing. Just know that it’ll be better with one of PDP’s glowing TRON controllers.

3. Hurl Snowballs 150 Feet This Winter With These Jai Alai Scoops
I can understand not wanting to be the guy who brings a jai alai xistera to a snowball fight, sure, but if you want to start tagging up your enemies (neighborhood nine-year-olds) at distances of up to 150 feet, well…

4. Who Needs an Indoor Ball? YOU Do, Apparently
Today’s Nerf guns are exceedingly complex, with automatic firing and reloadable dart magazines. But Nerf’s eureka moment arose from a decidedly more primitive scene: some cavemen chucking boulders around an office.

5. Hawk Eye RC Chopper: Your $65 Personal Spy Drone
Flying an RC helicopter? Sure, that’s fun for a little while. Flying an RC helicopter that can shoot both video and still photos? That’s good for a lifetime of creepy stalking memories.

6. Solar Powered Transforming Robot Teaches Your Kids the Important Stuff
Namely: the awesomeness of robots. Secondarily: the joys of sustainable energy. The £13.00 T3 Solar Robot/Tank/Scorpion will help impart both of these lessons, guiding your child to a promising future as a sun-harnessing super-scientist (or a robot army-commanding supervillain.)

7. A Working 62-lb Remote-Controlled Excavator Can Hardly Be Called a Toy
Let’s say you want to dig yourself up a little garden or terrorize the local rodentia. Or both! Well, meet the EC280 Excavator. It’s a tiny little monster with a kickass demo soundtrack. Everything about this is ridiculous and wonderful.

8. So This Is What Nerf Guns Are Like Now, Huh?
After discovering video games, I didn’t really keep up with my old friend Nerf. But last night I got to shoot (and get shot by) the Stampede, a new, fully automatic Nerf rifle with a tripod and replaceable magazines. What!?

9. 10 Classic Sci-Fi Toys
If you grew up in the 60s or 70s, you grew up with the futuristic creations of Gerry Anderson on the TV. These toy replicas of his designs are screaming to be zoomed across the kitchen table and into the air.

10. Toys With Mental Illnesses-Seriously”Oh, what gift to offer the bipolar six-year-old nephew this Christmas…I know! These German toys with mental illnesses would please the little tyke. Would he like the depressive turtle Dub, Kroko the water-phobic crocodile, or the personality disorder-affected sheep Dolly?

Beautiful Creative Christmas Trees

The Holiday Season inspires many new artists and designers, who seem to always raise the bar in terms of creativity and thought. Here you can find some beautiful and extremely creative Xmas Trees, which are inspiring to all. They include such trees as the one made of 5 gallon water bottles, the one built on top of a reindeer carousel, an ice-sculpted one from Austria, some colorful and bright ones from Singapore, among many additional Christmas creations.

Bizarre Christmas Trees

For those who want a little different taste of the regular Christmas trees they are used to, there are some bizarre Xmas tree designs that are found worldwide. Some are lit with LED, one is stacked with Sushi, a few were created using regular pencils and several are a little difficult to explain, such as the Barbie head one. These may not be up your alley in terms of creating within your own living room, but the Christmas tree is a big part of the holiday celebration no matter how you twist the holiday tradition. 

Cool and Weird Xmas Trees

While Christmas is a bright and beautiful holiday, one must change things around a bit to keep the excitement alive and have everyone look forward to it each year. The following X-mas trees were brought to life by creative minds that have discovered different ways to display a Christmas tree and still keep it beautiful, colorful and entertaining. This included various Xmas trees from around the world, weird ones you wouldn’t usually expect to see, a few scary ones and even some environmentally friendly Christmas trees. Maybe you will get a fantastic idea from the following holiday trees and come up with your own personal weird, offbeat Christmas tree designs.

Geeky Christmas Trees

Geeks also have the Christmas spirit, even though they may have irregular ways to decorate their tree during Christmas. Here are some of the geekiest Christmas trees from around the ‘net, which show that geeks really know how to keep the Holiday spirit alive. A few worth mentioning are the stunning Pac-man Christmas tree, the tree projector, the LED battery tree, the math tree and you can see all the rest are just as geeky. 

The 1990’s

Manufactured by Ty Inc, and released in 1993, Beanie Babies would go on to a be a cultural phenomenon not only in North America, but worldwide. The highly sought after toys became collector’s items, and people scrambled into toy stores in search of the seemingly “rare” find, such as the dark blue variant of “Peanut” the elephant. At it’s height, the Beanie baby empire was worth over $6 billion USD.

I will admit it, I owned a Furby at one point, but I am not proud of it. Launched during the holiday season of 1998, Furbies sold 1.8 million units, then in 1999 sold 24 million, and another 16 million in 2000. Furby was so popular that it’s speaking function was translated into 24 languages. Kids where addicted to the electronic toy that started out by speaking entirely Furbish, and would learn English as time went on. Contrary to common belief, Furbies did not learn English from their owners, and repeating words in front of them did not help them learn English any quicker. However, the myth was more powerful than the reality, and concerns over security breaches forced many intelligence agencies to ban them from the office.

Get out your super slammer, Pogs are back in town! Originally named after POG, a brand of juice made from passion fruit, orange, and guava; players used the POG bottle cap to play, and dates as far back as 1930 to Hawaii and the island of Maui. It wasn’t until the 1990’s when the Canada Games Company and the World POG Federation brought them to the North American Stage. People where hooked on the fad, and soon collector Pogs began showing up all over the world. Pogs were such a phenomenon that many schools in North America banned them, citing that because it is a “game for keeps” Pogs represent a form of gambling, and should be banned.

Introduced in 1996, Tickle Me Elmo became North America’s “must have” toy for the holiday season. During the Christmas shopping months, parents would line up for hours in advance just to get a Tickle Me Elmo, and literally pushed, shoved, and even punched their way to the front of the line. There are numerous reports of employees being caught and injured in the brawl. A single Tickle Me Elmo could fetch as much as $1500 on the open market, despite having a retail price of only $28.99. In only a few short months after it’s release, the huggable doll had earned over $22 million in retail sales.

The simple origami we learned in school has nothing on these pieces of Star Wars origami. We saw these and figured they were perfect. Why? Well, we love Star Wars and we love origami so therefore it comes to reason that we’d love Star Wars origami and we think you will too. It is mind-blowing how the intricately folded, colored paper brings each of our favorite characters and scenes to life.

Origami is the art of paper-folding. If you know how to do it right, the figures you can create with origami are limitless. There are so many different styles, sizes and shapes of origami we won’t even begin to cover them here. However, one key part of origami is the paper you use. Without having the right paper, the origami shape you are trying to make might not come out the way you intended.

Whether it be washi paper, kami paper, paper-backed foil or other forms of paper, getting the right paper will help bring your origami to life. You’ll see that in these incredible Star Wars origami figures which include Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Stormtroopers, droids, x-wings, star destroyers and more.

So if you are looking to try some origami of your own, here are some Origami: Introduction and Instructional Videos that might help you out. The videos won’t go into doing detailed Star Wars origami like these, but everyone has to start somewhere. In the meantime, take a look at these incredible pieces of Star Wars origami.

The people behind GetLoFi have forged this mighty implement of oak and steel and one secret ingredient. You may already have guessed what hallowed object, dripping with the sweet ichor of gaming history, was chosen to be crafted into a machine of completely other purpose.

This NES-bodied, fully functional electric guitar went for $150, and we feel certain that if it had been placed in an auction environment it would have fetched somewhat more. This is far from the first time we’ve seen the NES become something else due to some Do-It-Yourself aptitude, and not even the first musical instrument, but electric guitars are inherently Sweeet, so… yeah. Here’s how it sounds: