One of a handful of guesstimating games that we'd encountered on the way, (some including assembled Legos in the shape of a life-sized Darth Vader and R2-D2 models, others requiring us to count other toy bits in large jars), ADV Films, who bring animated panty shots to the US on a fairly regular basis, had a Guess the Piggies game set up, in which you write your guessed number on the back of a business card and drop it into a large box for the chance to win the portable DVD player being shown. I'm a pretty good guesser, and a poor estimater, so the synthesis of these two opposing skills resulted in something nigh incomprehensible scrawled on the back of my card, like 'PIGSPLODE! GIVE DVD TO ME!'

Further along in the Javitz exploration, we came upon Accoutrements, who are known for making a thousand little geegaws, and especially, the intentionally simple action figures of interesting characters. Einstein, Poe, Rosie the Riveter, the Albino Bowler, Thomas Jefferson. Some librarian lady. We noted that they had their Cubefarm toys on display, which is their contribution to the block figure world, also along the theme of 'so boring they're actually funny' white-collar monotony. In returning back through my photos, I realize that I didn't seem to get a pretty killer photo of some of the block figures who had been fortuitously toppled into am 'oh my, is that man being orally serviced in his cubicle?' position. Oh, trust me - it was hilarity with a capital H, but the rest of the letters were just lowercases. Because block figures... having accidental sex? Oh my. We had a time!

 
[oh wait... found it!]

The strangest, possibly most ill-advised item that we saw this year was the Globesavers doll... thing. See, the concept is that this unusual creature, who I can only assume is some kind of foot tooth, comes with a rotating globe in his belly, right above his... space ring belt / toilet seat. As a child watches TV, clutching this doll tightly to him, possibly watching the purely theoretical Globesavers TV show, 'he can follow the action as the show's characters travel to Africa to save the Black Rhino or something', as the pitchman explained to us. As it stood, the theoretical TV show was being flickered on a TV screen and involved drawings which were cut out and stuck on popsicle sticks being waved around in the woods somewhere, followed by a special effects scene in which a globe was having a flashlight shone on it.

But, as you can see, the Globesaver was being protected from assassination by its secure bulletproof glass case, like the Pope of the Misfit Toys. I mean, I don't know how cuddle-soft anything with a large, cold goiter of a globe stuck in its belly would be, but the idea of geographical awareness is important, and would be another mini-theme running through the show this year.

Being taught geography by anyone other that sexy Master Thief Carmen Sandeigo is something I'm very resistant to. It is only when a beautiful woman awaits me, at this is an absolute fact, that I have ANY sense of direction whatsoever. The Globesaver, like Captain Planet one some very cute acid, has not yet found a distributor, but if you end up seeing this on TV, or meet any children with life-threatening Globesavers Concussions, don't blame us.

Right next door to Globesavers and being driven slowly insane by the video loop lived Knuckle Strutz, which are a more complicated, but diverse, method of building than anything else we saw, and which connect every which way to make every which what. Coolest of all, once assembled, you can design the parts to be moveable at pivot or axle joints, depending on how you connect them. While not too apparent or explainable without actually having played with them for a while, there's about 6 or 7 ways to conjoin any part to any other part, and you can even dissemble the individual parts into three other shapes for your building convenience. The 6-piece sample pack that we received included instructions to make at least a dozen very different constructions out of the scant number of bits that we were allotted. Add gears, wheels, and a lot of ingenuity, and you can make just about anything. Without question, I'd make either a squid, or a new toaster, because even one made of un-electrified plastic would work better than the hunk of crap we use now.

The Knuckle Strutz constructions didn't photograph too well, because of the small parts and tiny details, but you get the idea. Plus, you can make one of those mathematically significant ball structures that collapse into a much smaller star shape. We had to get lunch and head off to SOTA, lunch taking the form of talking to a very cute, friendly girl at nearby Subway.