Over at Starburst Towers we’ve barely had time to take down our Halloween decorations before we realised that Santa Claus is coming to town. Christmas is very much on it’s way and while we’re busy decorating the halls of our nerve-centre with tinsel, trees and pagan sacrifices, we still have time point our lovely readers at some the most exciting toys, either as gifts or things to put on your owne wishlist. Watch this space for reviews of some of these lovely goodies over the next few days.

Playmobil – Star Trek – Klingon Bird-of-Prey

Playmobil are the masters of cute, fun playsets that appeal to children of any age. They are very good at creating toys that folk will always play with. Last year  they wowed Star Trek fans with the classic Star Trek Enterprise playset, and they’ve done it again with a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. Not just any old Bird-of-Prey though;  Commander Kruge’s ship from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It even comes with a little sticker on the side so you can rename it the HMS Bounty.

This set is pure joy. We get four playmobil Klingons including Maltz and Kruge, as well a Kirk in the dashing Admiral uniform and a young Spock in black robes.  The ship’s wings move. The missiles fire (and at quite a pace), the seat for the cockpit is adjustable and if you press the view screen it plays a movie clip; with four different screens available to slot in. It also has a variety of sound effects, including ambient mode, a full firing sequence, Klingon commands and a warp mode. It also has a little diorama stand / playset thing as well as components to hang it from the celling. It’s guaranteed to delight any Trekkie, regardless of age.  It is based on Star Trek 3, so whales are not included.

Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi  – L0-LA59 (Lola Droid)

Anyone who’s watched Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi will have seen Lola, Princess Leia’s adorable lady-bird like droid companion who zooms around following Leia and being adorable.  They L0-LA59 toy is a Star Wars roleplay toy; think of it as cuter version of a kids light-saber.  Though the toy doesn’t actually fly, it flaps it’s wings, chirrups cute robot noises, flashes lights and generally flutters.

It has three modes; In Companion Mode (which) activates when you attach it’s legs and Hover Mode (which switches on when you attach the clear plastic stand) the toy flaps it’s wings, opens it’s mouth and tilts from side to side. Basically it dances and sings, and it’s very cute. Taking it off it’s mount activates On The Go Mode and it gets really chatty and excited as you move it around.  It responds to its surroundings (like some sort of advanced FURBY) and is genuinely a fun little toy.

NERF Armorstrike DInosquad

NERF have become masters of distilling play and fun into a single toy, and the dino-squad range take two very cool things (toy guns and dinosaurs) and turn them into one roar-some play experience. It’s a bright green NERF gun that looks like a dinosaur, has dinosaur spines and also comes with a pump-action handle and rotating barrel. It comes with 16 NERF -Elite darts. 8 are stored in the dinosaur’s thagomizer-style tail and the other 8 go in the barrel. It’s fast, it’s fun and furious.  Sure to make boredom extinct.

NERF Elite 2.0 Motoblitz Blaster

Of course, when you want to take fun seriously, go NERF Elite. The Motoblitz Blaster is both a pump-action air-powered blaster and a motorised NERF dart flinger. This means you can fire 6 darts at once with the pump and then scatter darts everywhere with the motor. Before running away and reloading, of course.

The toy comes with a clip that holds ten darts (in addition to the six that go in the front)  and you get 22 Elite Darts to throw around like a NERF Elite Master. Silly fun.

Scalextrix Back To The Future Vs Knight Rider

In a team-up that alas will never happen in the movies, Scalextrix have put two of their most sought after toy cars into one fabulous set.  It’s a basic track with some neat features; the track is magnetic so the cars won’t fly off the table, the lights work (but the flux capacitor doesn’t time-travel) and the track is designed so you can smash into each other if you’re quick enough.  Scaletrix has come a long way since the 50’s and this is a fabulous gift for nostalgic adults and car crazy kids.

Magic The Gathering 2022 Starter Kit

Forget your other card games; Magic the Gathering has always been where it’s at in terms of fun and popularity. You can go anywhere in the world with a Magic deck in your pocket and you’ll probably find someone to play with.  The 2022 starter kit contains two starter decks (White/Blue and Red-Green), deck boxes, a booklet and best of all, two codes that let you play the online version of the game, Arena. (Which has an interactive guide as part of the game, so it’s worth going online just for that.) It’s a solid set of cards for experienced players also, so get this before it gets snapped up by the fans.

Pathfinder: Goblin Phunny Plush
Sticking with the very geeky, those lovely people at Kidrobot, Paizo and Wizkids have teamed up to give the world one of the silliest plushies just in time for Christmas. The Pathfinder: Goblin Phunny Plush carries a plush knife and a manic grin. These little monsters are familiar to fantasy gamers from across the genre, so why not invite one home for Christmas?

Warhammer 40,000 – Red Gobbo Socks

Travelling to the worlds of science fiction, well, grim-dark space fantasy, but sticking with goblins, Games Workshop have solved Christmas with their Red Gobbo Socks. These feature the revolutionary Red Gobbo himself, Games Workshop’s very own giver of gifts.

Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set: Dragons Of Stormwreck Isle

We mentioned this in out D&D Christmas Guide, but if you have a budding Matt Mercer amongst your loved ones, there’s really no better place to start than Stormwreck Isle as the party gets  drawn into the midst of an ancient war among dragons.

Cluedo – Treachery at Tudor Mansion

Fun Fact, Americans call Ludo by a different name, so they call the famous crime solving game Clue instead of Cluedo. Treachery at Tudor Mansion takes all the fun of Cluedo and turns it into an escape room mystery,  which is  fun take on an old classic.