Well, such is the case with today's oddball toy, a weirdo wind-up who answers to the name of Eggbot.
Eggbot is one of several little wind-up, egg-shaped critters in the Egg Bods series (what a horrible name), from which you'll find all sorts of different ovoid oddities, in all manner of occupations from ballerinas to soldiers to firemen. Or fireeggs, I suppose. But quite frankly, the robot was the only one that caught my attention, so that's the only one that came home with me after being procured while on a trip with my boss last Christmas. In fact, Eggbot here has been sitting in the package since before the new year, was eventually covered with a stack of comic books and was only uncovered yesterday while I was straightening up the Nerdatorium, at which point I thought, Hey! I need to blog about this guy! and then, Wait. When the hell did I buy this?
I have to admit that once I got Eggbot freed from his plastic prison, he turned out to be quite endearing with his bugged-out eyes, stubby arms and especially DAT RAYGUN.
One of the selling points of the Egg Bods (ugh) line is that they are comprised of interchangeable parts, which I'm always a fan of, provided that I actually like the other toys in the line with which to swap parts. Which I don't, so I won't. But in the meantime, you can see how Eggbot's arms and head come apart in case I ever did get the urge to make a pirate-headed robot with nurse arms.
One cute side effect of the removable head is Eggbot's ability to look from side to side, which for some reason, I just like. It makes him look like he's just landed on some new planet and is scanning the horizon for enemies, or a side of bacon. And maybe some toast.
Don't get me wrong, I know I sound like I'm cracking (ha!) on this toy line a bit, but I really do think it's an adorable idea and would make quite a splash in the toy world with kids and parents as long as it gets a chance to catch on. I found this guy in one of those "educational" toy stores and quite frankly, these have just the right je ne sais quoi to deserve a larger bite of the toy-aisle-pie in such places as Target or Toys R Us.
Not that I'll be collecting any more of them. My in-born love for silvery robot toys and wind-ups in general was enough to get this guy into my collection, but it ends there for me.
But I'll make sure that Eggbot gets a warm welcome from the rest of my toys. In fact, it looks like he's already making friends...
