YOU BOGARTED YOUR NIECE’S ROBOT DINOSAUR for a solid three hours after her birthday party. Admit it. We won’t judge you. Today’s playthings are some tempting stuff. They’re bigger, stronger, and faster than the foot-powered plastic “cars,” immobile Lego fortresses, and dead-eyed Teddy Ruxpin dolls that came before. Building sets are so lifelike, go-karts so zippy, and robots so intelligent that even adults will find these outsize toys utterly irresistible. Now kindly hold my beer, kid; there’s a Nerf battle that needs my full attention.
1 Top Gun
Childhood isn’t childhood if you’re not bruising someone’s eyeball with a soft dart, amiright? At 2.5 feet, the Nerf N-Strike Mastodon is the largest foam-thrower around. In our tests, its motor shot a full magazine of 24 darts up to 65 feet in 8.2 seconds. $80
2 Clever Girl
The RoboRaptor Blue can’t open doors, but it can find its way around the playroom. Infrared sensors in its head let the 3-foot dinosaur wander freely without crashing into anything. Audio sensors trigger roaring reactions to any sudden noises while patrolling. $100
3 Diggin’ It
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