February 2012 New Specialty Toys — Designer Toys

PLAY-DECO is a unique craft for home decor that combines wooden "bone" with paper "skin." Users can either use the skin as is or create their own original works. "You can also download new 'skins' and accessories from the website as well as templates to design your own," Shinya Fujimoto, CEO of Magnote, told TDmonthly. Launch date: January 2012.
Awards: 2011 Good Design Award

Mungi Bands are magnetically connectable designer bands.  Each halfband is designed to interchange and connect to any other half band, and are connected by a magnet to create a whole band. "Mungi Bands allow the user to express themselves by choosing which design combination to wear," Chad Anger, owner/Inventor of Mungi Bands, told TDmonthly. Launch date: December 2011.
Awards: 2011 Best of Show
— As of 09/13/2012 this product had 5 out of 5 stars from 1 review on Amazon.com.

Piperoid is a paper craft robot designed and produced in Japan. The robot is made out of just paper pipes with pre-drilled holes and marks to cut, fold, and connect the pipes without the need of glue or tape. All kids need is a pair of scissors, and with minimal assembly they can bring their own Piperoid to life. Launch date: April 2009.

Space Adventure series is an extension of Cube Figures where each of the three packages (episodes) include two Cube Figures along with over 90 blocks to create two space crafts for them to go in and fight the evil. In addition, the package contains a Manga (Japanese-style comic book) which outlines the background stories of the characters and links the three episodes. The instruction booklet included details the steps needed to build not only the two space crafts but also the mega robot which can be assembled by collecting all three packages. Launch date: October 2012.

Cube Figures is a block figurine kit and comes in 16 pre-designed styles. Each components such as legs, hands and nose come apart, and the real fun begins when one starts to create their original characters by mix and matching components. The package also comes with a sticker sheet to dress up the characters, as well as a key chain strap. Launch date: October 2012.

This lovely mouse with big ears, delightful little brown nose and happy smile lives in a match box. The match box is decorated with whimsical illustration and made with sturdy card board. Comes with matching padded sleeping sack for the little mouse's sweet dreams. Her sweater and skirt is removable and even has a little hole for her tail. "The mouse in the box can help parents when they put their children into bed. when the mouse goes into sleep in the box, the kids go to sleep too," Malene Kleemann, marketing assistant at Maileg North America, Inc., told TDmonthly. Launch date: 2008.