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Toys for geeks: Crave at the London Toy Fair 2010

Crave has been trying not to get over-excited at the London Toy Fair as we encounter giant Lego men, robot gerbils, transforming postmen and the new Doctor Who

Richard Trenholm
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Richard Trenholm
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As Crave walked into the London Toy Fair, one of the exhibitors asked us what our audience demographic was. Probably too old for this, we thought, as we looked around at Kensington Olympia, stuffed to the rafters with this year's must-have games and gizmos, before deciding we're never too old and haring around like, well, like a kid in a toy shop.

Sadly, we aren't allowed to show you some of the tastier stuff from the trade-only show, mainly anything licensed. That includes Tomy's A-Team action figures based on the forthcoming Joe Carnahan remake, and a host of bits and pieces from Hasbro, Bandai, Lego and others for franchises such as Iron Man II, Transformers, Harry Potter and the new series of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

For our money, the original Star Wars trilogy gets some of the coolest new stuff even 30 years after release: Boba Fett will be back with an awesome voice-changer helmet and light 'n' sound laser gun, and there's a remote-controlled Millenium Falcon helicopter ten times as cool as the fake X-Wing we saw at CES. But our favourite of the Star Wars tie-ins is an AT-AT that we can only describe as chuffin' e-normous.

Click continue to see our pictures from the show, including giant Lego men, robot gerbils, a tech celebrity cameo -- and a snatched shot of the new Doctor in action...

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Star Images makes an ever-expanding line-up of rock stars, now including John Lennon and a warts 'n' all Lemmy from Motorhead. Here's Kurt Cobain in a couple of signature poses, with mic stand and guitar accessories (shotgun not included).
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You remind me of the babe. What babe? The babe with the power. What power? The power of voodoo. Who do? You do. Do what? Remind me of the babe! Star Images also makes a line of cult and horror film characters. Here the Goblin King of the Labyrinth teams up with the Dread Pirate Roberts of The Princess Bride.
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Sackboy from Little Big Planet.
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This is Kibodo, a word game that involves a keyboard and word tiles made out of nifty computer keys. The capslock button locks words in place while you can move the word scores around to outflank your opponent. Online and iPhone versions are in the works, and the game is set to go on sale soon. Just don't mention the 'S' word.
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Revell make traditional model aeroplanes, as well as a line of Star Trek ships -- like the Voyager here -- and new Star Wars: Clone Wars vehicles. They come in ready-painted, snap-together pieces, so you'll end up with a model that looks like the picture on the box, and not glue-spackled malformed monstrosities like we had in our day.
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Meccano Spykee Micro mechanoids. Full-size versions include the Spykee Cell, with Bluetooth, and Spykee Vox, with an iPod dock.
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Forget bridges and park benches and stuff like that: let's use Meccano to make a remote-controlled sports car!
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Giant Lego men with torches in their legs, tiny Lego men with torches in their legs and Lego bricks that click together as wall lights. We like Lego Lights.
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Cuddly Lego men. Aww.
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Yes, that is indeed a Postman Pat that transforms into a post van. Optimus Pat, if you will. There's also a Fireman Sam version.
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These little fellas are ZhuZhu Pets, little motorised gerbil fellas, who beetle around in orange plastic habitrails. And, er, police cars.
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Here's the Gadget Show's Jason Bradbury going into battle...
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...gerbil battle! These ZhuZhu warriors go by the name of -- you'll like this -- Kung Zhu.
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Lego's Toy Story range is the first in which the familiar round-headed minifig is replaced by more accurate likenesses of the characters.
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But you can't beat the classic Lego fella. We can't show you any of the new Clone Wars sets, or our favourite of the new range: a brilliant Lego version of the Wampa creature in an ice cave, celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.
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In among the robots and remote controls, there's still time for a good old-fashioned board game. Expecially if it's got the Stig on the front.
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The hottest product at the Toy Fair was the action figure of the new Doctor Who, Matt Smith. Sadly, the BBC wouldn't let anyone see it. We did manage to snap this official tie-in board game though, with Smith's youthful phizzog on the front. Action-figure makers Character did tell Crave that Smith's action figure would be in shops, alongside the new-look Sonic Screwdriver, when the show returns in the spring. Fans of the classic show will be excited about a high-quality box set coming in September, containing exclusive versions of all 11 Doctors and costing a mere £50. Exclusive means different details to the existing figures like Peter Davison's Doctor finally getting a stick of celery on his lapel. It's a snub to Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, whose seventh and eighth Doctors won't get their own stand-alone figures. Still, it's on our wish list already.

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