Gears, motors, spheres? Name that toy!
April 19, 2010 8:12 AM Subscribe
What toy am I describing? It's got modular components with enclosed, moving parts. (Maybe you'd call it a game or a kit.)
Here's what I know about it:
- It was played with in the ninties (probably early to mid). It might have been available before and after that.
- It consisted of several transparent plastic spheres.
- The spheres had octagonal male and female connector parts so you could attach multiple spheres to one another in various ways.
- The spheres contained various parts like gears and shafts. At least one contained a motor too, which would make moving parts in other spheres move, after they were connected via the octagonal connectors.
- Some of the spheres had things like wheels and lights. (And on-off switches).
The idea is that you could assemble the spheres together in different ways to build different cool things (probably including vehicles, given the wheels.)
Though the toy sounds vaguely familiar to me, these aren't my memories -- I'm reiterating someone else's. They're from a while ago, so I assume they could be a bit off.
What toy is this? What's its name? And, is it still made or am I going to need to do some ebay hunting to find it?
[The closest I've found are this and this, and they're really just a bit close in spirit. I can't get this thing out of my search results.]
Thanks, all!
Here's what I know about it:
- It was played with in the ninties (probably early to mid). It might have been available before and after that.
- It consisted of several transparent plastic spheres.
- The spheres had octagonal male and female connector parts so you could attach multiple spheres to one another in various ways.
- The spheres contained various parts like gears and shafts. At least one contained a motor too, which would make moving parts in other spheres move, after they were connected via the octagonal connectors.
- Some of the spheres had things like wheels and lights. (And on-off switches).
The idea is that you could assemble the spheres together in different ways to build different cool things (probably including vehicles, given the wheels.)
Though the toy sounds vaguely familiar to me, these aren't my memories -- I'm reiterating someone else's. They're from a while ago, so I assume they could be a bit off.
What toy is this? What's its name? And, is it still made or am I going to need to do some ebay hunting to find it?
[The closest I've found are this and this, and they're really just a bit close in spirit. I can't get this thing out of my search results.]
Thanks, all!
Best answer: nthing Capsela. In addition to all the products mentioned above there were also floaters and voice control bits too. I had one set up to swoop in on any intruders in my bedroom growing up, and another set up like a desk fan for those hot Louisiana summers.
It looks like they're not being made in the US any more, but according to Wiki they just got rereleased in Japan by Bandai.
posted by bookwo3107 at 8:22 AM on April 19, 2010
It looks like they're not being made in the US any more, but according to Wiki they just got rereleased in Japan by Bandai.
posted by bookwo3107 at 8:22 AM on April 19, 2010
Response by poster: Wow! Of course! That's gotta be it! Thank you!
Ha! From wiki: Capsela is a construction toy consisting primarily of spherical plastic capsules which may be connected to form various toys that can be static or moving and suitable for land or water. The capsules usually have six hollow octagonal connectors pointing out, where an octagonal sleeve piece bridges between two capsules.
posted by sentient at 8:22 AM on April 19, 2010
Ha! From wiki: Capsela is a construction toy consisting primarily of spherical plastic capsules which may be connected to form various toys that can be static or moving and suitable for land or water. The capsules usually have six hollow octagonal connectors pointing out, where an octagonal sleeve piece bridges between two capsules.
posted by sentient at 8:22 AM on April 19, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:13 AM on April 19, 2010 [2 favorites]