Editing 2049: Unfulfilling Toys

This comic lists and illustrates six different classic toys that are missing a key piece or attribute that makes them work and/or that makes them unique or fun.

{{w|Slap bracelet}}s are flexible curved strips of spring steel that roll up and become a bracelet when you slap them against your wrist. This function operates on the same principle and basic design as the rolled band of metal inside a tape measure. A rigid one would not twist and would be deeply frustrating and potentially painful.

A {{w|stomp rocket}} has a rubber pouch full of air, connected via a hose to a vertical cylinder contained snugly within the base of an air-propelled rocket.  By stomping on the pouch, the air is forced out the top end of the cylinder, launching the rocket into the air.  By sealing the air channel, the rocket would stay on the cylinder and the person would just be bounced into the air by the pouch — acting like the world's smallest bouncy house — or the pouch will burst, rendering the toy even more useless.

A {{w|Super Soaker}}™ is a brand of water gun that works by first pumping air into the gun, thereby introducing pressurized air above the water, then releasing the water using the gun's trigger – the extra pressure from the pumped air makes the water go much further than a traditional water gun which relies upon the pressure generated from a single pump of the trigger itself.  In [[Randall]]'s version, the water cannot be released, so the fun part of the water gun – getting to spray your friends – isn't available.

In a classic {{w|glow stick}}, made of flexible plastic, one must first bend it enough to break the glass cylinder inside. This allows the chemicals inside to mix and begin glowing within the plastic tube.  If the entire tube were made of actual glass, however, it would not only shatter into many sharp glass pieces but would also cover the hands of the unfortunate user with a mixture of mild but not harmless chemicals. Also, depending on this contraption's construction and/or luck, the chemicals either won't mix and not glow at all, defeating the purpose of the glow stick, or stain your hands, clothes, and surroundings with a glowing liquid, which would be rather unfortunate.

In the {{w|Sky Dancers|original toy}}, a doll or figure with folded-up wings sits on top of a hand-held device with a wrapped string or other mechanism that lets it spin the doll very fast.  As the doll spins, [[123|centrifugal]] force causes the wings to unfold and provide lift, and the doll rises up in the air and flies, spinning, sometimes going quite high.  Without the wings, the doll will spin but otherwise remain flightless.

In a traditional {{w|yo-yo}}, one attaches a string to their finger and the other end of the string is looped around the shaft of the yo-yo, in such a way that it will hold the yo-yo but the yo-yo can still spin.  In this case, the string is presumably included but not attached to the yo-yo, so when the yo-yo reaches the end of its string it will fall off, instead of coming back to the person or spinning at the end of the string.

Nonetheless {{w|Yo-yo#Off-string (4A)|off-string}} yo-yoing technique exists that has been a division of the {{w|World Yo-Yo Contest}} since 2003. The division specifies that the string is tied to one finger but not the yo-yo. It was popularized by yo-yo player Jon Gates. It differs from the manipulation of a {{w|Diabolo}} because the string is tied to one finger instead of being tied to two sticks. The return is accomplished with a twist of the string called a bind. Diabolos don't return. A good example is here at [https://youtube.com/watch?v=tVpuh5aMhTQ this video titled "Crazy Stringless Yoyo Tricks!"].

 

Note that the phrase "no strings attached" is an {{w|idiom}} and usually refers to something being available without special conditions or restrictions, a favor being done with nothing expected in return, or a relationship intended to be very casual.  In this case, it is literal rather than an idiom, in that the string that is normally attached to the yo-yo is literally not attached.

In order to build the magnetic {{w|Rubik's Cube}}, you would need to embed magnets in the inward-facing sides of each cube. This actually can be achieved by using a checkered pattern for the polarity of each piece, a single piece uses the same polarity at all its connecting sides while the immediate neighbor is configured in the opposite. This [https://youtube.com/watch?v=Xb8ENlS-5Go video] shows the principle and even a working 5x5x5 magnetic cube.

 

It might also refer to various square-shaped neodymium magnet-based toys, like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j0KRK2MZic this one] or [https://magneticcube.com/ this one], which although they can be taken easily apart, they are successful and very fulfilling products on their own.

:Sealed stomp rocket