There are a lot of toys out there. And they’re all trying to get your kids’ attention by being the coolest, the greatest, the most extremely ultimate toy that the world has ever seen.

So which toys live up to the hype? Here are some of the best toys of 2017, that should actually get played with long after the holidays are over.

Best Toy for Vehicle Loving Kids (and Their Parents!)

The Anki Overdrive: Fast & Furious Edition Starter Set is a fun upgrade to the super popular app-controlled car racing set from Anki. The Fast & Furious Edition includes “Supercars” inspired the movies, the ability to upgrade with weapons, and a new Power Zone track piece that disables your opponents. This was a collaboration just waiting to happen, and reviews are saying it’s a blast to play with.

If you don’t care about the movie tie-ins, I would expect we’ll see some nice price drops on the regular old Anki Overdrive this season (we saw it as low as $100 last November/December).

• MSRP: $170 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

Check Price on Amazon

Best Toy for Christmas Morning Battles & Beyond

There have been many attempts at inexpensive laser tag sets, but most have failed to take off because of bad reviews. The LASER X Two Player Laser Tag Gaming Set seems to have finally gotten it right! The starter set comes with two blasters and two receiver vests (200′ range), and can be expanded with additional one-player sets ($25 each). The reviews at Target are great, with one writing, “It is a rare toy that mom, dad, 12 year old and 9 year old all play at once and end smiling not fighting.”

• MSRP: $50 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: $34

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Best Toy Robot

Past years’ have given us robot dinosaurs, robot dogs, robot balls. This year we have the Meccano MeccaSpider, and it looks about as awesome as it sounds. Designed for kids 10 and older, the MeccaSpider can be programmed in multiple ways after being built, and has some fun features built-in, like an IR sensor that senses movement and can even spray “venom” (water) at whoever comes in its path. 

• MSRP: $100 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: $67

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Best RC Toy with Ridiculous Over the Top Features

Okay so we’ll get the bad news out of the way: the DC Justice League App-Controlled Ultimate Batmobile RC Vehicle has an MSRP of $250. But if you’re a Batman fan, your kid you’ll want it anyway. It’s got a POV camera in the cockpit, Batman figure with an arm that actually turns the wheel, real smoke that comes out of the exhaust pipe…just watch the video.

Not a lot of reviews out yet (it doesn’t actually come out until 11/1), but it certainly looks cool.

• MSRP: $250 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: $187

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Best Building Toy

Obviously the best building toy is going to be a LEGO set, the question is which LEGO set! If you spent all your money on the Batmobile above and can’t swing $800 for the new LEGO Millennium Falcon (the biggest set they’ve ever made), the next best thing this year might be the LEGO Ninjago City Set. Also massive, and filled with incredible details, the 3-level, 4867-piece Ninjago City looks looks like an awesome set, even if you’re not into the Ninjago series. I saw it in-person at the LEGO Store and was pretty blown away.

On the not $300 or $800 end of the LEGO spectrum, the LEGO Ninjago Movie Green Ninja Mech Dragon is big and awesome for $50, and the new LEGO Brick Heads ($9.99 each) look like they were basically made to be stocking stuffers.

• MSRP: $300 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Toy for Little Superheroes

Every year there is some Batman toy that every little kid has to have, and this year it’s the Fisher-Price Imaginext DC Super Friends Batbot Xtreme. My son (5 years old) has been telling people, “I’m getting that Batbot that’s as big as my sister for Christmas.” And while the comparison is not 100% accurate, this thing is really big (almost 3 feet tall), and looks like it will cause a lot of squeals and excitement come Christmas morning.

I’m a big fan of the Imaginext toys in general–they are well-designed, nearly impossible to break, and the kids actually play with them.

• MSRP: $110 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: $64

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Best Learning Toy for Toddlers

Because kids only play with “toddler toys” for maybe a year or so, the pick for this category has to be fairly inexpensive. The LeapFrog Scoop & Learn Ice Cream Cart retails at an affordable $40, and we’ve already seen it closer to $20 on sale. It comes with a cute magnetic ice cream scooper, cash register, and “order cards” for young toddlers to follow. So far the reviews are almost universally positive (4.9/5 stars on Amazon). 

If you want to go a little bigger (or have a really hipster toddler), the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Servin’ Up Fun Food Truck is another cute food-related playset this year.

• MSRP: $40 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: $22

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Best Toy You’ll Drive Yourself Crazy Trying to Find

Last year it was Hatchimals; way back when it was Cabbage Patch Dolls, then Tickle Me Elmo and Furbies. This year the toy that everybody seems to be looking for is WoWee Fingerlings. They’re little “interactive” monkeys that hang onto your finger and do stuff, or something. They also make a unicorn version (that has been out of stock forever). The demand for these things is so great that people are selling fakes all over Amazon and eBay. Definitely only buy these from big box stores (or if it’s Amazon.com as the seller).

If you can find them, they’re only $15 retail, and weirdly kind of adorable.

• MSRP: $15 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Star Wars Toy

With the Last Jedi coming out this December, it feels wrong not to include one of the new Star Wars toys on this list. A lot of the 2017 toys have gotten “meh” reviews, but that is definitely not the case for the Star Wars The Black Series Poe Dameron Electronic X-Wing Pilot Helmet. Seriously, read the reviews on Amazon; they love it. One says it’s “200% worth the money.”

It’s got sound effects, polarizing visor, speech projector, and it fits adult heads as well as children’s so you can live out your 8-year-old dreams when your kid goes to bed.

• MSRP: $80 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: $48

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Best Toy That Will Take Up Half Your Living Room

Big toys are kind of annoying, especially if they take up a ton of space but don’t actually get used much. I can pretty much guarantee that the Step2 Disney Pixar Cars 3 Up & Down Roller Coaster Ride-On (or any other roller coaster toy) will be worth the living space it takes up. Perfect for keeping active little kids entertained during the colder months! Kids as young as 1 can enjoy this, but my 5 year old still thinks it’s fun, too. It can even double as a ramp for Hot Wheels cars or other toy vehicles.

Note that Kohls will have a non-Cars version of this for $50 on Black Friday; pretty great price if you can snag one!

• MSRP: $100 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: $67

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2017 Holiday Gift Guide: Toys that Live Up to the Hype

Ever since Wolfenstein made it okay to want to shoot things (you were just shooting Nazis in that game, it’s not like you were hurting people), our society has grown to not only accept its bloodlust, but to embrace and even cuddle it.  This is a day and age where 10-year-olds can list more types of guns than they can U.S. Presidents. In their defense, an AK-47 is way more fascinating than Martin Van Buren.

So, what do you do to vent these primal hunting instincts built up inside you, but can’t bring yourself to shoot a deer that may or may not be a mother to some Bambi-like deer cub? Don’t give up on your bloodlust! Just get safer weapons.

Mazooka Marshmallow Shooter

“Eat lead!” Sounds a little harsh. How about something like, “Eat a delicious, pillowy treat!”  Yeah, that sounds nice – and much tastier than lead!  The Mazooka Marshmallow Shooter is the perfect way to unleash your animalistic rage without hurting anything… except your girlish figure.

Check Amazon for the Mazooka Marshmallow Shooter

Cap Launcher Bottle Opener

In the vein of a Swiss Army Knife, we like tools that can also serve other useful functions. Something to help us smite our enemies and keep our fingernails dirt-free. That’s why we like the Cap Launcher Bottle Opener – it opens your bottle and shoots the cap. Perfect for drinking brews with the bros, as best friends make the best targets.

Buy the Cap Launcher Bottle Opener Here

Rubber Band Shotgun

Sure, you could just use your thumb and forefinger as a rubber band gun… but compared to this Rubber Band Shotgun, you’re just bringing a knife to a gun fight. This puppy offers three different firing modes: single shot, rapid fire, and shotgun blast! Everything else aside, this gun has a pump-action handle, so you don’t have to rub your finger and make that “click-click” noise every time you cock.

Buy the Rubber Band Shotgun Here

Miniature Ballista

Whether you’re a brilliant Roman general storming Dorset or an irate pencil-pusher storming Mike from HR, you’ll be glad you brought along your ballista! Equally appealing to history buffs and bored workers, this Miniature Ballista shoots miniature wooden bolts using the Roman’s mastery of engineering that lives on today at the Ferrari factory.

Check Amazon for the Miniature Ballista

BudK Night Watchman Hat

Let’s take a break from all these toy weapons and talk about a real one: this plain-looking baseball cap. When discussing weapon presentation, there’s two schools of thought: intimidate them with something that looks fearsome, or surprise them with something that doesn’t. Guess which one the BudK Night Watchman Hat is? Inside this mild-mannered hat lurks a dark alter-ego – in the form of lead plates! One swing can knock a man out and make him flinch every time someone tips their hat!

Check Amazon for the BudK Night Watchman Hat

Airow Gun 50 Caliber Paintball Gun

Trigger finger got the bends from too much flag capturing? Why don’t you switch it up, Rambo-style? While technically not a bow and arrow (because how do you affix a shaft to an exploding ball of liquid?), the Airow Gun 50 Caliber Paintball Gun lets you fire with a pull-and-release bow string mechanism. Get the accuracy of a sniper with the panache of an elven archer!

Buy the Airow Gun 50 Caliber Paintball Gun Here

Junior Devastator Gatling Gun

Time to bring out the big guns! This is what all those first-person shooters were training us for. At 3 feet long and 2 feet high, this Junior Devastator Gatling Gun is the atom bomb of office space warfare. This beauty fires 80 rapid-fire shots up to 40 feet away. With vertical and horizontal swiveling, there’s no place Mike from HR can hide. And it’s custom-built from fine materials by skilled woodworkers, which may explain the price tag. If this is the Junior Devastator, we’d hate (love!) to see the Big Momma!

Buy the Junior Devastator Gatling Gun Here

Arm Yourself: “Safe” Toy Weapons You Don’t Need Permits For

When we were kids, we loved Terminator 2… but the movie lost a little of its appeal when it started happening for real. When manufacturing robots came out, everyone was like, “oh, great, this giant metal arm can build a lot more cars than my flabby, normal-sized arms.” The People rejoiced…Well, except for the humans who worked on the factory floor, because they were now the obsolete models.

But then came calculating robots, humanoid robots, and dancing robots… how far off before they make robots that roam the streets taking the lives of anyone unlucky enough to be out after curfew… Then we’ll long for the days when the only thing the robots took were our jobs!

So, we invoke the old adage, “if you can’t beat them, buy an early model and program it to protect you against its mechanized brethren.” (Shakespeare said that.)

And that’s why we’re featuring the latest robot design from one of our favorite toy designers SkyNet WowWee. Their RoboMe promises to be a popular toy this holiday season, with technology so advanced, it makes Tickle Me Elmo seem like an abacus.

For starters, it connects to your iPhone or iPod Touch (the website uses the word “fusion,” which doesn’t help our accusations that they’re creating killer robots). This unholy union gives the RoboMe capabilities other toy androids can only dream about, along with electric sheep. With the iDevice as its head, it gives users the option of customizing the face displayed on the screen… keeping in mind it might just be the last thing you ever see.

The added functionality also lets you choose a personality for the RoboMe… meaning you get to choose what facial expressions it makes, what it does with its body, and even what it says. For example, you can make it dance after it shakes hands, or you can make it run away when you shout, “John Connor’s coming!”

And talk about self-aware, RoboMe’s extensive sensor network lets it navigate a room without bumping into everything. It’s more graceful than our clumsy human sister! And if you want it to bump into things (because you’re less into a robot-butler and more into a robot-slave), you can always override his free will with the included remote control.

But our favorite gizmo our future master offers is its telepresence. If you have access to a second iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you can connect to RoboMe to see and hear what it does – and still command it. We’re talking actual avatar/spy tech/nanny cam technology here!

This is one gadget that everyone’s going to want this year! The only technology it doesn’t have is the ability to time-travel… not yet, anyway…

Shut Up and Take My Money: WowWee RoboMe

Perhaps the must-have gadget for the most die-hard of Doctor Who fans, a retailer called Entertainment Earth recently listed a Doctor Who flying TARDIS complete with a remote control. If you have longed to spend your days role playing as the good doctor, this is your chance to actually take flight with the iconic time machine.

Mostly identical to the classic police call box design from the popular television show, two large helicopter blades have been added to the top of the TARDIS to allow the device to fly. Outfitted with a rechargeable battery, the TARDIS charges over USB and requires about thirty minutes of charging prior to a flight. The remote control takes four AA batteries as well. According to the manufacturer details, the TARDIS can fly for approximately five to seven minutes before completely running out of battery power.

Perhaps ideal in the cubicle space, the Doctor Who flying TARDIS could be used within an office for short flights between desks. At the moment, the price of the flying TARDIS is $46.99 and the estimated ship date will be during July 2013. You can check out the first picture of the flying TARDIS below:

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Shut Up and Take My Money: Doctor Who Remote-Control Flying TARDIS