'…hey, what about a scary baby on wheels sucking a dummy?'
'…wait! wait! I've got one! A baby in a turban...on a magic carpet, that can levitate!'
'Yeah!'
And so it goes on.
Maybe they're all computer generated now, but I'd rather hang on to the image of some toy techie person trying to work out how to get a bug rowing a pea-pod boat into a small orange capsule.
Kinder Surprise! There's a good chance you probably will be…surprised, that is.
Some of the toys are truly inspired in a crazy creative kind of way, with little moving parts that slot together; like mini feats of engineering.
As you can probably tell, I am a fan: I've been collecting them on and off for over twenty years.
What can I say? I love tiny.
Wasted on kids in my opinion.
Though they're not always brilliant: not always a swiss clock with a bird popping out kind of brilliant...
Sometimes just a boring lump of plastic, or - my least favourite surprise - a puzzle.
So disappointing.
But the ones that move, or wobble, or fly or even light up - like this dragon - well, you've got to be happy with that…(or maybe just me?)
Probably my favourite one is the mice in a box - frightening to think it's actually about 20 years old.
Simple but clever: a little mechanism inside means every time you slide the box open either way, a mouse pops out. I'm also quite keen on the kung-fu monkey that karate chops a piece of wood.
He really does.
I want to say they aren't as good now as they used to be - and I think they did take a dip into dull. But recently the Kinder toys seem back on form - a pony with a ring that clips on its back you can wear (well, not me..) I'd show you if I could find it. My daughter loves the flower fairies with petal skirts. Again I'd show you...
For some reason I still kind of weigh them by hand, in the possibly mistaken belief that heavier is better. And I still give the chocolate to anyone who'll have it.
Surely no one buys them for the chocolate?
