Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Visit Tim's Toy Shop, at grand-illusions.com
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Tim has over 200 suitcases and smaller briefcases in his flat, which together house his toy collection. He catalogues items by the date that he acquired them. Here are a few toys he added to his collection in the late 1990s.
Suspend your disbelief as Tim shows an example of diamagnetic suspension levitation. Here is the full explanation - youtube.com/watch?v=yoZeN4U6_08
A Japanese toy - switch on the base and an electrostatic charge is produced which allows you to float a small and very light pith ball in the air. More magical suspension!
From Germany, a topological toy, with connected coloured blocks.
A ballpoint pen with an unusual top - press the switch and a tiny sushi appears at the top. Eat while you write. Only plastic though, sadly!
A sliding block puzzle where the individual blocks are lenticular, so as you tilt the puzzle, it flips between two different images. An extra twist on the traditional sliding block puzzle. Tim likes it, but as this is the only one he has come across, maybe it didn't catch on with the wider public.
A yo-yo that incorporates a lollipop.
A Japanese wooden fighting toy. It looks like two sumo wrestlers on top of the square base. There are two little wooden hammers, and by tapping on the base the figures move around, until one falls off the base. Presumably they have lost the bout!
A Japanese version of the Rubik Cube, although in this case there are Hello Kitty faces on each piece of the puzzle.
A 4 x 4 Rubik Cube which turns out to be a spoof - fold it a couple of times and the puzzle is solved!
Finally a cardboard robot that will 'walk' down a gentle slope. Tim constructed this himself from a kit, and he was pretty pleased with the way his robot walks!
Visit Tim's Toy Shop, at grand-illusions.com
________________________________________________________
Tim has over 200 suitcases and smaller briefcases in his flat, which together house his toy collection. He catalogues items by the date that he acquired them. Here are a few toys he added to his collection in the late 1990s.
Suspend your disbelief as Tim shows an example of diamagnetic suspension levitation. Here is the full explanation - youtube.com/watch?v=yoZeN4U6_08
A Japanese toy - switch on the base and an electrostatic charge is produced which allows you to float a small and very light pith ball in the air. More magical suspension!
From Germany, a topological toy, with connected coloured blocks.
A ballpoint pen with an unusual top - press the switch and a tiny sushi appears at the top. Eat while you write. Only plastic though, sadly!
A sliding block puzzle where the individual blocks are lenticular, so as you tilt the puzzle, it flips between two different images. An extra twist on the traditional sliding block puzzle. Tim likes it, but as this is the only one he has come across, maybe it didn't catch on with the wider public.
A yo-yo that incorporates a lollipop.
A Japanese wooden fighting toy. It looks like two sumo wrestlers on top of the square base. There are two little wooden hammers, and by tapping on the base the figures move around, until one falls off the base. Presumably they have lost the bout!
A Japanese version of the Rubik Cube, although in this case there are Hello Kitty faces on each piece of the puzzle.
A 4 x 4 Rubik Cube which turns out to be a spoof - fold it a couple of times and the puzzle is solved!
Finally a cardboard robot that will 'walk' down a gentle slope. Tim constructed this himself from a kit, and he was pretty pleased with the way his robot walks!
