Codee 0

I recently purchased a whole bunch of Codee Toys from the Toys R Us website because they looked like they would be fun to play with. Well, after playing with them for a few hours, my finger tips are all bleeding from trying to manipulate the small, rigid, almost impossible to pose joints. For as smooth and friendly as these things look, the plastic is actually much harder than you would expect in such a toy - each edge of these things are sharpened death-edges, specifically designed to cut you right in the childhood. To be friendlier a toy, the plastic should be much softer and more flexible. Okay, okay, really, they’re not that bad, but I do want to make the point that toys shouldn’t hurt to play with. Not even Legos are this hard on the fingers.

Why did I make this GIF if the toy is so hard to play with? Because mathematically and geometrically, I really, really like the idea of the design of these pieces. They’re like the Rubik’s Snake toy that I loved from my childhood - but with many more shape possibilities because of the 45° step on one of the axes. I’d like to give a shout out to Kenny Arnold, who designed the toy, because it’s a really awesome idea. I hope to see a new revision of the toys come out with a softer plastic - I’d gladly buy them all again, hopefully to play with them without the pain next time! :)

Have you played with these toys? What did you think of them? Did they cut your fingers too, or an I just being a wuss?