Free Republic

People upload a picture of themselves to a tool like ChatGPT, along with written prompts that explain how they want the final picture to look. These instructions are really important. They tell the AI tool everything it is meant to generate, from the items a person wants to appear with to the kind of packaging they should be in - which includes mimicking the box and font of popular toys like Barbie. Many online will then personalise it further with their name, job and clothing choices. Though it does not always work, and many have also shared some of the...

The supply of many foreign-made goods into the US is likely to grind to a halt as a result of President Trump’s tariffs, sources told The Post Monday. A baseline tariff of 10% was applied to many countries Saturday, with heftier percentages applied to the “worst offenders,” which levy high tariffs on US goods they import, in two days. Companies producing everything from toys to luxury wristwatches said they are holding off shipping goods — risking America going from the land of plenty to the land of plenty unavailable. The first luxury items to leave circulation: Jaguar, Range Rover and...

Bob Friedland’s home in Little Falls, NJ, is filled with Lego. Lego flowers adorn his dining room table. A Lego reproduction of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” hangs in his office. He has 10 Lego city skylines scattered throughout his abode (one for every town he’s visited). On Halloween, he strings lights on his Lego “Nightmare Before Christmas” set and displays it at the bay window at the front of his house. “I had to move out of my condo and into a house to find a place to put them all,” Friedland, 50, told The Post. Friedland has worked in...

Lionel Racing, NASCAR’s die-cast collectible car licensee, is implementing a surcharge to its customers related to the U.S.’s recently implemented tariffs on China, an example of the policy trickling down to impact the sports industry. ... On Thursday, the company sent out notes to both retail customers as well as its wholesale business partners about implementing a new tariff surcharge as a result of the new 20% tariffs on all imports from China, which is the toy industry’s largest manufacturing hub in the world.

Mattel may be safe from the Wicked Witch of the West, but it has had to issue a mea culpa to avoid the wrath of angry parents. The toy company said the web address for a pornography company was mistakenly printed on the packaging for dolls tied to the new film “Wicked” instead of the official website for the upcoming Universal Pictures release. Social-media users pointed out the mistake, noting that the URL directs to an adult-content website. The film’s website is wickedmovie.com. The URL on the box omits the word “movie.” “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are...

These dazzling minifigures are ready for Pride with their very own spectacular Pride celebration!” LEGO stated on its social-media accounts last week.

Pediatricians are warning parents about gifts for kids this holiday season that could cause choking, burns, and intestinal damage. In 2022, toy-related injuries accounted for more than 145,000 emergency room visits in kids ages 12 and under, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). And the holidays could be the peak. Dr Michael Flaherty, a pediatric critical care physician at Mass General for Children Hospital in Boston, told DailyMail.com that there is a 'huge rise' in these incidents during the holidays. 'I would say December and January are probably the two top months for toy-related injuries across the...

When World War I broke out in 1914, President Wilson decided that the U.S. would not at that time join the Allies but would instead remain on the sidelines. However, in 1916 he did establish the Council of National Defense which was composed of government officials that would coordinate resources and industry if necessary. When the U.S. did eventually declare war on Germany in April 1917, the Council went into action. At that point the Council turned much of the country’s manufacturing infrastructure toward making what was needed for the war and among other things, banned the manufacture of nonessential...

Israeli soldiers foiled “an elaborate Hamas ambush” that used dolls and children’s backpacks rigged with speakers playing sounds of crying to lure them into a terrorist tunnel in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday. Footage released by the IDF showed the alley where the ambush would have been staged. “Here in every corner were … explosives,” .... The forces subsequently found children’s dolls and backpacks with speakers to imitate crying sounds and songs, the footage showed. “The goal is to draw us in to look for, to see these things … they play voices in Hebrew so...

Christmas is supposed to be the most wonderful time of year for toy manufacturers. But in Joe Biden’s economy, toy sales are suffering thanks to runaway inflation and other pressures, forcing one of the world’s largest toymakers to deliver lumps of coal to employees just ahead of December 25. Hasbro said this week that it is eliminating a whopping 1,100 jobs, or close to 20 percent of its workforce. The stunning announcement is on top of the 800 jobs the company slashed earlier this year. CEO Chris Cocks delivered the bad news in an employee memo filed with the SEC....

California retailers that refuse to incorporate “gender-neutral” toy sections could face hundreds of dollars in fines from the state under a new law that takes effect Jan. 1. Any California department store that has 500 or more employees and sells childcare items will be required to feature a “gender-neutral” section “regardless of whether [the toys] have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys,” thanks to a new law signed by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom. Lawmakers claimed the new requirements are based on the state’s civil rights statutes.“Any department store that fails to create a gender-neutral section could face...

A new law due to come into effect in California next month will see stores issued with fines if they fail to comply with radical gender ideology. The law, which comes into effect on January 1, 2024, mandates stores that sell children’s items to have a gender-neutral section. Details of the “woke” new law are confirmed on a state government website. The law applies to any company that sells “childcare items” or toys and employs a minimum of 500 employees across store locations. It requires that they offer a section where “a reasonable selection of the items and toys for...

Liberal talk show host Bill Maher has slammed the new Barbie” movie as “preachy, man-hating, and a Zombie Lie.” HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” host explained that the “woke” film is a “Zombie Lie” because it perpetuates “something that was never true.” After watching the movie, Maher blasted the director for ignoring the world we currently live in. 67-year-old Maher took to Twitter on Monday and panned the Greta Gerwig-directed movie to his 10.8 million followers. Maher denounced “Barbie” for being out of touch with reality. He said the term “Zombie Lie” means it’s either “something that never was...

Hasbro has decided to discontinue a Trolls World Tour doll after widespread criticism and false claims were made by some parents online. The controversy began when a woman posted a video of the DreamWorks Trolls World Tour Giggle & Sing Poppy toy on Instagram. Sold at Walmart and marketed to children four and older, the doll sings and giggles when a button is pressed. Instagram user redpillbabe took issue with the placement of the button on the doll, alleging that the button was placed near the doll's "private parts" in an attempt to groom children. "Go I dare you. Tell...

WASHINGTON (TND) — Makers of the classic build block toy LEGO are the latest to receive criticism and calls for boycotts after one popular social media account claimed the toymaker was "featuring transgender building sets for kids." Before Pride Month last year, The LEGO Group announced its "A-Z of Awesome" campaign, which features "a colorful alphabet of identities built from LEGO bricks, created by our incredible LGBTQIA+ fans!" Conservative British influencer Oli London apparently thought the campaign was selling the LGBTQIA+ sets, potentially to children. Sharing a video clip of the campaign on Twitter, London exclaimed: "LEGO turns TRANS!"

Democrats’ highly expensive environmental policies have been developed without any meaningful strategic thinking or analyses about raw materials and geopolitics.Ford Motor Company recently announced it’s set to lose more than $6 billion on its latest electric vehicle plants while it gets them running, with the company CEO saying “we cannot continue to import batteries and rare earth from overseas.”“We can build all the plants, but what’s the good if we’re importing batteries?” he continued, highlighting U.S. mine closures and global shortages of the rare earths required for the batteries that power these cars.Joe Biden declared war on fossil fuels on...

You might look back on your Teddy Ruxpin or Beanie Babies with nostalgia, but not everything in your childhood toy chest deserves a comeback. Some "playthings" from the 20th century or (even as recent last year!) have caused serious harm to unsuspecting kids. Steer clear of these trinkets and games — unless you want to pay a visit to the ER, that is

One has to ask the question: why is the LGBTQ industry so hell-bent on targeting children? Why is LEGO holding a queer festival in its stores to promote sexual deviancy to children who would otherwise not even think about such things? To be clear, the LGBTQ movement and its various symbols, including the pride flag, have absolutely nothing to do with love. Friends, even friends of the same sex, can love each other—but it is not sexual. The LGBTQ movement is a movement designed for the sole purpose normalizing aberrant, dangerous, and violent sex acts among people of the same...

Many stakeholders are pinning their long-term storage hopes on lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery storage solutions, with this market expected to grow by almost 20% per year between 2022 and 2023, according to Precedence Research. But the reality is that, although Li-ion batteries have an important role to play on the road to net zero, this technology is neither robust nor versatile enough to single-handedly fulfill energy storage requirements. As a result, a diverse range of alternative grid-scale solutions that can deliver an unprecedented expansion in storage capacity are needed to offset our reliance on Li-ion batteries and drive the renewable energy...

Tesla now qualifies for federal subsidies after agreeing to universalize a portion of its nearly 17,000 electric vehicle (EV) chargers to assist the Biden administration’s goal of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030, according to Axios... Of the $25 billion for EVs, Tesla will receive a portion of the $7.5 billion in federal incentives set aside for EV charging stations, according to Politico.