Garmin & Disney Introduce the Disney Princess Vívofit jr. 2 Kid’s Fitness Tracker

Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., today announced the vívofit jr. 2 kid’s fitness tracker1 with Disney Princess-themed bands and mobile app. So much more than a fitness device, the vívofit jr. 2 provides kids with an interactive experience where activity unlocks adventure, shaping habits for lifelong health and fitness. Kids will look forward to crushing activity minute goals to unlock app adventures, games and step icons featuring Disney Princess characters Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan and Rapunzel. With two Princess-inspired design options, vívofit jr. 2 bands are swim-friendly2, feature a customizable color screen, and most important of all, boast a battery life of over a year3. See the vívofit jr. 2 in action here.

Merida's Princess Makeover Sparks Controversy

We usually don't talk about topics that are too serious on Idle Hands. Sure, we bitch and moan about the way we think toys should be made, but that's generally as fiery as we get. Today, we've been having a great conversation about the "Merida Makeover" in which the lead character from the movie Brave was given a subtle overhaul as she was officially crowned a Disney Princess. Parent bloggers and women's groups have been firing off angry commentary on Disney's aesthetic choices with the seemingly loudest voice coming from Merida's creator, Brenda Chapman.

Chapman remarked "There is an irresponsibility to this decision that is appalling for women and young girls. Disney marketing and the powers that be that allow them to do such things should be ashamed of themselves. I think it's atrocious what they have done to Merida. When little girls say they like it because it's more sparkly, that's all fine and good but, subconsciously, they are soaking in the sexy 'come hither' look and the skinny aspect of the new version. It's horrible! Merida was created to break that mold — to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance."

Toy Fair 2013 : Disney Owns Toy Fair

With a string of hotly anticipated movies on the way and more a bit off in the distance as well as mega popular TV shows and cartoons, it will be difficult to NOT see Disney merchandise at every turn. Here's a look at what we can expect!

Innovation, creativity and powerful storytelling are the hallmarks of the 2013 toy line from Disney Consumer Products (DCP).

Some of the most innovative toys are from the new Monsters University toy collection and include features like sound and light detection technology and facial sync technology to allow for more interactive play than ever before, while The Little Mermaid and Disney Junior toy lines incorporate music and character voices to bring the products to life.

Sparking imagination, these toys capture the magic of playtime with evergreen play patterns. Here is a highlight of the top products from DCP for 2013

Toy Fair 2013: 5th Annual Best New Toys Revealed

After all that pre-show...TOY FAIR STARTS TODAY!!  Before we hit the main event in New York next month, we begin in the UK where companies are shaking hands with buyers to get you Brits the plastics you desire..all done while the lazy Americans sleep. Shameful. Let's kick things off with some pats on the back peppered with new toy reveals, shall we?

The fifth annual Toy Fair Best New Toy Awards winners were announced this morning predicting some of the top new toys for 2013. Winners range from classics like Scalextric (Hornby) and Star Wars (Hasbro) to state of the art futuristic technology such as HolograFX (John Adams) and TESKSTA – the robotic puppy (Character Options).

The twelve categories - which produced 34 winning toys from 24 different toy companies - were unveiled by Toy Fair organizers the British Toy & Hobby Association on the first day of the show this morning. Toy Fair is the UK’s only dedicated toy, game and hobby trade exhibition and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

San Diego Comic-Con 2012 : Day 2 Diary

Titled : The Douchey Side of the Force

Since Friday was going to be a heavy day of movie related interviews and Mika was planning an epic costume for her return to SDCC 2012, I thought Thursday might be the ideal day for a comic convention experience I had yet to partake in. COSTUMING!! My first foray into building serious costumes 2 years back for Halloween produced mixed results. My Vampire Batman costume seemed to be universally loved, but it was a torturous beast from which one had to take a week to recover. The boots destroyed my feet and knees, and the bat wing styled cape and poly-urithane cowl (from Reeves FX) combo caused sheets of sweat to wash down my face...in October... at night...in the middle of New York City. Surely, this outfit was awesome...but also awesomely unwearable.

D23 2011 : The Sievers Geek Out : Day 1 Report!

Those who attend San Diego Comic Con yearly noticed this year's con had a great big hole in it that could only be filled by the mammoth mouse shoes of the Disney juggernaut! Most notably was the absence of panels for upcoming Marvel films and their crown jewel, The Avengers!!!! This being the case, we made a mad scramble to find out where we could get a taste of that sweet, sweet venger' lovin'. The answer was D23. Initially, we'd guess D23 was the name of the crate "Top Men" were inspecting at the end of Indiana Jones..BUT NO! D23 is Disney's own fan wonderland, packed to the brim with presentations, panels, costumes, and miles of merch all stamped with the mouse's seal of approval. Steve and Chelsea Sievers (of www.level27media.com ) hit the con floor for Idle Hands and at the start, this was a marriage of convenience and one we were very thankful for. Little did we realize the Sievers are UBER DISNEY FANS!! Early on we expected some pretty pictures and funny stories of tattoo'd gentlemen bearing their flesh before their ejection from the show floor. Now we knew we would get MAGIC! Ah yes...the dorkiest of Disney magic only two full grown adults playing like 5 yr olds could conjure. Enjoy.

After day 1, we caught up with Steve via the interwebs and nabbed this report:

Steve: When you first walked in they had some VAN from the TV show LOST (I never got into that show so I don't know how important it was.) Walt Disney's personal limousine was also there and a giant Black Pearl pirate ship which was almost as big the van. The limousine was pretty pimp! Walt would be driven to all his premieres back in the day in this very car. They had this huge stage next to it which had artists from Disney Radio and actors & actresses from Disney Channel TV shows, of which I knew none of them. When I was walking by some guy who worked for Disney Radio asked me if I had an iphone and wanted the Radio Disney App on it I said "do I look like I listen to Radio Disney?"

Me: Were u wearing ur ultra stylish hat?

Steve: Yes I was!

Me: hehehe...Then yes...quite possibly.

Steve: Yea that is true. After that we waited in line to get into the Disney Dream Store. Waiting in line was a theme of the day, similar to SDCC. You to wait in line for panels, wait in line to get into sections of the convention, etc. The Dream Store had a lot of exclusives in there including the 101 Dalmatians Pin, Tron Monorail (only 3,000 made with either blue or yellow light cycle on it), and Vinylmation figure exclusives with a cool Mickey Mouse or Davey Crockett. It was packed and I had to wait in a longer line to check out and buy the merch (another SDCC mad dash for exclusives type moment.)

Me: Did they entertain you while u waited to buy stuff?

Steve: Yes, by coming over and showing you more exclusives pins you should buy! Right by the dream store was this amazing auction where you could bid on a pirate ship from the Peter Pan ride from Disneyland, a huge skull and crossbones standee from Pirates of the Caribbean and more. Next we went to the Disney VoluntEars (get it? EARS? Wokka.) area where we got to fill out postcards to send to the troops overseas and also stuff bags of goodies that will be sent to the troops which had a stuffed Mickey Mouse, DVDs, Camera, Disney Notebooks, Stickers, & Pencils. We then got in the long line to get into the D23 Arena for the "Walt Disney Parks & Resorts" Panel. For Disney Freaks like my wife and I who visit Disneyland 2-3 times a month (A MONTH?!! Holy frik.), it was amazing! It started out with the premiere of the park's new Mickey Mouse Costume worn by someone playing some mean drums (the new costume has an animatronic head with working mouth and eyes!!) SO COOL!!! The 2 hour panel was basically one long Disney commercial for all their parks including vacation spots like the new one opening in Hawaii next week and new cruise ships.

Me: Have they incorporated The Muppets and Marvel into the new plans?

Steve: No, not at all. Rumor is that they are in talks to open a Stark Expo in Tomorrowland at Disneyland & World. I personally think that is amazing, but I know a lot of people don't want to see Marvel Characters at Disney parks. Coolest part was the change of Fantasy Land at Disney World in FL where the new Snow White ride will be a roller coaster built to look like mine carts that sway back and forth as they roll along through the Dwarf's mines with the "Hi HO" song playing! The ride ends at Snow White's cabin. The panel also showed what the Shanghai's Disneyland is going to look like. They just started building it. Their castle will be the biggest one and the first that isn't based on something from a specific movie (as Disneyland's Castle is Sleeping Beauty's and Disney World's is Cinderella's.) After the panel ended, we hit the dealer's area filled with toys and mountains of Disney pins as well as a ton of art work. Even the US Postal Service had a booth. You could buy Disney Stamps and then get them signed by the artist who did the artwork for them...not sure how that works. Did people sign the backs of them? Each stamp got an autograph...some things are best not answered I suppose. After checking out the dealer section, we hit the Mattel booth which had a ton of Cars toys and new Toy Story figures which feature the gang going to outer space. My fav is the toy T-Rex in his space suit! They also had some cute small figures from Toy Story with scenes from the latest film. We got in line for their exclusives and picked up your exclusive Black & White Woody there. (Thanks Steve!!) Then we got in line for the Disney Store exclusives. You have to wait in line just to look at them. The Disney Store exclusives were over priced Christmas ornaments (Just Mickey & Minnie in snow gear and a Mickey from Fantasia) and this huge Crystal Tree with Mickey under it for $150. We ended the day scoring some more Tron Monorails for friends and happily found there was no line at all as the con was about to close. Then we went to Denny's to celebrate our awesome day with pancakes!

Me: YAY Pancakes!

Tune in tomorrow for more coverage and CLICK HERE for some excellent pics snapped by Steve and Chelsea of level27media.com!