Daddy's Fish BowlA Clear View Of A Father's Family Experiences

Ty’s Tuesday Toy Review 11-15-11
Beyblades Metal Fusion Battle Top

Name:Beyblade Metal Fusion Super Vortex Battle Set

Manufacturer: Haboro

Price: Varies ($6.99-29.99

Length of Ownership: 9 months

Rating: 3 stars

Toy Review: What can be said about Beyblades other than: KIDS FREAKING LOVE THESE THINGS! We all have our vices, and for Ty, his is Beyblades. It’s as if Pokemon have come back reincarnated or something because Ty truly thinks that he has to catch em all. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into the review shall we?

I personally think Beyblades are pretty cool (I actually own one), the thing that stands out the most to me is the fact that they pack a ton of action into such a small product and still find a way to keep the toy pretty inexpensive ($7-10). A standard Beyblade pack comes with a Beyblade top which consists of 5 interchangeable pieces, a launcher, a ripcord, and an assembly tool. In addition, each Beyblade comes with a series of stickers that help customize the toy. For the most part, these stickers are completely useless as they are too small to actually be effectively placed on the toy, but hey “A for effort” right?

So now that you know what a Beyblade is, you may be wondering what in the world are you supposed to do with them. Well that’s simple, they battle each other. Each person assembles their Beyblade, places it on its launcher and then LET IT RIP (Beyblade speak). The tops basically spin around and “attack” each other until one top stops spinning. The last Beyblade spinning is declared the winner, easy as that. This is basically taking the old spinning top routine from our childhood and revamping it for our children’s enjoyment. Beyblades try to spice things up a bit by adding battle strengths (attack, defense, etc) to each top, and claiming that by mixing and matching the various components that construct the Beyblade, the user can create a top for every type of battle. I’ve found this to be a complete exaggeration and it’s part of the reason that these toys don’t score as high as others we’ve reviewed.

Ty tries his hardest to develop the best combination of attack, stamina, and defense to become the best Beyblader in the world, but at the end of the day, it merely comes down to how hard you pull your ripcord. The harder you pull the more spin you get, end of story. So there is no magical formula to being the best, in my opinion, there’s no need to even try and collect them all. Because although each piece is listed as having strengths and weaknesses, they all pretty much function the same.

With that being said, Ty seems to believe there is merit to all of the different Beyblades and he does truly enjoy them. The switching of components allows for a deeper level of involvement than we had as kids. Even if it is superficial at best, it does add complexity to the toys which is welcomed in this day and age.

This toy is Ty tested and Daddy Tolerated! It’s worth taking a look at.

A Sample Of Ty's Many Build & Grow Projects

I typically don’t get too excited about specific companies or products, unless it’s Apple, or PS3, or Right Guard deodorant. Okay, so maybe I do get obsessed excited about a few things here or there, but today’s company/product is different, it’s different because it’s totally awesome! Hmmmm, maybe I’ve said that before as well, um, okay, let’s just go with this one: it’s different because I said so! Too strong? Ah, I got it, it’s different because it’s totally FREE!!! Whew, now that that’s out of the way, now I can focus on more important things like explaining why the Lowe’s Build And Grow clinic is so awesome.

When I was a kid, I REFUSED to grow up; point, blank, period.  When my parents told me that I wouldn’t be a child forever, I would pout and fuss until they (usually my Mom) caved and told me that I could be a kid for as long as I wanted to.  I took the “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us Kid” motto to heart, and felt that Geoffrey the Giraffe would take it as a personal insult if I had broken my promise.  I mean, it was bad folks, I played with my X-men action figures well into the second half of my 8^th grade school year.  You remember the 40yr Old Virgin?  Yeah that could have been me in a hearbeat.  Luckily though, someone sprinkled some fairy dust on me and I went from super nerd to ultra cool kid overnight.  Okay, maybe “fairy” dust wasn’t the best descriptor to use there.  The point is, I grew up real quick and swapped Toys R Us for Gap and other trendy clothing stores of that era.  Now that I’m a parent, I’m realizing that my childhood transformation likely won’t  be replicated by my own kids.  They have completely different outlooks on being a kid and neither of them resemble how I viewed it at their age.

Addicted To Apples

Don’t eat them because they are tainted, tainted with some sick mind altering gadget love potion. That has to be the case, because I am totally addicted to Apple products; yup I’m a fanboy and I’m proud to admit it. It’s logical for me to be a fanboy, I’m a gadget guy; hell, my friends even nicknamed me Jetson (because I was so futuristic), but my family on the other hand is a bit less explainable. Apparently, the APPLE doesn’t fall far from the tree (pun SOOOO intended), because not only do my kids love trying to sneak and play on my iPhone, but they also have their own now. It’s crazy, I know; I’m not one to speak ill of those who have passed on, but I honestly thing Steve Jobs was engineering a little more than electronics. I think he was holding the key to biological warfare right within the walls of his headquarters in Cupertino, each new device releases a special pheromone that entices consumers to buy it. That’s not too farfetched is it? How else to you explain my family’s addiction to Apple products?

Be sure to watch the vid before reading the post.

We all fear getting old & decrypted, to varying degrees. Weather you are petrified or merely a little concerned about getting old, the fact remains that it’s an inevitable fact of life. One of the major consequences of aging is the fact that us elderly folks are constantly under the threat of being replaced by younger, quicker, sleeker versions of ourselves. When getting up in age, It is completely natural to be paranoid about a youngster taking your job, significant other, or even your competitive edge away from you. But at age 7, what would one have to be afraid of in relation to aging and the younger generation?

The Hair, Look At The Hair

The old Ty is back and I couldn’t be happier. For the past 6 months I have been staring at that child and asking myself why? Why does my child have to look like a Little Rascals extra, why in the world did he desire to grow his hair out? I already knew the answer to that question, so I’m not sure why I repeatedly asked it. Maybe it was a coping mechanism, my way of making it through the pain of having a self induced nappy headed child. But that’s all over now, as I said, the old Ty is back and what you see below is all that is left of those painful 6 months that have just ended.

Very recently, within the span of two weeks I encountered two very different kinds of hustlers. I tried very desperately to teach each of these people a lesson about hard work and honesty, but surprisingly got two extremely different results. This experience has given me the opportunity to understand the underbelly of the hustling world, to really dig in and get up close and personal with these unsavory individuals. During my recent experiences, I have learned that not all hustlers are unscrupulous characters. Some of these hustlers actually have a moral code, there are ethics to their dealings and a general sense of honor in their dealings. Of course the two hustlers that I encountered are none other than my very own children; Tre & Ty. They both had angles to work recently, only one of them went about it in a way that can only be described as COMPLETELY SHADY!!! For the remainder of this post these hustlers will be known as hustler #1 & hustler #2; I’ll let you judge for yourself which child is associated with what hustle.

TYRONE'S BACK

So Ty has been back for over a week now and I can honestly say that he definitely can tell that we missed him.  From the time we picked him up at the airport until the time he went sleep that first night, you would have thought that all four of us were glued together at the hip.  Activity after activity, game after game, discussion after discussion, it was all Ty, all the time.  That first day, you would have thought we were the perfect ideal family, all smiling faces and loving gestures.  Then the sunset, the moon came out and I swear those kids turned into werewolves overnight.  The fighting, bickering, and competition picked up right where it left off, and that’s when I knew, that our family was back to normal.  Read on to hear more about that magical event filled day that Ty came back home to his family.  Check back next week to read about the days that followed, once the parade paraphinala was taken down and the cameras stopped rolling.   Today, you get the happily ever after fairy tale, next week you get the nightmare!

Ty's Finally Back!!!

Today, Ty returns!!!! In a mere few hours, Ty will be hopping off of a plane and joining us in Minneapolis. Some of you may not know, but that moment will signify the end of a very tumultuous time period for the cast members of Daddy’s Fish Bowl. If you’re a little in the dark, you may want to read: The Family-less Family Man, When Doom Turns To Gloom, and When Doom Turns To Gloom ***Update***. Needless to say, it’s been a bumpy few months for our family and the return of Ty signifies the end of this horrible chapter in our family’s fairy tale. As you all know, fairy tales have no sad endings, so this story is full of excitement and hope. When we had to go our separate ways and be apart from Ty, we left with a bang; so from the moment he hops off of that plane, the fire will reunite.

With Memorial Day Weekend basically staring us in the face (how many of you are at work staring at the clock right now, probably reading this post just to pass the time until the party begins!), anyway, like I was saying, with Memorial Day Weekend pretty much front and center, I felt that today was the perfect time to blog about this ultra cool deal.  After you read this post, you’ll probably want to offer me your next born child, but rest assured, I’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart;  although, monetary gifts are surely welcome.  Read on to be dazzled, be wowed, be amazed by the deal that’s sure to provide tons of fun for you and your family at absolutely no cost at all.  Oh yeah, by the way, in place of monetary gifts, I’ll settle for you naming your next child “Keith”, boy or girl, it doesn’t matter, I’m not picky.