Young Mad Scientist Alphabet Blocks in Boing Boing Bazaar

Cory wrote about the Young Mad Scientist Alphabet Blocks from Xylocopa in 2008. Now, these wooden cubes, laser-etched with mad science concepts, are available in the Boing Boing Bazaar.

Here are the illustrations on the blocks:

A – Appendages

B – Bioengineering

C – Caffeine

D – Dirigible

E – Experiment

F – Freeze ray

G – Goggles

H – Henchmen

I – Invention

J – Jargon

K – Potassium

L – Laser

M – Maniacal

N – Nanotechnology

O – Organs

P – Peasants (with Pitchforks)

Q – Quantum physics

R – Robot

S – Self-experimentation

T – Tentacles

U – Underground Lair

V – Virus

W – Wrench

X – X-Ray

Y – You, the Mad Scientist of Tomorrow

Z – Zombies

Young Mad Scientist Alphabet Blocks $38.95

• [Akiracee]

  These are great. And while my three-week-old son is a bit too young to appreciate them, these blocks adorn his bedroom!

• [stitchpirate]

  Agreed with Anon #5, I bought these for my godson a few months ago. They’re pretty cool, but they’re really tiny, and you only get five blocks. It was a little disappointing, especially for the price.

• [adwkiwi]

  I got these for Christmas and I am therefore super cool :)

• [coaxial]

  I know someone that owns them. I had no idea they were $40. I guess you have to pay for that Epilog laser somehow.

• [Joseph Hertzlinger]

  Self-experimentation? According the “The Mad Scientists’ Primer” by Tom Rainbow, the first rule of Mad Science is: “Never experiment on yourself; that’s what undergraduates are for.”

• [Anonymous]

  I bought these for my godson about a year or so ago. I was under the impression it was a set of individual letters. Not the case. The description on Xylocopa prolly said ” 5 blocks” , but in my hurry to buy awesome crap I missed that part. They currently reside on my computer desk as a reminder that I need to read item descriptions thoroughly before buying cool looking things on the intertubes.

• [hassenpfeffer]

  What #5 and #7 said. Got these from ThinkGeek for my then-four-year-old. TOY FAIL.

• [Sekino]

  My husband and I literally had the credit card out the minute we saw these… But unlike #5 and 7, we noticed that the set had only 5 blocks, just before processing. They are absolutely gorgeous, but as a toy, we were hoping for a beefier set that the kid can actually stack up.

  We might still cave in and use them as decoration…

• [Stefan Jones]

  I’m 48, and don’t have any little kid relatives, but I’d buy these just to have on my desk.

• [hhype]

  Got these when they were $25 at xylocopa.com and the price has only seemed to go up since then. My 15 month old son has played with them since he was 9 months or so. He chews them and also knocks them over when I stack them and lately likes the nice wooden clink when they bang together. Like others above, be warned it is only 5 blocks and they are not as large as they look in the picture. This is the first advertisement of them showing only 5 blocks, every other one implies tons of blocks.

  That being said, the artwork is great on them, and it is more interesting to have words beginning with A stand for “appendages” than “apple”. You can get them at thinkgeek.com for $26.99. http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/1-3-years/b78f/

  When they are cheap after no one buys them at these exorbitant prices I may buy another set.

• [Hawkman]

  Hmm, I think now’s the time to adopt some kids!

• [SB-129]

  this

• [Anonymous]

  The aesthetic works so well. Regarding the letters: K and Y are particularly delightful. Regarding the images: M is magnificent…but regarding R, what have they done to that mudpuppy?! YOU MANIACS!!