Novelty Flying Monster

It's been two weeks without so much as a peep from me, but there's a good reason:  I was on vacation.  Yep, we headed down to Florida for a fortnight and I brought back a nice sized haul of goodies that I'll be covering over the next little while.  I'll start with something nice and simple to get the vacation loot spotlights going.

Now I'm what you'd call a moderate Harry Potter fan.  I've seen all of the movies (and thoroughly enjoyed them) and I've read the first two books.  I'll get to the rest of them later.  Point is there's a lot of Harry Potter fans out there way more hardcore than I am.  In every "which Hogwarts House do you belong to" online quiz I'm always part of Hufflepuff.  I was even once placed in Hufflepuff by a real life sorting hat in a travelling Harry Potter show.  That's should sum up how hardcore I am.  That being said I was still pretty excited about visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure.  I mean, even a moderate fan like me would want to visit that world!

The day we visited was perfectly overcast, which suited the vibe that Diagon Alley was giving off.  If there was one stop I wanted to make, it would be the Zonko's joke shop.  Everything I saw of it in the movies convinced me that that's where I'd want to be.

This is where the fun is.

 Now of course the real world shop isn't as packed to the brim with wonderful weirdness that it's movie counterpart is, but I was still able to find something that appealed to my particular brand of interests.  The Fanged Flyer!  Just look at that box at the top of the post!  It's got a retro sci-fi thing going on that's just awesome.  I can't resist something like that!  I also have no idea where it shows up in the Harry Potter world.  According to the Harry Potter wiki, the Fanged Flyers show up in The Half Blood Prince.  I'll have to rewatch that movie to try and spot them.  Any way, my love of the Fanged Flyer has nothing to do with Harry Potter.  It's just nifty.

The Flyer comes in a pizza box shaped package that opens like a pizza box would.  Inside are the plastic wrapped Fanged Flyer, and a handler's glove.  The sides of the Flyer are covered with teeth, so obviously the glove is a must.

Basically the Fanged Flyer is just a foam frisbee (or "novelty flying disc" - thanks Simpsons!).  I will never throw it like a frisbee though.  I don't want to damage the paint on those teeth!  The teeth are the best part.  A lizard frisbee is cool enough, but a lizard frisbee surrounded by teeth is just that much better.  But that's fine.  I don't need a frisbee.  If I want a frisbee, I'll get a frisbee.  The Fanged Flyer is just a fun thing to have.

I saw a replica of an actual Fanged Flyer that was used in the movie, and (if memory serves me right) it had like a leech-type mouth underneath.  That would have made an already cool toy even cooler.  Sadly the bottom of this Flyer is totally plain.  That's my only real complaint here.  Some kind of detailing on the bottom would have been nice.

The handler's glove almost fits comfortably.  I'm used to child-sized accessories in my hobby.  It's just that the glove is so close to fitting you wonder what giant kid is throwing these things around!  Not one I'd want to mess with.  I don't know how much of the price is driven up by the inclusion of the glove, but it's a neat add-on.

See?  The Flyer thinks I could be a hand model.

I can't say it enough:  The Fanged Flyer is nifty.  If you happen to find yourself down in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I would definitely recommend picking one of these babies up.

Look at that thing!  Think of the play possibilities!

And try the butterbeer, it's actually pretty delicious.

You can buy a version of this creepy book as well.  Universal's gift prices are kinda high though, so it was either this or the Flyer.  Gotta be the Flyer.

That is not a pretty plant.