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School Lunches and Snacks You Ate Growing Up: 70s–Now

Call it junk food or just food you ate growing up, but today’s kids are missing out. Raise your hand if you remember the artificial colors and flavors of Surge soda, Fruit String Thing and Squeezeit! Relive your delicious childhood memories with this infographic on super-nostalgic foods.

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1970s

Ding Dongs and Tab

Ah, back when pulling these delights out of your Fonzie lunch box were the high point of your day. Back to school meant stocking up on these goodies!

1980s

Lunchables and Jell-O

Fun bite: A worker at Oscar Mayer found a way to use up extra meat and called it… Lunchables. The cracker-meat-cheese stacks made school lunches ten times better than any sandwich ever could.

1990s

Yoplait Trix Yogurt and Gushers

Nineties kids definitely get nostalgic about the colorful swirls and fruity bursts of Trix Yogurt. It’s still around but just not the same without the Trix Rabbit.

2000s

SunnyD and Fruit by the Foot

Remember begging for these to go in your lunch bag? They sure made it sweet to be a kid. Fun bite: If you remember loving Sunny Delight, you’re not having a brain fart. SunnyD and Sunny Delight are regional names for the same lunchbox fave.

2010s

Sunflower Butter and Fresh-Cut Veggies

Try packing a Twinkie in your kid’s lunch bag and prepare to get dirty looks from other parents! Today, health reigns supreme, and that means adios to your childhood favorites.

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The Most Popular Toys Through the Decades

Every holiday season, there’s one must-have toy. Customers have been known to wait in line for hours, pay massive amounts of money and even physically fight in toy-store aisles during Black Friday sales just to get their hands on the year’s hottest toy.

Read on to discover the most popular toys of the past three decades — and what the next toy craze will be.

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Cabbage Patch Kids (1983)

Created in 1978 by Xavier Roberts, these “adoptable” soft-sculpture dolls were all the rage in the 1980s. Due to a clever marketing campaign, the dolls were a virtual overnight success, raking in $600 million in sales by 1985. The dolls flew off the shelves during the holidays, forcing customers to wait in line for hours to purchase one. The success of the Cabbage Patch Kids grew and grew until they became the best-selling introduction of a doll in history.

Transformers (1984)

Originally produced in 1984 by Japanese toy company Takara and the American toy company Hasbro, these shape-shifting robots quickly became a sensation. The toys became so popular  that they spawned an animated series, an animated film in 1986 and the extremely popular live-action movie franchise in the 2000s.

Teddy Ruxpin (1985 and ’86)

This animatronic talking teddy bear was initially produced by the toy manufacturer Worlds of Wonder and introduced to the market in 1985. The storytelling teddy’s slogan boasted of being “the world’s first animated, talking toy.”

Koosh Ball (1987)

This delightful ball made of rubber strings was created by Scott Stillinger, who named his product after the sound it made when it hit the ground. The toy was marketed by Mattel and was a smashing success.

Nintendo Entertainment System (1988)

This 8-bit video-game console was an astounding success when it first hit the market in 1988, with 7 million systems sold the year it was released — especially during the holiday season. The market for NES cartridges that year was larger than the market for the entirety of all computer software.

Game Boy (1989)

The handheld Nintendo game console quickly sold an incredible 1.1 million units, outselling all of its video-game counterparts and becoming one of the best-selling electronic game devices of all time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures (based on the characters from the film of the same title) were wildly popular during the holiday season of 1990, selling more than 30 million units by Christmas.

Super Nintendo (1991)

Nintendo was on a roll in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and its new release, Super Nintendo, was no exception. It quickly became the best-selling video-game console of the 16-bit era.

Barney (1992)

Created by the toy-manufacturing company Dankin, the plush purple dinosaur based on the popular TV character came about because parents demanded it after seeing their kids cuddling video cassette boxes of the series.

Talkboy (1993)

This portable audio cassette player and recorder was conceived and used as a prop for the 1992 film “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” After the success of the film, young fans demanded a real-life version of the Talkboy. Released by Hasbro, the Talkboy became so popular during the holiday season that the company was forced to pull the product’s ads due to short supply.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1994)

These action figures were based on the characters of the extremely popular television series of the same title. The toys flew off the shelves during the 1994 holiday season.

Beanie Babies (1995)

These stuffed animals were created by Ty Warner, who would arbitrarily take certain Beanie Babies off the market, making them hard-to-find collectibles that customers would pay hundreds of dollars for. The demand for the toys became so intense that some customers had physical altercations in store aisles over the stuffed dolls.

Tickle Me Elmo (1996)

Based on the Elmo character from “Sesame Street,” this giggling doll was manufactured by Tyco and introduced to the market in 1996. Elmo was an unexpected success, and the entire stock of 1 million dolls sold out by the end of the year. Since the toy was in such short supply, scalpers capitalized on the demand and sold it for hundreds of dollars while physical altercations between customers repeatedly broke out over the doll.

Tamagotchi (1997)

At the height of this handheld virtual pet’s popularity, 15 Tamagotchis were sold every minute in the U.S. and Canada, and more than 40 million units were sold worldwide.

Furby (1998)

Originally priced at $35, these electronic, robotic toys were in such demand during the Christmas season that their resale value skyrocketed to as much as $300. An astounding 27 million Furbies were sold in 1998.

Pokémon (1999)

This popular franchise based on the Game Boy game was a smashing success during the holiday season of 1999. The craze involved various kinds of merchandise, particularly trading cards, and also sparked a popular animated TV series. Pokémon is still a powerhouse today. In 2017, the company reported that more than $900 billion of Pokémon-related products have been sold.

Razor Scooter (2000)

Originally manufactured by Sharper Image, this popular scooter ushered in the new millennium with a bona fide holiday frenzy. The Razor was so popular that it led to the creation of a new extreme sport: freestyle scootering.

Bratz (2001)

These teen fashion dolls with the distinct look of big heads and skinny bodies were so successful in 2001 that they surpassed Barbie as the No. 1-selling toy geared toward girls. Despite the success, many parents were concerned that the dolls were too provocatively dressed and that they promoted an unhealthy body image.

Beyblades (2002)

This line of spinning-top toys was developed and manufactured by Takara Tomy in 2002. It dominated the market and was one of the most popular toy lines in the world from 2000 to 2005.

Yu-Gi-Oh! (2003)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game has been wildly popular in Japan since 1998, and 3.5 billion cards trading cards were sold prior to the Yugi Starter Deck’s 2002 release in North America. The game caught on in the U.S., and it landed on many top toy lists for 2003. In 2009, Guinness World Records named it a top selling trading card game, with over 22 billion cards sold worldwide.

Robosapien (2004)

This biomorphic robotic toy was manufactured by WowWee Toys, and it sold a whopping 1.5 million units between April and December 2004.

Xbox 360 (2005)

This video-game console was rushed to shelves by Microsoft to beat out the soon-to-be-released Sony PlayStation 3. The strategy worked, because the Xbox 360 sold a total of 5.5 million units during its first six months on the market.

PlayStation 3 (2006)

This video-game console was incredibly popular in 2006, continuing the trend of wildly successful gaming releases. The system was so popular upon its release that people became violent in their attempts to acquire one.

Nintendo DS (2007)

This dual-screen, touch-screen gaming system from Nintendo swiftly became highly popular. In 2007, the DS broke records to become the fastest-selling handheld game console of all time with 653,000 units sold in one week. To date, worldwide sales on all consoles in the DS family total a whopping 154 million units.

Nintendo Wii (2008)

Nintendo was on a roll in the late 2000s, and the Nintendo Wii was proof of that. The gaming system sold 10 million units by the end of 2008, many of which were purchased during the holiday season.

Zhu Zhu Pets (2009)

Originally known as Go Go Hamsters in the U.K., these plush robotic toys were all the rage during the Christmas season of 2009. Originally sold for $9, the Christmas demand became so high that their value shot up to $60.

iPad (2010)

This tablet is beloved by adults, of course, but it also was a massively popular gift for children during the 2010 Christmas season — so popular that it sold more than 300,000 units on the first day of its release.

LeapPad Explorer (2011)

A tablet computer developed for kids, the LeapPad Explorer flew off the shelves during the 2011 holiday season. After its initial success, it was awarded Toy of the Year honors by the American International Toy Fair in New York City.

Wii U (2012)

This video-game console was another holiday-season home run for Nintendo. It sold like hotcakes, and customers reportedly waited in line for hours to get one.

Big Hugs Elmo (2013)

This plush talking Elmo followed the massive success of Tickle Me Elmo, and was nearly as successful during the 2013 holiday season.

Elsa Doll (2014)

The doll based on the character from the hit animated film “Frozen” was a wild success. It was crowned the new queen of dolls marketed to girls, and retailers were caught off guard by its demand during the holiday season, leaving many in short supply.

BB-8 (2015)

This remote-controlled droid, based on a character from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” was predicted to be the best-selling toy of the 2015 season. Upon its release, the initial supply sold out in one day.

Hatchimals (2016)
This interactive toy starts as an egg and needs your child’s love in order to hatch. After enough care and attention, the egg will be ready to hatch into a furry creature that can be raised from baby to toddler to kid. The toy can learn to repeat what you say, to walk, to dance and to play games.

NES Classic (2016)

Video-game nostalgia reigns supreme with this retro-style Nintendo system loaded with 30 classic games, including “Super Mario Bros.” and “Ninja Gaiden”. The console sold out in just moments.

The New Teddy Ruxpin (2017)

The beloved animatronic bear is making a comeback. It was the most popular toy of 1985 and 1986, but the new version traded in a cassette tape for a free app. Follow along on your smartphone or tablet as Teddy reads a book or sings a song. The fast-selling throwback also upgraded to LED-screen eyes that add expression.

Nintendo Switch (2017)

The Nintendo Switch is the latest gaming system. It can be used as a handheld or tabletop device or with a TV, and it allows flexibility between single- and multiplayer games. After the console’s release in March, stores couldn’t keep them in stock for more than a few hours after each new shipment, and they remain a hot item.

Fingerlings (2017)

These adorable baby monkeys are interactive and collectible pets. When played with, the monkeys come alive, responding to sound, motion and touch. Manufactured by a high-tech robotics and entertainment company, they’re part of the popular trend of robotic pets — and they’re flying off the shelves.

 

 

Sources:
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http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/slideshows/2012-12-06/some-fictional-brands-find-real-success.html#slide7
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http://www.hatchimals.com/
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http://www.pokemon.co.jp/corporate/en/data/
http://web.archive.org/web/20020402182316/http://www.upperdeckentertainment.com/news.asp

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Over-the-Top Celebrity Wedding Expenses

We’ve all heard about the extravagance of celebrity weddings and the high costs of all their lavish celebrations. In some cases, it may make us wish we had similarly massive budgets for our own weddings, and in other cases, it helps us realize we have much better ideas on how to spend that money. (A villa in Tuscany, anyone?)

Here’s the breakdown of some big-ticket celebrity wedding expenses and what you could do with that budget.

Celebrity Wedding Expenses

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The Ring

Sofia Vergara & Joe Manganiello

This stunning engagement ring was a 7-carat cushion cut diamond with a diamond halo encircling the center stone and French-set diamonds covering the platinum band. The estimated cost was an equally stunning half-million dollars.

What you could buy for $500,000: For the cost of Sofia’s gorgeous rock, you could buy beautiful (and normal size) rings for 81 brides.

The Flowers

Prince William & Kate Middleton

Their wedding was blooming with beautiful flowers, and the price tag for all those blooms totaled $800,000. Her bouquet had lily of the valley, sweet William (yes, he is sweet), hyacinth and myrtle. (Did you know it’s royal tradition to carry a sprig of myrtle in the wedding bouquet?)

What $800,000 gets you: Enough flowers for 315 weddings, or nearly a wedding every day for a year. As another option, you could use this flower budget to plant a field of tulips large enough to span 4.1 football fields.

The Dress

Lauren Morelli and Samira Wiley

This couple both wore custom Christian Siriano ensembles with a price tag of about $20,000 each. Samira wanted “her fairytale wedding moment,” according to the designer, who added a modern twist to that concept with a two-piece gown so Samira could change into a simpler skirt for the evening. Lauren “wanted to feel regal and elegant,” the designer added. The result was a tailored pantsuit with a crystal and beaded pearl collar.

What $20,000 could buy you: an extreme amount of fabric. We ran the numbers, and you could buy 2,316 yards of French satin (nine times the height of the Eiffel Tower) or 4,317 yards of chiffon (longer than the Hollywood Walk of Fame). Now that’s a lot of fabric indeed!

Entertainment

Jay Z & Beyonce

The music cost for their wedding was about $60,000 with DJ Cassidy spinning old-school hip hop and R&B. The playlist included classics like The Jackson 5 and Whitney Houston. The couple’s first dance song was “Crazy in Love,” the 2003 song that the couple first collaborated on.

In real life: With $60,000, you could buy 5,454 albums on iTunes. But to make $60,000, Jayoncé would need their music streamed 10 million times on Spotify.

The Favors

Kim Kardashian & Kanye West

This couple had extravagant wedding favors that cost $125,000 per guest. In total, the budget was $25 million just for the favors. Each guest received Bollinger champagne ($500), Creme de la Mer products ($200), Swarovski crystals etched with the couple’s initials, bottles of scents from local perfumeries and a hotel spa voucher ($250).

With $25 million, you could buy: a Caribbean island, a villa in Tuscany, 25 Manhattan parking spots or two dozen orca whales.

The Cake

Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds

The couple’s cake was a centerpiece. Costing about $20 per slice, it was a vanilla-and-sour-cream cake
with peach-apricot preserves, and Earl Grey-milk chocolate buttercream. Yum! But the cake wasn’t the only desert; there was a table of delicious treats including lemon meringue tartlets, blueberry cheesecake bites, mini chocolate bundt cakes filled with chocolate ganache and artisanal popsicles with fun messages like “Ain’t love sweet?”

In real life: Typical cake costs are $1.50 to $12 a slice. Using the celebrity budget, a typical wedding cake would be 28 layers tall or about 9.3 feet high. Now that’s a lot of cake!

The Planner

Anne Hathaway & Adam Shulman

The couple used celebrity wedding planner Stefanie Cove of Yifat Oren & Associates, who took home about $200,000 to plan this event (about 20% of a $1 million wedding). The firm has on staff 10 full-time and 40 part-time employees, but it’s rarely glamorous, she said: “We work 18-hour days for three months straight.” Fighting paparazzi comes with the territory. When Anne learned that her big day was no longer a secret, the planner got an enormous balloon art installation to prevent unwanted photos. But instead of hiding the couple, it made them a paparazzi target. Yikes!

With $200,000, you could: Buy your very own yacht. You could also use it to book a spot on the world’s first commercial passenger spaceship or even pay for 20 years of rent (based on a median rent amount of $800 per month).

The Honeymoon

George Clooney & Amal Alamuddin

The couple celebrated their marriage in Seychelles, an island off the coast of East Africa, with honeymoon costs totaling $74,000. They stayed in a 5,000-square-foot private villa at The North Island resort, which boasts its own plunge pool and many other luxe amenities. Bonus: It’s only accessible by helicopter! Other couples who have honeymooned in Seychelles include Nicky Hilton and James Rothschild, Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, and Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade.

In real life: The Clooney honeymoon could have paid for two couples traveling the world for a year. Alternatively, you could use that money to buy 18 around-the-world plane tickets. On the other hand, you could just buy an airplane.

 

Sources:

https://www.theknot.com
https://www.bustle.com/
http://www.therichest.com
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http://thehill.com/special-reports/weddings-february-2013-/282987-chefs-help-to-satisfy-wedding-sweet-spot

 

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Top Fitness Trends and Gadgets Through the Decades

Top Fitness Trends and Gadgets Through the Decades

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Early Fads

Charles Atlas: This fitness guru rose to popularity in the 1920s. His inspiration came from an unlikely place: studying the lions at the Bronx Zoo. The company he founded currently has more than 30 million students worldwide.

Electric Muscle Stimulator: We recognize these devices from commercials that say you can tone your abs by wearing a special belt and not doing a single sit-up. But the idea dates back to 1761 when scientists first proved that external electricity can activate muscles. As research continued, Soviet sport scientists in the 1960s reported 40% force gains when using devices in athlete training. In 2007, claims for EMS ab belts said they are “equivalent to 1,500 sit-ups per hour.” Recently, however, there have been $12 million in settlements from four companies due to false advertising.

Initial Workout Machines: These early fitness devices were strange (and steampunk). Vibrating “slimming” belts are a quintessential example of old-fashioned fitness. They’ve been around since the 1920s, when whole-body vibration was used as part of the training program for Russian cosmonauts. An early treadmill dating back to 1923 had large wheels and a footbed made of wooden slats. Another device from the 1930s, the Wonder Cycle Exercisulator, was supposed to simulate horseback riding and had a strange band that bound your head to the handlebars.

1950s-1970s

Sauna Suits: They became popular in the 1960s. Product claims included the following: 1 pound of weight loss for every 1 pint of sweat, a 40.4% increase in weight loss and a 20.8% increase in metabolism. But not everyone achieved such positive results. In fact, three wrestlers died in 1997 and 1998 from exercising while wearing sauna suits. The risks of using a sauna suit include dehydration, kidney failure, heat stroke and heart attack. Yet Khloe Kardashian praises her sauna suit. There are many brands of sauna suits still sold today, as well as DIY instructions that use a trash bag.

Vacuum Slacks: The product called Slim-Skins was popular in the 1970s. Notably, Rose gave them a try in an episode of  “Golden Girls.”

NordicTrack: Launched in 1975, the NordicTrack is still around today. In 2015, 40 professional dancers jogged in place on NordicTracks for 12 hours to film a “fitness flash mob.”

1980s

Jane Fonda Aerobics: In 1982, when VCRs were starting to become popular, ”Jane Fonda’s Workout” home video was made for $50,000. In total, there were 23 videos released and 17 million copies sold. Fonda made her last video in 2010 when she was 72. Her net worth now totals more than $120 million.

Bowflex: Launched in 1986, it reached its peak of popularity in 1990. Despite a hefty price tag of $1,000, the unwieldy home gym system often sat unused, making it a  “very expensive clothes hanger.” In total, there were 2.5 million sold.

Richard Simmons’ “Sweatin’ to the Oldies:” Since its launch in 1988, there have been a total of 65 fitness videos released and 20 million copies sold. Simmons helped people lose 3 million pounds over his 30-year career. His net worth is $15 million.

1990s

ThighMaster: After its launch in 1991, the ThighMaster sold 6 million products in the first 18 months. The product’s success is largely due to the campy infomercials starring Suzanne Somers that are now cult favorites. Its total sales were $100 million, and versions of the product are still available today: the ThighMaster Gold and the ButtMaster.

Ab Roller: The rolling device that facilitates crunches was launched in 1994. Lucrative commercials made these so popular that when inventor Don Brown was issued his product patent, there were already 27 product knock-offs that launched in just two years. With its quick rise to popularity, Ab Roller attained $1 billion in worldwide sales by 1996.

Pilates: In the 1980s and ‘90s, Pilates went mainstream, but it was first developed in 1912. Joseph Pilates created the fitness system while he was in an internment camp in Germany during World War I. After the inventor emigrated to the U.S., he was teaching Pilates to the NYC Ballet and George Balanchine in the 1960s. A decade later in the 1970s, Hollywood celebrities discovered Pilates. Today, there are still 10 million practitioners.

2000s

Pole Dance Workouts: In 2003: Carmen Electra released the first “Aerobic Striptease” DVD in her five-part series. Pole dance workout classes rapidly gained popularity and are offered in many gyms. The International Pole Dancing Fitness Association has been pushing for the sport to be in the Olympics.

Zumba: Founded in 2001, the dance-based workout saw 4,000% growth from 2007 to 2010. In 2012, it was valued at $500 million, and in total there have been 10 million DVDs sold. Weekly classes are taken by 15 million people. Celebrity fans include: Natalie Portman, Shakira, Jackie Chan, Madonna, Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez.

Shake Weight: Launched in 2009, 4.5 million Shake Weights have been sold. As of 2010, revenues were $40 million. The inadvertantly suggestive nature of the product made its infomercials go viral and inspired hundreds of parodies.

2010s

Toning Shoes: In 2010, toning shows hit the market and spiked in popularity. Annual sales were $1.1 billion. Although these once-popular shoes had sales of $252 million in just four months and were heavily endorsed by celebrities, shoe companies were eventually forced to pay more than $65 million in refunds due to false advertising.

CrossFit: The brand generates $4 billion in annual revenue. With a cult following in excess of 4 million participants, this fitness regimen was started by a college-dropout-turned-millionaire, Greg Glassman, who claims that CrossFit is “creating a new super breed” of human.

Yoga: It’s a $27 billion industry, and Americans spend $5.8 billion on yoga classes, $4.6 billion on yoga clothes and $3.6 billion on yoga mats and accessories. Yoga has been around for 5,000 years, but the number of Americans practicing yoga has increased by 50% in the past four years to 36 million.

Athleisure: The yoga-pants trend started the fashion crossover of athleisure clothes — workout wear worn in other settings. In 2016, the athleisure market, including footwear, was $270 billion, and it’s cutting into jean sales.

Facial Fitness Pao: Trending for 2017, this Japanese product exercises face muscles.

The Digital Frontier

Wii Fit: Sales for the Wii Fit have been 44 million units, including both the Wii Fit (2007) and Wii Fit Plus (2009).

Fitbit: Launched in 2007, there have been 20.8 million sold to date. Revenues were $14.5 million (2011), $76.4 million (2012), $271.1 million (2013), $754 million (2014) and $1.86 billion (2015). Fitbit currently holds one-third of the wearable tech market (34.2%).

Wearable Technology: Wearable technology is now being integrated into clothing. The Lumo Run shorts and leggings track information about your steps and stride. Big-name companies like Samsung, Google, OMSignal and Under Armour are also pursuing smart clothing.

Health and Fitness Apps: In 2014, this category grew 87% faster than any other type of app. By 2016, it was a $400 million market. Top fitness apps in 2016 were: My Fitness Pal, Fitstar Personal Trainer, Sworkit, Pocket Yoga, SparkPeople and Runkeeper.

Sources:

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Powering Up the Star Wars Universe

We crunched the numbers to calculate how much energy it would take to power up the iconic weapons and ships from the Star Wars universe. So…just how many batteries does it take to power Star Wars? We’ll cover your favorites—lightsabers, blasters, X-wings and yes, even the Death Star.

 

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were lightsabers, there were blasters and there were ships. But all this cool stuff needed power. Lots of power. Let’s check out the power needs of some of your favorite “Star Wars” technology and what it would take to power up the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance.

To better understand power terminology, we took a look at the common energy usage of things in the world around us. One AA alkaline battery contains 3.9 watt-hours. A car battery contains 722 watt-hours. The Tesla Powerwall has 7 kilowatt-hours. One barrel of oil is equivalent to 1.7 megawatt-hours. A nuclear reactor yields 1,000 megawatts. And for comparison, the Earth’s annual energy consumption is 104,426 terawatt-hours per year.

 

Droids

We can’t forget about the droids that inhabit the “Star Wars” galaxy. They need power to function too.

We don’t have droids as complicated as R2D2 and C3PO just yet, but we do have ASIMO. Billed as “the world’s most advanced humanoid robot,” ASIMO, developed by Honda, stands 4’3” tall and is capable of walking, talking and helping people.

ASIMO is powered by a rechargeable 51.8-volt lithium ion battery that lasts only for an hour. That’s equivalent to 132 AA batteries or 1 car battery.

 

K-2S0

Droids would likely be as energy efficient as humanoids in the “Star Wars” universe, otherwise you would expect slaves or clones to replace them. Assuming a 2.14-meter-tall aluminum alloy body (or similar), we can estimate the weight is 470 pounds each.

To power a K-2S0, it would take 19,946 kilojoules, which is equivalent to 5,537 watt-hours. To put it into perspective, that’s 1,420 AA batteries which equals 8 car batteries, 1 Tesla Powerwall, 1.6 oz of oil per hour or 6 hundredths of a percent of a nuclear reactor.

 

BB-8

Assuming BB-8 has a similar energy efficiency as K-2S0 and knowing that BB-8 is 0.97 meters tall, calculation results are 7.92 x 109 joules, which is equivalent to 2,202 watt-hours. That is equivalent to 565 AA batteries, 4 car batteries, 1 Tesla Powerwall, 1 pint of oil per hour or 2 hundredths of a percent of a nuclear reactor.

 

Lightsabers

Lightsabers are powered by high-output diatium power cells, which are capable of recharging naturally. The blade neither radiates heat nor expends energy until it comes into contact with the solid item it is striking.

Qui-Gon Jinn used his lightsaber to cut into the thick blast doors of Nute Gunray’s bridge. The doors were 2.35 meters tall and over a meter thick. Qui-Gon’s lightsaber cut a circular area approximately 0.9 meters in diameter.

In order to melt 0.87 cubic meters of conventional steel, it would require approximately 1.69 gigajoules of thermal energy. That is equivalent to 469,482 watt-hours, slightly more energy than one lightning bolt.

One lightsaber has the equivalent energy of 120,380 AA batteries (that’s 6,000 pounds of batteries or 250 gallons, enough to fill-up a kiddie pool). It’s also equivalent to 650 car batteries (that’s 26,000 pounds, exceeding the 20,000-pound maximum weight of a single-axle semi-trailer). One lightsaber is also equivalent to 67 Tesla Powerwalls, 0.28 barrels of oil (5.5 gallons of gas), one nuclear reactor or 0.05 seconds of Earth’s power supply.

 

Kylo Ren’s Lightsabers

It doesn’t appear there is any reason to assume that Kylo Ren’s lightsaber was capable of generating any more or less power than any other lightsaber.

In one scene, he is shown using the crossguard to burn through Finn’s jacket, causing a small burn. A small lightsaber-sized second-degree burn requires about 166 joules of energy as a low-end estimate. It seems it could be assumed that the crossguard blades are capable of outputting similar power to the full-size blade.

How many batteries would it take to power a lightsaber that uses 2.5 gigajoules of energy or 694,500 watt hours? The answer is 180,570 AA batteries or 975 car batteries. That’s equivalent to 101 Tesla Powerwalls, 0.42 barrels of oil, 1.5 nuclear reactors or 0.07 seconds of Earth’s power supply.

 

Blasters

According to Han Solo, ancient Jedi weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side. Firing bursts of focused particle beam energy (bolts), a blaster gets its power from two main components: Energy-rich blaster gas from a cartridge and a replaceable power pack.

The blaster bolts carry no heat themselves, but materials struck by them deform and fuse like when Princess Leia blasted a hole through a metal grate using an E-11 blaster rifle while escaping from the Death Star.

A hole was blasted big enough for Chewbacca to pass through, probably about 3 feet wide. An estimate on the mass of the grate is approximately 54 kilograms. Roughly 6.34 megajoules is needed to vaporize 1 kilogram of iron, so the blast yielded approximately 342 megajoules.

Power usage is comparable between lightsabers and blasters. Jedi in the “Star Wars” universe have been known to use power packs to charge up their lightsabers.

The 342 megajoules to power a baster is equivalent to 24,360 AA batteries, 132 car batteries, 14 Tesla Powerwalls (that would weigh as much as two cows or half a Bantha), 0.06 barrels of oil (approximately 1 gallon of gas; that’s $2.29 per shot!), 1 nuclear reactor for three blasts a second, or 0.01 seconds of Earth’s power supply.

 

Star Destroyer

It’s one of the most menacing ships in the galaxy. In “Empire Strikes Back,” we see an Imperial Star Destroyer blasting asteroids out of its way. If we approximate the standard asteroid mass as about 33,965,759 kilograms with a heating capacity of iron at 447 J/kg·K, then we could calculate that it would take 30 terajoules (8,333 megawatt-hours) to melt the asteroid.

That’s 2.1 billion AA batteries (in the U.S., 2.9 billion AA batteries are thrown away every year!), 11.5 million car batteries (16 million cars were sold in the U.S. last year), 1.2 million Tesla Powerwalls, 4,901 barrels of oil (at 35 mpg, you could drive around the Earth 130 times or make 6 round-trips to the moon), 10,000 nuclear reactors for a blast every three seconds or 2.5 seconds of Earth’s power supply (enough for 207,000 people for one day).

To vaporize the asteroid, it would take 250 terajoules or 69,400 megawatt-hours. That’s 17.8 billion AA batteries, 96 million car batteries (71 million cars were sold globally last year), 9.9 million Tesla Powerwalls (3 for every apartment in New York City), 41,000 barrels of oil (enough to drive a third of the way to the sun), 270,000 nuclear reactors to fire once every second or 21 seconds of Earth’s power supply (one blast from Earth every 21 seconds).

A turbolaser must yield approximately 3,750 terawatts of power, releasing energy four times that of the Little Boy atomic bomb.

 

X-Wing Fighter

Sometimes it isn’t always about the size of the ship in an intergalactic fight— as long as you are packing the right firepower. In “A New Hope,” when a blast from Luke Skywalker’s X-wing fighter struck the surface of the Death Star, it created a blast likely powerful enough to have vaporized at least one cubic meter of armor.

Conservative estimates put the output of the four X-wing cannons at approximately 60 gigajoules of energy, which equals 16.67 megawatt-hours. That’s 4.27 million AA batteries (enough batteries to go 8 times around the Large Hadron Collider, and stacked up, they’d reach space twice!), 23,153 car batteries, 2,381 Tesla Powerwalls, 9.08 barrels of oil, 0.01667 running hours of a nuclear power plant or 5 milliseconds of Earth’s power supply.

 

Snowspeeders

The snowspeeders are outfitted with improvised weaponry, including de-icing and heating elements and two laser canons compared to the X-Wing’s four. To power a snowspeeder, it would take 30 gigajoules, which is equivalent to 8.33 megawatt-hours.

That’s equivalent to 2.13 million AA batteries, 11,576 car batteries, 1,190 Tesla Powerwalls, 4.54 barrels of oil, 0.008335 running hours of a nuclear power plant or 2.5 milliseconds of Earth’s power supply.

 

Death Star

Remember when the first incarnation of this formidable battle station destroyed Leia’s home planet of Alderaan?

Using a beam formed by several beams firing from its Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser, the Death Star was able to destroy an Earth-sized planet with a binding energy of roughly 2.25 x 1032 joules. Comparatively, our sun produces roughly 3.846 x 1026 watts. How could one moon-sized battle station produce that much power? Using a ‘hypermatter’ reactor, of course.

The 2.25 x 1032 joules needed to power a Death Star converts to 6.25 x 1028 watt-hours. That’s equivalent to 16 octillion AA batteries (stacked end to end, these batteries would measure 84.5 billion light-years, almost enough to stretch across the observable universe of 92 billion light-years), 86 septillion car batteries (80% of the mass of Jupiter), 8 septillion Tesla Powerwalls (150 times the weight of Earth) or 37 sextillion barrels of oil (enough to satisfy the Earth’s oil consumption for 1 trillion years). The Death Star I uses power equivalent to 2 quintillion nuclear reactors to fire once every 24 hours (each blast would require an amount of uranium equal to the mass of Mercury). The Death Star II uses power equivalent to 1 sextillion nuclear reactors to fire once every 3 minutes (seven blasts would generate enough nuclear waste to equal the dwarf planet Ceres at 9.5 x 1020 kg). A Death Star’s energy usage is equivalent to 598 billion times Earth’s power supply. Astronomers estimate there could be 20 billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Only 29 more galaxies to go!

 

Starkiller Base

“The Force Awakens” shows five planets being simultaneously destroyed by Starkiller. The power calculation would be five times the current power of the Death Star, or 3.12 x 1029 kilowatt-hours.

Also in the movie, we see it draining power from an average-sized star, which certainly has enough nuclear fuel to provide the kind of energy shown. Earth’s sun will provide roughly 3.5 x 1056 kilowatt-hours in its lifetime. There isn’t much more info given in the film that would allow for honing in on a figure between these two numbers. Note that the expected lifespan of the sun is 10 billion years.

To power the Starkiller Base, it would take 1.12 x 1036 joules or 3.12 x 1029 kilowatt-hours. This is equivalent to 80 octillion AA batteries, 430 septillion car batteries, 40 septillion Telsa Powerwalls, 10 quintillion barrels of oil, 1.5 septillion nuclear power plants or 3 trillion times Earth’s power supply.

 

Hyperspace

Aside from powering up the Death Star, hypermatter particles allow a ship to jump to lightspeed without changing its complex mass and energy. We’ve seen the Millennium Falcon make the jump to lightspeed several times. According to physicist Miguel Alcubierre, a warp drive could manipulate space-time, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics to move 10 times faster than the speed of light.

To make a warp drive, it was initially estimated you would need a minimum amount of energy almost equal to the mass of the planet Jupiter. More recent studies have reduced the energy requirement to be about the mass of the Voyager 1, approximately 700 kilograms.

Using E=mc2, 700 kilograms is equal to 62.9 exajoules, which is 15 billion tons of TNT explosives or 17,500 terawatt-hours. That’s 4.5 quadrillion AA batteries, 23 trillion car batteries, 2.5 trillion Tesla Powerwalls, 10 billion barrels of oil (1% of all the oil ever produced), 17.5 million nuclear reactors or 16 percent of Earth’s power supply (that’s one jump every two months!).

 

Ebates Star Wars Stores

ThinkGeek – Star Wars Apparel for Adults & Kids
BuyCostumes – Star Wars Halloween Costumes
LEGO – Star Wars Lego Toys and Products
GameStop – Select Star Wars Universe Games

Sources:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hypermatter
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ion_drive
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Diatium_power_cell
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Power_converter
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/power.html
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/units.html
http://www.galacticempirewars.com/blaster-firepower-three
http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/FiveMinutes.html
http://www.stardestroyer.net/tlc/Power/
http://asimo.honda.com
https://physics.le.ac.uk/journals/index.php/pst/article/view/328/195
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/atlas-drc-robot-is-75-percent-new-completely-unplugged
http://io9.com/5876473/how-much-energy-would-the-death-star-require-to-destroy-earth
http://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AA_battery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_battery
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=667&t=6
http://www.space.com/24073-how-big-is-the-universe.html
http://phys.org/news/2009-05-oil.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_magnitude
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/01/05/automakers-report-december-sales/21277199/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/200002/international-car-sales-since-1990/
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2015/01/2014-usa-new-vehicle-sales-figures-by-model.html
http://www.nei.org/Knowledge-Center/Nuclear-Statistics/On-Site-Storage-of-Nuclear-Waste
http://science.time.com/2013/11/04/so-much-for-earth-being-special-there-could-be-20-billion-just-like-it/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-trailer_truck
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Star
http://theenergycollective.com/barrybrook/67785/fuel-use-gen-iii-nuclear-power
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/K-2SO
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Armored_Cargo_Transport

 

 

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How Many LEGO Would It Take to Build These Sci-Fi Megastructures?

With LEGO, it’s often said you can create your own universe, so to get your imagination running wild, we’ve decided to LEGO-fy some of science fiction’s most memorable icons. From hoverboards to Death Stars, here’s how many LEGO it would take to make just a few of the classics, along with a couple of real-world items to help put it all in perspective.

Sci Fi Lego Batman Movie Structures Infographic

 

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We didn’t start with moon-sized star destroyers. We began with one of the smallest units of LEGO possible: the 15.8 mm by 3.2 mm brick. With two of these, a red one and a blue one, we were able to recreate one of the tiniest icons in all of sci-fi cinema: the pills offered to Keanu Reeves at the beginning of “The Matrix.” Of course, you probably don’t want to swallow either of these, since the only trip they’ll take you on is one to the emergency room. From there, we moved upwards, from 300 LEGO to build the 12th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to 550 LEGO for our very own Baby Groot to 850 LEGO to build an Identity Disk from “Tron” to 940 LEGO to build Benny’s spaceship from “The LEGO Movie.” (We know that seems tiny, but Benny is a LEGO mini-fig, so his spaceship would be LEGO-sized too.) And for Marty McFly’s trip to the future year of 2015 in “Back to the Future Part II,” his Nike Air shoes would take 1,500 LEGO to build, and the Mattel Hoverboard would take 2,050 LEGO.  

Jumping into slightly bigger structures, we started to turn to Matija Puzar, our certified LEGO expert, for help. Matija is a trusted business partner of The LEGO Group who has built some amazing scale models of the world’s most iconic landmarks. If there’s a guy who knows how LEGO and the real world intersect, Matija is your man. The first thing our LEGO expert alerted us to was that any LEGO structure of a certain size wouldn’t be all LEGO. “Larger models need both a steel structure and gluing of the bricks to prevent them from collapsing on their own weight. I’ve made a 1.5-by-1-by-1.5-meter model with no glue at all, although in retrospect I probably should have glued it.”

Matija also alerted us to some real-life LEGO creations to help us with our equations. A man in Austin, Texas, actually built his own fully functional LEGO R2D2 using 16,000 bricks along with a steel frame and a motor from a remote control plane. We calculated that Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit” would take 17,450 LEGO to build. Our master builder also pointed us in the direction of an actual, working car that was built entirely out of LEGO. Although he was quick to remind us that the plastic LEGO bricks wouldn’t “fancy the temperatures around the engine,” that didn’t deter us! Using the real LEGO car as a basis of comparison, we were able to determine that it would take 573,314 LEGO to build and travel through time with the flying Delorean from “Back to the Future Part II.”  

Our master builder also had a friend who built a life-size Tardis from “Doctor Who” with 150,000 LEGO. But, of course, that number would go way up if you built the inside to scale as well. (There are more LEGO on the inside.) A Light Cycle from “Tron” would take 120,217 LEGO to build, and a Groot from “Guardians of the Galaxy” would take 334,235. To build the Batsignal from “Batman,” it would take 226,851 LEGO. To bust ghosts in the Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1, it would take 955,200 LEGO.

As we took off for space, our LEGO numbers took off into the millions. An AT-AT from “Star Wars” would take 12.4 million LEGO to build, and an X-wing fighter would take 5.5 million LEGO. From “Avatar,” a Scorpion Gunship would take 3.2 million LEGO to build, and the Batmobile from “The LEGO Batman Movie” would take 340,000 LEGO. The Millennium Falcon would take 15.5 million LEGO to complete, and NASA’s space shuttle would take 58.3 million LEGO to build.

Matija even had some theories about how a LEGO starship would hold up when it jumped into hyperspace. “I am not sure how LEGO would survive the constant radiation and extreme temperatures. It would definitely be an interesting — albeit expensive — experiment to perform!” NASA has shown that plastics are, pound for pound, more effective at shielding against cosmic radiation than aluminum!

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from “The Avengers” would take 81.7 million LEGO to build, the Discovery One from “2001: A Space Odyssey” would require 186.3 million LEGO, and the Heart of Gold from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” would take 162.1 million LEGO. Matija told us that “in space, it would be hard to keep track of pieces, in addition to the space suit making it difficult to grab the pieces and build precisely.”

Heading back down to Earth for a little bit, we also wanted to see how many LEGO it would take to build our favorite superhero homes. James May, a presenter from the British hit “Top Gear,” actually built his very own full-size LEGO house a few years ago as part of an art project. The house was two stories high, 20 feet tall and took 3.3 million bricks to complete. Using that as a basis of comparison, we determined that Superman’s Fortress of Solitude from the 1978 film would take 850 million LEGO, and Wayne Manor from “Batman” would take 840 million LEGO. The Mothership from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” would take 999 million LEGO to build.

Batman’s secret headquarters, the Batcave, would take 1.18 billion LEGO to build. The NSEA Protector from “Galaxy Quest” would take 1.5 billion LEGO to build, and an effort would require Tony Stark to assemble 6.6 billion bricks to recreate the Avengers Tower in Manhattan. Matija commented that the “Avengers Tower would definitely be an interesting one to build! Definitely not a life-size one, but a nice scale model would be cool to do.” Which kind of disappointed us, as we were really looking forward to partying with a full-size LEGO Hulk in the full-size LEGO tower.

The iconic Starship Enterprise from “Star Trek” would take 13.5 billion LEGO to build. That’s still pretty small compared to some other ships, like the Dark Aster from “Guardians of the Galaxy.” According to its creators, this villainous starship measured as long as 11 Empire State Buildings laid on their sides, which we calculated would take 42.5 billion LEGO. The Axiom from “WALL-E” would take 463 billion LEGO, and the Borg Cube from “Star Trek” would take 255 billion LEGO. It would take 554 billion LEGO to build the Spaceball One, and 102 trillion LEGO to build the Halo Megastructure.

The Death Star, a moon-sized planet killer from “Star Wars,” would require 435 trillion bricks to complete (even more if you want to go the extra mile for safety and throw in a few guardrails!). Sadly, Matija didn’t see completing this model as entirely realistic. “It would be a really nice experiment to see how many bricks it takes before a structure collapses on itself due to its own gravity. A bit unfeasible, though, I’m afraid. The average 2×2 brick can withstand 950 pounds.”

 

But this is sci-fi, and who’s to say what isn’t possible today won’t be possible tomorrow! Could some brilliant hero create a new, stronger LEGO brick capable of withstanding the cold, hard realities of space? We sure hope so! Until then, we’re going to keep building, and we encourage you to do the same. Just please put your toys away when you’re done. Your mom isn’t going to be happy if she has to pick up a quadrillion LEGO off the living room floor.

Source List
http://www.matija.no/
http://www.wikia.com/
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19gal5dbd9klpjpg.jpg
https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1472/901/1600/Stratoposeidon%20-%20small.jpg
http://beyondthemarquee.com/15970
https://cdn.instructables.com/FBA/B3KC/HH2VY2JP/FBAB3KCHH2VY2JP.LARGE.jpg
https://cdn.silodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Batmobile-Blueprints-1200×717.jpg
http://www.spaceflight101.com/soyuz-spacecraft-information.html
https://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/89/159589-004-233CA187.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/14-Fantastic-Guardians-Galaxy-Facts…
http://dirkloechel.deviantart.com/art/Size-Comparison-Science-Fiction-Spaceships-398790051

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The Best Flowers to Buy for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, which means love is in the air, along with the scent of rose petals. Every year, an estimated 224 million roses are grown for this day alone. The rose has been a symbol of love and virtue for thousands of years, dating all the way back to ancient Greece, where the red flower was associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. With roses being such a time-tested token of affection, it’s no wonder they make up more than 50 percent of the flowers given away on Valentine’s Day.

What is a little more confusing is why anyone would act surprised when they get a bouquet of roses. Giving your sweetheart roses may be a nice gesture, but it’s not exactly a clever or creative one. Do you really want your significant other to open her door on Valentine’s Day to discover a bouquet that looks identical to the ones all her friends and coworkers are getting? Or do you want to give her flowers that are just as special and unique as she is?

Best Valentine's Flowers

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For  instance, maybe you’re in the early stages of a relationship. You may not be ready for the bold declaration of love that comes with roses. You want a flower that’s just as pretty and fragrant but not quite so heavy on commitment. The French tulip is ideal for this situation. Its pastel pink and yellow petals bring to mind the first days of spring, which is perhaps why it has come to symbolize new beginnings and fresh starts. A dozen of these may not scream, “I’m ready to spend the rest of my life with you,” but they will let your new lover know you’re excited to see what the future holds for the two of you. French tulips are also perfect for people in older relationships that could use a little sprinkle of young love. They let your longtime companion know that just because you’ve been together for a long time doesn’t mean you don’t have some new adventures in store.

New adventures, however, can be costly. We may all dream of Valentine’s Day getaways with our romantic partners, but we may not all have the money to whisk them to some sunny beach on the other side of the world. Luckily, some flowers can bring a little touch of the tropics to a snowy morning in mid-February. Orchids, which hail from tropical climates like Hawaii and Australia, bloom in dozens of dazzling colors and deliver the sights and scents of an island getaway right to your own home.

Or, if you and your loved one are simply pining for warmer summer months, why not pick up a vase full of sunflowers? Sunflowers represent the sun itself, and they can make any Valentine’s Day feel brighter — even when it’s still getting dark at 5 p.m.

Love is celebrated in many different forms on Valentine’s Day (and romance isn’t the only thing on people’s minds), so naturally there are flowers that represent many different forms of love. Maybe there’s a mother in your life who you think deserves a little bit of attention on the big day. The pink, pillowy petals of the carnation are said to match the color and texture of newborn flesh. Giving them to your mom would let her know how much you appreciate all the love and care she gave you over the years. If there’s a new mother in your life, carnations can let her know how much you look forward to raising a child together.

On the other hand, if you’re only in the planning stages of parenthood, you could always pick up a bouquet of lilies for your special someone. Lilies represent passion and fertility. A dozen of them will let your boyfriend or girlfriend know exactly how you hope this Valentine’s Day will end.

Of course, some loves are just better left unspoken. Gardenias are simple, elegant flowers that represent a secret love. If you’re in a relationship with someone but you’re currently keeping it on the down-low, why not send him or her a couple of these beautiful blossoms? (No note attached, of course.) The stark white petals look like blank pages, ready for a secret romance story to be written on.

Career-minded couples need a little bit of romance as well. If you and your loved one feel more married to your jobs than to each other, Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to slow down, take stock and remind each other how you really feel. A purple iris signifies royalty, and certain stems can cost as much as $100 a pop. But when you’re working 60 hours a week, it can feel nice to be treated like a king or queen every once in awhile. Or if your significant other is so busy he or she doesn’t even have time to water the plants already in the house, they might appreciate a succulent. These spiny, cactus-like plants are pretty and can live for months with just a little bit of water.

Of course, sometimes people might just be expecting roses. If that’s the case, you really should go for tradition, but there’s no reason you can’t put a slightly personal spin on the old classic. There are tons of different types of roses that each have a unique charm. Our favorite is the Black Baccara Hybrid Tea Rose. The darker red of this rose variation will stand out from all the rose bouquets delivered that day. The richer, deeper colors scream with sultry passion, and they’ll let your sweetheart know just how deep your love is.

Whether you settle for roses or something more unusual, the most important thing is that you remember Valentine’s Day in the first place. Feb. 14 actually has a pretty high breakup rate. A few flowers could help remind you and your significant other why you fell in love in the first place and keep you there for a long time to come.

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Most Successful Video Games vs. Biggest Flops Throughout the Decades

Video games are big business! More than 1.2 billion people play them, and global video game revenue is $101.62 billion per year. The first home video game console was released by Magnavox in 1972, well before a phone app was ever imagined. For more than four decades, games have been released and met with varying degrees of fanfare and criticism. Here’s a look at some of the bestsellers and biggest flops of console-based games.

Most Successful Video Games vs. Biggest Flops Throughout the Decades

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Most Successful Video Games

1970s

The game Pong was released in 1972. It was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity.

1980s

Pac Man was released in 1980 and went on to sell 7 million copies, making it the best-selling video game at that time. Tetris was released in 1984, selling 495 million copies. The ubiquitous game with the ever-falling tiles was created in Russia and is available on nearly every video game console, computer operating system and other media device. Super Mario Bros. was released in 1985, eventually selling 55.75 million copies. This was then followed in 1988 by Super Mario Bros. 3, which sold 17 million copies. The Mario series is the best-selling video game franchise of all time and has set seven Guinness World Records. In 1989, Tetris for Gameboy was released, and it sold 35 million copies.

1990s

Super Mario World was released in 1990 and went on to sell 20.6 million copies. In 1991, Lemmings was released, selling 15 million copies. Another release that year was Sonic the Hedgehog, which sold 15 million copies. More impressively, that game contributed to the Sega Genesis console’s extreme popularity in North America — it outsold the Super Nintendo 2 to 1. In 1996, Pokémon Red, Blue and Green was released, selling 23.64 million copies. This was followed by Pokémon Gold and Silver in 1999, which sold 23 million copies. The Pokémon series is second only to the Mario series as the best-selling video game franchise.

2000s

In the year 2000, The Sims was released, selling 16 million copies. The success of The Sims has been attributed to casual gamers and female gamers, with females making up 60% of players. Grand Theft Auto III was released in 2001 and sold 17.33 million copies, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released the following year, selling 20 million copies. The Grand Theft Auto series was controversial from the very beginning. While being condemned and criticized for its extreme violence, it also simultaneously received critical and financial success.

In 2002, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was released to sales of 16.22 million copies. The Sims 2 was released in 2004, selling 20 million copies. 2005 had two major releases: Nintendogs, which sold 23.96 million copies, and Mario Kart DS, which sold 23.59 million copies. In 2006, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl came out, selling 17.63 million copies. Wii Sports was also released in 2006, selling 82.78 million copies. This was followed by the 2007 release of Wii Fit, which sold 22.67 million copies. Wii was looking to attract a new audience to gaming with its motion controls.

In 2007, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released, selling 15.7 million copies. Mario Kart Wii followed in 2008, selling 36.38 million copies. Also that year, Grand Theft Auto IV was released, selling 25 million copies. In 2009, Minecraft became to game to play with sales of 54 million console units. Notably, social media was a significant part of this game’s rise to fame, with ⅓ of players learning about the game from online videos. In 2009, Wii Sports Resort was released, selling 32.8 million copies, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii came out, selling 29.32 million copies.

2010s

In 2010, Call of Duty: Black Ops debuted, selling a total of 26.2 million copies. Breaking all records, this game sold more than 5.6 million copies in the first 24 hours. Also that year, Pokémon Black and White was released, selling 15.6 million copies. In 2011, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was released, selling 26.5 million copies. Also in 2011, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim sold 20 million copies.

In 2012, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City started adding select video games to its permanent Architecture and Design Collection, including Pong, Pac-Man,

Tetris and The Sims. In 2012, Diablo III was released, selling 30 million copies. Also that year, Call of Duty: Black Ops II came out, selling 24.2 million copies. In 2013, Grand Theft Auto V was released, selling 65 million copies, and sales of Call of Duty: Ghosts amounted to 19 million copies. In 2014, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare racked up 21 million copies sold. Call of Duty: Black Ops III was released in 2015, selling 14.8 million copies. In total, the entire Call of Duty series has sold more than 175 million copies and made more than $15 billion. The games led to the creation of a Call of Duty Endowment in 2009 to help veterans find jobs.

2016’s big title has been Overwatch, which has sold 15 million copies so far. Just one week after Overwatch launched, it had 7 million players with 119 million hours of accumulated play time.

Check this timeline for units sold for all the most successful video games in our research:

Most Successful Video Games vs. Biggest Flops Throughout the Decades 1

 

Biggest Flops in Video Games

1980s

In 1982, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released and 1.5 million units were sold. Unfortunately, between 2.5 million and 3.5 million cartridges went unsold.

1990s

Virtual Boy was the first instance of 3D graphics in video games. Nintendo hyped a virtual reality experience for the 1995 release, but its monochrome graphics did not deliver. Only 770,000 units were sold.

After nearly a decade of hype and a seven-year development process with repeated delays, the game Battlecruiser 3000AD (shortened BC3K) was released in 1996 with many technical problems and outdated graphics.

After spending $6 million on a five-year development process, The Last Express, recognized as an intelligently written game with well-developed characters, was a sales flop after its 1997 release because of a lack of marketing and promotion. The maker needed to sell more than a million copies to break even and only sold 100,000.

Creating Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 was supposed to be a three-month project for two employees, but it took more than a year to develop, and the game went wildly over budget prior to its 1998 release.

Shenmue had a five-year production period that cost $70 million, ranking the game as a record setter for the most expensive production costs at that time. Only 1.2 million copies were sold after its 1999 release.

2000s

Debuted in 2000, Daikatana was marketed as the “next big thing” for first-person shooter games, but massive overspending and a delayed release eventually resulted in a poor reaction, including complaints of technical bugs and low production value.

Although the game Beyond Good & Evil was critically acclaimed, its failure was attributed to its 2003 release alongside competing titles.

Despite critical success, the low initial sales of the 2005 game Psychonauts (fewer than 100,000 copies) was blamed on a lack of marketing.

The action-adventure game Ōkami was set in ancient Japan and combined traditional myths and folklore. Despite critical acclaim at its 2006 release, it was met with slow sales.

Themed with heavy-metal music, the game Brütal Legend recorded low sales after its 2009 release because of real-time strategy elements that were not mentioned before the game’s debut.

2010s

After the release of APB: All Points Bulletin in 2010, unenthusiastic reviews and a low subscriber rate were the cause of this game’s commercial failure.

The 2011 game Duke Nukem Forever was in development for 15 years and cost company executives $20 to $30 million of their own money, only to be met with poor sales.

In 2014, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal were released, selling only 490,000 copies because of weak writing, glitches and poor gameplay.
The game Sunset, released in 2015, used an “arthouse-style” approach and sold only 4,000 copies, including those distributed to its crowdfunding backers.
Head to Ebates to shop current deals and cash back on your favorite video games. If you prefer new, fresh out of the box play, Best Buy and fye.com are good places to start. If a discounted refurb is more your style, try Ebay or Gamestop to get your fix.

Sources:
www.wikipedia.org
https://www.statista.com/topics/868/video-games/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/25/more-than-1-2-billion-people-are-playing-games/

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America’s Favorite Christmas Movies: Box Office Battle

Do you have a Christmas movie favorite? One that you watch every year, or one that sets the tone for the season just like that first cup of eggnog or putting up the Christmas tree? Although there are favorites aplenty, the box office numbers haven’t always lined up with the sentimental Christmas favorites.

Favorite Christmas Movies Infographic

Top-Grossing Christmas Movies Since 1980

  • Home Alone (1990), $285.8 million
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), $260.0 million
  • The Polar Express (2004), $183.4 million
  • Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), $173.6 million
  • Elf (2003), $173.4 million
  • Gremlins (1984), $153.0 million
  • The Santa Clause (1994), $144.8 million
  • The Santa Clause 2 (2002), $139.2 million
  • A Christmas Carol (2009), $137.9 million
  • Four Christmases (2008), $120.1 million
  • The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), $84.5 million

Timeline of Christmas Movies at the Box Office

  • A Christmas Story (1983), $3.2M budget, $17.4M profit
  • Gremlins (1984) $11M budget, $142M profit
  • Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), $30M budget, $6.3M net loss
  • Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (1986), $781K gross
  • Ernest Saves Christmas (1988),$6M budget, $22.2M profit
  • Die Hard (1988), $28M budget, $55M profit
  • Home Alone (1990), $18M budget, $267.8M profit
  • Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), $20M budget, $153.6M profit
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), $12M budget, $15.3M profit
  • Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), $18M budget, $57.1M profit
  • The Nutcracker (1993), $19M budget, $16.9M net loss
  • The Santa Clause (1994), $22M budget, $122.8M profit
  • Miracle on 34th Street (1994), $17.3M gross
  • Jingle All the Way, (1996), $75M budget, $14.4M net loss
  • The Preacher’s Wife (1996), $48M gross
  • I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998), $30M budget, $17.8M net loss
  • Jack Frost (1998), $85M budget, $50.4M net loss
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), $123M budget, $137M profit
  • The Santa Clause 2 (2002), $65M budget, $74.2M profit
  • Elf (2003), $33M budget, $140.4M profit
  • Love Actually (2003), $45M budget, $14.7M profit
  • Bad Santa (2003), $23M budget, $37.1M budget
  • The Polar Express (2004), $150M budget, $33.4M profit
  • Christmas With the Kranks (2004), $60M budget, $13.8 profit
  • The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), $12M budget, $72.5M profit
  • Fred Claus (2007), $100M budget, $28M net loss
  • Four Christmases (2008), $80M budget, $40.1M profit
  • A Christmas Carol (2009), $175M budget, $37.1M net loss
  • The Nutcracker in 3D (2010), $90M budget, $89.8M net loss
  • A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011), $19M budget, $16.1M profit
  • The Best Man Holiday (2013), $17M budget, $53.5M profit
  • Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas (2013), $25M budget, $27.5M profit
  • The Night Before (2015), $25M budget, $18M profit
  • Krampus (2015), $15M budget, $27.7M profit

Check this graph for net profit and losses for all Christmas movies in our research:

Christmas Movies at the Box Office

Not What You’d Expect

The 1983 classic, A Christmas Story, is shown repeatedly on TV and often quoted, but its total lifetime gross is just $20.6 million. It made less money than Ernest Saves Christmas!

Interestingly, there is some debate about what’s considered a Christmas movie. Some films that are not considered Christmas movies by data collectors include the sixth-highest-grossing movie, Gremlins (1984), at $153.0 million; the 12th-highest-grossing movie, Die Hard (1988), at $83.0 million; and the 21st-highest-grossing movie, Love Actually (2003), at $59.7 million.

What about the classics? After looking through the list of films, you may have the realization that many of your favorites are actually from before 1980. If you’re looking for It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) or Charlie Brown’s Christmas (1965), then you may be taking an old-fashioned approach to your holiday movie picks.

Net Profit/Loss

More than just box office sales, let’s look at which Christmas movies since 1980 made the most money or lost the most money.

Highest Net Profit

  1. Home Alone, $268 million
  2. Home Alone 2, $154 million
  3. Gremlins, $142 million
  4. Elf, $140 million
  5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), $137 million

Biggest Net Loss

  1. The Nutcracker in 3D, $90 million
  2. Happy Christmas, $70 million
  3. Arthur Christmas, $54 million
  4. Jack Frost, $50 million
  5. A Christmas Carol (2009), $37 million

In addition to grossing less in recent years, more Christmas movies have been showing a net loss after box-office sales.

Trivia and Background

It’s a Wonderful Life: The 1946 film made $3.3 million during its initial run, failing to break even after $3.7 million in costs. The film was shot in a California studio, but Seneca Falls, N.Y., claims to be the inspiration for the small-town setting. It returned from obscurity in the 1980s, going on to be so beloved that an original film poster sold for $15,535. The film was named by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made.

Muppet Christmas Carol: It was the first major muppet project after Jim Henson’s death. The puppet for the Ghost of Christmas Past was filmed underwater to create its ethereal, ghostly look before being superimposed onto the set background.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: 100 people worked for 3 years to create the 12 stop-motion moves made for every second of film. Because stop motion is such a time-consuming process, filming began before the script was completed.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Jim Carey’s makeup took 8 hours to apply. No movie since the Wizard of Oz in 1939 had so many characters in heavy makeup. The costume designer looked to 1950s cookbooks as vintage inspiration for the 300 hats in the film.

Love Actually: The airport footage at the beginning and end of the film was of real people greeting each other at Heathrow Airport. The nativity concert was filmed at the Elliott School in Putney, southwest London, which is also where Pierce Brosnan went to school.

Bad Santa: To play a drunk Santa, Billy Bob Thornton got drunk during the filming. The non-traditional representation of Santa ruffled some feathers. Thornton’s reply: “As far as I know, Santa Claus is not in the Bible. I think you guys are talking about Jesus.”

A Christmas Story: The filming budget was $3.2 million. You can visit Ralphie’s house in Cleveland, which is open for tours year-round. In 2004, a San Diego entrepreneur bought the house on eBay for $150,000. A longtime fan of the movie, he watched it frame by frame to draw up the plans for a $240,000 restoration back to the way it was in the film. Although none of the three “leg lamps” that were used during filming have survived, reproductions are available for about $200.

Elf: Walter’s apartment is in the same building as Dana’s apartment in Ghostbusters (located at Central Park West in Manhattan). Will Ferrell’s costume sold for $10,000.

Polar Express: It’s the first all-digital capture film, which got it listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The conductor references director Robert Zemeckis’ childhood home in Chicago when he says the street address, “11344 Edbrooke.”

Home Alone: A blizzard struck on the second day of shooting, which meant that fake snow had to be created for the rest of the filming. The suburban Chicago house that was used for both interior and exterior scenes sold for $1.58 million in 2012.

 

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Sources:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christmas.htm
http://people.com/movies/25-things-you-may-not-know-about-home-alone-25-years-later/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roadtrippers/holly-jolly-guide-to-chri_b_4498585.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104940/trivia
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/trivia
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170016/trivia
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
http://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/
https://www.wikipedia.org/

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Decoding Your Teen This Holiday Season

This holiday season, families may be scratching their heads about how to celebrate with their teens — what movies to watch together, what gifts to give or where to celebrate. We did the research, and our survey results reveal how parents with teens can bridge the generation gap and have a holly, jolly holiday together.

Decoding Your Teen This Holiday Season

 

What Parents Think Their Teens Want vs. What Teens Really Want as Gifts

Parents’ ideas about what to give their teen are not always in line with what their teen actually wants.

After surveying parents, here are the gifts they think their teen wants: 41.0% said a gaming console (e.g., PlayStation or Xbox), 37.2% said clothing or shoes (e.g., a new jacket, slippers, a tie), 24.7% said the new iPhone, 21.6% said sporting goods (e.g., tennis racquet, bike accessories) and 18.1% said accessories (e.g., jewelry, handbags, backpacks).

But teens have other things in mind for their wish list. Here are the gifts that teens would like to receive: 60.4% said clothing or shoes (e.g., a new jacket, slippers, a tie), 36.8% said sweets (e.g., cookies, candy, chocolate fruitcake), 35.4% said accessories (e.g., jewelry, handbags, scarves), 25.0% said other (popular responses were electronics, video games, money, gift cards) and 22.8% said sporting goods (e.g., bikes, tennis racquet, baseball bat).

Although 60.4% of teens said they would like clothing or shoes for Christmas, many parents wonder if the gifts will last. Teens shared their thoughts about the clothing or shoes they received last year as gifts: 41.1% of teens are already over them and 36.4% of teens are still in love with them.

Top Tech Gifts Your Children/Teens Want

Tech gear is a good choice when thinking about what to give your child or teen. Our survey results reveal which tech gifts they actually want: 45.6% said a laptop or tablet; 33.6% said the new iPhone; 30.8% said a gaming console (e.g., PlayStation or Xbox); 19.2% said a new digital camera, video camera or media player; 16.4% said a Samsung Galaxy smartphone; 12.8% said a drone; 11.8% said a VR headset; and 11.8% said a Fitbit or other wearable fitness device.

The Christmas Families That Adults and Teens Want to Spend Time With

While many families watch Christmas films together, teens and their parents have differing opinions on which Christmas family they would want to spend time with.

When surveyed, adults said they would rather hang out with the following Christmas families: 24.0% said the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; 12.4% said the Whos from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas; 8.1% said Buddy, Josie and Papa Elf from Elf; 7.7% said the Calvins from The Santa Clause; 7.1% said the Browns from A Charlie Brown Christmas; and 6.9% said the McCallisters from Home Alone.

When asked the same question, teens made different choices about who they would like to spend time with: 18.4% said the Browns from A Charlie Brown Christmas; 16.6% said the Whos from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas; 13.8% said Buddy, Josie and Papa Elf from Elf; 13.0% said the McCallisters from Home Alone; 8.2% said the Griswolds from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; and 6.0% said the Calvins from The Santa Clause.

 

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