Hasta La Gadget!

If Thor’s Mjolnir hammer wasn’t bad enough on its own, the heavyweight hammer is also capable of summoning lightning from the heavens. Caleb over at Hack A Day thought about this and decided he needed his own electrified Thor’s hammer.

Instead of standing in the middle of a field during a lightning storm, Caleb decided to go with something a bit safer. With the help of builder Staci Elaan, Caleb’s Mjolnir is outfitted with a working, battery-powered Tesla coil. Despite outputting 80,000 volts, the Tesla coil is actually quite safe – just zapping subjects with a tiny, tickly sensation, and not the full force of Thor’s mighty hammer. And since it’s a Tesla coil, it can even light up fluorescent bulbs placed near it.

That was fun, though I do wish the lightning bolts it emits would be a bit bigger. I guess you’d need a larger, plug-in Tesla coil – and Thor would probably have to wear a Faraday suit.

Check out more details on the build over on Hack A Day.

I am very sure that most of us would know of Mjolnir, even if you did not read about it from classic Norse stories but rather, all your knowledge about Mjolnir hails from the Marvel Comics universe, and if you were to say it in plain English, let’s just call it Thor’s Hammer. Thinkgeek has a different idea on Mjolnir, and has decided to do a different take on Thor’s tool with the $20.99 Thor Ice Scraper.

Yes sir, the Thor Ice Scraper does what, I presume, Mjolnir would not be able to. Windscreens are, after all, extremely delicate items, and when you apply a little bit too much pressure on it using a mythical uru hammer that is capable of knocking down opponents with impunity, I’m afraid the windscreen is not able to hold. The Thor Ice Scraper will come in a form of a pseudo-warhammer, but its main duty is to clean ice off of glass, so that you can see where you’re headed to next, so that you do not miss the exit to Asgard. I’m also quite sure the Thor Ice Scraper can double up as a callus shaver for Frost Giants…

[ Thor Ice Scraper copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Neil deGrasse Tyson just took the mystery out of a cosmic legend in comics, and somehow made it even cooler. How much does Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor and forged from a collapsing star, actually weigh? Turns out, stars weigh a lot. More »

With over a billion dollars at the box office, The Avengers are having a banner year, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you wanted some Avengers themed collectibles for your desk, right? How about some awesome Avengers Matryoshka (Russian stacking dolls)?

This set of Avengers stacking dolls was made by Australian artist Irene Hwang of BoBo Babushka. Each one is hand painted, and the set includes eight stacking Avengers ranging from the 9″ tall Incredible Hulk to the 3/4″ Loki. I know, Loki is a bad guy, but she made him so tiny it’s almost like he’s not even there.

The set also includes Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury – complete with tiny eyepatch. The full set is available over on Etsy for $200 (USD), and you can check out more detailed images over on BoBo BaBushka’s Blog. Be sure to check out her Etsy shop for all kinds of other cool Matryoshka, including Kiss, The Flight of the Conchords, The Big Bang Theory, and Reno 911.