GADGET GURU’S MAGIC BOX

GaGu Jr has, through some financial miracle, managed to save up enough pocket money to buy himself the Lego Super Mario starter set (£50). There’s very little building involved, and what ‘game’ there is to it feels entirely arbitrary. But what it has really proven is that GaGu has completely lost touch with his imagination, because the kids love rearranging stages and taking Mario on wacky adventures. It’s so nice to see them play together without any throttling or scratching involved, although the fact that powering Mario up means taking his trousers off is the teensiest bit uncomfortable.

Mario might be able to upgrade himself, but can he predict the future? Guru’s recent upgrade adventures have been oddly prescient. Your favourite uncle bought an Echo Plus, reduced to an absolute steal at £60, and Amazon went and released a whole new line of Echoes. He picked up a really very expensive Geforce 2080 (around £750) to give his PC a kick in the rear, and Nvidia immediately went and made the bottom-end next-gen card perform far better for far fewer sheckels. So if there’s anything in the tech world you think might need an upgrade, let Guru know and he’ll crack out the credit card while having a little cry.

Back to toys now, and Christmas plastic tat. Yes, it’s been a weird old year, but there seems to be no sell-out-in-seconds fad toy dominating the market – probably because every kid wants a new console? Well, GaGu has seen one thing, the Gotta Go Flamingo (£26). You shovel dust into its mouth, and it poops into a little toilet. Brilliant. Even better: scoop its leavings out of the bog and you can feed them to the flamingo again and again, because that’s totally normal.