Toymail reimagines the walkie-talkie as a plush creature

You might remember Toymail from its successful 2013 Kickstarter campaign. The idea connected kids to their parents via a range of plastic toys, and later hit regular stores like Amazon and even went international. Now the concept has been reimagined as a range of adorable plushies called Talkies.

Talkies build on the basic functionality of the original line with a number of new features. As before, you connect the toy to WiFi, download an app, and you can then send messages between the two. But now it's opened up a bit. You can send messages to multiple contacts through a Talkie, play back the last 10 messages you've received, and record messages offline for sending later. Also new is the ability to talk to other kids (provided they're approved contacts) toy-to-toy, without going through an app.

There are four designs to choose from -- a bat, a shark, a mouse and a dinosaur. Pre-orders start today for North America and parts of Europe. The regular price will be $79 but early birds get a $20 discount. Shipments are expected to roll out next month.