I was so excited to test out the I-Fly Vamp for Halloween. No, it's not a robotic vampire (although that would be super cool). Rather, it's an indoor/outdoor radio-controlled flying bat with flipping wings, glowing red LED eyes, and a remote controller. It's made by the company Interactive Toy, and will ship in the US in November for $40 to $50.

Before its first flight, I loaded the remote controller with six AA batteries and charged the bat for about 20 minutes. Powering on the bat (there's a switch on its underside), its eyes began to glow. I turned off the lights in my condo, grabbed the controller, pressed power, and was ready to freak out my boyfriend. I pressed the up button on the controller, and to my dismay, Vamp couldn't fly. That's every bats' worst nightmare! I tried again and again to get the bat to fly, and still it just grazed the carpet, flapping its wings but never ascending into the air. Suddenly, it hit the wall with such great force that its tail broke off.

It's tragic, really. It's only made of styrofoam, and even though it comes with an extra set of wings, it's no use once the tail has broken off; it was beyond repair. So this Halloween, I'm mourning the death of my R/C bat. I'll miss you little guy.