About 10,750 magnetic stick figure sets sold on Amazon can shed loose magnets

Thirty small human-shaped figures, each with magnets embedded in its hands and feet, make up the set that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled on October 1, 2026. Approximately 10,750 of the sets were sold on Amazon.com between April and July 2026 for about $20 apiece. The commission’s concern is that the figures can come apart and release loose, high-powered magnets that a child could swallow.

The recall, numbered 27-008, covers a product sold under the brand GBYMIUY, whose maker and importer is Ningbo Jiboyou Trading Co., Ltd. of China. The packaging carries the model number X004TVHD2Z, and the commission lists no U.S. distributor, so the set’s trail runs through the Amazon.com listing alone. The sales window of April through July 2026 means the sets were on the market for roughly four months, and the recall followed within about two months of the last sale date the notice gives, all of it before the notice went up.

The GBYMIUY set and its 30 figures

According to the CPSC recall notice, each set holds 30 multi-colored figures, some transparent and some opaque, and each figure stands about 2.91 inches tall and 2.3 inches wide. The magnets sit in the hand and foot positions, which is what lets the figures grip one another and be posed. The brand name and the model number are printed on the box. The notice says the figures can liberate the magnets they hold, and it records zero injuries so far. The wording matters: the hazard in the notice is the magnet that comes loose, not the figure itself. A figure that stays intact is a toy; a figure that sheds a magnet from a hand or foot leaves a small, strongly attracted object that a toddler can put in the mouth.

Magnets that find each other inside the body

The danger is specific to magnets swallowed in pairs or groups. The CPSC recall text states that when high-powered magnets are swallowed, they can attract each other or other metal objects and become lodged in the digestive system, where they may cause perforations, twisting of the intestines, blockage, blood poisoning and death.

Pediatric gastroenterologists explain the mechanism in similar terms. GiKids, the parent-education site established by the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, says that when more than two such magnets are swallowed, their attractive force can make them find each other inside the body, across separate loops of bowel. Symptoms such as stomach pain or vomiting may not appear for 8 to 24 hours and can resemble a stomach flu, and doctors order abdominal X-rays to locate the magnets. The group’s advice is to keep ultra-powerful magnets away from infants and toddlers and to teach older children about the risks. Treatment ranges from endoscopic removal when the magnets are in the stomach to hospital observation or surgery when they have moved into the intestines.

The commission’s own magnet safety page adds two details. It describes high-powered magnets as up to eight times stronger than the magnets used in toys, and it warns that several magnetic pieces can look like a single object on an X-ray, which can delay identification of the problem.

The scale of the problem is large enough that the commission wrote a separate rule for it. In the Federal Register notice for that rule, the CPSC estimated about 25,000 emergency-department-treated magnet ingestions from 2010 through 2021, with roughly 46 percent requiring surgery or endoscopy and nearly 10 percent developing serious complications such as perforation or fistula formation. The same document describes how multiple magnets can pull toward each other through tissue, producing pressure necrosis, bowel twisting, perforation and internal bleeding, and it recounts cases that ended in death from sepsis and organ failure.

Two federal magnet rules and the toy standard

The recall notice identifies the set as violating the mandatory standard for toys. That standard is 16 CFR Part 1250, which, as the Code of Federal Regulations shows, requires toys to comply with the applicable provisions of ASTM F963-23. A second rule governs magnets sold for other uses, meaning products designed or marketed for entertainment, jewelry, mental stimulation or stress relief, such as magnet sets and desk toys. Under the rule at 16 CFR Part 1262, which took effect on October 21, 2022, each loose or separable magnet that fits inside the commission’s small parts cylinder must have a flux index below 50 kG² mm². Products that comply with the toy standard are exempt from it, according to the CPSC business guidance on magnets, which is why magnetic toys such as these figures are judged under Part 1250 instead.

The record can be checked against one number: Recall 27-008, posted October 1, 2026, covering approximately 10,750 units and listing no reported injuries.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

More from Morning Overview