I used to get stuffed toys for my daughter all the time from one of the crane machines at a Safeway. Now, most of the machines have wimpy arms that won't hold onto anything.
The Lobster thing sounds brilliant. I'd want to try it just for the novelty, the challenge. Someone else would get to eat the lobster though.
I grew up eating crabs from the creek behind our house (Deep Creek - the name comes from George Washington saying, "My, this is a Deep Creek.") I also used to love lobster. No more. When I was pregnant with morning sickness, I could only eat beef. My husband made a statement that crabs had to be in the arachnid family because they had eight legs just like spiders. Then, he casually said lobsters were just sea-going roaches. I haven't had either since before I was pregnant, over 19 years ago.