Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets
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Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets
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**Disclaimer: I received a product sample in order to facilitate my honest review. All opinions are my own.**
Even though, as a girl, I wasn’t the target audience for Transformers, guerrilla cartoon marketing being what it is, I can (but won’t) sing you the first bit of the jingle from the 1980’s Transformers commercial. Chances are, if you grew up in the same era and ever turned on the television, you can do the same.
These, ladies and gentlemen, are not the Transformers of your youth.
Instead of simply an action figure which can be transformed back and forth from a robot to some sort of vehicle, the ConstructBots (as you might guess from the name) allow you to start from nuts and bolts–choosing each little piece of your soon to be created character. You can even mix and match between sets of ConstructBots to make even more bizarre robotic creatures.
I have always loved miniatures and other small toys, and my 4 year old daughter is into anything and everything to do with dolls–so I was pretty excited to get to try out two new Polly Pocket sets –the Polly Pocket Zipline Adventure Pool and the Polly Pocket Wall Party Tree House.
The Tree House was remarkably easy to put together, and I love that it hangs on the wall–no lost floor space! All of Polly’s accessories can attach to the set with suction cups so that they don’t get lost, which is a nice additional touch. The Zipline Adventure Pool was was much more of an adventure to put together (I am embarrassed to say how long it took me to figure out which of those green tubes went where!), but the addition of water makes for a super fun time–my 7 year old son likes to zoom Polly into the water almost as much as his little sister does.
One caveat? If you have a kid who likes to play roughly with his or her dolls, Polly’s head can be more easily reattached than her legs. And no, I’m not admitting to anything.
Disclaimer: I received a train set for review purposes. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own.**
TOMY Master Builder, Jason Moreno, and his team of helpers will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for World’s Tallest Train Track using the newly expanded Chuggington StackTrack. The Chuggington StackTrack is a die-cast railway system that allows children to build a track which spirals up instead of merely taking over their floorspace like traditional train sets.
As a New York City mom, I have a special spot in my heart for toys that do not take over huge amounts of floor space–with it’s sturdy, interlocking pieces and room for creative spiraling–this set was an instant win. Definitely not so easy to put together, but once we had it up, my kids loved zooming the trains down the ‘loop de loops’ that my husband had set up for them.
There are times when a product sample gets an “eh” reaction from my kids. Then there are times when, right out of the box, a new toy becomes a permanent sidekick.
The new Dora Rocks singing doll, complete with rock star outfit, mini plastic microphone, seriously clever guitar that doubles as a comb and matching hair barrette for my daughter was an instant hit–to say the least.
While the lack of a volume button and one-note song don’t thrill me (Note to you manufacturers: Volume buttons are an absolute must!), the music could be much worse and I love that teenage Dora is much more appropriate and less sexy than in years past. I also love that my almost 4 year old daughter can disappear into her room with Dora and play rock star by herself for the better part of an hour!