LEGO Alien Conquest Mothership
LEGO Systems has a brand new Alien Mothership that offers builders a really unusual build. The addition of a new gear at the middle allows the center of the spaceship to spin. LEGO has also added an alien sound piece to the mix. Great fun! Watch our video.
As the gang from LEGO heads out to Comic Con, they released BIG news. Starting in January 2012, there will be new LEGO DC Universe SUPER HEROES. The collection will include 13 of their iconic characters: Batman™, Robin™, Catwoman™, The Joker, The Riddler™, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn™, Bane, Bruce Wayne, Superman™, Lex Luthor™ and Wonder Woman™. Buildable characters will include Batman, The Joker and Green Lantern.
But wait, there’s more…a really fun contest (intended to drive you to the website–you know you’ll look anyway).
According to the LEGO press release…
At San Diego Comic-Con, 3,000 exclusive Batman and Green Lantern LEGO minifigures will be distributed to kick off a promotion that will take place from August to December in advance of the launch. Fans are encouraged to use their collectible minifigures and existing LEGO collections to create original LEGO DC Universe SUPER HEROES adventures through video, photography or illustration, then share their submissions on www.LEGOSUPERHEROES.com. Entrants have a chance to win monthly prizes or a grand prize trip to California for exclusive tours of Warner Bros. Studios, WB Animation and LEGOLAND® California.
I hope they send us one of the miniatures…2012 is a long time to wait! I especially can’t wait to see how Wonder Woman translates to LEGO.
“You’re one hot potato!”
Overheard at Coney Island today…
Out for a stroll on the boardwalk...
Mattel's Figit
One of the most entertaining novelty toys we saw at toy fair will be on display in Times Square in NYC tomorrow at noon — a lot of them! We’re still waiting for ours to arrive…but if you’re in the area–it should be fun to watch them all move together.
I always had a problem with charades. I never got the “sounds like, two words, two parts” thing. It just made me tense. So I was interested when we received a game called Reverse Charades by Gryphon Games. I was even happier when we got the Junior Edition. Let’s just say, I do even better with games targeted to the 6 & up crowd. This game is meant for a group, family, friends…even better.
Reverse Charades…what makes it a reverse charade? Each team has a guess while the other members of the team act out the word. There is no “sounds like” aspect to this game. There are 720 words/phrases to play with. Here are some samples: pillow fight, itchy, hula hoop, crab walk. As you’ll notice, the word choices are age appropriate and will be enjoyed by mixed ages.
New to the US market, this Breast Milk Baby doll will allow your child to simulate breast feeding. Thoughts?
Here’s how it works. According to the company’s press release…
The Breast Milk Baby simulates the breast-feeding process by including a fashionable halter-top that a young girl can put on like a vest and when she brings the Breast Milk Baby doll’s mouth up to the pretty flower decoration on the vest the doll makes a soft, suckling sound. The two flowers on the halter are positioned where the nipples would be and when the mouth of the doll is brought close to the embedded sensors in the flower, the baby makes motions and suckling sounds.
Paper Dictionary...endangered?
When I was in grade school, I used to love getting a new dictionary. Working my way through a particular letter was one of those beginning of the year pledges that usually lasted a few weeks (ok, a few days)…but still, I loved dictionaries.
So when this year’s new edition of the Scholastic Pocket Dictionary arrived this week, I wondered whether kids still use the old-fashion paper versions. I know in my own work, I’ve been converted over to an electronic version.
When was the last time you used a paper dictionary?
I asked Aari Ludvigsen, one of our most trusted go-to testers, to give me her take on the sequel Cars 2. Her 4 year old is right in the Cars 2 zone– taken with the original story line and all the merchandise that goes with it!
Here’s her thoughtful review:
For many children, boys & girls alike, Pixar’s 2006 movie “Cars” is the perfect first movie. A simple story about learning that friendship is more important than winning, there are no dead parents to set the story in motion, and the only violence is the mildly alarming scene where the protagonist loses control & wrecks the road in Radiator Springs. On the parental alarm meter, there is only some intentional bumping into other cars by the mean-spirited car (who would want to be a mean bumper like Chick Hicks?), some scenes of mild flirtation, and one slightly sexist speech by the yet unreformed McQueen. The soundtrack is fantastic, a gift to the parents who find it on permanent play in their car. It is the also the greatest merchandising vehicle in the history of the world.
Cars 2 is the kind of watered-down sequel reminiscent of pre-Toy Story days, when you knew a sequel was just a chance to visit with old friends but not to experience new magic. It is long, complicated, and built on scenes of shame, revenge, teasing, and attempts to “kill” cars. The bad guys are lemon cars that are seeking revenge on the rightly more-revered engineering marvels. There is a complicated spy plot which gives Mater a lot to do, and gives the animators a chance quote James Bond to the adults.
The actual plot is too complicated to explain here, and involves oil greed vs green fuel, sort of, and since it confuses some adults, is unlikely to be followable by anyone under 10. The clearest theme is that the bad guys try to blow up racers by using a disguised TV camera to cause their fuel to explode. There are multiple scenes of the bad guys trying to capture & kill Finn McMissle, the Michael Cain-voiced Bond character, and Finn getting to use terrific spy gear to escape, and plenty of scenes of cars in danger in ways kids won’t comprehend. They may or may not understand that Mater is ashamed (there’s even a flashback to all the humiliating things he’s done), and that he’s drooling over the naieve spy operative Holly Shiftwell.
The overall message is again that friendship is important, and that you should apologize to your friends, and that yelling at them makes them sad. Also that you can’t judge a book by its cover: although Mater is totally laughed at and an embarrassment and you can’t take him anywhere, he saves the day and is knighted in the end. But he finds out that he’s an inferior idiot, or at least that he’s seen that way by others, which certainly dampens the viewer’s enjoyment of this deliciously innocent, unselfconscious hick character that was created in Cars, and developed in the delightful & clever Tall Tales series.
The bad guy cars also feel bad about themselves (hence the root of their evil) and that’s not redeemable because they’re a band of truly-laughable engineering failures.
The movie is a wonderful chance to travel the world, with tremendously lovingly detailed vehicle-versions of Tokyo, a lovely made-up Italian sea town “Porto Corsa,” and London. There are race cars from multiple nations that you can find on a map with your kids, collecting them & talking about the country they’re from rather than the fake sponsor written on their hood (as with the original Cars collectible).
The original Cars is my almost 5 year old’s go-to entertainment for comfort & familiarity, and after repeated viewings I can say it is a smart, thoughtful movie. Even though it starts off with a NASCAR parody, it never feels like boys rule the world. Once Lightning leaves the competitive track environment, there are strong female characters — Sally the lawyer, Flo who runs the gas station, Lizzie the town’s founder — and they are not more purple or pretty or dumb than their cohorts, they are equal citizens of this better world Lightning finds himself in & slowly learns to love. But Cars 2 feels like Boystown. All male macho racers, except for one sleek sparkly pink & purple girl racer; male spies, except for purple Holly who’s only a desk spy, and unsure of what to do in dangerous situations. Sally is not important here except for the fact that she thinks her boyfriend’s rival is good looking. And that rival, Francesco, is a macho blustering Italian bully, (complete with a stereotype Italian mother car with a headscarf), who relentlessly teases McQueen and draws him into hotheaded decisions. In Cars, most of the characters were flawed & a bit laughable, but lovable, redeemable, and big-hearted, and smarter than they first appeared to be. Here, not so much. There is one heartwarming scene at the end when the old friends from Radiator Springs team up to fight the bad guys, and it turns out their ordinary tools & skills, and passion for their friends, is as effective as spy gear, but it only shines a light of contrast on the lack of moral compass of the rest of the film.
Remember asking this question as a kid? Or hearing it from the backseat of your car now that you’re a parent? Wonderopolis.org is a wonderful new site that poses such questions (and answers) every day. The site (the brainchild of the National Center for Family Literacy) is geared for parents and kids to explore together. 
Educator and Today Show Correspondent Jenna Bush Hager is getting the word out about the site and their programs for the summer. Read my interview with Jenna at www.toyportfolio.com.
I can feel the anticipation for this weekend’s opening of Cars2 from Disney Pixar from our testers in the 3-7 age range. While we haven’t seen the movie yet, we have been busy for the last few weeks taking a look at many of the new Cars2 games and toys. Videos of all CARS 2 products are also on our youtube channel.
Our testers loved the new LEGO DUPLO sets…The pieces are chunky and satisfying and can be integrated into your existing sets of LEGO DUPLO.
LEGO DUPLO Cars 2
We have also taken a look at all of the new games from HASBRO with the Cars 2 license – now attached to many classic board games.
Here’s what you need to know about each:
Cars 2 Connect 4 – In interest of full disclosure, I love Connect 4. It’s one of my favorite games for the 6 & up crowd. A beginning strategy game that kids really like (and their parents don’t mind playing). Sometimes the added license detracts from the game. A few years ago, there was a Sponge Bob Squarepants version that interfered with the utter elegance of this game (where you drop pieces into the grid with the goal of getting four in a row before your opponent). I would not recommend this game for pre-schoolers. Even for 6s, it’s a game that they need to play several times before they make that leap to being able to think several steps ahead.
Cars2 Connect Four
In this new Cars 2 version, the game play still comes through. Rather than the classic game where the game pieces are red and yellow, you’ll need to place the decals on the play pieces. They become either Mater or Finn. The color scheme of Mater (brown against white) vs. Finn (blue) makes it easy to distinguish the pieces (a plus). If you don’t have a Connect 4, and your child is into Cars 2– this wouldn’t be a bad version to buy. In any case, we’d always recommend the classic Connect 4 as part of your game library.
Cars2 Monopoly
Cars 2 Monopoly
Also very well done. Smartly identifying the younger audience for this movie, this version of Monopoly is closer to Monopoly Jr. — the money is much easier (only one dollar bills). Our testers loved the way you spin…which you do by moving McQueen around the track that circles the game board. Instead of Park Place and Boardwalk, the spaces are other characters from the movie. A well-designed licensed game that integrates the license into classic board game play. This game is appropriately marked 5 & up. Most younger kids will find the game play frustrating.
Cars 2 Guess Who?
Cars 2 Guess Who?
I’ve never been a huge fan of Guess Who? Here the game play is guessing by process of elimination which character from the movie your opponent has picked. I would say that if you have a super fan of the movie, they will love having all of the characters on the top of the board. It would also be a good travel toy for the car. Not sure I’d make the commitment to taking this one on a plane ride. I don’t think it will have that kind of lasting play value. Instead of playing by picking out hair color, here you’re asking “Is your car blue?” It is a game that calls for visual discrimination…it just never grabbed me as overly exciting.
Cars 2 Memory Game
Cars 2 Memory Game
If you have a 3 or 4 year old in the hunt for a Cars 2 game, this is best choice. If you’ve ever played a memory game with a preschooler or early school aged child, you know they have the ability to crush most adults at this type of game. They’re really great at the short-term memory. I’m not sure why adults tend to lose at these games…are we distracted? Already on the decline in this department? In any case, this is a particularly clever version of memory that incorporates the theme of Cars 2 into the game play. Once you make a “match”, the cars are placed into the grandstands to watch. Kudos to the design crew at Hasbro for coming up with this added dimension. There is also a score board where you are “racing” up to the finish line. Your play piece is a car. Now our testers thought that the cars should have had working wheels… but it’s still a nice aspect of the game.
Cars 2 Operation is pretty much what you’d expect. Instead of the classic big guy, it’s the character Mater. The board features bed bugs…a sign of the times.
Cars 2 Sorry! Sliders
Cars2 Sorry! Sliders
This one takes a while to put together but once you have the track assembled it’s pretty large. The game play involves “sliding” your piece around the track five times, but watch out your opponents can sometimes slide you backwards. This Candyland aspect (even worse because it’s being done to you) makes this a potentially “heated” game. Marked for kids 6 & up — but I suspect many of these games will be purchased for younger players. I’d really stay away from this one for 4s and 5s – the slide backwards will likely produce tears. (Unless they are playing with a parent.) The other problem with this game from my point of view is that the pieces do not fit back in the box unless you take them apart again. If you’re the parent in charge of such tasks you know how annoying this can be…why no make the box that 1/2 inch taller and wider so that the pieces can fit in without taking them apart!
Car 2 Trouble
Car2 Pop-o-matic Trouble
If you liked playing Pop-o-matic Trouble as a kid, you’ll enjoy this version. The character Mater is in the middle and you “pop” in the center of his vehicle. I thought it would make a car sound when you popped…like last year’s R2D2 Star Wars Version (my all time favorite). It was noisy (and more expensive) …so this one is less high tech. The game play remains the same.
And as Forrest Gump would say…that is all I have to say about Cars2 games.