Category: Review

Review: Batman Unlimited Toys

These Batman Unlimited toys are from Mattel, and feature Batman characters with updated futuristic looks and gadgets. The first thing I noticed were the key differences to the classic depiction of the three characters.

Batman and Robin look broadly similar to what we’re used to, but their outfits are more like hi-tech armour than a costume. Robin also has a hood, which makes him appear more mysterious – just like Batman.

But appropriately, the weirdest one was the Joker. His look has been completely revamped from the purple suit wearing clown to become a muscled up thug with a crew cut and a sash of bullets draped over him. While he is clearly the Joker – with his green hair, white face, red lips, and magical yellow toothed grin – it took my daughter a while to feel confident in identifying it was him.

These are pretty sturdy looking figures, with Batman & Robin’s fabric & vinyl  capes being the only potential weak link. Anatomically, it’s fair to say these are somewhat stylised. For instance, they have lower legs that are 2-3 times longer than their thighs.

While they offer 8 points of articulation (POA), additional movement in the legs would’ve been welcome – there’s no knee joint for instance, which really limits how these figures can be posed by a child. They can’t even sit properly. My daughter sometimes likes her figures to have a rest, enjoys a tea party, or go to the loo!

Actually, The Joker isn’t the weirdest of these Batman Unlimited Toys in this set. It also includes what appears to be a Robot Batdog. It has no limb or head movement. It does have a removable tail, which the characters can also hold as some kind of sword/club/furry duster. Robo-batdog (as we call it) isn’t even named on the packaging. It feels like this part of the set is a toy they had left over from another line.

My daughter even asked “What is that dog doing there?”. Not knowing how to answer, a visit to BatmanUnlimited.com (as the packaging suggests) indicates it may be one of The Penguin’s robotic Cyber Animals. Who knows? Anyway, while it feels out of place in this set, and is little more than an immovable toy dog, it does look kind of cool.

Overall, my daughter loves that these figures are of Batman, Robin, and The Joker, and they are funky and colourfully designed. But I feel the lack of movement in the legs in particular will be a big drawback for her long term, as she is unable to pose them in a way that she does other figures of this size (about 15 cm high). And the inclusion of robo-batdog is a mystery worthy of investigation by the Batman.

====

UPDATE: Batman Unlimited Toys Vehicles

Turns out the Batman figure fits a random Bat Jet I bought my daughter second hand for 80p, so there’s life in these figures yet.

====

Disclosure: We received these Batman Unlimited toys as part of the Toys R Us Toyologist programme. They send us toys in exchange for honest reviews. You can read the original post here.

Family Fever

Review: LEGO Marvel’s Avengers Videogame

Review: This fun LEGO Marvel’s Avengers videogame sees a multitude of great female characters hit the screen, putting the movies to shame.

A sequel of sorts to LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, this latest LEGO videogame takes it’s inspiration mostly from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with particular focus on the two Avengers movies.

It begins with a LEGO recreation of the opening of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the game pretty much had me at hello with the fact that my first playable character was Black Widow the female Avenger often missing from licensed merchandise.

You eventually tag team through all the core Avengers until you successfully complete this stage and unlock the free play mode – but you unlock new characters as you progress through the main story.

It has a large open world, that includes New York, Asgard, the Helicarrier, plus Malibu, South Africa, and even Hawkeye’s farm! Once you delve into the game, the shear number of characters is terrific (around 200, 100 of whom new to the series), and despite ostensibly being based on the Marvel movies, you get to play as whole range of female characters yet (if ever) to make it to the big screen.

So as well as Black Widow, Maria Hill, and Scarlett Witch, there’s also the likes of Ms. Marvel (Kamla Khan), the Jane Foster version of Thor, Miss America, and even Squirrel Girl!

The characters also include New Avengers Hulkling and Wiccan – possibly the first openly gay couple to feature in a LEGO product?

If you’ve played any of the previous LEGO video games, the style and gameplay will be very familiar. The controls are relatively easy to get your head round, and the tone is a mixture of being faithful to the source material with doses of in-jokes and knockabout comedy.

Occasionally we’ve been a bit stuck, wondering exactly what the given objective of a scene/set piece is. And the save option isn’t as often as I would like (extended gaming sessions have become a thing of the past since becoming a parent). Plus, the link to the official MCU means the likes of Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four are missing from this game (unlike it’s predecessor). But these are niggles in what is a very fun game.

I was worried that their might be a bot of franchise fatigue setting in, a charge that could be be levelled at the Marvel cinematic universe. However, there is just something so irresistible about these LEGO games that I am enjoying this as one much as any of them.

Is this worth purchasing in addition or instead of the previous LEGO Marvel Super Heroes game? I’m not entirely convinced, but the extra open world playability and playable characters make this a fine LEGO superhero game in its own right.

This is clearly a very family friendly game, but the control system is still a little beyond my 4-year-old – despite her obvious love of what she is seeing onscreen.

=====

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers videois rated PEGI 7 and is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (RRP £49.99), PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U (RRP £39.99) and PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS (RRP £29.99).


=====

Family Fever

Cute Alert! Itty Bittys Star Wars Plush Toys Hit the UK

We probably didn’t need any more Star Wars plush toys, but when Hallmark offered us some Star Wars Itty Bittys, I couldn’t resist.

We’ve been admiring this range of soft toys from afar as they’ve been out in the US for some time, but this month they’re finally out in the UK.

These Star Wars cuddly toys have been a big hit with my daughter. There are various characters in the range, but we received C-3PO, Yoda, and Darth Vader.

My daughter has been especially taken with her Yoda soft toy, who has always been a favourite character of hers anyway (green is her favourite colour).

The C-3PO plush is made of a very bright gold covering, that looks especially dazzling in the light, while even Darth Vader looks rather sweet as a cuddly toy.

As is the way with Star Wars toys, there will be many adult collectors who will want to buy the set to add to the exhaustive collection. But the Itty Bitty Star Wars plush toys range are the perfect size for little hands, and the cute style of design is suits these character designs, making for some very cuddly Star Wars toys.

Star Wars Cuddly Toys, Yoda cuddly toy, Darth Vader cuddly toy, C-3PO cuddly toy

Star Wars Itty Bitty plush toys have an RRP of £6.
=====

Family Fever

Review: DC Comics Secret Hero Society – Study Hall of Justice

Existing somewhere between a comic and a book, DC Comics Secret Hero Society – Study Hall of Justice, is a fun way to explore the characters of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman in an all new setting.

Set in an alternative timeline, this sees a young Bruce Wayne attending the exclusive school Ducard Academy, where he befriends a certain Kansas farm boy and a foreign young woman of royal descent (Superman and Wonder Woman in case you were wondering).

But all is not right in the school, and if you’re a follower of the DC universe in either it’s comic, film, or TV forms, the names of the teachers – and the academy itself – should be a hint at what’s really going on there.

It’s written by Derek Fridolfs and illustrated by Dustin Nguyen, who were the team behind a similarly cute Li’l Gotham. While ostensibly a comic book, this also has tracts of text and graphics as part of the story – such as text messages, letters, articles, diary entires, and more. It’s a book equivalent of a multi-media story telling approach that works really well, and encourages more reading than your usual comic book.

The characterisations are spot on, and close in spirit with their comic equivalents while being a wry commentary on them. While this centres on the young dark knight detective, it’s also nice to see the bond forming (and sometimes cracking) between him and Superman & Wonder Woman.

I liked a sequence when Diane Prince (Wonder Woman) tried to go undercover and get on the cheerleading team, followed by an unsuccessful athletics try-out. There is also a nice nod to her mission in fighting war – by trying to stop Superman and Batman fighting. Plenty of other female characters from the DC universe show up too such as girls called Harley, Pamela, and Talia 😉

This is a fun little book, that’s may be of particular interest to a young reader looking for something a little more relatable to them, while still staying true to the classic characters.

=====

DC Comics Secret Hero Society – Study Hall of Justice

by Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen, is published by Scholastic and is available now.

Review: Thunderbirds Are Go Toys

We check out some Thunderbirds are Go toys – Thunderbird 2 (with Mini Thunderbird 4) and Thunderbird 3.

The iconic sixties puppet show has been rebooted as a CGI series on ITV. Remaining fairly faithful to the look and spirit of the original, the famed vehicles remain largely recognisable in their modern form.

The two Thunderbirds Are Go toys we received were the space rocket Thunderbird 3, and the iconic ‘plane’ Thunderbird 2 (with the mini-sub Thunderbird 4).

Unboxing took a while, as there was far too much packaging and tethers holding everything in place. While the toys look the part, they do seem a bit flimsy – made of lightweight plastic (rather than the die-cast metal of the Thunderbirds toys of my childhood). Ours remain intact, but I can’t imagine them surviving too much ‘action’ unscathed.

Thunderbird 3 has a little interactivity, with a set of pop-out grappling arms (that don’t really do very much beyond popping out). Thunderbird 2 has fold out wings, pop-out stilts, and a drop down pod containing Thunderbird 4.

Both toys supposedly have dialogue and sound effects. Thunderbird 3 has rocket sounds and dialogue. I can’t comment on Thunderbird 2’s as despite the packaging stating otherwise, there were no batteries included (it takes 3 small lithium ones).

My daughter thought they were ok, and played with them a little bit. But one thing was missing – she had never seen Thunderbirds. I showed her a couple of episodes of the new version, with plots featuring these vehicles, and after that she was re-enacting scenes of rescue she had just witnessed, and was far more engaged with them.

Overall, I don’t think these are great toys in their own right, but for fans of the show they will provide ample opportunity for imaginative play. These Thunderbirds are Go toys are recommended for young fans, and only for the right price.

====

Disclosure: We received these Thunderbirds Are Go toys as part of the Toys R Us Toyologist programme. They send us toys in exchange for honest reviews. You can read the original post here.

 

Family Fever