We’re lucky to live in a town with a castle – admittedly, not much of it remains after nearly a thousand years, but it still provides a rich play environment.
One of the key features is the keep, and our preschoolers love climbing the many steps to ascend it – offering great views of our town.
Here my daughter is racing up ahead of her friend. He pace would put many adults to shame 🙂
There was a moment while playing LEGO Dimensions with my daughter when I knew it was clearly the toy & game for us.
To be fair, it was always likely to be a winner – what with it being LEGO the toy (big fans) combined with LEGO the video game series (big fans).
But the moment it truly spoke to us was early on in the game. LEGO Batman – along with Gandalf and Wyldstyle – ended up in a LEGO version of Oz from The Wizard of Oz (1939). Continue reading LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack (PS3) Review
***This Rey Lightsaber Toy review contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens***
Ever since the moment Rey used the force to snatch Luke’s lightsaber from Kylo Ren, and used it against him in battle, I had been hoping that Hasbro would release a Rey Lightsaber toy.
Oh sure, they have produced many versions of *this* Rey lightsaber toy in the past. First as Luke’s lightsaber. Then as Anakin’s lightsaber. It’s not like you couldn’t get one.
But to millions of children – especially little girls – this was now Rey’s lightsaber. I wanted to see a toy acknowledging that, with packaging that showed Rey wielding it. So everyone could see that this iconic item was just as much for girls as boys.
Well, it took a while to get to market (spoilers and all that) but now it’s out there. We finally have a Rey Lightsaber toy.
Firstly, things have improved since I was a kid. We only had knock offs called Force Beams (that only came in red or green). Now, there are all sorts of sabers – from basic plastic ones to top end replicas.
This Rey lightsaber toy sits somewhere in the middle. The hilt is a reproduction of the Luke/Anakin saber of episodes II-V, though unlike some fans I’ve never paid too much attention to that. The blue ‘blade’ is telescopic and extends with a whipping action.
The blade ‘ignites’ with the touch of a button, and lights up – a darkened room is best for this as it’s not that bright.
The best bit is the sound. There’s a low saber hum, an electronic vroom when moved, and it crackles when struck – or hitting something.
This is also part of the Hasbro blade builder’s series, where you can join lightsabers up into abstract constructions, but I can’t say we’re keen on the idea.
If there’s one downside, it’s that the blade doesn’t retract fully into the hilt, so there is always a few inches visible. I’m sure there are very good reasons why it can’t involving the electronics housed in the hilt – but it’s still a shame.
But overall, this Rey Lightsaber toy is a Star Wars fan’s delight. My 4-year-old daughter keeps wanted to have lightsaber duels. She gets very into it – even starts doing little spins and twirls (weirdly, her moves are mostly inspired by Obi-Wan in his duel in Star Wars).
The Rey lightsaber toy is a cracking product in its own right, but it’s also yet another piece off merchandise that cements the fact that we knew all along – that Star Wars is for girls as well as boys.
Combined with a Rey fancy dress outfit (as we did) the galaxy is your child’s to explore.
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This Rey lightsaber toy from Hasbro has an RRP of £24.99. It was provided for us free of charge for the purposes of this review.
My 4-year-old daughter likes pink. She likes Frozen. She likes My Little Pony. But she also likes green. She also likes superheroes. She also likes Star Wars. Continue reading She passed the Fake Geek Girl test. But she shouldn’t have to.
Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum is a new LEGO set from the forthcoming Marvel movie Doctor Strange – and it’s a toy that’s bewitched my 4-year-old daughter
Aka the Sorcerer Supreme, the magical character of Doctor Strange is one of Marvel Comics top heroes.
Much of the Doctor Strange movie is still under wraps, so do we get some tantalising glimpses of what’s to come from this? We can’t always trust these licensed sets to depict actual scenarios in the movies. More often than not they’re based on scripted scenes, and usually developed months in advance. For instance, I first saw this set at the London Toy Fair over six months ago. So sometimes the story changes by the time toys are released.
This set shows Doctor Strange’s home and HQ – his Sanctum Sanctorum. It has his distinctive window, shelves filled with a collection of books & artefacts, a chest with treasures, old-fashioned oil and flame lamps, ancient maps, and intriguing letters (including one for Stark Industries?).
But most interesting of all is the elephant in the room – or in this case, the monster.
The key feature of the set is the tentacled ‘Portal Beast’ trying to make its way into the apartment.
I never imagined there would be a LEGO set that actually scared my daughter – but I think we may have found it.
4-years-old, she actually found the demon (as we called it) a bit unnerving when she saw it on the box. Her unease continued as we were building the set, and when we got to the beast, she rather chillingly kept whispering (in horror movie fashion):
“Shhh. The Demon is coming.”
Nightmare inducing. For both of us. But she remains fascinated by this creature.
The tentacled beast is very nicely realised, and it certainly looks the part of a monster presumably trying to get into our dimension via the portal. With a cool LEGO twist, the monster is connected to a series of cogs and a turning wheel, so its tentacles can be moved to simulate a writhing creature.
Other moving parts include an odd mechanism for levitating Strange’s cloak, and another better levitating function for a couple of minifigures. I’m guessing that these magical heroes and villains do a lot of flying around in the movie.
The set comes with three minifigures – Doctor Strange, Karl Mordo, and The Ancient One.
Doctor Strange, although representing Benedict Cumberbatch, looks every bit his comic book counterpart and comes with a cloak and magic accessories. Mordo, presumably based on Baron Mordo the comic book villain, is played by another British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, and comes with a staff accessory. Rounding out the trio of Brits is Tilda Swinton’s Ancient One, who wields what appears to be magical fans.
Casting wise, some race and gender swapping has taken place in the movie compared to comics – Mordo was white, and the Ancient One a Tibetan old man – so the figures reflect these updates.
My daughter was a big fan of The Ancient One. While the race swapping of this character has been met with some criticism, the gender swap is most welcome – and adds another female character for my daughter to engage with.
Suggested for ages 7-14, in three numbered bags, this was a relatively simple set for my 4-year-old daughter and I to make in an afternoon. It’s fun and quirky, and packs a lot of nice features into its small size.
It’s so lovingly put together that I hope my daughter doesn’t want to break it up anytime soon, because it makes a nice display set.
LEGO MARVEL Super Heroes Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum (76060) has an RRP: £29.99.
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Disclosure: We we provided with this product free of charge for the purposes of this review.
