Author – Cartoonist – Toyologist – Dreamer: James Spence

Toys

Click here to read the comic toy reviews I create as part of the Toys R Us Toyologist programme.

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Art Cards

December 11th 2011 Posted at Artwork
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Many artists participate in the creation of miniature works of art known as Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), also known as ”Art Cards, Editions and Originals” (ACEOs). The only qualifying rule being that they must conform to the size of a modern baseball card (2½ x 3½ inches).

Art cards are a great way to own and swap original artwork. They allow collectors to build up art collections without significant storage problems or breaking the bank! Most importantly, they are a lot of fun to collect.

If you are interested in owning a piece of original artwork, click the links below to visit eBay. Each one was hand drawn on 250gsm Bristol Board using water/fade proof ink. Each one is signed and dated on the reverse side.

The cards are: Oktoberfest, Uhura, Invisible Girl, Snow Girl and Queen of a Broken Kingdom

The 2011 Toyologist Programme

December 10th 2011 Posted at Blog
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At the beginning of the year, with Tiffany pregnant and my Girls in Space comic absorbing a lot of my free time, if you would have told me that I would be starting a major new project around the same time the baby was due, I wouldn’t have believed you. However, when Toys R Us advertised that they were looking to recruit 10 Toyologists – people who form an elite toy testing force of bloggers, reviewers and toy enthusiasts – I knew I had to apply, and to my great delight, was accepted.

Over the past six months Toys R Us sent me forty different toys to test. In order to maintain a consistent approach, no matter how big or small I granted each one the same amount of space: one A4 comic page, with accompanying notes.

It has been so much fun to play with all the toys, and each toy box delivery felt like a mini-Christmas.

Elwood was born on the day I was accepted onto the programme and has therefore been part of the programme his whole life. As such, it has been amazing to watch him learn how to use the toys as he develops himself. At Baby and Toddler groups he seems very advanced compared to other babies his age and I can’t help but wonder if the number and variety of toys he has helped test has contributed to this.

Drawing this project to a close has made me think about everything we tested.

There have been a few toys that have really stood out from the crowd:

The Step ‘n Play Piano by Fisher Price is used on a daily basis ever since we got it months ago. Elwood has gone from slouching behind the controls to sitting upright to swivelling around in the seat to standing against it and playing it. It really has been a phenomenal piece of equipment and I cannot recommend it more highly. This is, simply put, an outstanding toy.

At the risk of seeming like the Fisher Price fan club, the other clear winner in Elwood’s age group was the Fisher Price Twirlin’ Tumblin’ Fun Park which he adores. Before we set this toy up Elwood couldn’t support himself sitting up. Within half an hour of setting this thing up, he was sitting at it mesmerised by everything that was going on. He might have done this anyway of course, but it certainly didn’t appear that way! This toy blew him away. Several months have passed since I reviewed it and he still loves it. It is always the first toy he plays with in the morning.

One of my own personal favourites (and I think Charlotte’s too) was the Vectron Wave by Air Hogs which is a really original idea and quite dramatic to watch. It hovers around the room like a UFO. It feels like something from the future. It’s a great toy.

Tiffany loved the Little Tikes Town Playhouse, a wendy house with a twist – each wall represents a different aspect of a town, including shops, a garage, sports centre, school house, bank, etc. It’s a very substantial toy and very well thought-out.

I received a lot of generous feedback from readers throughout this project for which I am very grateful. It seems that the Real Construction Deluxe Workshop was the most popular review, having generated the most traffic, links in and positive comments. Thank you to everyone who read and commented on this and all the other reviews.

I’d like to wrap things up by saying an enormous thank you on behalf on Elwood, Charlotte, Tiffany and myself to Toys R Us and the team organising the Toyologist programme and in particular Carli who has been a pleasure to deal with. I’d like to thank all the toy manufacturers who entered into the spirit of the programme. I’d also like to thank my fellow 2011 Toyologists for their support. It has been an honour to be a part of this programme and I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it.

Finally, thanks to my long-necked friend Geoffrey Giraffe and his Facebook page!

Now if you’ll excuse me, Elwood and I have some toys to play with!

BIG Power Hand

December 9th 2011 Posted at Toys
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“And now, the end is near…”

So we now reach my final toy review in the 2011 Toyologist Programme. Toys R Us have sent me forty toys over the past six months and it has been a really interesting project. The final toy from Geoffrey Giraffe is the BIG Power Hand, a very original idea for a toy which transforms your (presumably normal-sized) hand into a BIG hand.

Once Charlotte had the hand on, we went through the instructions and tried out the test programme: making a fist, switching on a light, etc. It seemed that the fingers themselves worked well though the thumb didn’t appear quite as slick.

I’m not sure that long-term this toy would have a lot of appeal, but as a novelty, we enjoyed it.

BIG Power Hand is available from Toys R Us

Playmobil Torpedo Sub

December 8th 2011 Posted at Toys
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Toys R Us have twice sent me toys from their Top Agents range: Playmobil Top Agents Detection Jet and Playmobil Gangster Lab. So when asked to review a third toy in the range, I wondered how different it could be. However, as I’ve come to learn, the entire point of the Top Agents range is that each toy offers an entirely different gadget to play with.

This is a fun addition to the range. The submarine and underwater elements present a different way to play which kids absolutely love.

Unlike some of the other Playmobil toys, this one doesn’t have a lot of construction to it. However, that doesn’t make it any less fun.

Playmobil Torpedo Sub is available from Toys R Us

Fast Wheels

December 5th 2011 Posted at Toys
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Fast Wheels is a way of converting standard 1/64th scale cars (ie Hot Wheels or Matchbox sized cars) into remote controlled racers. The toy comes in three parts: controller, the back wheels/engine and a demo car.

It really sparked my imagination…

The demo car is not great but let’s not dwell on this. To focus on the demo car would be to miss the point of the toy: it’s all about transforming your Hot Wheels (etc) into remote controlled vehicles. In fact, the demo car is so inconsequential, you can run the back wheels without any car attached.

The wheels have a small set of stabilisers at the rear. This can be set to two different positions. One for running the car on carpets and one for running on flat surfaces.

Charging the car takes around ten minutes and grants you two minutes of play, which is actually not too bad as these things go.

Although not perfect, I wouldn’t want to write off this toy. I really love the concept of turning small cars into RCs. I’d love to see this concept better realised, perhaps if Fast Wheels were to go back to the drawing board and fix the navigation, improve the demo car and make it feel more substantial they could have a real must-have toy on their hands.

Fast Wheels is available from Toys R Us

Chou Chou Magic Pacifier Doll

December 1st 2011 Posted at Toys
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One of the things I have admired most about the Toys R Us Toyologist programme (which all my toy reviews are part of) is that I am encouraged to be honest with my opinion. I am under no obligation to paint every toy as wonderful and my reviews are used online (especially via their Facebook page) to help customers form an opinion about which is the right toy for their child. I do try to be honest.

So, after a disastrous test of the Chou Chou Magic Pacifier Doll, I knew I was going to have to give it a pretty poor write-up. In the interests of balance, I looked around online to find out what others had though of it and discovered that other people’s findings were consistent with my own. So, brace yourself…

You may be expecting me to describe what the toy is supposed to do and illustrate the different shapes that appear on the dummy’s screen and what they mean. However, the dummy actually broke before I ever got to see it in action. I had left the toy at my parents house for Charlotte to play with while I was at work with the intention that I would catch up with her later on. In any case, I don’t feel inclined to do so as I think it is badly designed and clearly not well tested.

Frustratingly, if this toy had been well designed, better looking and didn’t require a feat of Herculean strength to operate, it is quite a good concept for a toy. However, unless a decent Magic Pacifier v2.0 comes along, I’d steer clear of this.

Chou Chou Magic Pacifier is available from Toys R Us

My Baby Alive

November 28th 2011 Posted at Toys
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Toys R Us recently asked me to review a new doll. It’s called My Baby Alive (although, technically, it’s not!). However, it does do a lot of the things that a living baby would do.

Toys R Us have asked me to review a couple of dolls recently and it has helped me to get an idea of what works and what doesn’t. In the case of My Baby Alive, it is clearly a very well designed product, both in terms of appearance and functionality.

The look of the doll is quite cartoony rather than realistic, with her big cute eyes and head of hair. Personally I think it is much more appealing than some ‘realistic’ dolls which can be very creepy!

The doll is a good size, it does what it is supposed to do and does it well and I’m sure any wee girl would feel like she had received a substantial gift if she was presented with this toy.

My Baby Alive is available from Toys R Us

GX Buggy from Tomy

November 21st 2011 Posted at Toys
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The GX Buggy from Tomy claims to be a Speed Stunt radio controlled car, and I can certainly confirm that when it comes to speed and the ability to do stunts, this toy really delivers. The car can reach a top speed of 22km per hour, can be controlled up to 10 meters away and can reach 85cm off the ground (with the right ramp of your own building).

However, these impressive abilities come at a cost: if you don’t have plenty of room, it’s difficult to control as it will crash into objects long before you can steer it away!

However, I personally really liked the toy…

When I first set the car up, I thought it wasn’t working. I had plugged it all in and left it to charge, but it didn’t seem to respond to the controller. However, this was operator error and not the fault of the toy. If I had read the (admittedly not overly simple) instructions, it would have been a better outcome. Once I went through the instructions one step at a time, I realised what I had been doing wrong and it worked great after that.

It is worth reiterating that you need to have a good amount of space for this toy. If you try to operate it in a small room, you may find it quite frustrating. This was my first impression of it. However, after taking it round to show my Dad and using it in his spacious kitchen my opinion did a complete U-turn.

As far as stunts are concerned, this is where this toy excels. It is very light and unbelievably fast. Seriously. Fast. Powering it up ramps on full acceleration (if you can control it) is amazing.

In the end, I really liked this toy despite my first impressions.

GX Buggy is available from Toys R Us

Cars 2 Lightning McQueen Plush

November 21st 2011 Posted at Toys
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At the outset of this review I’d like to point out that I enjoyed the Cars animated movies. I have also been impressed by other toys relating to the Cars movies (specifically the Duplo sets which are really well produced). However, I’m afraid I find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to give a very poor write-up of a toy relating to the second Cars movie. The toy in question being the Cars 2 Lightning McQueen Plush.

Let me put it this way…

Yes, unfortunately, this toy failed to impress me, Tiffany and, most importantly, Elwood. Tragically, it would have been a nice toy if it had been made without any electronic components inside it. It could then have been useful as a nice, light, stuffed toy rather than a heavy, scary, annoying object.

I guess if you had a kid who was mad about the Cars films, it might be worth considering, but then again there are so many other great pieces of Cars merchandise out there, why go with one that isn’t brilliant?

Cars 2 Lightning McQueen Plush is available from Toys R Us

Playmobil Gangster Lab

November 15th 2011 Posted at Toys
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Last month, those super people at Toys R Us asked me to review the Playmobil Top Agents Detection Jet, a metal-detecting spy plane with secret agent character. I liked it! So, as a follow-up, I have now been asked to review the Playmobil Top Agents Gangster Lab, a villain’s lair where sinister ne’er-do-wells can experiment with robotics, chemicals and science! It’s a bit like the Batcave, but for baddies.

The toy is full of little bits and bobs and while I’m sure it is inevitable that a few pieces may get lost or sucked up into the vacuum cleaner, it’s great to have so much to play with.

The torch is really fascinating. It works by pumping the handle at the side, making me wonder how many other battery-eating toys could be powered in other ways? Hmm… if only they could make a remote controlled car powered by toy reviews. Seriously though, the torch works brilliantly and with the UV stickers and light-up robot station, demonstrates just how well thought-out this range is.

The villain figure supplied with the set looks delightfully sinister, with white hair and glasses like Andy Warhol would, if he had pursued world domination instead of pop art. Assembling the robots is great fun and takes full advantage of the fact that Playmobil is a construction toy. In this case, the building of the robot is both part of the play scenario and part of the way Playmobil works!

This toy goes to show that often Baddies have the coolest stuff!

Playmobil Top Agents Gangster Lab is available from Toys R Us

James Spence