March 17, 2014

Sprinty Race Car Leap Frog.. thing?

Kinder Category: Sprinty
Toy Number: TR033
Purchased: Edmonton, AB
Rating: 0 out of 5 Kinders

 Okay, this is a kinder that is part of Kinder Surprise Canada's Crack'n Win contest. I don't think this really matters to the toy itself.. but I thought I would note that the egg was part of it. I didn't win - I haven't won yet... but I'm holding out hope for the car. Or really, well... I'd go anything.

This particular kinder surprise toy saddens me a bit. I really hope my memories of awesome kinder toys are real, and not just stylized versions of toys like this one. This little guy comes out in once piece from the kinder egg - no assembly needed. At all. Not even putting on stickers or wheels.

The way this extremely fast, kind of jumpy race works is that you push down on the little yellow lever (which doubles as the car's driver seat) and then slide your finger off. And it goes! Like magic! It also reminds me of the old leap frogs I used to have. It also kind of jumps like a leap frog if you push down with enough pressure. Remember those leapfrogs? I couldn't actually find any to buy in person, so this image is from aliexpress.com.

That is really all there is to say about this toy. There's no assembly, it doesn't really move like a car.. especially not a race car.. you don't even have to stick stickers on.. and that's saying something cuz I hate sticking stickers on toys.

Oh, the one kinda good thing about this toy is that it comes with another one of those handy QR codes - and a url. Which, unlike some of the other URLS on kinder toys, actually works!

I know this is a really short review... but this saddens me so much that I find it hard even to rant about how sad this toy is. Were kinder surprise toys this bad when we were younger?

October 30, 2013

Disney Princess Sleeping Beauty

Kinder Category: Disney Princess
Toy Number:MPG FT140
Purchased: Edmonton, AB
Rating: 2 out of 5 Kinders

Yet another of the 'Girl' pink kinder surprise toys.  This is the second of seven of the Disney Princess toys I've gotten so far. The sad thing is that I actually had to google which princess this one.. turns out my boyfriend was right, it's sleeping beauty. BUT I swear she wore a blue dress when I was a kid.. didn't she? Turns out sleeping beauty's name is Aurora. I never knew/paid attention to that.... huh.

Well, at least she has a sparkly skirt. That's always an important thing for princesses. I don't know... I kind of expect more from a kinder. Princesses are cool and all, but this one you can't do much with. Her skirt doesn't even have any flexibility - she's solid plastic. ... heh.. no comment there.

The upside is that she does actually require a tiny bit of assembly. She comes in 3 bits and you get to peg her together. And with her hollow skirt she's not heavy.. I guess that could be considered an upside?

It makes me laugh that both her and and the little mermaid statue have their arms attached to their hair to their hair. I guess they're scared the tiny toys with tiny arms might get broken when put in the hands of children. As I've said already.. I really wish they found some way to at least let me move the arms.. or the skirt... or SOMETHING.. ANYTHING.

Anyway... again like the little mermaid statue these instructions come with a reference to the mkspecial.com website, and this time a rose QR code type thing. I've tried again, when I try to register with the website I get a blank page. Even if I try to go to the password recover page I get a blank screen. It makes me sad. I really want to try these games. Well, will update if I can ever actually register to play some fun kinder games.

My 2 out of 5 kinder rating for this one should be pretty obvious. Sure, its not the worst toy and it's kinda cute, but really... I still expect a bit more out of a kinder toy. That's all I have to say on this one.... Saddening.

October 19, 2013

Disney Princes Little Mermaid Statue

Kinder Category: Disney Princess
Toy Number: MPG FT139 A
Purchased: Edmonton, AB
Rating: 2 out of 5 Kinders



This is from a girl kinder. Just in case you haven't seen them around yet, the girl kinder surprise toys are the pink ones. No, I'm not just being sexist. They're actually advertised as having surprise toys that girls will like. Did they think we disliked the 'boy' kinder surprise toys? Are there even any of the girl toys that shoot things? 

Anyway, this little mermaid comes in three bits: torso, tail, and water. Pretty simply to put together. Body pegs into take and tail slides into the base. However, I do have to admit.. I had issues getting the tail to slide properly into its spot in the water. I actually had to look at the instructions.. Which didn't help... Mainly because I had my base facing the wrong way.... Yup. 

I'm calling her a statue rather then a toy because even though you can take her off her base and imagine her swimming around, you really can't do much else. There's no movement for her tail and her arms are attached to her hair, which is also solid plastic. I'm probably going to stick her on a shelf somewhere beside my lego mini-figures. 

Just to be clear here, I'm not saying she sucks cuz she's a girl toy. I'm saying I wish she had some movement. I'm sure when I was 5 I'm sure I would have played with her for at least 15 mins imagining her swimming through the air. Assuming there weren't any better kinder toys around...  BUT, I do think its kinda neat Kinder partnered with Disney to get toys kids will like. I'm a big fan of the Little Mermaid movie.

Now, one cool part about this kinder egg is that on the instruction sheet there is a little shell QR code type thing, and a website. I think this is cool, I think kids should use computers and it always for way more interactivity from this otherwise kinda boring toy. 

My only problem is that I can't get into the website.... I went to www.mkspecial.com like it shows, I get asked to register (which is fine), and when I click the register link it goes to a blank page. Kinda makes me sad I wanted to see what fun games Kinder would have up for this toy, and how the shell symbol would interact with them. I went to the parents.kinder.com website to try to see if there was another way to sign up. I did manager to register as a parent there, but it seems the registration for the kinder parents website isn't the same as the magic kinder login. When I do succeed to get into this website (trust me, I will keep trying) I'll edit this post to talk about the other cool features that come with this toy. 

I've given this toy a rating of 2 out of 5 possible kinders because even though it does have three separate pieces, it doesn't actually go much besides sit there and look pretty. It cool how there is an (I'm assuming) interactive website with it, but it seems to be broken which saddens the kid in me. 


Have you had this toy before? What did you think of it? Could you get into the website? Leave a comment and let me know :)