Toys Reviews

I'm firmly in the camp that not all good and classic board games need to have a Special Edition. Far too often we see overproduce special edition games that, while look pretty, are prohibitably expensive and don't really have universal appeal to longtime fans and new players alike. Think, for example, of the 3D Settlers of Catan releases. Beautiful, yes! Practical? Not at all. Accessible to the wider gaming audience? Nope. Castles of Burgundy hits very differently, however, making a few really good improvements to the game table presentation, while also being ...

Of all the 2023 Star Wars: Shatterpoint releases, my father-in-law was looking forward to Cad Bane and the Fistfull of Credits Squad Pack. Cad Bane is one of his favourite Star Wars characters, so to have him available in Star Wars: Shatterpoint was a really big deal. But how does this character stack up when finally on the table? How is the secondary character, and the supports? Let’s take a look! Cad Bane The big thing with Cad Bane is…

I’ll be honest – despite how much my kids love each and every LEGO Super Mario set that comes into the house – whether for review or purchase – I’ve begun to wonder what would be next from LEGO and Nintendo. The sets are always fantastic, as are the figures they are creating. But after a while, you wonder when they branch out from the Mushroom Kingdom thing and into something else. With the launch of LEGO Super Mario &…

Water guns are something my kids really enjoy, and we’ve purchased more than a few over the past few years. We’ve had expensive water guns, and dollar store water guns. We’ve had complicated guns and really simple guns. We’ve never had an automatic gun that runs off an internal battery, however, at least not until the automatic water guns from Spyra arrived. Let’s take a look at what these things can do! The guns have quite a bit of weight…

My youngest child is in love with Playmobil, and over the past year or so he’s seemed to move away from fantasy sets and into more realistic sets, primarily in the City, Pony, and Country themes. Last week, we built both the City Action Fire Truck and the City Action Ambulance, and both provided a fantastic experience. Let’s take a look at each, and see why these are magnificent additions to your Playmobil collection. City Action Fire Truck Included: 2…

The good folks at Mattel were nice enough to send over a few of their new Minecraft Legends toys for the kids to unbox and play with, and while Minecraft might not be my thing, it is definitely theirs! The sets they sent were well loved when they arrived, and the younger two kids are still pulling them out multiple times each week to have their own Minecraft experiences. Let’s take a look!   The Devourer! – 69.99 CAD “Capture…

I love generic themed toy playsets as much as the next person, and Playmobil does a number of great themes. Lincoln, my 4 year old, really loves all the Country sets, inclusive of the farms, tractors, mobile homes, and more. But every once in a while, it’s nice to take a licenced theme toy for a spin. Over the past week or so, Lincoln and I have been taking a deep dive into the world of Scooby-Doo Playmobil, and he…

It might be cold outside, but my youngest son Lincoln has enough Kinetic Sand in his indoor sandbox to play with brand new CAT Construction toys. We recently looked at the Construction Fleet Sand Set 2-Pack ahead of this week’s March break, and Lincoln really enjoyed playing with this toy. The Construction Fleet comes with two CAT trucks to play with, which I really enjoyed. That meant myself or Lochlan could play with Lincoln, and each of us have our…

One of the things that has disappointed me the most about LEGO Super Mario is that most of the sets don’t really display all that well. These are LEGO sets meant for playing with, not just displaying. Sure, the various characters do look great on the shelf, but in general, entire sets do not. I do believe that the Bowsers Air Ship set probably would display well, but not many others. Peach’s Castle, however, displays beautifully (not on a 12-inch shelf mind you), and is fun to build too! Let’s dive in.

The toys that are being released alongside the Super Mario Bros. Movie are insane, and fans cannot get enough. For a long time, collecting the figures from Jakks was for two specific groups of people - the massive number of kids who wanted to play with the toys, and the few adults looking to collect. There was, and may be still is, a massive group of people who are not actively purchasing Super Mario toys - the gamers. And after the hype around these releases, I think Jakk’s Pacific has finally cracked the code.