ToyTalk: Toy news, reviews and features

VTEch Buzz Lightyear Learn & Go

by Eleanor de Bruin
VTech has teamed up with the heroic Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story 3 to help teach children aged between four and seven a variety of simple skills.

The hand-held computerised game is designed to look like the popular character, and this, along with the bright colours and numerous buttons, should encourage young children to explore the world of basic education.

Priced around £14.99, and easily transportable (to infinity and beyond, no doubt), the toy aims to teach children letters, spelling, words and basic spelling, as well as familiarising them with a QWERTY keyboard.

The LCD screen shows fun animations to keep them focused on the task, and a ‘Buzz’ button produces a variety of fun phrases and characters, including the voice of the ‘real’ Buzz Lightyear!

Cutie Cakes Dolls

by Eleanor de Bruin
Undoubtedly the sweetest dolls on the market, these new soft-bodied cuties are Manhattan Toy’s latest offering for three-year-olds upwards.

Five different fantastic flavours are available, including Jelly Bean Bella and Chocolate Chip Charlie (pictured), as well as Bubble Gum Bitsy, Pistachio Penny and the lovely Lemon Drop Lulu.

These dolls start out looking like little decorated cupcakes, but convert easily from cake to 10cm-high doll by pressing on the top of the cake and watching the pretty doll emerge from the bottom, the fancy icing turning to pretty patterns on a skirt. The dolls are priced around £12.99 each.

Each doll also has her own special pet, available separately for around £9.99 each. The two pictured belong to the dolls above; Bella owning Beary Panda and Charlie having Chocolate Chip Puppers.

Also available are Bubble Gum Bitsy’s little Hopper, a cute little Froggy for Penny and an adorable Kittie for Lemon Drop Lulu. Each pet is 5cm high and lives inside its own little cupcake house.

VTech Buzz Lightyear Star Command Laptop

by Eleanor de Bruin
Young children are often quite fascinated with the magical-looking device called the laptop. Now, instead of taking the risk of sticky fingers on your computer, you can buy them a Buzz Lightyear-themed one from VTech.

The Star Command Laptop is far more exciting than an ordinary laptop anyway. For a start, this one is actually a spaceship, which only transforms into a laptop when you press Buzz’s helmet.

Children aged between four and seven can enjoy pressing buttons and using the ‘alien mouse’ just like on a real laptop. Priced around £34.99, the educational toy aims to teach children basic maths, simple Spanish and helps them to learn their letters too. The design of the laptop features the voice of popular character Buzz Lightyear from the movie Toy Story 3.

Smart Splash Colour & Count Seals

by Eleanor de Bruin
Bobbing around in the bath or water tray, these colourful performing seals add a sense of fun to pre-school attempts at number recognition and matching.

Priced around £15.25 for a set of five seals, the cheerful characters from Learning Resources float in water, balancing a ball expertly between their flippers. Each ball is numbered, and is the same colour as the collar on the seal it belongs to.

Children can have fun making sure that each ball is matched up with the correct seal, and identifying the numerals.

Toy Story 3 Alien Freefall Game

by Eleanor de Bruin
Those cheeky aliens from Toy Story 3 are relying on you to save them in this new game from Mattel.

Housed in the bright Pizza Planet Rocket, the cute little aliens balance precariously on the sticks that are laced through the sides of the ship.

Children aged five upwards take turns selecting a stick to carefully remove from the rocket, with the aim of dislodging as few aliens as possible.

Two to four players can take part and the winner is the one who causes as few aliens as possible to freefall.

The game is priced around £15.

Airfix offers Help for Heroes

by David Smith
An online charity auction organised by Airfix is hoping to raise money for Help For Heroes by selling Spitfire models made and signed by celebrities including David Jason, Linford Christie and Bill Bailey.

Other celebs involved include Piers Morgan, Al Murray, Dominic Byrne, Hugh Dennis, Mark Radcliffe, Paddy Ashdown, Pete Waterman and Frank Lampard.

Each was given a 1:48 scale Airfix model of a Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1A. After building, painting and signing their models, the Spitfires were placed on eBay, where you can bid for them until Saturday July 3.

“Airfix is very proud to be able to work with Help for Heroes and help raise money for such a worthy cause,” said Airfix’s Darrell Burge. “The charity offers vital support to Britain’s ex-servicemen and women and helps them to get back to a normal life after experiencing the effects of duty.

“We would like to thank all the celebrities who have shown their support for the campaign and donated their time and dedication into creating their model Spitfires for the auction. With their help we are confident that the auction will be a success and help Help For Heroes continue their great work.”

Playmobil My Take Along Puppet Theatre

by Eleanor de Bruin
The buzz of excitement that a trip to the theatre promotes is recreated by this theatre set from Playmobil, which comes with many different features and accessories.

The theatre measures 36 x 17 x 27cm when closed, and can store all of the included figures and accessories safely in the back. When opened out, the back panel and two side panels stand up to form a stage, surrounded by appropriate scenery, which slots into the frame.

Then the six lead characters, including men, women and children, can take to the stage to act out any number of plays, dressed in an assortment of costumes. Props such as plants, weapons and food (and a crocodile) help the young actors and actresses to provide a dramatic performance, and a special noise box containing music, applause and children’s laughter completes that realistic theatre feel.

The set is priced around £39.99.

Postman Pat SDS Deluxe Electronic Helicopter

by Eleanor de Bruin
If you’ve watched CBeebies recently, you’ll have noticed that Pat isn’t your average door-to-door postie anymore. Postman Pat has been given a whole new lease of life, in his Special Delivery Service series.

Gone are the days of merely trundling around the lanes in his little red van – Pat now regularly takes to the skies in his own helicopter, recreated here in a new toy from Character.

Children aged three and over can enjoy recreating scenes as Pat provides all kind of exciting deliveries to the town of Pencaster. The Helicopter’s propellers spin and the front lights up when it is pushed along the ground, and it also has a windable winch to help lift some of Pat’s more awkward deliveries.

Pat may have been promoted to head of the Special Delivery Service, but he has remained grounded in some ways too, and hasn’t forgotten about his faithful companion Jess, who is included in the set, along with Pat himself, for around £9.99.

Ouch Africa!

by David Smith
No World Cup would be complete without its list of injured stars – some hoping to get fit in time to play some part in the tournament, others resigned to watching the games at home.

But it’s not just the coaches and physios in South Africa who are affected by this, the MicroStars WorldStars line-up has also been ravaged by injuries, with big names like Ballack, Ferdinand, Anderson, Nani, Alex, Drogba and Essien all in the wars.

So is there a curse of the MicroStars? Will Messi, Torres or Robinho be next to catch the injury bug?

“We first launched MicroStars in 2001 and WorldStars is the nineteenth series of figures we have released,” said Corinthian Marketing’s Barry Hughes. “This has been the most jinxed collection for injuries and we’ve never known anything like it!

“We now dread the news flashes from South Africa in case another one of our line-up is affected but, at the same time, we know we’ve got a very strong set of international superstars in this series that children across Europe love to collect regardless of crutches, casts and curses.”

With Sunday’s big game looming, we can only cross our fingers that the rest of the England MicroStars contingent – Terry, Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney – stays fit!

Coming soon: Football action figures from Pattni Imaginations

by David Smith
A new line of football action figures is on its way from Pattni Imaginations. Deals with the ‘big four’ English clubs – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – have been signed and the figures are expected to arrive in shops in the autumn.

Details on the upcoming range are scarce at the moment, but we have been told to expect highly realistic figures with moveable heads, shoulders, knees, legs, waist and ankles – which is more than some real players can manage after a long season.

We’ll bring you more details as we get them…