It may be just after Christmas and its inevitable present overload, but Pierre was still very happy to receive some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys to review.
The main box, shaped to look just like a pizza box which is rather clever, is a Pop-Up Pizza Playset featuring Anchovy Alley. (The four grey corners are actually just part of the packaging and can be thrown away, as I discovered after spending ages trying to work out where they should go !)
The playset is really simple to set up as it literally pops up as you open the box and click the walls into place. The enclosed sticker sheet allows you to create a really impressive turtletastic decor.
The official blurb says : "The ultimate pop-up playset that plays into the Turtles love for all things pizza. This playset transforms from a super compact pizza box for easy portability, to a multi-level playset that stands 45cm tall when open. It also includes multiple features such as traps doors, shooting pizzaz and break through doors. The pizza-shooter was the first thing that caught Pierre's eye - it took a bit of practice but he soon had pizzas whizzing all over the place and falling on the floor !
He loved opening the different doorways and arches and peeping through. You can also lift up the manhole cover (and although it comes right off rather easily, it's also simple to clip back on.)
While he was busy exploring the pizza parlour, I opened up the other two add-ons : a turtle figurine (we got Donatello) and a tube of deliciously yucky-looking goo. The official description says : "Ooze control! Fighting the Kraang, the Turtles learned the power and dangers of the Mutagen Ooze - and watched it create some awesome allies and awful adversaries. With the Ooze-zooka, the Kraang and The Foot Clan are in for a sticky surprise! Donnie stands 12cm tall and has 12 points of articulation."
The figurine comes with a little sachet of ooze that you can use to load the ooze-zooka gun (plus you can buy the bigger refill separately). Pierre was very intrigued and loved squishing it about.
I was put off by the warnings on the packaging though - "Protect play surfaces before use. Do not use on surfaces that could be damaged by water. Ooze may stain or stick to some surfaces. Avoid carpets, clothing, walls and furniture. Do not use the product if there is broken/damaged skin." As we were visiting the Madhouse grandparents, I decided to hold back on the ooze until we were in our own house and I could go for maximum damage limitation with plastic tablecloths !
Even without the ooze, Pierre had great fun using the turtle figurine in the playset. His hands can grab hold of the pipes to swing around and he can also hold pizzas.
Pierre loved making him go through all the different openings.
He soon started making up dialogues and stories that were really quite inventive and had me laughing at his imagination.
Juliette was intrigued by all the laughter and soon came to join in, helping with the make-believe play. Once they'd finished, it was really quick to pack away - it folds back down just as quickly as it popped up, although I would have liked to have room in the box to put the ooze and turtle figurine in with the playset.
The playset is made entirely of plastic and seemed quite flimsy to me, but it withstood some quite energetic play with no damage at all. The Madhouse Mini-testers thought it was great fun.
star rating : 4/5
RRP : pizza playset £24.99, turtle figurine £9.99
Disclosure : We received the products in order to write an honest review.
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My son has just had this for Christmas! I think its a great how Jake can do it himself as its pops up so easily! Thanks for your review I just added the stickers to match your pics ;) only trouble is we keep loosing the pizzas be great if it included a little storage box that fitted into it to store pizzas. x
ReplyDeleteJust popping by to say this is one of my fave reviews. Looking forward to seeing more reviews for toys for my son :)
ReplyDeleteaww thank you :)
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