My Toddler Loves Wampa-Stompin'
Written: Oct 19 '03 (Updated Oct 19 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Super-fun Star Wars figures for toddlers
Cons: Mommy and Daddy might like it more than the kiddies do
The Bottom Line: Yet another set in the adorable Playskool Star Wars series geared toward pre-schoolers. Simply adorable!
|
|
|
| mizgnomer's Full Review: Hasbro Toy Star Wars: The Stompin' Wampa Small Adv... |
My husband and I are both big Star Wars fans. We each have fond memories of playing with the Star Wars action figures available when we were little kids. Now we are adults, but the love of Star Wars and Star Wars toys never left us. When we discovered that Playskool was releasing a line of Star Wars toys geared toward the toddler set, we knew that we simply had to get them for our 2 year old son. Our boy has no concept of the "glory" that is the original Star Wars series of movies, but he sure does have a blast playing with the excellent toys from Playskool!
Product Description:
Star Wars: Stompin' Wampa Adventure is based on the second Star Wars movie (The Empire Strikes Back), specifically the scenes at the opening of the movie on the ice planet Hoth.
It is obvious that Playskool/Hasbro went through a lot of trouble to make these toys safe and fun for toddlers. The figures are chunky and easy to grasp. All of the pieces are made from a just-barely-soft plastic (except for the Wampa, which is hard). The characters don't have much articulation, but less movement means less chance for a small piece to break off and become a choking hazard. The weapons are not removable -- they are part of the figure itself, which means no small pieces to lose or choke upon.
The characters have big feet and a wide stance with a low center-of-gravity, so they are easy to stand up and do not fall over easily. The figures in this set, like the figures in the other Playskool sets, are in an odd half standing, half sitting stance that enables them to both stand up and sit on the seats, animals, etc included in the playsets. Although it looks a bit strange, the figures do stand quite well.
Even with all the cutesy-ness and chunky-ness of the figures, they are impressively detailed and very accurate. As with all of the figures in this line, I'm very impressed with the detail of all of the figures.
Every Jedi in Playskool's Star Wars Adventures line comes with "Jedi Force Action" -- which basically means there is a magnet embedded in one of their hands. In the Stompin' Wampa set, there is also a magnet in the Wampa's chest. If you hold Luke's hand close to the chest-magnet the Wampa's eyes roll back into his head, exposing a swirly-pattern meant to signify confusion. Unlike the magnet-tricks in some of the other sets in this line, the Wampa-eye effect works very well every time, and is pretty cool to see.
Playskool recommends all of its Star Wars Adventures line for children ages 3 and up.
Low-Down on the Figures:
~~ Luke Skywalker: He is just under 2 inches tall and in that kinda-odd squatting/standing position. His only movable joint is his right wrist, which holds his blue lightsaber. His left hand is held out, open-palmed (and has a magnet hidden inside). His outfit matches the one from the movie very well -- including the brown vest, gloves & boots, and his hat with goggles and scarf blowing in the breeze. His facial expression is a bit of a cutsie-scowl.
~~ Han Solo: He is just over 2 inches tall (making him a little taller than Luke) and is also in the odd squatting/standing position. He has no articulation whatsoever. He holds a blaster in his right hand. His costume is also very accurate, including his blue coat with fuzz-rimmed hood. Like Luke, Han's facial expression is a bit of a scowl.
~~ Tauntaun: The tauntaun is the single cutest figure in the entire Playskool Star Wars line. It is adorable, with HUGE brown eyes that make you just want to snuggle up with him. His feet are massive to make up for his hunched-forward/riding stance. He stands 3 inches tall, and has no articulation. He wears a bridal and saddle, and can be easily ridden by any figures positioned in the weird squatting stance (of course Hoth-Han and Luke look the best on him, what with their winter-wear). Like everything else, the details are very accurate, just cute-sied up a bit.
~~ Wampa: The Wampa is probably the only figure in the entire line that can't quite be considered "cute". He stands 3 inches tall, but his width (including his huge outstretched hands) is 5 inches wide. He is quite massive and imposing (compared to the other figures). He holds a large bone in his left hand, and his right arm is spring-loaded with smacking-action (push it back and it will snap forward). Unlike the other figures, which are made of that slightly soft PVC, he is made entirely of hard plastic. A magnet is embedded in his chest that makes his large gray eyes roll up into his head (exposing some funny looking "dizzy" swirls) whenever an opposing magnet comes near.
Our Experiences:
Although the Playskool Millennium Falcon Adventure is still my favorite set (it's hard to beat it on the coolness-factor), The Stompin' Wampa set has moved into second place. The tauntaun is just so cute, I really cannot get over him. My son loves putting Luke and Han onto the tauntaun's saddle and galloping around with them. My son still prefers the vehicles over everything else though, so the Playskool Millennium Falcon Adventure and Playskool X-Wing Adventure get the most playtime.
While I do really like the figures in their authentic ice planet gear, one down-side is that they don't really look terribly much like "Luke" and "Han Solo". The Han Solo that comes with the Playskool Millennium Falcon Adventure set is in the typical white-shirt, black pants and vest attire that everyone is familiar with -- not everyone will recognize him in the blue coat and fuzz-rimmed hood. The best way to tell who is who (for people who aren't familiar with clothing they wore on Hoth) is Luke's lightsaber, although you can also tell by the eyes (Luke's are blue, Han's are brown) or the fact that Han is just a touch taller than Luke.
The characters are completely interchangeable with those from the other Playskool Star Wars sets, so my son has had Hoth-Han flying the X-Wing and a Storm Trooper riding the tauntaun. The Wampa is the most massive character, and makes a great large, imposing bad guy in imaginative play. I want to steal the tauntaun for myself, but have been able to resist the urge so far...
Quickie Summary
Pros:
+) Toys from The Empire Strikes Back
+) Figures are impressively accurate and well-detailed
+) Set includes Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, the Wampa, and a tauntaun
+) Designed for pre-schoolers (chunky figures, no small parts, very durable, well-balanced, etc)
+) Wampa has "smacking action"
+) "Jedi Action" causes Wampa's eyes to roll back in his head
+) Adorable and quite fun to play with!
Cons:
-) Not much articulation
Final Thoughts:
My son really does enjoy these toys, even though he has no appreciation of Star Wars or what impact it had on the movie industry and on the youth of America in the 70's and 80's. The toys are adorable, and I'm impressed with the quality and the thought that went into making them safe for toddlers. I think that, even if we didn't have a toddler of our own, my husband and I would have purchased these figures anyway -- they're just that cute!
Related Reviews:
Playskool Millennium Falcon Adventure
Playskool Fast Through The Forest Adventure
Playskool X-Wing Adventure
R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 9.99
Type of Toy: Action Figure
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
mizgnomer
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Location: Tennessee
Reviews written: 306
Trusted by: 202 members
About Me:
Don't meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you're crunchy and taste good with ketchup
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.