Thomas & Friends Ivo Hugh with Zoo Cars: Wild Animals Go to Sodor
Written: Apr 11 '04
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Pros: cute cars; decent set for the price
Cons: you are joining the cult of Thomas
The Bottom Line: If you have already been indoctrinated into the Thomas "family," Ivo Hugh and Zoo Cars is a great addition to your collection.
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| pippadaisy's Full Review: Learning Curve Thomas and Friends Ivo Hugh with Zo... |
Being the liberated mama that I am, when my daughter was old enough to start playing with toys, I made sure to go out and get her toys for both genders. Along with the baby dolls and dress-up clothes from her grandparents, she had Home Depot tools and Thomas trains.
And then she had a little brother.
Being a boy, he assumes that all trains are his, much to his sister's dismay. Of course, she is unwilling to let her into her inner sanctum to play with her trains, and he's unable to play along when all the track is out because he has no trains of his own. The kindly Easter Bunny took pity on his and brought him several trains, including Learning Curve Thomas and Friends Ivo Hugh with Zoo Cars.
~&~ The Basics ~&~
You'll have to pardon me in this section as I've found my nephews' Thomas videos to be beyond annoying, and therefore have never allowed them in my house. As a result, all I know of Thomas and his friends comes from the character cards that are included with each train. According to Ivo's card, "Ivo Hugh travels frm zoo to zoo around the Island, bringing a hippo, monkey, lion, and tiger for children to enjoy."
The Learning Curve Thomas and Friends Ivo Hugh with Zoo Cars includes a painted wooden engine and two painted wooden cars. Ivo is a red engine with a happy, open-smile face. His trim is blue, yellow, and black, and he has a small "7" on him. Ivo is standard engine size (not one of the larger ones) with the usual six wheels. He pulls behind him two cars. The first, the hippo car, is a blue open-top car with "Sodor Zoo" on the side in yellow lettering. The hippo car has six wheels, and on top is a grey plastic hippo whose mouth opens and closes as the train moves along. The second car is a yellow car with four wheels. The top has a scalloped edge, almost like a tent canopy, and each side features a painted tiger and painted lion behind purple painted fencing. In the center on each side is a sliding plastic cage front. Slide it to the side, and expose the painted monkey.
Like all Learning Curve Thomas and Friends trains, all cars have magnets at the front and back to connect them as they travel the tracks in Sodor. Learning Cuve Thomas and Friends Ivo Hugh with Zoo Cars comes with the collectors card that all Thomas Trains come with and is recommended for ages two and up.
~&~ Parents Perspective ~&~
For those of you who are unaware, Thomas is a cult. Video after video introduce new creepy-looking trains with faces that your children have to have. Think Pokemon requires you to "collect them all?" Think again! Most Thomas trains go for $8 to $20 a piece! In addition, you have the expensive track, and well, you are going to run into some serious expenditures here.
That's the bad news. Now for the good news! Learning Curve Thomas and Friends Ivo Hugh with Zoo Cars and all his Thomas friends are interchangeable with not only the Thomas and Friends track, but also Brio track, and the wooden track sold at Target. This means that if you can find someone selling their old things on eBay or at a garage sale, or pick up a sale at Target, you can net yourself a whole slew of track which won't make any difference to your children at a fraction of the cost.
Learning Curve Thomas and Friends trains on the whole are sturdy and well-made. My daughter has had her trains for over two years now, and has taken them everywhere, played with them incessantly, and banged, thrown, and chewed on them on occasion (mostly to anger me). Aside from a few chips in the paint, these trains have withstood a whole host of indignities and are still in great shape.
~&~ Kid Value ~&~
My son has three obsessions: animals, fire engines, and trains. Put animals with trains and you have yourself a winner! He ran to his Easter basket and ignored things like egg-shaped chalk and an Etch-a-Sketch and wanted nothing more than to play with his own trains. I fully expect him to be sleeping with Learning Curve Thomas and Friends Ivo Hugh with Zoo Cars for some time to come.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19.99
Type of Toy: Trains
Age Range of Child: Other
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pippadaisy
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About Me:
Divorce seriously cuts into the amount of time for reviewing.
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