Another grand adventure! This time with 50% more chocolate!
Written: Jan 13 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Favorite character themes, bigger size, kids love them!
Cons: Expensive! Chocolate covered trains are a bad idea. Really.
The Bottom Line: The price is a bit steep, but the familiar characters are a huge hit.
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| eternityawaits's Full Review: Learning Curve Toys Thomas the Tank Engine Adventu... |
And the Thomas the Tank Engine money pit grows deeper! Truly, that is said in jest, as any toys that can hold our son’s attention for more than 10 minutes is worth it’s weight in gold of course. Ten minutes equals two cups of coffee for mommy, folks. Drum roll, please……. And on with the review!
Today’s adventure in trains takes us to the Adventures Of Percy train set by Learning Curve. Included in this set are Coal Dust Percy, Snow Percy, and – my favorite – Chocolate Covered Percy! All three of these trains are from the Wooden Railway series. These are solid wood and are compatible with the Thomas Wooden Railway tracks and the Take Along Series plastic tracks. Good to know, because they don’t tell you that on the box!
It is a little tough to review each train without sounding drearily repetitive, so I’m going to sum it up a bit. All three trains are made of sturdy solid wood with thick plastic wheels. All three are the same Percy base train, so they are a pretty green color with painted details. Magnet connectors are on each end, allowing the trains to be connected to any other train in either the Wooden Railway or Take Along series sets. Each train in this set is approximately 5” long by 2.5” tall – a more significant size than the Take Along series trains.
The only difference in each train in this set is the “theme”. Coal Dust Percy is covered in a light black splatter effect paint to simulate coal dust. Snow Percy has painted and glued-on molded plastic ice and snow to make him look frozen, as well as a rather shocked expression on his face. Chocolate Covered Percy has brown paint poured over his top and face, to make it look like…. Oh yeah, like he’s covered in chocolate. Yes, I’m stating the obvious. Each of these themes corresponds to a television or movie Thomas the Tank Engine story.
Price
Brace yourselves, folks – the Wooden Railway series is the most expensive of all the Thomas toys, and this set is no exception. The Adventures of Percy ran me a whopping $29.99 – three times the average price of the Take Along set. I’m not sure I’m too happy about that. I don’t see how the huge difference in pricing is really justified.
Durability
Although many will disagree, I find the Wooden Railway series trains, including this set, to be much less durable than their die-cast counterparts. The paint on these is not as thick, or perhaps there are fewer layers of the clear sealant layer, but either way I find that the paint chips way too easily when dropped, or even just roughly played with. These are intended for ages 3 and up, so I was a bit surprised. They aren’t destroyed, but they don’t look fabulous after tons of play, either.
Play Value
I think this is MY least favorite set, although it is surely my son’s favorite. Want to know why? It’s all thanks to Chocolate Covered Percy. You see, Chocolate Covered Percy is my son’s absolute all time favorite train. So, he wanted to make ALL his trains chocolate covered. It involved about thirty trains, chocolate syrup, a large mess, and much Tylenol for me. On a positive note, they certainly spark creativity, right?
Overall impressions
Although the price is prohibitive to a big investment in the wooden trains, I am glad I purchased this set. The Adventures of Percy bring to life some of Percy’s biggest, most famous adventures, so most Thomas fans will be very much into these toys. They are still played with after six months, more so than some other trains we’ve purchased, so we’ve gotten our money’s worth. The chocolate syrup is kept behind locked doors now though!
Thanks for reading the 4th review in my Thomas the Tank Engine series!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 29.99
Type of Toy: Car, Truck or Raceway
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
eternityawaits
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Member: Tina
Location: New York!
Reviews written: 112
Trusted by: 29 members
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