Barbie Talking Townhouse
Written: Jan 07 '04
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Pros: Easy assembly, folds for storage, relative compact size.
Cons: No place to store small items.
The Bottom Line: A fun, compact Barbie house that my daughter enjoys immensely.
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| Staceys1's Full Review: Mattel Barbie Talking Townhouse |
While shopping for holiday gifts for my five year old daughter, as well as for birthday and holiday gifts for friends and family, I found my shopping cart loaded with various Barbie toys and that the store I was shopping at was offering this Barbie Talking Townhouse free with a certain dollar amount of Barbie items purchased. This was not a toy that my daughter had specifically requested, though she did have on her wish list a standing order for all things Barbie, and I thought for free, I could not go wrong.
Later, when I found out that Santa (by way of my in-law's house) was bringing my daughter the Swan Lake Musical Fantasy Castle Playset, I debated whether or not to give her this Barbie Talking Townhouse. I am glad that I did because of the two buildings, this is the one she likes much better.
Assembly was easy as the vast majority of pieces were already in place upon removal from the box. After inserting three "AA" batteries and adhering over thirty stickers to the various pieces, this toy was being played with about twenty minutes after the box was first opened. Amazingly enough, not only did my daughter immediately play with it, but my six year old son played with her and this toy for quite a while as well.
The Barbie Talking Townhouse is just under three feet tall and about 15 inches square when opened, making a corner of a house with two outer walls. When these walls are pushed together, it closes to a slim four inches wide for storage and it would have been helpful to have a handle on top so that it could be carried and put away.
The townhouse has lavender walls, light pink floors and seafoam green and pink accessories and trim. The designated rooms are a bedroom with a bed and two night tables attached to the house and a bathroom with a shower stall upstairs, and a living room with a computer (this houses the batteries and is the speaker for the house), and a kitchen with all of the standard amenities including a stove and dishwasher that open, on the lower level. A center island juts out between the kitchen and living room. To get from one floor to the other, Barbie must climb a very steep, almost spiral lavender staircase next to the kitchen.
The additional furniture includes a blue couch, a two blue chairs, a table with a clear pink top and seafoam green stand and a seafoam open rack for the bathroom. It also comes with a variety of teeny tiny items such as silverware, a spatula, a frying pan with cover, a cell phone, a hair dryer and a letter to mail. My daughter hardly ever plays with these tiny pieces and Barbie usually cannot hold them. In fact, my daughter told me not to even open the bag with the silverware in it since she did not need it. This house does have various pieces of furniture which could house drawers or storage areas for these small items, but some of them are just facades and do not open, while others are too small for more than one or two items to fit into.
This is a talking house and to make it talk you can insert one of two identical small plastic pink cards into the slots in the front door or the oven. Mattel has taken into consideration that the cards may get lost (as they are prone to do since they are rather small) and under each slot is a button that can be pressed instead.
When the card is inserted in the front door, or the button pressed, the light above the door will go on, and as the interior of that wall is the living room, it will illuminate that room slightly. A short dialogue such as the following will begin:
house: "Scanning access card. Welcome home Barbie."
Barbie: "It's good to be home. I think I'll watch t.v."
house:"Your favorite show is the Shopping Show.
The dialogue from the oven might be:
oven: "Scanning access card. Chicken nuggets are cooking." (accompanied by the sound of sizzling food)
Barbie: "Mmm. . .my favorite!"
oven:"Chicken nuggets are ready!"
Barbie: "That looks delicious!."
To have the door or oven begin speaking either press the button or insert the access card. Even if the button is pressed, the house will begin by saying "Scanning access card." There are about six general dialogues for each of them, with additional variations, such as Barbie saying "That looks good" versus "That looks delicious."
The third portion of this house that talks is the shower stall and it does so when a small rectangle is pressed on the floor of the shower stall. The short dialogue which we hear most often is:
shower stall: Shower starting" (accompanied by the sound of running water)
Barbie:"Thanks... La la la...la la la."
Occasionally Barbie will complain that the water is too cold and the shower stall indicates that it is warming the water for her.
Of the two Barbie homes that my daughter received at approximately the same time, this townhouse is by far her favorite. I do not think that a day has gone by that she has not played with it at least for a little while. In her words: "It talks, so it is fun!" She also likes the compact size of this townhouse so that if she wants her dolls to move around, she can reach all of the rooms without moving herself. Due to this somewhat compact size two children would be the limit for comfortable play.
I have seen this Barbie Talking Townhouse in stores for about $60, and after seeing my daughter get so much fun playtime out of it, I would have had no qualms about paying that price, though I am not sorry that I did get it for free!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 60
Type of Toy: Playscene
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years
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