Brands Reviews

My daughter loved this doll. We gave it to her for her 2nd birthday and she was so ecstatic when Dora said her name. I agree with a previous review that you do have to update the information quite frequently or Dora will keep repeating the same things over and over. The information did take up a lot of space on my computer, but you will be blown away at the options that come with this doll. She knows your childs name, friends name, favorite: food, color, animal, song. She is also on a timer. She'll say things like "time to get up," "time for a nap," "time to go to bed," etc. It really is cute! Excellent quality too. Comes with everything you need, definetly worth the Money!

To me the only downfall was having to update information so often. Which you don't have to, but children change their minds so often, that you will probably have to!

After initially finding this toy on Amazon, as a 2nd birthday present for my niece, who absolutely adores Dora, I decided to go into ToysRUs to canvass.

The main reason I wanted to see the doll in the store was because I wanted to make sure that the doll had the capability to say my niece's name, Aulani. I had a lot of difficulty locating the doll in the store, it was not by the Dora merchandise or the interactive/computer area, but in the baby dept.

There is also a Pooh knows your name and an Elmo knows your name. In the store there is a keyboard where you type in your child's name and it will tell you what character knows that name. I was disappointed that only Pooh and Elmo could say Aulani, but when I changed the spelling to Alani, Dora could say it as well!

I purchased Dora Knows Your Name in the store, as opposed to having it shipped from Amazon because I was a little apprehensive about the difficulty of the programming, and I know that my sister would easily be frustrated if it was involved.

You can program the doll while it is still in the box. It comes with a CD rom and a USB chord. Using windows XP it took me about 10 minutes to download the software and run the personalization program. The only difficulty that I had was that I did not correctly insert the USB chord in the doll's control box. The download is fairly simple for anyone who has ever downloaded software. With that information, I would not hesitate buying a similar produuct online.

I absolutely love this doll, it serves as an alarm clock in the morning, reinforces a schedule, and provides entertainment through stories and songs. This doll will even count down the days to your child's birthday and will sing happy birthday. The only thing that I would change about this doll would be more options or a greater selection for stories and song on the software.

I read some of the reviews posted on this site before I bought this Doll, I saw it on Ebay but was afaird because of some the comments that was posted about the doll and thought I should buy it directly in case I needed to return it, But I had no problems at all other then the UBC cord the direction said to turn the cord one way when actually it is the other way, other then that I had no problem downloading anything and I can't wait to give this to my daughter for Easter.

I've built this castle on a table and it still falls apart. It's really cool looking, but my stepson who is 7 would never be able to build it and keep it together. I'm 35 and I can't get it to snap together half of the time. It's either the spacing of the pegs or the fact that they are too short. The towers and all snap together ok, but trying to get everything to adhere to the base is nearly impossible. If it's this frustrating for an adult, how can a child build it? I'm very disappointed in the Mega Bloks. Lego would never have this problem. I've played with Legos for over 30 years and never had construction issues like this. It's really neat looking, I have to give them that. Too bad it's so hard to play with.

This is a very impressive looking castle. The battering ram is great fun and the whole thing is beautiful. I would be a great addition to the Oduku Armory. However, the artists who designed it were let down by the engineers who figured out how to make it work.

The pieces barely snap into place if at all. My son was looking forward to this for days. I consider it unfair that they put so little work into the construction design. If this were to be put together and sit on a shelf to look at it would be difficult.

Instead, it is very upsetting for both parent and child. I've found similar issues with other MegaBloks toys. For all of thier good points (beautiful design, background story), they seem to have lost sight of the point.

Toys are to play with.

Okay, I guess you can consider this the headlining piece of the Mega Bloks Dragons METAL AGES line. Aside from being the most expensive, it's also the largest.
Overall, the design asthetic of METAL AGES seems to be a generic "oriental" theme. It combines elements or Chinese, Japanese, and even Mongolian art and design...at least in my opinion. It's great to see something other than the usual European derived stuff we've seen in the past (not that they weren't cool too). The warriors are 70% new...except for the legs. The weapons are the coolest yet. They range from axes, swords, decorative crossbows, to weird...uh...things. They kinda remind me of Battle Beast weapons (if you're a fan of 1980's toys). Now on to this actual set...
As soon as I saw this, I wanted it- no, needed it! It looks so cool. Plus the dragon has a totally new look too. As usual, this set can be kind of hard to assemble; I'll agree. Alot of Mega Bloks sets are tough, for some reason. The top layer, which contains the main play area, and most decorative elements...is built in four major sections to be later attahed to the bottom layer. I found the top layer pretty easy to build without hang-ups, but the bottom- UGH! I highly recommend building this on site...whether you're playin' or displayin'...and on a flat surface. I've often ignorantly tried to build some Dragons sets on my rug, and failed. The main problem is the base is built in section, not one piece, and is loosely held together by a few crummy peg blocks. Despite this set back, I got my set together fine, but newbies might wanna invest in some patience before attempting large sets like this.
The bottom layer utilizes the quick-build style pieces like the large Fire & Ice Dragon Mountain set. The castle wall pieces are all new! The relief sculpture near the doors is new as well, and very cool. The doors are pretty darn neat and have magnets in 'em to keep them shut. Above the gates is a section housing a decorative battering ram. Release the lever in the middle and it busts the doors down, knocking out any enemies in it's path. However...I thought battering rams were used to break INTO castles? Eh, still neat though. Surrounding that doorway piece are four other sections. To the right, are a decorative, throne-like section and another room with a piece of crystal atop it. A stone spiral staircase leads to this area from behind. To the left are a catapult area, and another decorative tower with torches. Not bad, but mostly decorative...no major gimmicks or action features. You also get a rolling seige tower with hinged gang plank, and a nice little wheeled cannon with dragon motif. The dragon is neat, and all new as well. In trying to keep with that oriental theme, the dragon is snakelike and looong! It still had bat-like wings though. Except for the hinged jaw, the body has only bendy wire articulation, as well as some small pieces of removeable armor. The tail has a great grappling claw perfect for hooking in victims! You's think the dragon would be impossible to dispaly, but being semi-stiff, he actually props up nicely amidst the castle walls. The extra brick column can be used to help keep him up as well (hey, you gotta use that leftover piece for something). The figures are surprisingly few, but still awesome. The Odaku are great, as I stated before. The Norvagen forces get a color change as well as new torsos...complete with double pegs for weapon storage (I assume).
The best parts of this toy are the new design detail and theme. I love the new dragon and warriors. There's lots of room for custom creations...especially when combined with other sets.
The only bad things are the usual problem of sturdy construction and lack of internal castle detail (nothing going on 'round back). The biggest specific problem is lack of figures! Overall, METAL AGES suffers from a severe lack of armies. True, you can buy multiple sets or troop builder packs, but who wants to spend more money?
On the whole this set is quite awesome to behold, but still needs a bit of work. Recommended for your Mega Bloks kingdom!

I bought the first gen. Pixter in 2004 for my daughters, it didn't have the updated video features but you could play games on it pretty good. After a few months, it went dead, everytime you turned it on and use the pen the screen would freeze. So I figured ok, this thing has just gone bad.
In 2005 I purchased the new and improved Pixter (in pink) for my girls, with the new video feature, and hoped maybe just maybe this one would stick around for a while. Needless to say within two months, the game was blinking on and off and not playing at all. I wrote to Mattel and let them know of their faulty product and they told me to send it to them, I did and they sent it right back, still a broken mess. I'd never buy another Pixter again.

Leapfrog has a much better handheld video game Leapster and their games are far more educational and practical than Pixter.

My twin 7-y-olds LOVE their Pixters. They spend hours on them. Better in the car than even DVD players, and far more interactive. The only thing I don't like is that all of the accessories I have tried to buy ONLY work on the older Pixter models (called Color Pixter, I believe). The travel case is too small and the digital camera doesn't work either. Now, the camera did say "requires color pixter systems to work." I took that to mean they had to have color and not b/w, not that it had to be an older system. The travel case didn't say anything but "pixter" on it. So, while I've had to return a few accessories, the kids LOVE the toys. So, would still recommend. Just buy accessories with caution!

We were looking for a substitute of the likes of the Video Now or some the other mindless electronic toys on the X-Mas must-have lists. It isn't much cheaper than those others, but we felt that the options for creativity were greater with the PIXTER.
Like the other systems there are built-in functions: a tetris-like game, a drawing page, word games, dot-to-dot pages, and more. The stylus tool is fairly easy to use and the drawing functions have many stamps, backgrounds and other methods to enhance artwork. The PIXTER will save selected works, also there are many accessories to extend PIXTER interest, additional cartridges some with licensed products like Sponge-Bob, Barbie, Walking with Dinosaurs, Teen Titans, each allowing real-time clips and editing of TV scenes ($20 each). One of the most interesting accessories is the digital camera for even more personalized creative play.

My 8 and 5 year old were hooked by the PIXTER. The only problem is the batteries, some systems come with chargers or AC ports, the PIXTER DOES NOT. We bought rechargable AAs for the toy.

Also many stores do not carry assessories for the system, but TOYS R US has the digital camera for the set (@$[...]) which is really great, allowing users to modify & play with photos of their own!

Peek n Play Eeyore??? Try Creepy Eeyore! Do the toy manufacturers ever listen to their toys before selling them? This toy was a gift to my 16-month-old daughter, and he sounds more like a "dirty old man" than Eeyore. He asks questions like, "Hi little baby. Want to play a game?" in a low creepy voice. I'm sure it was meant to be cute and interactive, but all the adults in the room were rolling on the floor laughing at the toy, while wondering if my daughter should actually play with it. It's humorous, but I don't think I'd recommend it.

I bought this toy for my baby, it was his first birthday. My son played with the toy, he loved the toy. I loved this toy, until the ears stopped working. We only had the toy for 3 weeks when they stopped moving. The toy still has the music/voice working. But it isn't the same with out the ears moving. He doesn't like it anymore. I don't have the packaging anymore to send it back. I wished it still worked.

I saw this online, then I was at Wal_mart a few days ago and found one for $7(the packaging was damaged). My 8mo old daughter LOVES this toy. She is mesmerized by the moving ears. When it stops moving she usually laughs loud enough to start it back up again. The rattle that comes with it works well too. We love this toy.

I only see 6 build activates not 100 tools, games and activities as it is being advertised. Their statement about number of tools, games, etc. is misleading. Many activities are very limited. This is very frustrating and I feel cheated.

"Streaming video capabilities" Ahh...This is a capability, not something you can use out of the box. You need to buy some software???

"Create your own shows with cartoon creator, video creator and scene creator software" Sounds promising. I have yet to see it.

OK, I spent 10 minutes playing with this item and I am disappointment. I paid only $10 for this and I think it is now worth it. I do not intend to buy additional cartages to get those 100 activities.

It got 3 stars for durability as I can't rate this attribute after playing with it for 10 minutes.

Hardware seems promising but the included software only allows for drawing software. The software you can buy only provides for some limited functionality with cartoon viewing. No really good educational software.

I'm 11 and i think this toy seems awesome! i'm tired of video games because they cost too much and i just can't keep up. i had the old black and white pixter five years ago and i loved it! a couple years later i had the color pixter but now its lost. =( so i think this would great to have and take on long car trips! it would also be good to play with when your just bored and need something to do. i can't wait to get it!

The 2004 (3rd ed) is still a good primer to introduce those new to boardless games to the greatest RPG ever invented. This boxed set has everything you need to play, but less pregenerated adventures than the previous boxed sets. You will hook newcomers on this amazing world of adventure and imagination, then discover you'll soon want evern more options than this set can provide (which was WIZARDS' plan in the first place). The hardcover D&D Player's handbook gives you the complete rules, with more race, spells etc.
This set comes with16 nice painted miniatures (4 heroes and the rest monsters) better than the punch-outs of the earlier set.
The set has 4 pre-genterated character sheets to start play immediately, along with the standard 7 dice, quick start rules, a small first adventure book and "advanced" rulebook, 4 double-sided map tiles for generating dungeons and combat. Also this set has monster stat card very handy for handling combat without constant pageturning. The set lists for ages 12 and up, but a good reader of 8 (along with an adult guide) would love this set.

(...)

Ok I was a little nervous after purchasing it, thinking it would be bad. When it arrived. I forgot about my video games, and just played this over and over. This box includes 4 tiles, 16 minatures which includes 4 heros, 7 dice (Dice would be much more expensive bought anywhere else), Quick Start Rules (If you have someone who played D&D in "their time" just have them explain it), First Adventure Book, and Advanced Rule Book. I suggest purchasing this with the expanded minatures, and the Master's guide so you won't get confused along the way. I have written some adventures, and it really gets you thinking (probably a good gift for parents who have kids who love RPGs, because it is like a video game in a way. So if you get this, you won't regret it.

wtf? I can get the complete core rulebook gift set and Dragon Dice here from Amazon but I CANT GET the Basic Game?? Is this a Monopoly by Toys R US?? Why the hell can't they ship it to my "geographic location (internationally)" when they've been able to do so for the other two items I've ordered (which coincidentally ARENT shipped by friggin Toys R US)??

not bad for a marvel legend. most marvel legends are skinny and flimsy, but the panther figure is not that bad at all. it's not flimsy and is built to a well porportioned size and it comes with a sentinel arm. even if you're not collecting to build a robot at least you have an arm to throw at your dog.

I love this figure. I got the Wonder-Man, which is basically just a head swap from this body, but much prefer my Black Panther. Why, you ask? Better motion in the articulation (no defects, perfect tightness), i like the purplish black paint job, i love the sculpt details (claws on fingers, "talons," on boots, face mask pull around nose.) He poses well, the cape is a great touch, and the included extra, the Sentinel part, is my favorite BAF yet, so no complaints there either. BP represents, y'all.

Marvel Legends brings us another avenger in the 10th series. The figure is in true ML fashion, highly articulated, and beautifully sculpted. As I said in the title, BLack Panter is one of the Avengers, and seeing as this team is so piviotal in the Marvel Universe it's nice to see it's members getting some respect (in the from of decent action figures), rather than just Captain America, and Iron-Man over and over again. This figure looks great with or with out the removable cape, though the cape is a bit heavy, and of course he comes with a much needed Sentile piece.

My little sister got the doll on the left for her birthday, and she loves it! She is so cute and so much fun to play with! And she is so relistic looking! I just love her expression. These dolls do have a strong smell, but if you wash the doll in really hot water, it will usually go away.
I would stongly recomend this doll to little ones-my sister loves playing little mommy. It is also good for doll collectors.

As mentioned before, it takes a long time to get Elmo to pop up UNLESS you hold it at an angle. On a flat surface, it will never pop up.

A poorly made toy. It does not even deserve to the on the Island of Misfit Toys.

It takes FOREVER to get Elmo to pop out. By the time the very annoying song plays 10 times my one year old son is crying and frustrated because Elmo has STILL not popped out. It is also impossible for a small child to use because of the tiny turn handle. I can hardly grasp hold of it, let alone a child! This toy is a complete waste of time and money.

...Sure do set this toy off. We have had it for a while now -but the batteries have been permenantly removed. Ours used to play music all by itself in the middle of the night if it had been cranked just so the day before. It took us a while to figure out why our then 3 yr. old started waking up terrified. Now we know. It's cute but takes many cranks to pop up, and, once it is in just the right position, will play music with just about any movement! (even something being blown on it by the fan in the middle of the night) Don't waste your money...Get something else-anything else!

My 2 year old and 4 year old love this playdoh set. I recommend it highly.

This is such a great toy for kids and parents. We play play doh for hours. The barrel is a great toy. All the item inside are really well made and they have a lot of cute shapes. This really is somethig fun for kids and parents to enjoy together.

This is the BEST Play Doh set currently available in terms of the amount of play doh and the number of different cutting, molding and extruding tools that you get for your money. The tools are the larger molding tools that are easy for small hands to use. In addition, all of the items come in a barrel (with a screw-on lid), not a bucket (with a snap-on lid). The barrel is sturdier and keeps the play doh fresher than the bucket. In addition, the barrel has more accessories than all of the various Play Doh bucket sets that are currently on the market. The Play-Doh Fun Fridge is the other Play Doh set that is really good (if you can find it ... I've only seen it at dealsafari) in terms of amount of play doh and number of molds (over 20 pieces, includes 8 cans of play doh and 4 meal makin' molds for eight dollars). The Fun Fridge that I am referring to is different (and has way more) than the Fun with Food Food Fixin' Fridge that I've seen at various stores. If you are looking to buy your first play doh set OR you want to buy one that has everything you need, this is the play doh set for you.