Gonzo Gadgets

Elmo Live is Alive with Fun

Introduction

There’s no more anticipated toy for kids this season than Elmo Live by Fisher-Price. The original Tickle Me Elmo delighted kids by bringing one of their best-loved small screen friends into the house. It is amazing what a few years can bring in terms of improvements! We got our hands on Elmo Live to see if it is worthy of the crown of Muppet toy goodness.

Review

Elmo Live has what you’d expect – the Sesame Street Elmo character’s look, voice and sense of humor. The latter two are captured in an huge range of responses, jokes and phrases including a number of fun games Elmo Live can play with children. Elmo Live has far more to communicate through voice than TME or its TMX successors. Elmo can even tell a number of stories. Elmo Live beats TME/TMX by an order of magnitude in that department.

As impressive as the voice improvements are, the biggest leap was made in Elmo Live’s life-like motion and interactivity. This is done through a bunch of motors & gears that really brings the character to life. Elmo sits, stands, waves his arms, points, moves his mouth, crosses his legs, sings, dances.  Elmo is even aware when he has fallen over and asks for help (he is unable to get upright without your child’s assistance). Plus Elmo has a number of sensors that when touched or tickled elicit special dialog. These sensors also figure cleverly into the games Elmo Live has been taught.

Clouds over Sesame Street

We think Elmo Live is a riot but be aware of the following complaints:

1. All those gears/servos can be noisy and distracting
2. Elmo Live is not a cuddly toy meant to replace a teddy bear or other plush doll. The gear inside that gives it life also makes it less than cuddly.
3. It’s not the cheapest doll around
4. Extremely young children may find Elmo Live to be scary or intimidating because of how different he is from more familiar toys. This really depends from child to child. A safe bet would be 3 and up, though many younger children even will also find Elmo Live to be engaging and funny.

Summary

Quite simply there’s nothing out there like Elmo Live in terms of sheer interactivity and bubbling personality. The Sesame Street tie-in is a no brainer but Fisher-Price really put a lot of thought into this and it exudes charm and humor and does it interactively. Children of many ages and their parents are likely to be entertained by this one. It brings Sesame Street to life right in the playroom.

Where To Get Elmo Live

Earth, pretty much. So far it seems these are not as hard to come by as the original Tickle Me Elmo, but parents be warned.  That is likely to change as people’s minds shift toward the holiday gift season and this is one of the hottest items on many family gift lists.

For online buyers we recommend K•B Toys Online (The Parent Company) and Amazon – it saves the time and uncertainty of hunting local retailers and fighting lines.  Elmo Live should be in most major retail outlets as well.

Tags: elmo live, fisher-price, holiday, kids, toys

M-Gears Review – Think Lego But Even Smarter

Introduction

The M-Gears toy construction sets are the M-Gears Building Set and 2 remote-controlled vehicle sets (see below).  Each comes with instructions to build multiple creations which may remind readers of our perennial favorite – Lego. M-Gears distinction is the intricate interplay of many many gears instead of simple building blocks. But without the difficulties of below).  Each comes with instructions to build multiple creations which may remind readers of our perennial favorite – Lego. M-Gears distinction is the intricate interplay of many many gears instead of simple building blocks. But without the difficulties of Lego Technic. Children will find M Gears far more forgiving, and likely more fun to create with.

Building the M-Gears plans included with the sets is a lot of fun but watching them move is mesmerizing.

M-Gears is sturdy and colorful. While they don’t advertise it loudly, M-Gears is compatible with Lego and other popular building blocks. We tested this out you can plug Lego blocks right onto your vehicles!

While younger kids can enjoy Elmo Live – if Mom and Dad can find one that is – M-Gears is perfect for a slightly older and more inquisitive child.

M-Gears Building Set

The M-Gears Building Set can serve as both the starter set and the expert set.  We recommend it for two reasons: it comes with a lot of parts (300!) and it contains instructions for many creations which helps children better understand the kinds of cool things that can be built with M-Gears. So it’s a great place to begin and the best set to use for all-new creations.

We got a little worried checking out the box art up close – all those gears and colors looked fun but also complicated and potentially frustrating. It only took a few minutes with the parts to change our minds. Learning Resources designed M-Gears very well.  Parts are sturdy, fit together smoothly and the instructions are visual, clear and make building process simple. As with all building sets we had a few lapses when ‘reading’ the instructions but we were still learning the gears concept. After a few minutes it became second nature. As we moved past our first creation this problem seemed to go away. It does take time to build some of the larger sets. This probably isn’t the kind of toy you want to take traveling to eat up a few minutes here and there, aside from the fear of losing precious parts!

When we finished our first Building Set creation, the airplane, we were impressed with the pure kinetic joy of the thing. Aim the finished toy and watch the hundreds of gears and parts do their thing. Seeing all those gears we placed move in every direction was both fun in itself and a good reward for the time and concentration we put in. It’s a great pay-off.

Note, the Building Set is motorized but not remote-controlled like the two vehicle sets we researched below.

M-Gears Remote Control Vehicle Sets

The remote-control M Gears sets are fairly similar but both are sold separately from the Building Set above. They are the Remote Control Grand Prix Car and the Remote Control Off-Road Racer.  Each comes with 200 pieces. The Off-Road Set comes with instructions to also build a Tow Truck while the Grand Prix Set comes with instructions to build a Moon Buggy.  Guess they have a thing for moon buggies! But this time the result is larger and of course remote controlled.

The remote control chassis in both sets can support many kinds of vehicles and with even more parts from the M-Gears Building Set – and maybe some Lego blocks as well – you are able to create with very little limitation other than your child’s own imagination.

You’ll probably want to get at least one of these if your son or daughter enjoys M-Gears as it’s the perfect complement to the M-Gears Building Set.

Note that the vehicles are not blazingly fast. Dad’s won’t need to fear one of these rushing under his slippers while he walks to get the paper Sunday morning. And that’s a good thing.

Where To Get It

K-Bee Toys and other online stores like Amazon.

Target online or in stores. But be aware that availability may be a problem as Target doesn’t stock M-Gears sets in all stores.

Recommended Ages

Learning Resources recommends M-Gears for children 7 to 12 years of age. With children it really all depends on your son or daughter and their aptitude to this kind of play. The smallish parts and need to read instructions (at least to get the result shown on the box) might frustrate the younger set. Younger children will enjoy this most when accompanied by an adult for assistance. Really, this is the best way to play anyway! We think M-Gears is a well designed and thought-out line of toys and that most children – and their parents and grandparents – will find plenty  to enjoy here.

M-Gears Photos

Tags: building set, kids, learning resources, lego, m-gears, review, toys

Elmo Live is Alive! Available Nov. 1st

Remember the days spent cradling a woodcraft figure with straw for hair?  Yeah, that time is long over.  The hottest toy for the kids this holiday season will without a doubt be Elmo Live. The only school kids not bouncing up and down for this one are attending the Ayn Rand School for Tots.

And Elmo Live is an impressive item indeed – melding the warmth of the Muppet characters with technical wizardry to create a highly interactive fun and funny toy for Jill or Bobby.  Elmo is covered with sensors too – so almost anywhere you touch him – including his nose – he’ll notice and conjure one of a vast number of responses and actions.  They clearly put a lot of thought into this.  We love the replay value this is sure to offer.

Elmo Live is out November 1st.  Plenty of time for the holidays right?  But good luck trying to find one!  May we suggest pre-ordering online?  Make sure you check the video after the break too – Elmo Live is truly gonzo!

Tags: elmo, holiday, kids, muppets, toys

Jellyfish Mood Lamp

Aquariums are long renowned for their calming and mesmerizing effect on the human psyche .. but it’s harder to get that where you need it – AT WORK.  Maybe you’re familiar with the USB aquarium concept or just really into your Sea Monkeys (pointy haired boss does not approve).  For those of us not yet invested in a aquatic solution, much less one at the office, may we suggest this one.  The motion, ever-changing lighting and size of this is just amazing.  Check the video after the break and impress your stressed-out non-centered friends around the office!

Jellyfish Mood Lamp (Best Price @ Think Geek)

Tags: aquarium, lighting, toys, usb