pippadaisy's Full Review: Mattel Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure
My sister stepped up the competition we have to see who can give the other's children the most annoying toys for Christmas. Her purchase of the Mattel Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure for my four-year-old Bug may have netted her a drum set in her future.
::: Mega Pieces :::
Recommended for ages four and up, the Mattel Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure is a 28-piece modular set that allows you to create, according to the huge cartoony blurbs on the box, 40 different vehicles. When all 28 pieces are assembled, this set creates a giant ship on wheels designed for catching (yep, you guessed it!) a shark. Included in the set are two shark-shaped speed boats with pieces to connect to each other or ship (the connectors double as pieces to help balance the ship in water mode), two sets of four wheels to roll the ship when it's on land, large grey shark who "bites" and a slotted stomach for retrieval of any "eaten" figures (or, you know, the product designer, not that I'm hoping for that or anything), an oyster that opens with attached "pearl," two figures: ship's captain and diver, and 20 additional pieces to build different types of ships and land vehicles, including a firing harpoon, "radar" dish, dive cage, two spinning propellers, winch with rotating crane for lifting the shark, shark holder, retractable anchor, and mini-hull. All the pieces are module for easy reconstruction, and all pieces are water-safe.
::: They Said Water :::
See, here's the thing oh clueless product designers who must have no children of their own, if you tell two boys in any way, shape or form that a toy CAN involve water, that means it MUST involve water. After several foiled attempts at flooding my bathroom, the boys were resigned to wait for their next shared bath to christen the HMS My Sister's Going to Hell.
Seeing as he is also of the Y-chromosomal persuasion, I had my husband supervise the maiden voyage. A quick examination of the construction (that's a guy thing, right?) led him to the conclusion that the plastic pieces are actually filled with styrofoam. I'm not exactly sure how that would make it float unless it's ensuring that it's watertight without being heavy, but whatever. He feels it's important.
As to "floating" when the ship is assembled in its entire shark-catching form, it doesn't float very well at all, even with the "stabilizers" shifted about to try to fix things. I think that maybe the product designers have never SEEN two boys in a body of water, be it ocean or bathtub, but they are very EXUBERANT, and the ship never stood a chance. When smaller vehicles are assembled, however, they seem much more seaworthy, and much fun was had by the boys.
So this would be a great toy, right? Hit with the kids, goes in the tub, tons of pieces... wrong. It is NOT a hit. It's a hit only in that the kids want to play with it in the water. Toys that can go in water hold no allure in landlubber mode, and the Mattel Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure languishes in the bathroom waiting for the next bathtime for them. Problem is, I have FOUR kids, all of whom require some sort of assistance with bathtime. As a result, I enjoy the showering of children over the sitting for baths that take as much water as our hot water tank can hold, requiring a refill of the tank before any other children can be bathed. In other words, I have 28 pieces of Mattel Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure taking up valuable real estate in my bathroom waiting for the next bath or Mommy weak moment. Other than bath time, this gigantic set gets absolutely NO play time.
If you are looking for a complicated bath toy to occupy the kids while you sit in the bathroom during bathtime reading a romance novel and sipping an Appletini, by all means, run out and get the Mattel Matchbox Mega Rig Shark Adventure. But if you give it as a gift? I'm willing to bet the mom will hunt you down.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): gift Type of Toy: Playscene
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years
Assemble your Mega Rig® crew and launch the Shark Ship! Your mission is to rescue your diver from the jaws of an enormous shark! Part of a building...More at Amazon Marketplace
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