Mega Bloks – New for Fall 2013 – Barbie, Skylanders and Hot Wheels Sets {Review}

Disclosure: My family and I received the Mega Bloks sets mentioned in this post to facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

One of our favorite toys in our house are Mega Bloks building sets.  Both of my children enjoy the fun and creativity involved in creating these awesome play sets and they are always thrilled to enjoy the imaginative play that evolves when they are complete.  I love the sense of accomplishment that my children feel whenever they play with Mega Bloks sets, and they are always at the top of my kids’ wish lists for birthdays and holidays.

This fall, Mega Bloks released several new sets including the Barbie Mega Bloks Build ‘n Play Super Star Stage, Mega Bloks Skylanders Giants Arkeyan Robot King and the Mega Bloks Hot Wheels 3 in 1 Motorized Super Blitzen Monster Truck sets.  When a huge package arrived on our doorstep for my children to review, let’s just say it would be an understatement to say they both literally squealed when they opened the package.

My daughter has been crazy about Barbie Mega Bloks since we were introduced to them at the Barbie is Moving event this past summer.  Last month she was thrilled to tackle her first “big” Barbie Mega Bloks set, the Mega Bloks – Barbie – Build ‘n Play Pool Party set, with the help of Mom and her big brother and she has been hooked on them ever since.

The Barbie Mega Bloks Build ‘n Play Super Star Stage is exactly that – super!   This awesome 290 piece set transforms into a lifelike concert stage complete with glittering bloks, music, lights, Super Star Barbie®, Raquelle® and Teresa® minifigures, accessories and a working elevator!  The details on the set are mind blowing.  From a disco ball to tiny instruments and colorful props, your child’s imagination and creativity can go on and on with this ultimate building set.  Geared for children ages 5-10, I found that because of the number of pieces and time involved, she required quite a bit of help putting it together.  I thought it was such a fun way to spend an afternoon as a family and she worked so well when given direction while assembling the parts.  Overall, it took us about 2 hours to complete the set.  The set can be customized to your liking and many of the parts can be moved to transform the look as imaginations desire.  Once complete, kids will have a blast playing with the set, where the lights respond to music and voice!  How cool is that?  This is by far one of our favorite building sets yet.  My daughter has been so proud to show everyone that comes to visit her very special creation.  Her girlfriends have all had such fun playing with the assembled set with her.

I have become such a huge fan of Mega Bloks building sets and find that they make fantastic gifts.  The clear and concise directions that come with the set make building the set a pleasant experience for all.  I will warn – that this set does take some time to build, so little ones may lose patience without constant help and direction.  We found it best to take breaks and go back to building from time to time. In addition, we found that once the set was complete and the kids were playing with the assembled set, some of the mini figures hair popped off easily and the stage occasionally came apart.  We plan to try some crazy glue to both to see if that makes a difference since we do not plan to take it apart.  This set is sooooo much fun to play with once it is complete! The Mega Bloks – Barbie – Build ‘n Play Super Star Stage retails for about $59.99, but right now is just $48.00 shipped at Amazon!  (Prices can change at any time on Amazon so be sure to take advantage while the price is right!)

My video game-loving son couldn’t wait to put together the 294 piece Mega Bloks Skylanders Giants Arkeyan Robot King set.  He is crazy about Skylanders so this set was right up his alley. Once again the details are so much fun .  From the ability to fire the iron fist to the ability to change Pop Fizz to Beast Mode in a quick switch, my son had a blast showing off his finished piece (and trying to scare his sister with Pop Fizz Beast).  This set took him around 45 minutes to complete.  He told me that he cannot wait to check out more of the Skylanders sets.   The Mega Bloks – Skylanders Giants – Arkeyan Robot King (Transforming Pop-Fizz) is suggested for ages 5 and up.

Next up, my son eagerly got to work on his 87 piece Mega Bloks – Hot Wheels – Super Blitzen Monster Truck . The neat thing about this set is that the set can be constructed in 3 different ways, extending the creativity and fun in putting the set together.  Once complete, the motorized car has a pull back mechanism that allows the car to take off for even more play.  He had a blast transforming from Monster Truck to Race Car to race car with minfigure driver and back again. He was able to put the set together and transform it 3 different ways in under 30 minutes.  He really enjoyed the versatility of this particular set.  Although it has less pieces, he tells me he had just as much fun putting this one together.  As always, the Mega Bloks sets were a huge hit with both kids.

With the holidays just around the corner, wouldn’t these make such fun gifts for the special little people on your holiday list?