Recently I had the opportunity to review a new robot toy: Mechatars, and you know we do love the robots around here, so how could I resist?   Plus, you guys get a chance to win one, and a coupon code MECHMOM for 10% off at iloverobots.com, valid until November 30, to buy your own if you don’t!

The Review

Basically, a Mechatar is a toy that is part remote control robot, and part video game.  Which is pretty much right up my 6 year old’s alley.  So I had him actually do the review on this… see the video below!  But to summarize:

You have 3 Mechatar toys to choose from: a raptor/dino/dragon looking thing, a wolf, and a bear (which the Boy decided was a Polar bear.) The toys have a simple to use remote so you can drive them around, and engage in battles with other Mechatars, or do ‘missions’ which apparently involve beeping.  We didn’t have another Mech to battle with, so I can’t attest to that portion, but the driving around was a little clunky and difficult to control.  Though The Boy didn’t seem to mind.  So your ‘offline’ mode is basically a fighting toy.

The ‘online’ mode is a computer game where you fight with your Mechatar in the virtual world.  The boy and I agree this was the best part of the game.   The fighting game itself was fun, complex enough to be interesting, but not so complex that a six year old couldn’t handle it.  See a little bit of it in action in the video below.  It’s an online game, played in the web browser.  As far as I could tell, there is no interaction with other actual players, so it’s not really a virtual world, but you can play against your friends’ mechatars by allying with them for training missions.  You’re not actually playing against the friend, but you are pitting your Mech against the friend’s Mech, which is being played by the computer.

There are some other pieces to the online game, like Challenges, but The Boy didn’t find them very interesting.  However he LOVED the battles.

From a technical perspective, the game suffers from an unfortunately common problem for kids’ games, of requiring Administrator access to run.  Like many smart parents, we prefer for our son’s computer account to be restricted in what he can run and install (who knows where he might accidentally click when out on the web!) , and his account does not have Administrator privileges.  This means that the program which allows you to sync and auto-connect to the online game doesn’t work automatically – it has to be run as an administrator by us.  It also meant we had problems on the initial install-make sure install the game as an administrator to avoid failures.  If you were doing a lot of syncing between the offline and online this would be an issue, however since you don’t even have to have a Mechatar to play the online game, and syncing isn’t a real big deal if you’re not doing a bunch of offline battles, it hasn’t been a big problem with the way the The Boy is playing the game.

But all in all, The Boy is really enjoying the toy, and definitely recommends it. He loved the battling, but he did wish there were more mechs to battle, not just the 3 styles.

See the video below to see the toy in action, and to see the video game in action!

Giveaway!

So, wanna win one for yourself?

Here’s the rules:

• Visit www.Mechatars.com
• Review the Mechatar lineup and check out which one you think your kid would like.  (To see the Mechatar line up, click on “play now” then “register” but no information needs to be submitted)
• Leave a comment on this post with which Mechatar you’d most like to win!
• See?  Easy Peasy.

Leave your comment, following the rules above, and I’ll pick a winner this Friday!

Small Print

I was selected to participate in this sponsored post series by Clever Girls Collective.  I was compensated for my time for  this review, but my opinions are always my own. 

Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People

First off, let’s get this straight that this is much more of a humor book than a craft book.  Although there are a few actual projects and recipes in it, most of the projects are tongue in cheek or downright weird.  If you were around during the 70’s, you’ll probably remember a few of them from when you were a kid (I totally remember making sweet gum ball Christmas ornaments, and tissue paper stained glass candle holders!).   So definitely don’t buy this book if you’re looking for actual craft instruction.

But if you’re a fan of Amy Sedaris’ humor, you’ll like this.

There’s a section on sausages, making real sausage, and also a knitted chorizo neck warmer. And in the coconut section, along with a couple of interesting looking coconut recipes and a how-to on tinting coconut, she also explains how to make coconut chip and bamboo earrings (“run a wire through a piece of coconut shell so that the razor sharp shards dangle freely close to your face”)

In the Crafting For Jesus section, you can make Jesus sandals or a matchstick cross (but the guy who made the craft is on a boat and can’t be reached, so she’s sure you can find the instructions as your local library).

There’s crafting for Shut-ins, and the Handicapped (pick your craft based on your handicap: If you’re bi-polar, make a rusty nail wind chime!) The Safety Meeting section is not for the faint of heart (the photos of Amy’s crafting accidents are pretty gory) and the Making Love section (Fornicrafting!) is painfully 70’s.

How Are We Using Our Crafts?
1. Camper decorations
2. Old people presents
3. Chew toy
4. Dust accumulator
5. As evidence that we don’t spend all our time doing absolutely noting
6. Salvaged for parts to make other crafts

All in all, if you liked her last book (on entertaining: I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence) you’ll find this one funny too. Amy’s offbeat humor and crazy characters are the main point to this book, but you might actually find a crafting idea or two in there too…

And hey, if you’re thinking about getting this, as a gift or for yourself…  why not use my amazon link so I get a kickback!

Ice Shot Glass Molds

I had to try the Ice Shooter Molds, because I kept thinking of so many interesting uses for them…

They are made by Fred, which always seems to make cool products, and these were no exception.   They are just simple silicone molds, in the shape of shot glasses.

The shot glass mold pretty much worked as advertised.  Fill with water, freeze, and pop out four shot glasses made of ice.   The only issue I found with it were that sometimes there would be a bump on the interior from the freezing process, so you wouldn’t get a perfectly formed interior.  It’s just the nature of the freezing process, the top freezes first, and then the interior water expands as it freezes, and the silicone (being soft) can’t stop it from expanding outward.  This can be eliminated by filling halfway, freezing, and then filling the rest of the way. Or you can just ignore it, I suppose.

Other things to be aware of:

• I’m sure you’re aware of the nature of ice, but these do melt fast, so have a plan to stash in freezer, and/or use quickly.  They are a fun conversation starter, but not overly practical.  Although I am planning to make a bunch for my halloween party.
• Ice will have bubbles in it.  Again, the nature of the freezing process.  I tried several techniques to try to get these crystal clear (like boiling the water before freezing it), but never really succeeded..
• These worked really nicely for shots which are best chilled, like a good vodka.
• Eco-friendly!  No glasses to wash or throw away!
• Freezing juices: Although the packaging says you can, and I did try some with layers of juices (to a neat effect), it isn’t really practical, as the shot glasses are then sticky as well as melty!

The Party Testers say:  Yum!….

Bottom Line:

I like these.  They are a fun and silly thing to pull out at a party.  Not very practical, but works as designed!

Herb Scissors

Looking at these Herb Scissors, the first thing that runs through my mind is Alton Brown saying “Single Tasker”!  But hey, there’s a place for some really good single taskers in my kitchen, so lets read on, shall we?

Basically you have multi-bladed scissors, similar to shredder scissors.  The idea is to with one snip, do the work of multiple snips of scissors.

Removing them from the packaging, they seem well constructed.  The metal is not flimsy, and I like the little plastic blade guard.  So how do they work?

Well, I’d give them mixed reviews.  The first herb I tried was basil, and I tried rolling up the basil prior to cutting, similar to how you do a chiffonade.  That did NOT work well.  The basil got caught up between the blades and ended up pretty bruised.  Not a good result.

Doing individual leaves fared better.  Less bruising, but still caught up between the blades.  So any time saved from just using regular scissors was lost poking the herbs out of the blades!  And it was faster still to actually roll up and chiffonade the basil with a knife!

Stiffer herbs, like green onions and rosemary worked better, with less getting caught in the blades.  I can see a use for these scissors if you are only adding a little bit of herbs (like for garnish) and don’t want to pull out a cutting board and knife.

Note: Maybe not a single tasker:  my 5 year old says he can’t wait to try them on paper!

Bottom Line:

While they seem to work as designed for stiffer herbs, softer leaves were more problematic.  Even in the best conditions, I can’t see any huge advantage in these over just regular scissors for adding herbs to a plate.

*Dabbled received  the items for review from Useful Things.  No other compensation was received and the opinions expressed are my own.  If you’d like Dabbled to review your product, email me!