HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY, THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE!

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Today, Fisher Price sent us the Thomas and Friends Break Away Bridge Set  to play with.  It’s Thomas’ 70th birthday and he’s celebrating by going off the rails!  Naturally, I’m kidding – Thomas is a sensible little engine and in his little playset, after climbing the slope he bravely clings to the rails of the broken bridge as he continues his journey to right himself before whizzing down the other side of the track to try again.  And again…and…

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Assembly

The evening that Thomas arrived I made excuses about needing the mister to help put it together, but by the morning Lyoto was hugging the box and singing, “Thomas, he’s the helpful one….” on repeat and so I fearfully gave it a try.  If you recall, I do not follow instructions well.  Law reports, yes; children’s toy assembly instructions, no.

Five minutes later I was delighted to find that the instructions were pictorial [hoorah!] and very obvious, and with a little clicking and snapping, I had a track!  Lyoto did have to wait for Dadda to come home though to see if we had any suitable batteries [Thomas needs 2 x AAA batteries] but seemed content rolling balls and other toys down the track instead.

After Thomas was filled with battery power, whilst I was happy with the very smooth, quality movement of Thomas around the track, I thought the boys would lose interest in the toy fast because of the uneventful repetition of just lapping the track.  How wrong I was – although years of watching Sunday Grand Prix with my dad should have told me that in hindsight…

One Word Of Warning…

Do not let your little ones run the little blue engine over their [or your!] heads whilst the Thomas is turned on as the wheels can wind the shortest hair into a terrible Thomas and tresses tangle.  This evening I was contemplating just reaching for the snipppers and leaving Lyoto half scalped instead of detangling the mess he had gotten himself into.  It was a Thomas version of a fascinator.

So, Would We Buy It?

Yes.  Despite swearing that my boys would never become Thomas fans, I do have a soft spot for him now and the quality of the Thomas & Friends Motorised Playset  [which I always expect from Fisher Price] is easily worth the £20 it’s currently available for in Toys R Us.  The mister, who always responds with “nothing” when I ask him how much he would pay for any given item, said he would expect to pay £17 for it.  Now that’s an endorsement.