Toys On The Brain

Posts Tagged ‘gun’

When I first started researching to write this review, I naturally headed over to Amazon to see if they had this toy and how much it would cost there. Imagine my surprise, nay, SHOCK when I saw that someone was trying to sell it for over $35! I quickly realized that a) people are incredibly greedy and b) I should have bought more of them for only $10 at Toys R Us.

Anyway, on to the toy. It’s your basic toy gun that makes noises and lights up. Nothing special there. It’s themed off the upcoming movie Monsters Vs. Aliens and looks a lot like a 1950’s scifi ray gun. Pulling the trigger makes the interior spin around and creates ray gun blaster sound effects. The good news is that it’s fairly quiet (comparatively) and doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles to get broken. The bad news is that the batteries died after only a day of use; while they were crappy batteries that were included with the toy, there’s no telling how long the fresh set will last either.

In the grand scheme of things, I suppose you could do a lot worse if you have kids who like to play with guns. At least nothing is projectile, and while the sound is annoying, it won’t deafen you. Note that this is NOT worth $35, though. It’s a cheap molded plastic and nothing more. Go look at Toys R Us and get it for $10.

Cute little toy. Nice idea. Especially fun for boys.

Unfortunately, the Air Foam Disc Shot by Ja-Ru only works about two out of ten times. Such odds elicit nothing but impatience and frustration from a three year old looking to have endless fun.

The disc shot is simple to load; the small foam discs are to be stacked inside the loader cartridge. One by one, they can be shot out the end of this gun-like contraption. The dexterity required to load the discs and pull the trigger isn’t bad practice for a young child’s fine motor skills. When it works, this little gun-like contraption sends small foam disks out through the air with just the right amount of weight to really make those little babies soar.

But way more often than not, the discs get stuck in transition from the cartridge to being shot out the end.

I’m no engineer, but something about the design on this baby just isn’t right. I suspect the light weight of the discs - as well as the flexibility that makes them so great in the air - contributes to the jamming that results while pulling the Disc Shot’s trigger.

Because of its high rate of malfunction, I’m afraid I’m going to have to shoot this toy down. Not recommended.

Buy Ja-Ru Toys Online:

• at Amazon.com