Web Slinging is One of the Best Aspects of Marvel's Spider-Man Character

My son is really into Spider-Man right now...the web slinger is on his shoes, lunchbox, bed sheets, and most recently his birthday cake.  So to say he was excited when we received an unexpected mystery box on our front porch the other day that had Marvel's Spider-Man displayed on its side would be an understatement.  My kids were thrilled to open it up and find the box full of toys!  Hasbro generously sent us some ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS toys for the kids to play with.

As Disney XD's hit animated series ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN enters its third season in 2015, the show is expanding its name and cast.  This season the show, which is a fixture of Disney XD's Sunday Morning cartoon lineup, is called ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS and joining Peter Parker's adventures are Spider-Man 2099, Iron-Spider, Miles Morales and other characters from Marvel's Spider-verse.  Along with the new aspects to the show also comes a new toy line from Hasbro that lets kids become Web Warriors too.

Web slinging really has to be the best aspect of Spider-Man.  Who wouldn't want to be able to swing from roof top to roof top across a city or sling a bolt of web at someone?!   Hasbro's ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS toy line focus on letting children be web slingers themselves.  Its action figures, racers, and web blaster gloves let kids launch high-flying webs, just like their favorite heroes.  After some trial and error and practice, my son became a super hero at knocking down the bad guy targets that come along with the toys.

While both my son and daughter had fun playing with the Web Slingers 6" action figures and Agent Venom ATV racer we received, it was the Spider-Man Web Slinger Blaster glove that won the day for my son's interest.  He has been jumping, flipping and racing throughout the house pretending he is Spider-Man since we got it.  This Spidey glove lets kids shoot webs at targets like your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man slings them at the villains he faces off against.  The best part of this toy though is that it includes motion activated sound effects that enhance the role playing aspect of pretending to be Spider-Man swinging and slinging his way through an adventure. Because of the quality of the sound effects with this toy, my son has actually been using his imagination to pretend web swinging and slinging as Spider-Man more than using the physical web shooter component of the toy.

Note the glove is on the small side, my wife and I couldn't fit it on our hands, so it is most likely best suited for children 5 to 7 years old.  While there could be some parental concern over shooting plastic objects from a toy, the projectiles have a light rubbery texture and don't seem to reach a velocity that would make them dangerous.  Still instructing children to never aim these toys at someone's face would be an important must and some parental supervision may be necessary depending on a child's maturity, behavior and other variable circumstances that could arise.  From our own experience, we found there to be minimal concern for the web slinging aspect of these toys.

Once your child has mastered knocking down the individual targets that come with each toy, you may want to challenge them with the WEB SLINGERS TRICKSHOT SHOWDOWN PLAYSET.  This arena includes a spinning Venom and collapsing Green Goblin targets plus 3 other targets to challenge your web slinger.  Plus it has a spinning crane and crash through doors that kids can have the 6-inch Spider-Man figure that comes with the playset interact with.  The playset is recommend for 4 years and older with a retail price of $24.99.

In addition to receiving a TRICKSHOT SHOWDOWN PLAYSET, my children also received the following goodies from Hasbro:

Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors Web Slinger 6" Spider-Man Action Figure
(Ages 4 & up / Retail Price $9.99) - Choose from Spider-Man, Agent Venom, Spider-Man 2099 and other characters from the animated series Marvel's ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS.  Each figure has 5 points of articulation and includes two webs as well as a villain target.  Kids can launch high flying webs at the villains like their favorite Spider-Man character from the television show.

Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors Web Slingers Agent Venom ATV Racer (Ages 4 & up / Retail Price $14.99) - children can have fun spinning these wheeled vehicles around pretending to race after the bad guys and these vehicles can launch two webs from them.

Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors Web Slinger Blasters (Ages 5 and up / Retail Price $14.99) - Load a web onto your blaster, then pull back and launch it at the included target.  Hone your web-slinging abilities and help the Web Warriors defeat their enemies.  The Spider-Man Web Slingers Blaster lets you get in the action with your own Spider-Man gear!  Requires 2 AAA batteries.

Thanks Hasbro for sharing these toys with my kids!  While my son is the big Spider-Man fan in the house not only did he have a blast with these toys but our whole family had a marvelous time playing with them as well!

DISCLAIMER:  I was not provided any financial compensation for publishing this post and there was no promise made to Hasbro that if they provided complimentary products that they would receive a positive review or in fact any post on this blog at all.  Opinions and views expressed in this post are my own.  Some of the product information and photographs used in this post were provided to A Geek Daddy blog by Hasbro.

Disney's Reimagination of the Seven Dwarves has become my Kids Favorite Television Show

Having just turned six years old my twins are at an age where they have outgrown and aren't really interested in "preschool" oriented television shows but are still a little too young for much of the youth focused programming (often referred to as Y7).  We came across a show the other day though that is a nice fit for kindergarten/first graders that my wife and I are comfortable with them watching and they just love called The 7 D. The show (rated Y - appropriate for all children) debuted on Disney's XD cable channel last year and is now also being rebroadcast on the Disney and Disney Junior channels as well.  It is quirky and funny filled with adventures and gags that put smiles on my son and daughter's face throughout the show.

The premise of The 7 D is that this heroic band of dwarves hasn't met Snow White yet, maybe in this alternate universe they never will, and live in the fantasy land of Jollywood spending their days searching for gold and jewels in their mine and solving problems for their ruler Queen Delightful.  Most of these problems involve a pair of villains known as The Glooms (Hildy & Grimwold) who are a bickering married warlock and witch that often are looking to steal some magical gem from the 7 D's mine as part of their plot.

While children may not catch the association, parents will notice the show has quite a few familiar voices in it.  When it comes to the bad guys, Hildy Gloom is voiced by Kelly Osbourne (nice to see her working and not just living off her rock star dad Ozzy Osbourne's wealth after the family's reality show went off the air) and Grimwold is narrated by Jess Harnell who also bring the character Chilly to life in one of my children's other favorite tv programs Doc McStuffins.  Jay Leno also is in the mix serving as the voice for the Gloom's Crystal Ball that they use to help plan out their mischievous hijinks.

When it comes to the Seven Dwarves, Bill Farmer who has voiced Goofy in numerous Disney productions throws his talents into bringing Doc to life, Perry the Platypus from Phineas & Ferb (aka Dee Bradley Baker) is Dopey, the red M&M from the television commercial promoting the candy (Billy West) portrays Bashful, and the Brain from Pinky & the Brain (Maurice LaMarche) voices Grumpy.

Whoopie Goldberg serves Queen Delightful as the Magic Mirror.  Fans of Will & Grace will recognize that the queen of Jollywood is played by the same lady who played Grace's best friend Ellen throughout that series run on tv (Leigh-Allyn Baker).  Michael McKean who starred on Laverne & Shirley as the character Lenny and has since been a cast member on Saturday Night Light and appeared in numerous other movies and television shows serves as the queen of Jollywood's uncle - Uncle Humidor.

The 7 D gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval for being a charming and entertaining television program that will amuse both children and kids at heart of any age.  Check out the show through your local cable provider or you can purchase episodes and download it digitally through services like iTunes or Amazon Instant Video.

For more 7 D fun you can also download a FREE Mine Train mobile app game for Apple devices.  It is pretty easy to play and has you steering a mine car through obstacles as you gather gems.  Beware though because there are some in-app purchases in the game so you'll want to turn that feature off before letting kids play.

Click here to download the 7 D Mine Train game on Apple's App Store.  There is also a different FREE online game you can play on the Disney website called the 7 D Dwarf Track Builder.  Click here to check that out. 

New STAR WARS television show debuts in October

 

A brand new Star Wars animated television show titled Rebels will be debuting in October.  Star Wars: Rebels is scheduled to premiere on October 3rd with a one hour special Star Wars: Rebels- Sparks of Rebellion on the Disney Channel.  Half hour episodes will than routinely air on Monday nights each week on the cable channel Disney XD beginning on October 13th.  The premise behind the tv series that is set 5 years before the original Star Wars move "A New Hope" is that a motley crew of a spaceship called the Ghost begins harassing the Empire in an effort to spark a rebellion.

In an attempt to recapture the vibe of the original trilogy of movies the artwork in this animated series will use the Star Wars concept art that was created by artist Ralph McQuarrie in the 1970s & 80s for inspiration.  One specific example of McQuarrie's impact on the show is the character of Zeb Orrelios.  The appearance of this alien who serves as the muscle for the Ghost's crew utilizes McQuarrie's original concept for Chewbacca to create the character.  I remember as a kid spending hours scouring through Ralph McQuarrie art books my aunt had given me and imagining all sorts of adventures inspired by those wonderful sketches; so I'm really looking forward to seeing his influence in Star Wars: Rebels.

Other characters in the show include:

Kanan Jarrus a survivor of the Empire's purge of the Jedi. After barely surviving Order 66 he went underground hiding in obscurity until discovered by the owner of the Ghost, Hera Syndulla.  He is now the leader of the Ghost's crew doing his best to inflict harm against the power of the Empire.

Hera Syndulla is the Twi'lek owner and pilot of the Ghost.

Sabine Wren is a Mandalorian warrior who is an expert in combat, weapons and explosives.  She fancies herself as an artist who loves to tag Imperial facilities with graffiti after an attack.

Ezra Bridger is a 14 year old pickpocket and con artist who the crew of the Ghost find living on an Outer Rim world.  Unknown to him one of the reasons he is able to get out of so many jams is that he is gifted with the ability to use the Force.

To help up the excitement for Rebels, Disney has released four short youtube videos to promote the excitement for this new series:

In “The Machine in the Ghost,” the rebels’ Ghost starship is under attack by a wave of TIE fighters. Hera pilots the craft, while Kanan tries to blast the Imperials from the Ghost’s gunner. While they do evade and shoot down several TIEs, it’s up to astromech droid Chopper to finish the job – even if he’s reluctant to do so.

 In “Art Attack,” Sabine sneaks into an Imperial compound, looking to create a diversion for her friends aboard the Ghost. Spotted by stormtroopers, she proves too quick to be captured – and leaves behind an explosive surprise.

 In “Not What You Think,”  Ezra finds a downed TIE fighter on the plains of Lothal. The young rebel opens the ship’s hatch -- pretending to help the ungrateful Imperial pilot -- and leaves with a few souvenirs.

In “Entanglement,” Zeb fails to meet with Kanan at a specified rendezvous point…and instead finds himself joyfully battling many, many stormtroopers.

 

For more information about Star Wars: Rebels CLICK HERE