Bratz Ice Champion Ice Skating Rink

Ice Champion

Not only are we the proud owners of many things Barbie related but we have also been lucky enough to acquire our own fair share of Bratz dolls, this being the latest in quite a long line.

This is basically a rather glamorous Bratz doll who wears skates on her feet. This is so that she can be slotted into the base which is an ice skating rink. Attached to the skating rink is the control device, with two switches, one being for the individual spoke on which the doll stands and one being for the whole rink. They can both go forwards or backwards depending on whether you press the button up or down. These buttons are quite small and the middle point which is stop is quite tricky to get in place so children will have to be shown beforehand.

Once I get through the huge amount of packaging, and untie all the knots, we get the figure nicely on the rink, and realise that it takes 6 AA batteries. They are easy to put into the base of the rink, and thankfully there is no need to struggle with a screw driver.

The instruction leaflet gives us some ideas of the poses the skater can master (4 in total) and then tells us to "hit" the rink. There are two connectors in total so should we wish, we can add another doll to the rink, but at the moment, we have only one. When she is on the connector, as mentioned before, we can watch her go round and round individually, and for added effect, make the whole edge of the rink turn forwards or backwards. Not really a lot going on!

It does however do one more thing. With the doll and skater comes a mini plug cable which can be attached to an MP3 player or other audio device, and the music will play through the speaker on the base of the rink. In this way, children can have the doll "skating" to music of their choice, although obviously not in time to the beat!

~~Other bits of information~~

The toy is not suitable for children under the age of 3 years because of small parts.

I believe this retails at about £30, but it being after Christmas, they will probably be in the sale now.

~~Made by~~

TM and MGA Entaertainment, Inc
www.bratz.com

~~Verdict~~

In my opinion I don't think it does a lot, but obviously, in the case of toys, my opinion doesn't really count! From my point of view, the toy is easy to set up once you get the thing out of the box, and although it takes a lot of batteries, repeated usage has proved that they do last quite a long time- we haven't had to change them yet. The base is sturdy, and when put on the connector, the doll thankfully stays put and doesn't fall off, as has happened with toys we have had before. It does do exactly what it says it will do on the box!

The addition of the cable to play music is quite interesting, and we have noticed that the music plays quite well- I was expecting a lot of distortion to the sound, but not so. Little Miss enjoys playing the music and sending the doll into a spin forwards and backwards.

She has played with it quite a lot, although now that the controls have been mastered I do think that interest will wane, and I notice the base lying disgarded in one room and the doll in another. It's now a case of the doll just being another Bratz doll on the pile of dolls with no notice being taken of the fact that she has ice skates and not removable feet.

Bratz fans will probably like the initial idea of the skating rink, but it's not a toy I would particularly recommend. Removing the doll from the incessant turning will give more options for creative play, so I would suggest buying a normal doll or two for the price.

Flash in the pan toy with limited interest.

Thanks for reading.

Daniela x