Continuing our series looking at the full line of MEGA Bloks Hot Wheels – all of which recently arrived here for review in The Rock Father’s State-of-the-Art Toy Testing Facility (our neighborhood) – today comes a look at their Rip-cord Racers. Rip-cord toys seem to be making a comeback, and they certainly bring to mind a few toys that I had as a kid back in the 80s. Oddly enough, I can’t remember exactly what those toys were… but I can’t forget pulling the rip-cords.
With this collection, MEGA Bloks has released a trio of racers (a fruit of their partnership with Mattel) based on Team Hot Wheels. There’s Speed Racer (Team Green), Precision Luge (Team Blue), and the Outrageous Dragster (Team Red), each with just 14 pieces. While the build itself is no challenge whatsoever, adding another three drivers to our growing army was cool. As for the rip-cord racing? We put them to the test on the laminate flooring inside, and the hot pavement outside.
I’ll be honest, Team Green just doesn’t cut it. I don’t know if it’s the experience level of their driver, or if it’s the design of the vehicle itself (something about the green panel above the rear wheel seems off), but “Speed Racer” finishes dead last in every race here at Rock Father HQ. Team Red and Team Blue, however? Serious competitors.
They say you can’t always hit a home run, and in this case we’ve found the base hit for the MEGA Bloks Hot Wheels line. These reasonably-priced racers are fun, but lack the oomph of the other products that we’ve tried from the line. Not much building involved, and the racing doesn’t hold massive attention. Not bad, but not spectacular, either.
Available in a set of three from my affiliate, Entertainment Earth.
The Rock Father Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
Disclosure: As noted above, this product was sent to The Rock Father by MEGA Brands for review consideration. All opinions are that of James Zahn with input from his children.
