Review: Marvel Avengers Iron Man Slide Armour

We recently put the Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield to the test and it was a roaring success. The small boy and his superhero loving friends loved pretending to be Captain America and I had a hunch they’d enjoy pretending to be Iron Man too. Thankfully we were sent the Iron Man Slide Armour from the same range to try out, but what did the super-boys think?

Iron Man Slide Armour

The Marvel Avengers Captain America Iron Man Slide Armour is really cool. It really is. It is in Iron Man colours and is instantly recognisable as an Iron Man product. With the press of a button on the handle, the armour opens and expands up your arm revealing a hidden Nerf blaster. Press the other button and the blaster fires one of the two Nerf darts.

The armour comes with two Nerf darts, which isn’t enough, but they are widely available and we picked up an extra pack from our local toy shop for a few pounds.

Marvel Avengers Captain America Iron Man Slide Armour

The Iron Man Slide Armour also has space to store two additional darts, but we found them rather flimsy and one fell off and got lost in the park. Which is a shame because otherwise this is a really sturdily made and robust toy. Thankfully the bit which fell of is completely non-essential so we’ve not missed it.

It feels really cool to use, I tried it out myself and the armour fit well across my arm and was quite lightweight. My son loved it and had to be talked out of going to bed wearing it.

Avengers Captain America Iron Man Slide Armour

The Iron Man Slide Armour is suitable for ages 6+. My nearly six year old and his slightly older cousin loved play fighting with it and the Captain America shield. It’s a great toy for superhero role play and I can say from experience that the Nerf darts don’t hurt you if you do stray into the line of fire.

The only real issue I have with it is that it’s only suitable for right handed people. Left handed people would have to use their right hand and they could struggle with that.

Just like with the Captain America hidden blaster shield, the boys role played brilliantly with this Iron Man armour with blaster. We were impressed by how much something like this enhanced their superhero play and kept them entertained and actively running about. I can see both boys being fully decked out like Captain America and Iron Man by Christmas, complete with shield and armour!

Disclosure: We received the Avengers Captain America Iron Man Slide Armour for the purposes of writing this review, all opinions and images are our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.

Toys: Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield

When the small boy and his friends play together, these days invariably they pretend to be superheroes, usually fighting a baddie and saving the world. To begin with it was mainly Spiderman and Batman, but increasingly different characters are being brought into play. Lately Iron Man and Captain America have been putting in an appearance, so the boy was delighted to be given a Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield to put to the test.

Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield

The Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield is, well, it’s a Captain America shield with a hidden Nerf blaster. It’s a smaller, but faithful replica of Captain America’s actual shield, but made of plastic.

The Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield is really easy to use. Just press the star button and the shield opens revealing a hidden blaster. Slip the darts into the slot, pull the trigger back and press the button on the handle to fire. The shield has space to store two extra darts for when you are doing battle.

The shield comes with two Nerf darts, which isn’t enough, but they are widely available and we picked up an extra pack from our local toy shop for a few pounds.

Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield

It is made from plastic and seems to be pretty robust. It’s survived some fairly rough play over the past week or so. The worst that has happened to it is we’ve lost some of the darts, but that’s poor aiming, not poor construction.

The Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield comes in a sturdy cardboard box and is well secured with ties which an adult should remove with scissors. I always end up having a bit of a fight to get toys out of their packaging. At least you know it’s not going to fall out of the box and get bashed about in the toy shop. The shield does require an adult to attach the handle securely, but once that is done it is good to go.

The Captain America shield is for children aged 6+ and my nearly 6 year old and his slightly older cousin really enjoyed playing with it.

Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield

Interestingly, although they enjoyed the blaster element, they played with the shield, just as a shield as much, if not more. I think the retractable shield is a really cool feature and their faces lit up every time they pressed the star button.

This is our first Nerf product, I’ve always been wary about having Nerf in the house (partly for fear of being a target) because I was concerned about people being hurt, but the darts are quite soft and fairly innocuous. We tried firing them at ourselves and it felt like someone was flicking you fairly gently. I wouldn’t like to take a dart to the face so we drummed in a health and safety message to be sure, and there is a warning on the box too.

The small boy and his friends have great imaginations. It’s interesting how a superhero toy like this Marvel Civil War blaster can really enhance their play and help bring it to life for them. I like that the shield isn’t just a shield, that it has the hidden blaster and when it retracts it’s pretty cool. What I like best about it is that it encourages my son to dodge the baddies, save the world and run about, far far away from a TV screen or iPad.

Disclosure: We received the Captain America Civil War Blaster Reveal Shield for the purposes of writing this review, all opinions and images are our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.

Fun with Photo Booth Props

As a family we are fond of many things, chocolate, cute puppies, going on the swings and indulging in a considerable amount of silliness. Over lunch this Easter we cracked open a box of Photo Booth Props from The Little Things and had a bit of a giggle.

Dressing up is one of the small boy’s most favourite things ever anyway so having a selection of facial hair, funny mouths and wacky glasses to mess about with was his idea of post dinner perfection.

Photo Booth Props

These funky Photo Booth Props come in boxes of twelve and cost £5.99. I think they’d be great fun for parties for adults and children alike. Each piece is made from fairly sturdy felt stuck to a stick as you can see in the pictures above.

There are a good variety of glasses, moustaches and mouths to choose from and you can mix and match to create your own silly characters. We liked them a lot and we had great fun playing with them, since Easter weekend they’ve been played with a lot which is always a good sign. Thumbs up for these Photo Booth Props!

Note: We were sent this selection of Photo Booth Props from The Little Things free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Our Favourite Fancy Dress Costumes

I wish I was more creative, I wish I was able to make my son a cowboy costume from a tablecloth and a selection of objects from the recycling bin but I can’t. I firmly believe in playing to your strengths and my strength is going to the shops and buying a fancy dress costume for my boy.

World Book Day has been and gone and my boy went to school dressed as Where’s Wally. We think he looked ridiculously cute. The costume came from ASDA and cost us £12. It did come with a pair of glasses too but he wouldn’t wear them on the day.

Like most children he loves dressing up. He loves being a superhero (I’ve no idea where this comes from as he’s never watched Spider-man in his life) and he enjoys being a fireman or policeman, but this weekend we decided to treat him to a pirate costume, again from ASDA which he is delighted with.

He will often come home from school and slip on a costume and get into character. It’s a really great way to encourage his imagination and develop his imaginative play. We turn the sofa into a pirate ship and make each other walk the plank, we sail the seven seas and our decks have been well and truly swabbed. It’s great fun. I think he’d be amazed if I slipped into costume one day, maybe that’s something to think about.

We’ll certainly be adding to his dressing up box in the future, you can tell by his face how much he enjoys it and it really encourages him to play. Anything which rivals screen time wins for me.

I tend to get most of his fancy dress costumes from ASDA because they have a good selection at a reasonable price. Next on our list is a proper fireman’s costume.

What’s your favourite fancy dress costume?

Note: We were sent a costume from ASDA for World Book Day. All images and opinions are my own.