Moshi Monsters still about

we still have a range of Moshi Monster items in stock

check them all out here

including a load of plushes, Roxy, Jeepers, Scamp & others

Mega Bloks Moshlings!!!!! Just Arrived

brand new in, HERE

4 x Moshling Zoo Monsters with Moshling and Suprise Moshling - carded figures - get them now

also Monster blind Packs - these are great and perfect for Xmas Stockings!!!! 

What's Happened to cheap toys...??

I Know its Christmas soon, and your kids are worthy of a decent present of decent value, but what does value really mean - is Value the cost of the toy in Pounds & Pence or entertainment and play value.

For me its the latter. Spend £100 on a toy that does lots then is boring after a day or two its worth nothing to the child. Spend little and get hours of enjoyment out of it, then its worth its weight in gold.

Now I've spoken about how difficult I've had it over the past few months with my two and their moshling obsession, but its struck me that

a) they bought all of the toys themselves, and
b) that despite them not doing anything other than being static bits of plastic, my two play with their Moshi Monster Moslings everyday, for hours at a time.

Now I don't know what they do with them or for that matter, care, as long as they are happy. I know that at £1 a figure they are pretty expensive for what is basically a lump of moulded plastic, but then again they are very inexpensive - as my two can buy them and have in terms of play value - had a lot of time with them.

Ok their entire collection is confiscated at the moment (long story) but they love their moshlings and haven't spent a great amount on amassing a collection that they enjoy playing with.

So what has inspired this rant of sorts? - well, its the Toy Retailers Associations Top 12 Toys for Xmas list. In terms of Xmas Toy Lists this list when published every year is pretty much the one, because every Toy Retailer worth his salt will have contributed somewhere along the line.

However, its not a list of cheap toys.

Take a look below, the cheapest items are a Moshling Tree House and a Pooing Dog.

Now the Doggie Doo is fun, but I know from past experience of these type of toys that they will have very short play value. Fun for how long... probably as long as the poop lasts...

Being a stats man i've worked out that the entire list clocks in at a whopping average of just over £50 per toy:

Doggie Doo, John Adams, RRP £22.99
Fijit Friends, Mattel, RRP £54.99
Fireman Sam Pontypandy Rescue Set, Character, RRP £29.99
Kidizoom Twist, VTech, RRP £49.99
LeapPad Explorer, Leapfrog Toys, RRP £79.99
Lets Rock Elmo, Hasbro, RRP £69.99
Milky the Bunny, Flair, £59.99
Monster High Lagoona’s Hydration Station, Mattel, £39.99
Moshling Tree House, Vivid, RRP £18.99
Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster, Hasbro, RRP £44.99
Ninjago Fire Temple, Lego, RRP £91.99
Star Wars Ultimate Force Tech Lightsaber, Hasbro, RRP £39.99

again I've said - your kids are worth every penny spent on them, this Christmas and every Christmas and Birthday. I just want you parents to think carefully before you buy this year.

At £92 the Nijago temple is an eye watering price. You'd be able to buy a few other smaller Ninjago Lego sets for that and get more play and value from it, or alternatively there are other construction brands out there with cheaper and in my opinion better value play sets. Take the Mario K'Nex range (see my offering here & here). I do appreciate Lego is expensive and does have play value for a long time, I'm still playing with my own Lego now and again! But expensive doesn't necessarily mean Value!

I know that electronic toys like the LeapPad & Vtech products are solid and well worth investing in. I just wanted to slap a be wary of how much you spend on the Top 10 (12) toys this year, because there are much more than this selection out there on the shelves and also a lot at a much better prices.

Xia-Xia

You may have also seen in the papers and on the news the next Zhu Zhu pet is here - in the form of Xia-Xia Hermit crabs. These are gonna beat all of the above toys, and at the current RRP will clock in at much cheaper than the above list. Not due here until early December, you might wanna hold out for some of these when they arrive. Originally they were due in January 2012, and the shipment has been brought forward, so look out for the limited numbers hitting December. We are trying to source some for Piggy Bank Toys, so check back for sure.

so parents be careful out there... toys are for longer than Christmas week...

Moshling Clay Buddies

 

Arriving today in stock, Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies. These are gonna be huge. Build and collect your own Moshilings and Monsters. Card Packs, and Deluxe starter set.

have now arrived and are available here

be sure to order from Piggy Bank Toys 

PBT Friday Blog - pestering kids!

My two 9 year olds have got to that really annoying nagging I want stage. My two are just two of the 50million+ kids currently into Moshi Monsters. And as much as most parents are probably fed up with the moshlings and the site, however, its business for me, and we have a range of toys in to go, including newly released 'Slap Watches' and the new 'Series Two' mini figures, but it is still a problem with two children into the figures and trading cards (and website membership - i.e. double the cost!)

Now my problem is not with 'Moshi Monsters' as a whole, but the whole 'playground craze' and collectability elements of the trading cards and more significantly the mini figures is starting to bug me!!

My two are only allowed to spend money on toys if they have earned it themselves, and they both had birthdays in July, so went out and spent £50 on Moshling Toys at Toys R Us (we didn't have any MM toys in at that time) between them, including 4 packets of mini figures - each of which has a hidden 'rarer' figure (blind packed). As parents we were happy that they spent their money on toys they wanted...but they didn't get the hidden rarer figure they wanted, but they were'nt at the time that disappointed - because they got 20 figures to play with.

Now, I've been collecting toys myself for many years and know how and why these 'rarer' figures are issued, mainly, to encourage more purchases and trading with friends, hence the 'playground craze' elements (and to earn the manufacturer more cash). However, in the age of the Internet, my two have got wind of the fact that they can by-pass the collecting and go straight to the marketplace and buy the rarer figures at an inflated price. However they only have a limited amount of money and MUST save up to buy stuff, and as much as I appreciate that they can buy what they want and can afford, its that they are after this one Moshi Monster Moshling figure - Scamp, and rather than buying blind packs at £5 each with the thrill of the chase, they want to go on ebay and buy the figure straight away. 

They have £20 currently saved up from pocket money, and are both badgering us as parents to allow them to buy a 'Scamp' Moshling from ebay. 

Bearing in mind that they could buy 4 packets of moshlings - with 4 chances of getting a rare Scamp or something else, they are willing to forgo this experience to buy a Scamp at a range of £10-£18 based upon the most recent sales at ebay. 

Again I have nothing wrong with people selling collectable figures at inflated prices, I've done that myself previously with Star Wars figures, but generally adults with disposable incomes were the main buyers of these. Its just that my two are willing to part with their hard earned money on 1 figure when they could get 20 or so for the same price, because they want to go to school and say that they have Scamp - to show off. 

I have seen recently that Mind Candy, the makers of Moshi Monsters and their products, have issued warnings to retailers that they will not tolerate blind packs being opened, to sell individual figures, but this does not stop so called 'scalpers' buying up packs from stores and doing the same, ie. not retailers. 

I also saw recently in Tesco's too, that they have security tagged their Moshi Monster Packs - asking them 'not to be opened' until purchased. Which, in this day and age I find astonishing that people are willing to rip open a box, and then re-place it if it doesn't contain the rarer figure that they want.

So we have been badgered recently, as parents for us to buy this one figure, and we have stood firm and stated, that we think that its silly to spend that amount of money on one figure, and that there are loads of other things out there. I acquired an entire bundle of toys on ebay including 20+ action figures and some vehicles in superb condition - for resale for £20 the other day. If my kids had done this they would have a lot more playability and enjoyment for the same amount of money. 

I know its hard to negotiate with them on this but as parents we are standing firm on this one. Thing is their parents have a house full of toy boxes which they could buy at 'cost' because we run a toy store, but because we don't have this one thing, and our principles are firm we are not bowing down, just yet.

My reasoning on this is that back when we had playground crazes, mainly for me, panini football stickers, we bought the packets, blind, then opened them traded them with our friends and then if at the end of the season or run of figures could buy the missing ones from panini at 5p a sticker, up to a maximum of about 21. 

Mind Candy, who i agree with on the not opening of blind packets, won't sell the rarer figures themselves at the end, and prices will still go up because of the short supply. 

From what I understand about the Moshi Monsters website, is that you have to collect Moshlings through trading online, but only some characters can be acquired through subscriptions at a cost of £30+! And these are the virtual moshlings! 

Still if we can get our kids back on track and save up for something more worthwhile we'll be happy, after all it is a craze, and this time next year, or even next month they may be onto something else... i know we're not alone on this, but its whether other parents give in and buy what their kids want for them regardless. Maybe i'm old fashioned but we're trying to teach our kids the value of collecting and the chase rather than the trend for have it NOW.