The children opened most of the toys during the party, but before they arrived we'd had a good look at 3 of them - The Ben 10 Omnitrix, The Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix and the Diamondhead Transform N Battle set. Everything is suitable for age 4+.
The Ben 10 Omnitrix (rrp £19.99) takes 3 x LR44 batteries - which are included and you can play straight out of the box. It has a rubber strap which adjusts to fit anyone from my 7 year old to myself and an on/off switch to preserve battery life.
When switched on, turn the dial to your chosen Ben 10 alien, press in the dial and the Omnitrix will sound one of over 40 phrases and sound effects to match whichever alien you selected.
There are lights and futuristic sounds and it's actually a very nice toy that any young Ben 10 fan will be proud to own - just like Ben's in the TV Show.
The Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix (rrp £29.99) is even better, as you'd expect. It works in much the same way, turn the dial and press to select your alien. This Omnitrix takes 2 x AAA batteries, which are included and it has an infinitely adjustable velcro style fastening to fit any wrist. It is quite heavy and twists around my son's slender wrist, but he doesn't care.
There are more lights and sounds and this time over 100 different phrases corresponding to the characters. It also has a fish eye lens over the centre which looks really neat and lets you see the character you've chosen really well. It will project the image, but it takes a bit of adjusting to get it clear and it really needs to be dark.
The Deluxe Omnitrix has motion detectors and makes sounds to represent what the characters are up to - it's really impressive and loads of fun. Select XLR8 for example, then run (or wave your arms), and hear whoosh noises as you zip around the room at super-speed.
Also with the battery-saving on/off switch, the Deluxe Omnitrix also has an Activation Button which makes the dial pop out for turning, and an 'Alien Phrase Button' to hear the different phrases for your chosen alien.
There are two Transform N Battle sets (rrp £19.99) which are dress-up accessories to Ben 10 alien characters, Diamondhead and Heatblast. We've been sent the Diamondhead accessory set, which has a great mask (actually glasses that stay on really well) and a transforming diamond fist. It's held together with cable ties, so it takes a bit of unpacking before you can play.
The fist attaches by velcro style fastening again, making it fit almost anyone. the movement isn't perfect and although you can always swing your arm to extend the diamond 'battle blade' fingers, you can't always get them to go back in so easily and it can require a little bit of shaking. It's a great toy for a Diamondhead fan though and my 7 year old loves it.
We were sent a big selection of the characters available, and gave some out to guests at our party. Each of the figures has an rrp of £9.99, is suitable for children aged 4+ and there are 10 different packs to collect featuring 11 characters:
Ben 10 and Grey Matter : Heatblast : XLR8
Overflow : Diamondhead : Stinkfly
Four Arms : Cannonbolt : Upgrade : Wildvine
Ben 10 and Grey Matter was the favourite set here, with a lot of play. Grey Matter is my new favourite character - he's kind of cute.This is the only set with 2 characters and Grey Matter is the only figure with a stand.
Heatblast has 2 different flame bursts, which he wears like gloves.
XLR8 is a really good figure with a large stand on wheels, so you can whoosh him across the table.
His stand has pegs for his feet so that he stays put and he also has 3 red traffic cones. Maybe not as fast as the real thing, but it does the job.
Overflow and Stinkfly we didn't get, but Diamondhead was one of the more familiar characters that everyone could name.
He has a diamond hand which the children found out he could also wear as a hat. I hope he doesn't mind. All of the figures stand fairly easily in an active pose, and they are well articulated at many points including shoulders, hips, waist, knees etc.
Four Arms was very popular. The figures are quite heavy and he is one of the biggest. He comes with a 2 part chain which he can pull apart.
Cannonbolt is the last of our figures, we didn't get Upgrade or Wildvine. He's huge and you can curl him up into a really good 'turtleshell' shape to attack. Cannonbolt is the only character who doesn't have an accessory in his pack.
The Ben 10 toys were a huge hit with the 5 boys at our party, especially Four Arms and Grey Matter, although XLR8 got a lot of play too. The Omnitrix are really excellent for any fan, and I genuinely think it's worth paying the extra £10 to get the Deluxe Version as it is so much more impressive.
Ben 10 toys from Flair are available from good toy shops online and instore, including Toys R Us and Smyths.
We were sent our toys for review, as well as party gifts and games, and we were given some money for food and snacks.
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