Coast 2 Coast Mom

Despicable Me 2 Toys Planned for Summer 2013

Despicable Me 2 is in production and making its way to theaters next year, and I just learned that a toy line is brewing for 2013. Universal Partnerships & Licensing (UP&L), Illumination Entertainment and Thinkway Toys announced earlier this month that they'll partner on the global production of toys based on the highly anticipated follow-up to the blockbuster hit Despicable Me.

Thinkway Toys has been awarded the master global toy license for Despicable Me 2, and will develop a wide variety of toys featuring the Minions and other key characters including interactive toys, figures, plush, dolls, playsets, vehicles, role play and novelty items.

Despicable Me 2 arrives in theaters July 3, 2013. The toy line will arrive on store shelves in summer 2013.

Despicable Me came out in July 2010, grossed more than $543 million at theaters worldwide, and went on to become the 10th-highest-grossing animated film in U.S. history. Despicable Me also debuted on Video on Demand in January 2011 and has become the No. 1 most ordered animated film since that time.

LEGO Kingdoms King's Castle Photos

The Kiddo received the LEGO Kingdoms King's Castle construction set for his birthday and we recently spent a weekend putting it together as a family. We were impressed with the detail and intricate, yet simple LEGO blocks and pictoral instructions for putting the castle together. It's what we've come to expect from LEGO, and why it's on the Kiddo's wishlists for each holiday and birthday.

If you have a castle/knight fan in the fam, show your kid the LEGO Kingdoms site for some cute mini games and short movies about the characters and contstruction sets. Love, love, love the LEGO characters' expressions. Here's some photos to give you a better view of the detail on the pieces and the castle overall. We had so much fun putting this together!

7 Favorite Transformers Toys and Gifts for the Holidays

Last winter during NY Toy Fair, I had the pleasure of visiting the Hasbro showroom for a peek at the toys coming over the course of the year :-D There was a lot going on for our family that weekend in the city, so we drove in, and as @c2cdad and the Kiddo dropped me off, they shouted out in simultaneous excitement, "That's Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime's here!!" It was exciting and hilarious both at once - the real, full-size Optimus Prime from Transformers Dark of the Moon on the streets of NYC.

But of course, here was Optimus inside the showroom...

Don't Let The Pigeon Run This App by Mo Willems Launches from Disney

On Friday we had the opportunity to lunch with Mo Willems and learn more about his darling new Pigeon app, "Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App!" from Disney Publishing Worldwide.

You may know Mo Willems as the Caldecott Honor-winning author of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale,

2011 Hess Toy Truck Available November 11th!

The 2011 Hess Toy Truck and Race Car set was unveiled today and will be available starting November 11th for $26.99 at Hess and Hess Express stores along the East Coast from Massachusetts to Florida through the holidays (or they run out of 'em - as we learned the hard way our first Christmas in New Jersey ;-) ). Woo-hoo! I was just thinking of the collectible Hess vehicles yesterday and wondering when they'd be available!

Here's this year's model:

K'NEX Mario Kart Wii Building Set Launch

Earlier this week the Kiddo and I visited the Nintendo World Store in NYC for the launch of the officially licensed K'NEX building sets inspired by the Mario Kart Wii game. The new building sets bring the famed Nintendo video game characters, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi to the hands-on construction set world. The Kiddo had a blast playing Mario Kart Wii, building with the new K'NEX pieces and getting to meet Mario and Luigi!

Here's a sample of the new building set tracks:

 

A look at the character figurines and their battery-operated carts (motorcycle bikes are available too)...

 

The K'NEX Mario Kart Wii Building Sets are designed for kids 6+ and are the same quality you'd expect from K'NEX. We received the Mario vs. Goombas Building Set to review and the Kiddo studied the box nearly the whole train ride home so that he was ready to dig in and start building the set the second we walked in the door.

LEGO Star Wars The Padawan Menace TV Special

The LEGO Group and Lucasfilm are joining forces to present LEGO® Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, their first-ever original TV special. Premiering on Cartoon Network on Friday, July 22 at 7 p.m., the 30-minute original standalone special will feature the charm, action and humor that we've come to expect from the LEGO Star Wars animation collaborations. (We just love their facial expressions and animated noises - such creative personalities for bricks!)

 

LeapFrog Announces LeapPad Pre-Order Availability

Early learning device experts LeapFrog Enterprises announced they're taking pre-orders for their upcoming LeapPad. I had the Kiddo with me last week for a day of meetings and was grateful that of all days to have him with me, it was probably the best day to take him along. We visited the LeapFrog holiday product showcase together and he got the chance to play with the LeapPad before it will hit store shelves in a few months. I literally had to pry it out of his hands. You could say he loved it. You can also pre-order the LeapPad now for $99 on Amazon.

RIDEMAKERZ and Cars 2: Building A Sweet Ride

Disney Pixar's Cars 2 hits theatres this weekend, and we're celebrating the release at home with our customized RIDEMAKERZ World Grand Prix Lightening McQueens and Lightening Mater that we made this past weekend at a RIDEMAKERZ media event at the Toys "R" Us in Times Square. It totally had the Kiddo's motor runnin', racing his car on the floor with other kids (he was so excited that he later invited the ZEO of RIDEMAKERZ to his upcoming birthday party!). It also gave us a chance to check out the rest of the Cars 2 toy line on sale this week at Toys "R" Us.

I'm not sure who was more excited when we arrived, the Kiddo or c2cDad as they contemplated choosing from two different Lightening McQueen bodies (World Grand Prix green or Hot Rod red), Mater models (Lightning orange or Hot Rod red), a super spy Finn McMissile or formula racer Francesco Bernoulli to trick out on their own. 

 

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean Queen Anne's Revenge Photos

We substituted family game night these past few weeks to work on putting together the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides Queen Anne's Revenge pirate ship. Although it was created for 9-16 year olds, we put it together as a family with the Kiddo: me sorting out the pieces needed for the next step, the Kiddo putting it together looking back and forth from the instruction manual, and c2cDad guiding and double-checking the Kiddo along the way.