"It's the "car eating" which will amuse kids the most. Raise the arm with a car in its "hand," and the jaw of the cyborg automatically opens, throwing the car into its mouth..."

---from the review

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My nephews are really into Hot Wheels. Unfortunately, as you'd expect, not all toys in the series work like they appear in the commercials. Seriously; has anyone, anywhere, actually gotten a hot wheel car to perform those "loop-de-loops" you see in the ads? I never have. So you can imagine my mixture of amusement and apprehension when seeing their latest offering, the Cyborg City. Is it fun? Yes. Does it do everything the commercials show? Actually, yes...though there may be a few things you shouldn't try anyway.

When assembled, this playset is roughly 3 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 14 inches high. The main attraction is an oval track (assembled by the parent, most likely), which can be manipulated by two movable "arms" of the giant cyborg, whose head looms at the top of the "city" below. The cyborg's right arm is the most important, as it can 1) lead cars into the motorized building next to it, shooting cars down their merry way on the track; 2) detour them right into a "slime pit" of goo (a vat of this green gloop is included); or 3) have the child raise the arm right into the gaping jaw of the cyborg, "eating" the car!

It's the "car eating" which will amuse kids the most. Raise the arm with a car in its "hand," and the jaw of the cyborg automatically opens, throwing the car into its mouth (there is a tray in the back of the head where the cars are retrieved with ease). Hear the cyborg then say with a deep mechanical voice one of two phrases: "It's my city! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" or "I love Hot Wheels <crunch>!" Admittedly, this is another one of those toys where a patient parent will have to hear the exact same two toy phrases  over and over --sorry, no volume control; only an off switch-- though hey, as long as the kids are happy, right?

Little features are impressive. The "shoulders" surrounding the cyborg's head contain little storage bays for roughly 10 Hot Wheels cars. Even better, the head bends down into the cyborg city when not in use, allowing for easier, flatter storage on a shelf, toy chest, or elsewhere. Batteries are included in the cyborg for demonstration purposes, which are very powerful; I have yet to need to replace them, after half a year of child use. Of course, the little motorized building which "spits out" the cars down the oval track requires 2 "D" batteries not included, though they're easy enough to install.

Assembly is very minor, though is slightly more complicated than "ready right out of the box." This goes double for the decals! I like how many modern toys, like the Loving Family Townhouse, cut parents some slack by pre-applying the largest decals. In this case, all the stickers of the "cyborg city" --particularly the long line of buildings below the head-- have to be applied by hand. As for the track, some Hot Wheels enthusiasts may not like how solid plastic the track is: it's not as pliable as the bendable track Hot Wheels is best known for. This may be because the track has to be just-so, in order for the very powerful motorized car-shooter to send the cars down the track, and not right off the track and clear across the room! On the other side of the coin, additional assembly is very minor, with only a few optional trinkets required to snap on, and of course the tray in the back of the head to hold the cars when "eaten."

The feature you may not want to try? The slime pit. Yes, this is the feature most ballyhooed in the commercials. However, the parent who opens that small vat of green goo for their child, is not being told a few things. One, this is green goo, so good luck cleaning the toy if it starts to dry out. As for cleaning the cars, that depends on how fast you clean them, before the goo dries on them as well. As for people who could care less about fuss and mess; there really isn't much "goo" here to last you more than a month. Even taking such painstaking efforts as to preserve the glop as much as possible --putting most of it back in the vat and sealing it for later-- will only last so long.

However, as a Hot Wheels playset, this is still pretty fun. Slime pit notwithstanding, it has a lot of play value and has led to a lot of fun for the kids. It may leave parents with the deep sounds of "It's my city! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" ringing in their ears at bedtime, though if your kids love hot wheels, it will surely be worth it. Of many hot wheels tracks I've seen my nephews play with through the years, this is their favorite. Is there any sign of a good toy better than that?