Disclaimer: We were invited to this free event and received a Hatching Dragon interactive Toothless toy to review free of charge, but words and pictures are mine. This post contains affiliate links, see more information here.
On Sunday we were invited along to The Rainforest Cafe in London for the launch of Hatching Dragons, the new interactive pet dragon toy from Spin Master.
We were treated to lunch and quizzed on our How To Train Your Dragon knowledge while we hatched out our new baby dragon.
How do you hatch a Toothless Hatching Dragon?
The Hatching Dragon eggs work just like Spin Master’s hit toy Hatchimals. Rather than a fluffy pet, you can hatch our your very own Toothless, who you’ll probably recognise as Hiccup’s dragon from the How to Train Your Dragon films.
To start the hatching process, you need to remove the keylocks from the bottom of the large black and white patterened egg. When we were given our egg it was already activated and you could see Toothless’ eyes glowing through the egg!
Shake, rub and tap on the egg to make Toothless respond.
If you tap on the egg, you will hear him tapping back. Shake it vigorously and you will make him angry! Tilting the egg and putting it upside down will make the baby dragon’s eyes glow and you’ll hear noises and feel vibrations through the egg.
After a few minutes of playing with your egg, you’ll notice it begin to crack! The unhatching has started; place your egg upright and watch the dragon hatch through the surface.
While he’s hatching, you can help him by removing excess synthetic shell, which you can put in the bin. When he appears it’s time to take him out of the egg and play with him!
Keep the egg base, peeling back and discarding the synthetic shell, and he will rock, play and sleep inside it.
Playing with your baby Toothless Hatching Dragon
The interactive Hatching Dragon has sensors in its forehead, tummy, on the front off his node just above his mouth, and a microphone. He responds to both touch and sound.
It has seven modes; pick a mode using the dial on the bottom.
In mode one (‘autonomous’ mode, he will respond when you touch his forehead by purring and his eyes will light up and dim. Hold your fingers on his belly to charge up his plasma blast – his mouth will glow while you do this – and then let go to blast!
Shake him and tap his head to make him angry. Teach him to fly by waving him in the air as if flying in an ‘S’ shape, and he will flap his wings and make flying sounds.
Feed him his fish by touching the scales against hi mouth; if he gets too full, he’ll burp!
You can also put him to sleep by laying Toothless on his side. If he falls asleep, you can wake him up with a hand on his head.
Mode two is a game; you win by giving the right response to Toothless’ actions.
In mode three, roar at Toothless and he will roar back. It’s up to you whether you want to tell your children about this mode as it gets noisy!
Mode four is a bit like a magic eight ball; ask Toothless a question and he will respond yes or no; if his wings flap and his eyes light up it’s a yes, and if he plasma blasts you, it’s a no. NB Try not to make huge life decisions this way.
Mode five is a ‘hot potato’ game. Charge up the plasma blast and pass from player to player until it detonates! Whoever gets blasted is the loser.
Mode six is another game a little like mode two, where you have to remember a sequence of actions and make the right responses.
In mode seven, if you sing to Toothless or play music, he will tilt his head from side to side and ‘dance’.
Hatching Dragon review
The hatching part was really fun, although it didn’t last very long – maybe five to ten minutes, although they were desperate for it to open!
All the dragons are the same once hatched so there is no surprise element like there is with the Hatchimals. This could be good or bad; for children that like surprises it’s not so great, but there will be no disappointment because the wrong colour has hatched.
Once the egg has hatched, there is a lot more to do with your baby dragon. He’s very reactive and responds consistently to touch and noise.
Is the Spin Master Hatching Dragon worth the money?
The RRP of the Hatching Dragon interactive Toothless toy is £59.99, which makes it a pretty expensive main present for a birthday or Christmas.
There is a lot of technology inside the Hatching Dragon which somewhat justifies the high price point, but I guess my question is will it be played with long after Christmas day has been and gone?
Personally I think this depends on the age of your child and how much of a fan they are of the How To Train Your Dragon films. If they’re really into the films that will give the toy more longevity. The toy is recommended for children aged 5+ which I think is about right, although I suspect that children of 6/7ish will play with it for longer than older children, while younger children may not appreciate the range of different modes or how to use them and get bored more quickly.
I don’t feel like it would keep my children playing for long periods of time but maybe half an hour or so, a few times a day. I like the addition of the group ‘hot potato’ game so that they can play together.
The Hatching Dragon is a good toy, and I have no doubt that it will be really popular this Christmas. We have all enjoyed playing with him, however part of me wonders if at some point the technology that goes into these brilliant toys will price them out of the Christmas toy market; particularly given that they can only be hatched once.
Do small children actually appreciate the range of things that Hatching Dragon can do, or would they be satisfied with a smaller range of play options? I’m afraid that only time will tell.
You can purchase a Hatching Dragon in store from most toy shops including Argos, or online – including via Amazon using the links below.
WIN!
Pop over to Instagram for a chance to win a brand new Hatching Dragons toy.
Please consider allowing Competition entry via e-mail, blog comment, etc. There are some people who do not have social media. Some for very good reasons :- Such as they value their privacy, they value their families privacy, they value and protect their child / children ‘s privacy. Meanwhile some value and appreciate honesty, trust, loyalty (morals / morality). Media has reported that some Social Media BUSINESSES have sold on people’s personal (private) details without their permission. Is that not ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, A RISK TO THOSE PEOPLE, ( As there are predators, stalkers, scammers, Immoral people or is it behaviour (as people are responsible / Accountable ( Should be held Accountable for their own behaviour, as they have control, and can make choices)
The Public NEED to be PROTECTED. Rather than seen as a Means to an end. ( Access MONEY, access Valuable Goods, used for sex, Scammed for Identity, etc, etc.
It seems in the modern day / world :- ” All is Fair in Love and War ” and BUSINESS. Those BUSINESSES Need TO Be HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS And INACTIONS ( Failure to Change, Failure in treating People in an Appropriate, Acceptable, Safe, Caring, Kind :- MANNER.
I do many blog competitions. But sometimes it’s nice to mix things up and that’s my prerogative; I ran it to reward my followers on there. You don’t unfortunately have a divine right to enter every competition on the internet.
Also, weird comment dude 😂😂😂
Interesting Things, thank you
How do you get Toothless to sit in his egg after hatching without tipping over?
I’m afraid I haven’t experienced this problem. If placed in the egg correctly it should not tip.