Snap Ships, for those who don’t know, is a new toy range in South Africa that takes modular building and design to a whole new level. Instead of using blocks to make something great, Snap Ships relies on various pieces of plastic that all clip together to make massive, interactive space ships.
So without wasting too much time explaining this to you, I thought I would just put together five reasons why they are awesome. From the AR app that expands the experience beyond the toys to the various custom features available. Here are five things that make Snap Ships awesome.
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1. The Range Has a Cool Backstory
When kids approach a new project they need some excitement to get going and Snap Ship’s backstory makes for a great way to dive into the range. Play Monster has carefully crafted a giant intergalactic war between The Forge and The Komplex. The Forge is a highly specialized group of humans and aliens trained in the art of battle and sworn to protect Earth. Why does Earth need protection you may ask? Well, The Komplex is a brutal group of killer aliens hungry for power. They explore the galaxy and take over planets one by one while also completely annihilating races.
Luckily, with the technology available in the Snap Ships universe, both The Komplex and The Forge have built space ships to help one another in this fight for power and survival. You can also download a cool mobile app that includes a range of stages where these Snap Ships fly around and shoot stuff. This app does a great job explaining the story of Snap Ships to users with some great artwork and character introductions.
2. The Toys Feel Sturdy
There’s nothing worse than spending money on a toy for your kid and the plastic is shoddy and cheap. It means things will break quickly and the excitement will be over sooner than you think. Thankfully, Snap Ships is made from premium-grade plastic that is built to test the capabilities of children. The plastic blocks are tough and all the small parts feel sturdy and reliable.
This especially helps when you get down to the customization and building of the ships. It means that these parts won’t degrade quickly and your clipping and unclipping experience won’t be brought down by bending and snapping plastic parts.
3. The Ships are easy to make
After spending time with two of the Snap Ships, namely the Scorpion and Lance, I realized just how simple these ships were to make. This is mainly thanks to the modular design which swaps out hundreds of blocks for a few pieces that make up each ship. The core of each building experience meant unpacking the Snap Ship and following a detailed page layout on the design as we put the ship together piece by piece.
The simple building also helps make these toys extremely approachable for kids. Fewer parts mean they start to see the results much earlier in the building process so the excitement kicks in quicker and lasts longer. It also means that if something comes off, you know, while they are saving the galaxy, they can also easily replace it without having to sit and figure out where parts go.
4. Great levels of customization
Snap Ships prides itself on the sheer customization users can enjoy with the toy range. Not only do you get multiple builds with each box that transform the pieces from one ship to another but there’s nothing stopping you from simply going to town on the design and making your own fleet. This is thanks to the blocks all using a button-like nub design that fits into a hexagon slot. Every piece works with another so you can take multiple ships, build them, break them apart and work on something truly unique.
While the ongoing war might frown on it, users can also take The Komplex parts and put them together with The Forge parts. The more ships you have, the greater the creations. The finer details across the range such as blade wings and claws can all be used as accessories to give your custom creation some style.
5. The toys live outside the blocks
One thing I loved about Snap Ships is its unique use of parts to bring these ships to life. Smaller details such as missile launchers that actually shoot once loaded and drop pods that actually drop enemies down from the ship add some excitement. For example, the Scorpion ship can get loaded with drop pods at the back of the carrier. A part you install can then be pressed down to drop these dops from the ship onto the floor.
We then have the missile launches that also load up using plastic rods and click in place. This then triggers a button to pop out that can be pressed which then shoots the plastic rod. I was surprised to see how interactive these parts were.
Snap Ships are now available in SA. Check your local toy retailer for pricing and availability. You can find out more about the range on the official site here.
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