Kung Zhu Warriors

Which KUNG ZHU are you???

Kung Zhu is the newest toy in the Zhu Zhu Pet line up.  Designed with boys in mind, this toy series provided hours of fun for my son and some of his favorite friends.
From their site:
Introducing the hottest new line from Cepia evolving from of Zhu Zhu Pets...Kung Zhu Pets! These warrior hamsters are far from being the cute and cuddly Zhu Zhu Pets that everyone fell in love with. But make no mistake, these ultra cool, tough pets will be a sure competition to the original Zhu Zhu Pets! With eight original characters split into two battling groups called Special Forces and Ninja Warriors, Kung Zhu Pet owners will have the thrill of training each character to transform fighting, battling warriors. While these Kung Zhu hamsters may start of as "cute" and "mild-mannered" once they are sent into their main training grounds, smart chip technology will actually allow you to hear a distinct personality transformation of fighting ninja and warriors.

 The party started with each of Brennan's friends getting to select one of the eight Kung Zhu and armor.  All the armor are interchangeable, so each child got to put a little of their personality into the decisions...though decide wisely, because you are stuck with what you choose, as no one was willing to trade.  

My boys both chose Stonewall of the Special Forces team, but so far they have not fought over whose is whose.  They did pick different armor (thank goodness!)

Once each piece was marked (10 kids x 5 parts = lots of mixed up pieces), the children went to town playing with the awesome track/arena/battle field.  Whatever you want to call it, it was "so totally awesome" (quoting Brennan.)

 

There were battles at the Ninja Warriors battled the Special Forces.  The noises the hamsters make as they are crawling around or battling really cracked me  up...if you see one in the store, go push its nose :)

Most of the battles were wild and crazy...so these were the best shots I got of them.  There were lots of exclamations of "Cool!"  and "DID YOU SEE THAT?"  yelled at the top of little kid lungs.  It was so fun to watch them enjoy.
Of course, to prepare the Kung Zhu pets for battle, they had to go through training...and what a great course to train on!

I think my favorite part of the course is that each piece can be reconfigured to make any course your child can dream of.  After the party Brennan quickly built a "racetrack" which was one L.O.N.G. line of all the elements hooked end to end.  It reminds me a bit of Geo Trax and how they can be rebuilt into so many different options...your imagination is the limit!
Now, Kung Zhu, though masculine in theory, is also great for girls...these girls were very fierce warriors, wreaking havoc on the boys :)  Though, in the end, some of the hamster were being cuddled with their armor abandon for small pieces of scrap fabric (always a sewing project nearby) for blankets. 

And Kung Zhu was fun for the smaller guys, too...Jackson was a little nervous at first having all the "big kids" in his living room, but as he saw that his hamster was just as awesome as the others, and as some of the other kids exclaimed how cool his Kung Zhu's armor was, he warmed up to them.

Brennan, of course, can never be far from his legos.  He incorporated ways for this lego ship to be part of the party, too.

I'd say all in all, these kids had a BLAST celebrating the release of Kung Zhu.  From tanks to obstacle courses to battles, the kids played for a long time and didn't fight once (well...maybe a little, but it was more of a love spat then anything else...)

And...how can you go wrong when you get to eat cake at the end?  Yep, a great ending to a fun party.  Thank you MomSelect for providing such awesome toys for the kids to play with and keep! 

Cake designed by Brennan and me, using Make the Cut and my Cricut to decorate.

***All opinions my own (or my kids).  I was not paid to do this review, though we currently have an awesome Kung Zhu set up because of it.  Thanks MomSelect.***

FYI:  MomSelect KUNG ZHU twitter party Friday from 1-2 p.m.  #kungzhu
Follow me on twitter:  @jessremington