Review: Roaring Raa Raa the Noisy Lion

Thanks to Tomy for supplying the following item for review.

Ah, the best laid plans...

So I bought a new tripod. Actually, I bought two new tripods because the first one I bought wasn't what I wanted so I sent it back. The second was what I wanted. It was fantastic! I'd take a picture of it to show you all, but...

And the 'but' answers the question of why I'm writing about my new tripod instead of the Roaring Raa Raa of the review title. It's because less than 24 hours after receiving my shiny new tripod my 5 year old son decided to have a go at using it to take some photos. Except he had a little accident, the tripod went tumbling over and the camera... Well, it won't be taking photos of any roaring lions any time soon.

So I'm left with my old camera, which is equally broken (though the breaking was my fault in this case), but can at least take photos. But not with a flash.

I can only apologise for the slightly dark fuzzy photos, and the standard definition 4:3 video. I did the best I could with what I had.

Roaring Raa Raa is a big soft & cuddly lion (well, his head is - his body is solid to hold the electronics).  A soft & cuddly lion with a secret. Well, it's not really much of a secret since he's called 'roaring' Raa Raa, but I thought making it out to be so would make it more exciting and make up for the photographic disappointment.

Press down on Raa Raa's head and he'll roar. Press it down for longer and he'll ROAR! He'll also shake about as he does so.

There's nothing more annoying than buying toys which use 'fake' voices for toys and it often ruins them (kids aren't stupid, they know when such things are wrong). Thankfully Raa Raa has the exact same voice has he has in the TV show.

Of all the toys Tomy sent for us to try out, this one is by far my daughter's favourite. BY FAR. The roaring action is easy for her to operate since all she has to do is place all her weight on it. The large feet mean that it's unlikely that Raa Raa will fall over while he's being pushed down.


Personally I think the expression on Raa Raa's face makes it look like he's about to sneeze rather than roar, but after questioning small people it seems I'm alone in this opinion. I wonder if eventually Raa Raa's head is going to become a little deformed from all the pushing down on it, but this is me being overly nit-picky.

Unless Raa Raa costs a hundred billion pounds (which it might - I haven't checked) it's definitely worth considering for anyone who's ever hummed the theme tune.