Mighty World toys offer an alternative to Playmobil that is more technically refined, a bit grittier, and priced for tight competition with the German toy giant. (Mighty World police cars and ambulances run $30/$40, for example, while Playmobil's cost $50 and up.)

We received Mighty World's Marine Research Unit, shown above, as a sample to review, and were pleasantly surprised by the level of detail in the molded plastic parts.

Being detail- and tool-oriented is almost an obsession with Mighty World. Our crew we received came with a pair of walkie-talkies, a thermos, a water bottle, a fuel container, a tool box, a backpack, a flotation device, a scuba mask, and a cool, two-handed waterproof camera. The boat itself had engines, mounted lights, oars, and some kind of detection equipment that were all removable.


This is pretty consistent with other Mighty World sets. Where Playmobil may offer one or two hand-held objects for its figures to grasp (Z's Dream Garden (reviewed here) came with a fan for the princess and a butterfly net for the prince), most Mighty World sets come with several. Their Highway Patrol Playset, for example, is a cop who, in addition to his motorcycle and helmet, comes with a clipboard for writing tickets, a stop sign on a stick, a megaphone, a flashlight, a police baton, a pair of handcuffs, and a gun (you can see it all laid out here). More on that gun later. For the moment, my point is that there are many small, intricate parts that will appeal to any young child's desire to manipulate tiny objects and to play-act in a realistic way with small toys. Mighty World figures' cupped hands have a slight give that holds any of their accessories quite easily. Where all that gear is to be stored when it is included on a mission is the only possible source of frustration.

But it gets weirder, and more exciting, still. You see, Mighty World makes a lot of vehicles - rescue vehicles, SUVs and Jeeps for its adventure guides, military vehicles, and cars. These vehicles can all be broken down and taken apart, with cabs, hoods, bumpers, cages, roll bars, racks, exhaust systems removed and swapped with other vehicles, and kids (younger ones with parental assistance) can raise or lower the suspension or adjust the wheelbase as needed to accommodate their newly tricked-out rides. And under the hood of every Mighty World vehicle is an engine, a fuel tank, a "battery," a transmission, and a drive train that are removable (and interchangeable with other vehicles, although they're all the same). Mighty World even sells a mechanic with basic tools and an enhanced shop tool set (for pretend play, not needed for the teardown) as part of their city series.

Z enjoyed playing with the Marine Research Unit - the concept of having the job of studying sea creatures hadn't yet occurred to Z - and we appreciate how they blend adventure with environmental concern. She was disappointed that the boat did not float and that she could not row the boat in the bathtub. We were disappointed that it not only doesn't float, but has holes water can get into but not easily out of. For a company so focused on detailed recreations of reality, boats that float seem like a no-brainer to us.

For contrast, check out Playmobil's Fire Rescue boat. All of their boats float on water, and this one even has a pump so you can squirt water through the fire hose, drawn from below the boat. Clearly, Playmobil thought through the play potential of a boat much more thoroughly than Mighty World.

Which brings me back to the guns - and the divide between the world of Playmobil and what I described as the "grittier" one of Mighty World.

If I were a person with more time on my hands I'd do a survey of the expressions on Mighty World faces - there appear to be only three or four - and who gets which face. My guess is that women, who make up a minority of Mighty World figures, usually have the open, smiling faces with gently arched eyebrows that go up as they head towards the facial midline. These are the same faces you see on many of Mighty World's EMS responders. But as you head through EMS to fire fighters and then to police, the expressions get meaner.

Playmobil cops are often unarmed. Their primary duties are to direct traffic and to stand around in tight-fitting police uniforms. Some carry guns, but even they are always happy and smiling. In Mighty World, the cops look, well, tough. They are the enforcers. Let's compare:

Playmobil Police

Mighty World Police

Now, let me ask you this. If you were a criminal - let's say, a nonviolent offender - which of these police teams would you rather encounter? What if you were a suspect, but innocent of any crime?

Don't tell me it's just a toy. These things have meaning - tremendous meaning, for a child. In the Mighty World lineup above, the righthand figure's facial expression is the one shared by most of the police figures in Mighty World. It's also on the faces of other figures from other Mighty World themes, where it reads more as determination than meanness. But that cop, above, and the highway patrolman? Add the subtle influence of Mighty World figures' stockier build and the shadows and creases molded and painted on their plastic surfaces, and they look like brooding jerks at best, hired thugs at worst.

I'm not complaining, exactly. Maybe your kids want to play with toys where cops are "mighty" above all else. And maybe it's more sincere than Playmobil, where even the sniper wears a smile ("like A Clockwork Orange," Adrienne of Baby Toolkit said recently). But it makes me squeamish, and I'm a dad who doesn't flinch when his daughter abuses her dollies or has her Playmobil princess drowned by a kelpie. The difference? She'll never encounter a kelpie, but in fact, just last night while reading her the story of "The Long Horse" from The Hidden Folk (reviewed here) I was struck by the parallels between the actions of a water horse and the lure of candy and a stranger's car - I actually made a mental note to draw this comparison when the time seems right. As for cops, the idea of a universal friendliness may gloss over of a more complex reality, but it will serve her well throughout her childhood, and lay a foundation for helping her trust authority figures as an adult.

My favorite Mighty World expression is one that combines curiosity with determination. It's a popular one among the adventurers in Mighty World, highlighting that these are people who must be tough but also on their toes and aware of the information that is available around them. It also proves that the creators think hard about the emotional state they want their figures to project. If I saw it on the cop's face, I'd feel more confident that he'd ask a few questions before pulling out the baton.

I could get into my concerns about Mighty World's military series, with its surveillance drones, robotic assault vehicles, and land mines. But given just how much more gruesome or cynical other military-themed toy lines can be - from the Vietnam-informed G.I. JOE, the standard-bearer for serrated bayonets and black ops antiheroes, through today's Xbox and PlayStation games - that's probably a conversation for another day.

I do have one other quibble. I have a (limited) background in emergency response (I'm actually certified to act as an operations-level first responder at HazMat or WMD incidents) and I can say from my somewhat bookish experience in that field that there are some fairly odd inaccuracies in the technical gear Mighty World responders are equipped with. This means that the pretend play your child engages in using, for example, Mighty World's River Rescue Unit will bear only a surreal relationship to what is actually done in such circumstances - the team is fully kitted out for diving, but their only rope (an essential component of water rescue operations) is attached to an anchor. Far worse is their Mobile Haz-Mat Unit, which, rather than responding to Hazardous Materials incidents, puts out fires with a high-tech robot while wearing chemical suits.

Every December, we package up the majority of the toys we've reviewed for Z Recommends and deliver them to a local program that distributes toys to needy families at Christmas. Mighty World's Mobile Research Unit was in that batch this year - the fact that the boat didn't float sunk its chances at being one of the few review items Z keeps. I think she'd love their passenger cars and their jungle adventurers. But we'd recommend Mighty World toys to anyone for its unique blend of mechanical finesse - particularly in its line of vehicles, although we haven't tested those - and figure-based play.

You can purchase Mighty World toys on Amazon.com or direct from the company's website.

So... Is anyone as sensitive as I am about the portrayal of authority figures in children's toys? Am I on to something, or just plain crazy?

1. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported over the weekend of significant conflicts of interest within the FDA's BPA advisory subcommittee - namely, that the committee chair co-directs a research center that recently received a $5 million donation from an aggressive pro-BPA activist (50x the center's annual budget). From the New York Times' editorial board: "When informed of the donation, a high F.D.A. official looked into the matter and said he was satisfied that there was no conflict of interest because Dr. Philbert’s salary was not being paid through the donation. That is an incredibly narrow definition of what might constitute a conflict. ... We are not challenging the integrity of Dr. Philbert, who told the Journal Sentinel that he was impartial and denied that the Gelman family had ever tried to influence his judgment. We are certain that Dr. Philbert should have disclosed the contribution. And we are certain that the F.D.A.’s review of the matter needs to be a lot more rigorous and transparent." [link]


2. A new study finds a corrolation between higher levels of BPA in the body and higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities. [link]


3. A new study suggests that BPA in the body reduces the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment. [link]


4. Attorneys general from Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware have sent letters to 11 companies behind both baby products and infant formula asking them to voluntarily stop using BPA in their products or, in the case of infant formula, their packaging. Companies include bottle makers Avent, Disney First Years, Gerber, Dr. Brown, Playtex and Evenflo; and formula makers Abbott, Mead Johnson, PBM Products, Nature's One and Wyeth. [Thanks, Sara!] This is evolving, as companies haven't received the letters yet. We've been in touch with multiple AG offices to request this letter, which we'll publish.

Last week saw two very instructive kids' product recalls, each important in its own way.

First, the CPSC demonstrated the enhanced powers Congress and President Bush granted it, and the limits of those powers, by going directly to consumers to warn them against Simplicity cribs, which have strangled and killed two infants, ages five and four months, within a year's time. Simplicity was facing bankruptcy after numerous product defects, including the "close sleeper/bedside sleeper," which had a slat width that did not meet regulatory standards, when it put itself on the chopping block last year and got bought out by a soulless conglomerate run by a private equity firm. The new company purchased all assets but claimed no responsibility for defective products manufactured by the old company, which promptly ceased operations, and this clever act of liability laundering left no one holding the bag when regulators at the CPSC learned of the second infant death.

The happy new company refused repeated requests for a negotiated recall, but under its new powers the CPSC was able to issue a warning directly to consumers without the company's consent, urging parents to stop using the crib because of the immediate hazard posed to infants. The commission later reported that most of Simplicity's retailers had agreed to recall the product themselves. Greg at Daddytypes has been all over this story, and honestly? It makes us sick.

The second is one that many of our readers would be puzzled or even incredulous to hear about: A voluntary recall by HABA of nineteen wooden rattles, "clutching toys," and other infant toys. HABA is in many ways setting the bar for wood-and-cloth toys, and has prided itself for years on its natural materials, non-toxic paints, innovative design, and overall stellar safety record. Has the venerable European toy company gone sloppy, lost its edge?

As it turns out, the CPSC approached HABA's American brand with a requested recall of seven products, based on things that sometimes happen to wooden toys when they are repeatedly soaked in water - i.e., when they are washed in the dishwasher. Each of the toys the CPSC had targeted as potentially dangerous had small pieces - mirrors, plastic jewels - that loosened or fell off of the toys after such use.

HABA's wooden infant toys have been labeled with care instructions for a long time. It seemed pretty likely that the reports coming in were not based on design flaws, but user error. The problem seemed confined to the U.S., where consumers are relatively unfamiliar with wooden toys. But the inset bling was a relatively new feature, and a hazard is a hazard, whatever the source. We have seen companies blame consumers for their problems, and it's never pretty. HABA took a different route.

The company took the CPSC's request, looked it over, and countered with a list of eleven additional products the CPSC had overlooked that utilized the same type of design. If the seven the CPSC had targeted posed a problem for American consumers who were accustomed to aggressively cleaning toys with hot water, the other nine should be as well, they reasoned, and proposed their own recall of 17 products, including many popular rattles.

Not all recalls are the same. When a company acts aggressively to confront a potential problem at the earliest possible stage, it can preserve or even build on its reputation. HABA isn't about to stop making wooden infant toys and they aren't about to stop selling them in the U.S. We'd suggest they increase the size or prominence of their care instructions, and they are looking at alternatives to some of the inset items - foil stickers instead of inset mirrors, for example - that will circumvent some of the problems. Overall, this may make HABA look even better than it did before.

But it isn't just spin. Just as individuals reveal themselves most deeply when responding to crisis, corporations' responses to crises are dictated by their culture. I'm not sure many companies have ever responded to recall requests in the way HABA handled this one, and the move speaks volumes about the benefits of buying from companies you know you can trust.