Erin has always been a huge fan of PJ Masks, and it has now become a regular TV choice for Erin whilst eating her breakfast before school in the mornings! Despite being 35 now (eek!), I can definitely see the appeal, just in the way banana man used to change into a superhero back in the 80’s, PJ Masks features three 6 year old children Connor, Amaya and Greg who lead relatively normal lives by day, but by night become Catboy, Owlette and Gekko. These three masked crusaders are the PJ Masks team who fight crime by night time; going on fun adventures, completing missions, defeating criminals and solving mysteries!

The villain that Erin secretly loves to hate is Romeo – a genius inventor who is continually attempting to take over the world from his mobile laboratory! Having previously reviewed the PJ Masks Turbo Blast Racers , Erin was super excited to learn about the new addition to the PJ Masks toy range – the Romeo’s Lab Playset, and couldn’t wait to get her hands on it!

About the Product

The PJ Masks Romeo’s Lab Playset retails at £49.99 and is targeted at children between the ages of 3 and 6 years of age. It can be purchased from a number of high street stores including Argos.

The PJ Masks need to be on their guard, as Romeo is ready to rule the night with the new Romeo’s Lab Playset! Romeo’s lab can really roll like a mobile laboratory on wheels, and opens to reveal a secret lair with two levels of play!

Children can open up the lab to reveal a light and sound control panel, a fully working grabber crane, a shooting laser launcher, and rolling lab charger!

Romeo can use the control panel to plot his mad-scientist schemes and then shoot his laser launcher when the PJ Masks come to stop him!

The playset also comes with one Romeo figure, one Romeo’s Robot figure and three bonus tools (some smaller parts so unsuitable for younger children).

When it’s time to move on to the next villainous adventure, kids can transform the playset back into Romeo’s mobile lab with all the accessories inside and take it with them for mischief on the go!

Our Experience

Erin was super excited when the PJ Masks Romeo’s Lab Playset arrived – you can see in the box all the accessories and play elements straight away, and the control panel can be tested from inside the packaging, meaning that Erin was already pressing buttons and keen to get started!

Probably the biggest challenge of the Romeo’s Lab Playset is getting out of the packaging, particularly when there are impatient little fingers waiting to try and ‘help’! If you are buying this as a present for birthdays or Christmas, you may want to consider unpackaging it and wrapping it already set up just to save a little time. The pieces are all cable tied on to the box, so you will need some scissors or clippers, and whilst there isn’t a great deal of assembly required (just a few pieces to snap into place), you do need a little screwdriver to attach the crane on to the main frame of the lab. This took us a few minutes to do (including madly hunting around the house for a screwdriver), but once it was done, Erin was off, and kept occupied for quite some time!

The Romeo’s Lab Playset is effectively a big camper van / caravan style car on wheels, which Romeo sits in at the front. His feet slot on to the two little buttons on the floor of the seat, and similarly to what we found with the Turbo Blast Racers, Erin sometimes needed a bit of help in putting him in securely, as it can be a little tricky to clip him into place. Once in his drivers seat, Romeo can be rotated in his chair – presumably so that he can be keeping an eye on his surroundings and check whether any of the PJ Masks team are coming to try and stop his adventures!

Romeo’s Lab then opens up to reveal the full laboratory inside – with the light and sound control panel (like a large screen) which plays some sounds and flashes as the control panel advises which of the three PJ Masks characters have been picked up by the labs’ sensors. From an adult point of view, the sounds aren’t particularly loud, so are not offensive or annoying, and each press only plays a sound for a few seconds, so nothing that would become frustrating to listen to whilst your children play.

Inside the lab, there is also three small tools, (which can be stashed neatly away in a storage tray), a laser launcher (which when pressed fires out a piece of red plastic which can be used to knock down approaching PJ Masks characters), and a mobile charger, a device which Romeo can stand on and move around.

Erin found the laser launcher absolutely hilarious, attempting to knock over Romeo by firing the laser at him. Most of the time she missed by a fairly significant milestone, but it amused her none the less!

The crane is a little bit like a grabber you would see in a fairground arcade, with a big claw that can be operated using a button on the crane. It is fully poseable, so can be rotated and lowered in order to try and capture passing vehicles. It is important to note here that Romeo’s Lab doesn’t come with a car included (these are available to purchase separately), but the grabber can be used to pick up essentially anything, so you won’t be limited to only using PJ Masks toys.

Erin loved transforming the lab from its mobile state to the full playset and I watched her acting out a number of secret missions, pretending to be Romeo and talking through his evil plans! The set is great for encouraging imagination and creativity and Erin really enjoyed moving Romeo around his lab and acting out pretend scenes with the characters.

Overall, for any PJ Masks fan, or even for those who haven’t watched the series before, this is a fun and engaging playset with lots of interactive play elements that will keep children occupied and help them bring their imaginations to life. With various different bits to play with, this (in theory!) is also a fun set for siblings or friends to share, creating adventures together. For children who have other PJ Masks toys, Romeo’s Lab is a great extension to their play, and offers the opportunity to really increase the variety of their set.

Pros:

• A fun set with lots of accessories and interactive elements.
• All the accessories can be safely stored inside the Lab when not being played with, which is a real positive from my point of view, as it prevents parts being lost, discarded or mixed up with others toys.
• Romeo and Robot characters are included.
• Fun sounds and lights with familiar dialogue from the series.
• Easy to alternate between mobile lab and folded out playset.

Cons:

• Is compatible with the PJ Masks Turbo Racer vehicles however as your child is likely to want one of those to go with it (particularly as they are featured on the advert) the cost can soon add up! At £49.99, Romeo’s Lab already has quite a realtively high RRP.
• The packaging can take a while to remove, and there is a small amount of assembly required.

Watch and Win!

To celebrate the launch of Romeos’ Lab we have a fab PJ Masks prize to giveaway! One lucky winner will get their hands on a PJ Masks Collectible Figures 5 pack, with all of their favourite PJ Masks characters, perfect for playtime and bringing their missions to life! To enter, simply watch the video below, then use gleam to enter, answering a question about what you have seen in the clip!

Our standard giveaway terms and conditions apply. UK Entrants only. Good Luck!

PJ Masks Giveaway

*Disclosure – I was sent a PJ Masks Romeo’s Lab free of charge and compensated for me time in return for an honest review. As always, my thoughts and opinions are my own*