With Lego and Pixar signing a deal to allow the popular building toys company to produce sets based around popular Pixar characters and scenes, Cars was also a shoe-in for first cab off the rank when it came to the inaugural wave of Pixar Lego sets in early 2010. Interestingly Mega Bloks , Lego’s main competitor in the toy building bricks market, had released sets based on Cars some years earlier but fans failed to respond with enthusiasm. With the recent restructuring at Pixar/Disney the animation company decided to shift their attention to Lego and the new Cars Duplo sets are a result.

If you are unfamiliar with Duplo, it is like Lego but only bigger and meant for smaller hands. This may seem incongruous but the larger pieces make assembling and disassembling structures easier, and that is the special element of Lego. It allows children to not only construct a model using instructions but then also gives them options to create their own designs using those same Lego pieces. The general age recommendation for the juniorized Duplo Lego is two to six years of age.

Lego released four Duplo Cars sets and each have at least one of the car characters from the film. The smallest set thankfully includes the most famous of these, Lightning McQueen. Called simply Lightning McQueen, set 5813 contains 11 pieces and includes the titular car, a chequered flag, a cactus and various bricks to construct a desert feature.

The next largest set, at 16 pieces is Mater’s Yard, set 5814. Obviously this set features the world’s favourite Tow Truck but also Sherrif, an oil barrel and salvage yard sign as well as a few bricks for creating structures. Like all the characters in this Duplo Cars range, the designs are simple but instantly recognisable and customisable. In this case Mater’s tow cable can be removed from the truck bed and used as a crane.

With 32 pieces, Flo’s V8 Cafe is the next largest set and doesn’t actually contain Flo but Sally, Lightning McQueen (with special white walled wheels) and Doc Hudson. The rest of the set consists of a fuel pump, Flo’s cafe sign and blocks for general construction. The final set includes 34 pieces but is quite a bit larger, having Mack the, Sheriff and Lightning with road signs and a cactus.

All the sets will be loved by young fans and the wonderful thing about Duplo is that kids can use generic blocks they already have from other sets to create just about anything their imagination can think of. Although the price point may be slightly higher than other toys, this long term versatility needs to be factored into any parent’s purchase consideration. Ka Chow indeed!