We bought our two year old son the ELC Mobile Moon Base about six weeks ago, and it is currently one of his favourite toys. He already had the ELC Lift Off Rocket which was a Christmas present in 2007. It took him a while to get into playing with the rocket on a regular basis, partly because it was too heavy for him to fly it around like he wanted to, and partly because his imaginative skills weren't really developed enough to play with it, but in the last few months the rocket has become a firm favourite in this house. Unfortunately, the blue spaceman didn't survive a trip out in the buggy (I think it fell down a drain!) and my son made so much fuss about his missing blue spaceman, even waking up crying for him in the night, that we decided that the only solution was to buy him a replacement, even though that meant buying a whole new toy in the form of the Mobile Moon Base.

** The Product **
The Mobile Moon Base consists of two vehicles and three figures. The first vehicle is the Moon Base itself, which is a wheeled vehicle with a roof which opens to become a staircase on one flap and solar panels on the other. Inside is the computer centre for the spacemen, and there is also a satellite dish which can be moved around. The second vehicle is a moon buggy with a digger attached - my two year old loves this simply because it is a 'digger'. This can be hooked on to the moon base to pull it along. Both vehicles are made of a sturdy plastic. The moon base is silver and red, and the moon buggy is red with a yellow digger. There are also two spacemen (one blue and one green) and a silver robot included in this set. All of these are compatible with the Lift Off Rocket as well as the Moon Base.

** Playability **
There is no doubt that the playability of this toy is enhanced if you have the Lift Off rocket as well. As we have both, it is difficult to accurately comment on how much fun my son would have with just the Moon Base set. However, he does spend a lot of time playing with the Moon Base.... He likes to open up the doors so that the spacemen can climb the steps to work the computer, pull it around with the space buggy and make the spacemen and robot chat away to each other. It's a good toy for all pre-schoolers that like chunky vehicles as it does encourage imagination. In tandem with the rocket, I think it has a lot of playability - my son definitely plays with it for ages and it is a very popular toy in our house.

** Issues **
Like the Lift Off Rocket, the major issue that I have with the Moon Base is that the doors come off far too easily and my son can't click them back into place himself. He finds this very frustrating. My husband keeps telling me that this is a design feature to prevent the toys being properly broken by over-enthusiastic toddlers but I'm not convinced. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to design doors that don't fall off?

** Price **
This costs £15 seperately, or £40 together with the ELC Lift Off Rocket (which is £35 on it's own). I think it is worth the money as an add on toy, but you do need to have the rocket to make it come into it's own. Without the rocket, I think £15 is probably a bit over-priced for a toy that would have limited playability.

** Overall Opinion **
I like this toy as it is well-made apart from the door falling off issue, and my son gets a lot of enjoyment from playing with it. For us, it was worth buying just to stop him crying for his missing blue spaceman, but the amount of time he spends playing with it is an added bonus. It is definitely beneficial for encouraging imaginative play - sometimes I think he uses the set almost like a dolls house as he is very into putting the spacemen to bed in the rocket and making cups of tea, but then I think that makes it a good toy for boys in particular. It makes a change from the endless games involving cars and trains in our house anyway! I do think the rocket is pretty much essential to get the best out of it though.