The Russ Berrie Shining Stars stuffed animal collection are the start of a new trend of interactive stuffed toys from many toy manufacturers. The toys themselves come in twenty-four seperate animals with various new “limited release” or collectors edition toys as well. The base twenty four designs include: snowy owl, cream bear, pink bear, blue bear, panda bear, honey bear, unicorn, brown bear, dragon, bunny, orange tabby cat, white cat, poodle, yellow lab, beagle, horse, pig, cow, penguin, frog, elephant, monkey, tiger and lion. The various (and still being released) special edition Shining Star toys include: Halloween black cat, Thanksgiving turkey, hippo, giraffe, snail, alligator, Christmas reindeer, St Patricks day Irish setter, Valentines monkey, Valentines frog, Valentines dog, tan Easter bunny, brown Easter bunny, Easter Lamb and Easter chick. The cost of the plush toys varies from around $12 for special editions such as the Thanksgiving Turkey (I am still trying to assess why a limited or collectors edition is worth less than an everyday release so if anyone knows please do let me know) to $14.99 for the base collection of twenty four. As a side note watch out for scammers online who would have you believe that the base twenty four Shining Stars toys are worth more than $14.99 depending on which animal they are. You may find sales that offer you the toys for less than the average $14.99 pricetag; however, you always want to make sure you use a reputable store to purchase these items from to ensure you don’t get a knock off.

Each toy comes with a plastic ziptie around it’s neck with a cardboard handtag within a clear plastic protector, as well as a T-end fastener (the clear plastic ones that you usually end up trying to pull off with your teeth) attaching another cardboard hangtag without a clear plastic cover. The uncovered cardboard hangtag has instructions for “getting started” with your Shining Stars toy, which is basically directions to log in to their website, register using your secret code (included within the second hangtag,) personalize your new toy (name him/her,) and print out your Star Registry certificate and chart. Within this hangtag you will find pictures of the twenty four base Shining Stars toys and the back of this hangtag provides the traditional “remove tags before giving product to child” cautionary advice. The second hangtag needs to be cut out of the clear plastic covering. The front of this hangtag states that your product is an “Official Product of International Star Registry” and tells you that your secret code is inside. Inside the hangtag you find your individualized secret code and the same instructions you received on the previous hangtag for registering your toy. The back of this hangtag carries the registered trademark information for Russ Berrie and the PC requirements for registering your toy (simply, an ability to connect to the internet, however, they provide other requirements which may speed up your process but are not absolutely necessary.)

The toy itself, specifically the dragon is made of an extremely soft “fur” sprinkled with glittering plastic strands (think Christmas tinsel) throughout to give the toy a glittering magical look to it. The nostrils and back spines are made from purple felt and the wings and horns are made from a smooth fabric similar to that of the “color your own toy” type toys. The left foot of the dragon has an embroidered swirl (as seen in the Shining Stars logo) and a hard plastic silver star which appears to be glued on but very securely so.

The registration process of the Shining Stars toys consists of logging on to the ShiningStars.com website and registering as a new member using your secret code. Once you have logged on you will be asked to pick characteristics which you wish your toy to have, there are five you can choose of approximately ten choices. Once your toy’s characteristics are picked you get to name your toy and then you are given a star map. This star map features multiple well known constellations including Draco which is the constellation I chose for Kidazy’s dragon. After picking the constellation I was allowed to pick out my star and name it. I named the star Kidazy. Now you are given the option to print out your star chart and certificate. After you have finished all the registration information you can log in to Shiningstars.com at any time and interact with your Shining Star’s online personality. Keep in mind that each toy registered will give your child “points” which are used to “purchase” items for the online personality of their toy as well as the star arcade which will also give your child the opportunity to get more points.

The toy itself does not come in any type of packaging, just with the two hangtags mentioned above…have I told you to make sure you use scissors to take those off? You also need these scissors to cut the clear plastic sleeve on the secong hangtag around the toys neck so keep them handy. The quality of the toy is good, there is limited shedding as you find with some stuffed animals, I even attempted to pull out tufts of fur and nothing came out which is a sign of good quality. The only shedding I noticed is as I laid the toy on my shirt whilst typing up the description section, I noticed a few stray pieces of “fur” but not clumps and definitely not a mass of shedding as found with many excessively “fluffy” stuffed animals. The toy is soft enough to snuggle but also contains a more coarse feel to it as a result of the plasticky glitter fur interwoven with the other fur. The stomach of the dragon does not contain this glitter fur and is exceptionally soft and shed free.

Two qualities to this toy that do not please me and the reason why it did not rate a complete 5 out of 5 are the wings and the presence of felt. The wings, which are constructed out of a smooth shiny fabric are sewn to the center of the dragon’s back. If they were simply sewn in one spot I don’t think they would be of concern to me as much as they are; however, the wings are not only sewn in the center but they are each also sewn in in one spot on the center of the wing anchoring them to the dragon’s back. Although this makes the wings look good instead of having them flop helplessly in the center of the dragon’s back it is also too unsturdy. With one spot being sewn and the rest being “free” for “wing flapping” by your child the stitching is more than likely to pull out and free the wings. Since the stitching holding the wings on in that one spot is a mass of thread this is also likely to cause a hole in the back of the toy where the wings were once anchored. My second problem area with this toy, the presense of felt, is mostly a pet peeve of mine. Felt is not a tough material, it doesn’t hold up well to wear and tear and it’s coarse and ugly; in my opinion this section of the product could just as well have been fabricated out of the same material as the wings and horns of the dragon. Felt is a cheap material used mostly because of cost reasons, it adds nothing and takes away everything from the quality of a toy.

The online portion of the toy registration was easy enough and added a personalization factor to the toy which I think is very important for children when it comes to imagination, being able to actually visualize a fantasy world and provide their own definition of personality to their toy makes it more fun to play. The website itself is easy enough to move around if you have the correct softwares installed; however, your child will more than likely need help in filling in fields if they are still at the younger end of the recommended age scale. The star registration is a fun project and being able to print out a star chart adds a level of fantasy that most toys don’t provide which sets this toy apart from many others such as the “Webkins” which many people have likened the Shining Stars to. After the registration process your child will be able to log in to the back end of the Shining Stars website and interact with their toy including being able to dress them up with the “Star Makeover” function and create their own world for their toy with the “Star Worlds” function. The Star Worlds function enables your child to pick an environment and decorate it using their “star points” any way they want. Your child begins with 12500 Star Points and must use 10,000 to purchase a world to decorate, following that they must use their points to purchase items to decorate the world. The irritating part of this process is that if you child wishes to delete an item they picked they can do so but they lose the points they spent on that item all together. New points must be earned by playing for them in the “shining starcade.”

The Shining Starcade is much like an online arcade where your child will pick an area to play and then pick a game to play. The games range in difficulty and the points earned. I am not a fan of the Starcade idea, I try to discourage parents from having kids get lost in the online gaming world but I cannot think of an interactive way to have children earn points for “purchasing products” so I will not harp on this issue. I do like the “Star Wishes” section of the website which allows your child to make their own wish on their very own star. I also love the “star share” section which allows your child to donate their points to charities and other children which encourages sharing and giving, two qualities any parent would be glad for their child to possess. There are various other filler materials on the website including a daily movie (which costs 100 points) and a place to download songs (for 100 points each), most of which are cheesy MIDI tones people downloaded to their cell phones in years past.

Over all the interactivity of the Shining Stars toys are impressive, the toys are well put together and the ability of a child to really brand their own toy is well done. The major gripes I have about this toy is the amount of time children will spend online playing with them as opposed to actually playing with the toy itself, and a few design elements in the toys composition. I highly suggest this toy as a stuffed animal for children, great for naptimes and security “blankies,” however if you want your child to live a life outside of the internet I suggest keeping the toy at just that, a stuffed toy to carry around with it’s own constellation star.