Find out what Mumsnetters and their children have to say about Toxic magazine

[LucyBMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the 100 Mumsnetters who have been testing Toxic magazine with their children. All Mumsnet testers involved in this product test have at least one child aged 6 to 12. All testers were sent a copy of the latest edition of Toxic magazine.

Here’s what Toxic magazine have to say: “Welcome to Toxic magazine! Every issue brings your children an unbeatable mix of the coolest stuff in their world. We are packed full of awesome entertainment – from gaming guides and movie news, to hilarious comics, puzzles and activities, as well as competitions to win the latest toys and games consoles!

From Pokémon to LEGO Ninjago and Marvel Super Heroes to Fortnite, we’ve got all the biggest brands assembled just for kids! Plus EVERY issue of Toxic is crammed with FREE gifts. We want to make sure we are always delivering the best content for our young readers, so we’d love to know what you and your kids think of us. Please let us know your thoughts on what you think is right or wrong about Toxic magazine!”

Testers, please give your feedback by answering the questions below as well as completing the survey we have emailed you:

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
2. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?
3. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?
4. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?

All testers who give the required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where three lucky testers will each win a £100 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[Scootergrrrl]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?

First impressions were that it was very busy, which appealed to my son. He liked the excitement of opening the outside packing to see what was inside.

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?

He liked the content of the magazine, particularly the football dream team, it his favourite page was the DanTDM v Ali-A feature.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?

He would rather have had one decent thing than five different little bits but he did like the blaster.

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?

Maybe have gifts over several issues which add up to make something worth having - cutting down on the plastic bits and pieces and giving them something to work towards.

[cookiewuk]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
   

My daughter was excited to receive the magazine and liked the look of the packaging.

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?
   

My daughter wasn’t that keen on the magazine as isn’t into any of the characters.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?
   

She like the gun and pokemon cards but not the others. There were more than we expected but it was mostly plastic tat which is disappointing.

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?
   

Be more environmentally conscious!

[loveaspiring]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
   

My son was excited to recieve the magazine and keen to open it. Lots of appealing characters on the outside packaging.

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?
   

My son liked the content. His favourite page was the stats page on DanTDM & AliA and the poster.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?
   

He enjoyed the gifts. We were surprised that there were so many. Some were things we had never heard of.

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?
   

More puzzles and creative activities.

[Emlh]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
   

I was disappointed it wasn’t more eco friendly. Way too much non recyclable plastic. DD was excited to see all the free gifts but again I thought they were excessive and essentially tat that they play with for a day and then forget.

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?
   

She liked the tornado lawnmowing pic. Some of the content appealed but she felt it was fortnite heavy and very much aimed at boys.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?
   

She liked the gun but dismissed everything else and said she’d give them to the boy next door. The little disc was useless as we didn’t have the launcher to go with it.

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?
   

It’s a tie between a lower price and less tat.

Thanks for the opportunity to try it. I would never have paid £5.99 to see if it was good or not. We won’t buy again though. DD felt it was too young for her and there wasn’t enough things that girls like. She’s have liked more Roblox, articles, real life news etc. Sounds sexist but that’s how she felt.

[WeOnlyPlannedTheFirst]

1.What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
He was very excited, mostly by the number of gifts - 6! It didn't matter what they were because there were 6 of them! 6! Packaging was very focused on gifts and this is how he chooses a magazine.

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?

Good mix of contents and characters, but he liked the Fortnight poster best.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected? Gift is very important - guns/shooters always a favourite much as i hate them. Quality of gift is pretty standard, and as always really only entertains sporadically over a weekend.
2. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?

It has a good mix of content, and plenty to dip in and out of. A week on and there are still things for him to read. Maybe some real world content, current affairs or eco topics, just something a bit meatier, but then we do subscribe to other magazines for this, Toxic is basically pure entertainment and does this pretty well.

[Pickofthepops]

My son is 12 so arguably at the top end of the customer base for this magazine. We laughed at the Peter Parkour joke but that was about all he found interesting. Had thought it might have more about computer culture. Personally I feel it's aimed at little children up to about age 8. Certainly with the free gifts. I would suggest less is more and make one gift if better quality instead of little and many cheaper.

[Pickofthepops]

Thanks for the opportunity to try, I think the name is ok but might put some people off.

[WeevilKnievel]

What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging? My son loved it, said it was exciting!

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine? He said there were too many posters but his favourite page was the Dan TDM vs Ali A page.
   
2. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected? He’s 8 so maybe a bit old for some of it, he played with the gun but nothing else, he loved the Pokemon cards though!
   
3. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?
   

My son says more character vs character type features please and less posters.

[Doodlekitty]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?

My son was very excited by the images on the packaging. I think it was very appealing to children. As many have said, I would prefer less plastic (in packaging and in general!)

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?

My child had very little interest in the magazine once the free gifts were out. He liked the premier league dream team pages best, but had to be really encouraged to even flick through the mag

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?

He lived the gun and my younger child (4) loved the dinosaur. He didn't look at the fortnite mag (which was a surprise, as he lives fortnite) or the disk things. Loved the pokemon card. These were pretty much what I expected

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?

My child would have liked more factual content, but I appreciate that probably isn't your target market. My son loves first news, so would have loved a bit of that sort of content.

[Daisymaybe60]

Firstly, thank you MN and publishers for the free edition, and the chance to review it.

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
   
   My grandson M (9 year old) liked the look of the packaging straightaway and was eager to tear into it, so it worked in that it attracted his attention, and I can see it would stand out on the shelf. I wasn’t as keen – to me it looked too busy and I would have much preferred a recyclable outer cover. I hate the title for a child’s magazine. We choose comics together, but my opinion would have counted for little at point of sale, though I would actively resist buying a magazine featuring and advertising content that’s too old for the target market (Fortnite, I’m looking at you here!).
   
   
   

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?

M did enjoy the magazine, particularly the gaming pages, the Team Toxic comic strips, the Spot the Difference and movie review. He gave it an 8 out of 10. His favourite was the Sonic page as he knows the film and was interested to read about it, but he enjoyed all the activities. Without prompting, he said he didn’t like the fact that there were so many adverts. I agree with him about this.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?

Apart from the Power Pux, which was no use at all without the toy to go with it, M liked all the free gifts, and they were better than either of us expected. He’s played with the gun a lot, particularly with the dinosaur minifigure as a target (the spiky armour and sword went down well too). M’s not really into Pokemon or football stickers, but his cousins are, so they were well received and will be passed on. I’d like more thought to go into the free gifts – perhaps just one decent quality gift and some stickers would be better. It might help keep the price down a bit as well.

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?

I’ve a few recommendation, as above, but the main one would be the title. It's just not a good one for a children's magazine.

[TheLovelinessOfDemons]

1. The packaging was very bright and eye catching.

1. DS2 liked the content of the magazine. His favourite part was the cartoons.

1. The gun was kind of bad because it didn't shoot the thin bullets. It was better than we expected.

1. I would recommend fewer toys.

[PJ04JCW]

1 My son says the packaging looked good. I was concerned about it being shiny plastic when my magazine arrived the same day wrapped in paper.
2 He liked the Fortnite page but wasn’t too keen on the rest. He gets Lego Life magazine which he reads cover to cover more than once but Toxic didn’t keep his attention.
3 The Dino was broken so that was disappointing. He liked the Pokemon cards. The gun isn’t as good as his nerf guns so didn’t get played with for long. He isn’t into football so not interested in stickers. We didn’t know what the little plastic circle was. He liked the fortnite mini mag.
4 Different content; more Lego, fortnite, minecraft. And yes, less plastic rubbish and more eco friendly wrapping.

[confusedofengland]

1. First impressions were that it was very cool. The packaging made it look exciting although not very environmentally friendly.

1. He did like the content. He liked how it was written, thought it was cool & there was plenty of detail. Really the gifts were his favourite things!

1. We were both happy with the gifts. There was a good variety of gifts & not all junk.

1. Better packaging as the bag didn't seem very green to me.

[tiqtok]

I actually didn't test this , but one of my children wants to buy this every month, and every month the gift is not what is shown on the cover, or one bit is missing, or it looks completely different!

This is very disappointing for a 6 year old and annoying for a parent, I actively put them off buying it now until you make the packing clear so I can actually see whats inside!

[justamoment]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging? Too much plastic! Too busy.
   
2. Did your child like the content of the magazine? Didn’t like much of content, exceptions were scooby-do jokes, dinosaur game pages and sonic content.
   

What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine? Scooby-do jokes

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Only really liked the target-gun.
   

Was it better or worse than you both expected? Worse, but then expectations not high of something called toxic!

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be? Less plastic packaging, more inspiring content. Was surprised (disappointed) to see fortnite (PEGI rated 12) content in a mag aimed at 8-12 year olds!

[justamoment]

(Sorry it’s not more positive, but just didn’t appeal much to us)!

[LetsLiveLikeSinners]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
   

First impressions were good, the packaging was practical.

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?
   

My son liked the magazine, his favourite parts were the Lego and minecraft posters and the Jurassic world game.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?
   

The gifts were ok, the little gun didn’t work very well. He liked the little dinosaur figure and has asked me to look out for more to collect the set.

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be?
   

It would be good to see what gifts come with it before buying, to see if it is something my son would like.

[LucyBMumsnet]

Thank you to everyone who took part in this product test. The winners of the prize draw are @Cotswoldmama, @MrsArchchancellorRidcully and @outnumbered77 - congratulations!

[mooity]

1. What were your first impressions of the magazine when it arrived What did you think of the packaging?
   

My son was very interested. Bright packaging but no recyclable which put me off.

1. Did your child like the content of the magazine? What was your child’s favourite page in the magazine?
   

My son enjoyed the magazine but it didn’t capture his attention for long. He said he wished there were more puzzles like word/crossword/word search type puzzles.

1. What did your child think of the gift that was included with the magazine? Was it better or worse than you both expected?
   

The thrill of the gifts lasted a few minutes. He liked the Pokemon cards. The gun was quickly discarded. The dragon figure remains on the table and untouched again.

1. If you could recommend one change to be made to Toxic magazine, what would it be? Less plastic tat - yes there was some excitement but the then disappointment so not really worth it. Please make sure this mag has content appropriate to the age is aimed at. I was disappointed to see the fortnite content. My son who tested has an older brother who does play fortnite but we are trying to keeping the younger one focussed on the things that he should be into at 7 and I don’t think Fortnite is appropriate.

[RAOK]

Toxic is a terrible name for a children’s magazine! I wonder who came up with that?

[jackparlabane]

1. Kids were happy because they've seen Toxic before. And free stuff! Though 8yo did comment all the plastic is bad for the environment.

1. 8yo girl enjoyed most of it except the Fortnite bit. 11 and 12 yo boys liked the Pokémon cards but that was about it. they all said there wasn't much to read. They also all hate Fortnite but as they wouldn't be allowed it anyway I'm not sure if that's why.

1. They liked the pokemon cards, and the gun until one child hit another too painfully.The rest was ignored.

1. If it's aimed at young kids learning to read, more.cartoons and less tat relating to stuff they're too young for. If it's aimed at older kids, more to read and less tat.

My kids know I won't buy it for them as it's tat and not much to read. They all said they enjoyed it. When I asked if they'd buy it next week, maybe pooling their money, they all agreed it would be a waste of money.

[jackparlabane]

They and I quite like the name Toxic though, for the kind of mag your parents hate! But then I like heavy metal bands which are named on similar lines - in fact I'd be surprised if there isn't a goth or metal band called Toxic already!