Are all Girls' toys crap compared to Boys'?

[heavenlyghosty]

I have been Christmas shopping and am very disheartened at what the future holds for my DD.
I LOVE buying of DS .... loads of interesting construction stuff around (lego, knex, hot wheels etc)
DD is nearly 3 and the range seems to be decreasing ...
My Little Pony (barf)
Barbie (not what she used to be)
Bratz (over my dead body)
Lots of crap fiddly necklace-making-bead-losing-and-getting-in-the-hoover tatt ....
All pink and vomit inducing.
Nothing that seems to tax the brain cells ....

In NZ there was a recent launch of a Pink Barbie Lego Castle (5+) but I have been told that it isn't little bricks like normal lego ... more big chunky pieces ... is this so?

What is there around in the UK (for future requests to family) that is more interesting for girls and less, well, girly?????

Yeah, we've got one of those transformers. I think we managed to break it the first time we used it.

Thankfully, DS1 isn't fussy at all, though, you can take anything, make it vaguely star-wars-themed, and he'll love it. I'm now suddenly tempted to figure out how to put a storm trooper head on a barbie ... sure it'd be a hit ...

at putting stormtrooper head on barbie ... LOLOL

I don't remember having any 'girls' toys, though I wasn't a tomboy - I always had long hair and wore dresses etc. I liked animal things, especially horses, and I loved racing car tracks where I could race my brother. Also books and drawing. I never had a barbie and nothing in pink plastic that I can remember. Little jewellery boxes were nice, and anything about ballet.

I don't remember anyone having a houseful of pink plastic.

Mind you, I have sons now and love buying them pirate ships and castles. Girls have the edge on clothes though.

What must be nice is having boys and girls, so you can have a bit of everything. I know there's no reason not to buy a mini buggy or a toy kitchen for my sons, but I doubt that I will. They'd probably love them though. If I had a daughter then I'd have the lot and they could all play with whatever they liked.