Your kids will love Mattel’s Stinky the Garbage Truck. Kids the world over already do, making it a major seller and it is even expected to be hard to find during the holiday shopping season this year. that is because this isn’t your usual toy truck, at least not the kind your parents grew up with. It talks, reacts to movement, lights up, and even passes gas (or verbally admits to doing so).
There are several ways to activate Stinky. You can push his tummy, and he reacts to being tickled. You can push him down, or pull on his smoke stack, and sit back and watch him do all sorts of things. Another way is to simply roll him forward or backward as he shouts out funny and encouraging messages. Or you can put some toy cars down his trash hole and watch him chomp and eventually raise up and dump it out the back. He knows when you open the back hatch and will let you know. That explains why they are marketing it as an “interactive buddy.”
There are about 100 phrases and sounds that Stinky makes. One such phrase includes when he asks you to give him a high five, and he raises his little paw… err… wheel, to meet your hand. In other instances, he asks you to sing along, answer a question, or help him unload the trash. After unloading the trash he even lets out a little toot. Thank goodness it does not emit a real smell. In any case, he is well trained with proper manners, and excuses himself, as you can see in the video. That’s a nice lesson for little ones.
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If you leave him alone for awhile, he actually asks if anyone is there and then proceeds to sleep and snore loudly. My dog was very perturbed by this, which was quite funny. If you grow weary of his noise, dancing, or knowing glares, you can shut him off in the back with just a little switch. It is not entirely obvious, so the kids shouldn’t be able to figure it out too quickly. During this mode it is just a regular play truck without all the noise. The DVD has two little episodes, but beware, this is where the up-sell comes in, and kids are the most susceptible to up-sells. Together the episodes are 23 minutes. They are fairly well done, with characters that are similar to those in Pixar films. It shows their adventures with Stinky, and all his buddies- a sure must have after the kids have seen this. The line of Big Rig buddies are also loads of fun.
Stinky the Garbage Truck does require 4 C batteries, which he does come with. And unfortunately, you cannot let your little tot outside with this thing. Liquids, dirt, and sand will make it malfunction. So keep Stinky inside, and the tiny critters that you have spared from being munched on by Stinky will thank you. Most places are selling this toy in the $50 range. It’s a great product that offers a lot of fun and is sure to entertain your kids for a long while with its vast array of different sounds.
The Good: Reacts to movement, has a fun personality, it is even fun to play with in off mode, this is a toy with longevity
The Bad: A little pricey
