About.com Rating

Rocky the Robot Truck had me laughing before I got him out of the box. The "try me" mode says, "Hey! This store is lonely! Take me home!" It's a good thing he was amusing because it took me several minutes to get all the twist ties undone, but untangling the packaging was worth it. My 4-year-old son is in love.

Rocky is a dump truck with personality. He's sitting on my desk while I'm writing and I guess he got impatient.

He started snoring loudly, complete with rocking up and down, to make a point. He talks, dances, does pushups, cracks jokes and does all the work you'd expect a dump truck to do. His vocabulary is irreverent (like, "Shake what yo momma gave ya") but not too gross. At one point he said, "I think something's stuck in my tailpipe." Then there was a flatulence sound and he said, "That didn't sound right!" Generally this kind of humor is my limit, and I wish he'd said, "Excuse me!" but my son thinks he's hilarious. I also haven't heard any of the grammatical errors that plague many talking toys.

Rocky really seems alive because his lights flash, his voice reacts, and he stands up and looks around when he hears a noise. His designers used a lot of small details to give him a funny personality.

Rocky Doesn't Want to Get Messy

Because of the electronics required to make Rocky do all his cool tricks, kids can't load him up with sand or dirt and they can't get him wet. That's kind of a bummer and it's hard to explain to a kid.

I told my son that Rocky's just an indoor truck, and I think he understood.

He's pretty tough, too. When my son grabbed Rocky by the smokestack and flung him left and right, Rocky yelled, "WHOOOOAAAAAAA-OH-OH!" He survived this beating unscathed.

He Moves on Kid Power

Though every other part of Rocky is fully motorized, his wheels are not. Kids must push him forward and backward, then he says, "And we're off!" or "Back it up!"

He knows when there's a load on board and he dumps manually, at the press of a button, or even with voice commands. Rocky says, "Make some noise if you want me to dump!" Clap your hands or shout out loud and he dumps his load.

The Bottom Line

Because of his funny personality and his many party tricks, Rocky is a great choice for kids who like trucks.

Pros

Rocky is really funny and my son is attached to him. His personality is quirky and not too gross. He is very animated and does so many things that he keeps kids entertained for a long time.

Cons

Purists may find Rocky too noisy, especially because there is no volume control. He can't get wet or dirty.

Ages

3+