After firing his cannon Smokey will prompt kids to reload, telling them he’s thirsty. Smokey The Fire Truck also sings, dances and offers several other light and sound actions.

Smokey will be available this fall for a suggested $59.99.

Rocky runs on four C batteries and is designed for kids 3 and up. To get started, swap out the demo batteries, put him in play mode and you’re set.

Right away, kids can push and pull Rocky, just like any other dump truck. But when then do, they’ll get lights and sounds that are action appropriate. Pushing Rocky for instance will get grumbling noises and commentary like “And we’re off.” Push him backward and you’ll hear the familiar backing up beeps large trucks make, along with statements like “Clear the rear.”

Of course since Rocky is a dump truck, kids will fill his bed with all sorts of things to transport. There’s a sensor in the bed that weighs the load and has Rocky give appropriate responses like “This is an easy one” or “Whoa, that’s heavy!” Kids can go old school and lift his bed to dump the load or pull back on the smokestack for an automated option. Rocky will then drop the load on his own, or sometimes he’ll ask the kids to make some noise to get him to drop the load. In this case kids have to shout to get Rocky going.

One of Rocky’s favorite activities is talking. By his own account he says “Zillions of things,” but our tally is closer to dozens. Either way, pushing the red button on his smokestack will get him started. In truck mode, the button cycles through his varying statements. When Rocky is upright the button presses get him dancing, sometimes asking kids to make some noise to get him motivated.

Rocky’s not a machine though, well he is, but at times the guy still needs a rest. If Rocky isn’t played with for several minutes he’ll go into sleep mode. Sometimes he goes quietly, but other times he’ll take a nap accompanied by snores, heavy breathing and the requisite robotic movements before shutting off. The only thing that got our test kids laughing more is when Rocky makes an occasional toot – not the horn though – more like a toot out of the tailpipe.

Rocky is well-built, something we often worry about with robotic devices, especially those targeted toward such a young age group. We had kids pound on Rocky pretty well and he’s no worse for the wear. Rocky is an indoor toy though, water, sand and dirt will foul his motors and put a premature end to his functionality.

Speaking of age group, Rocky is targeted to kids 3 and older. But that’s just a starting point. We were surprised to see kids much older enjoying Rocky, probably because of the personality. Matchbox did a very good job of making sure the statements and sounds were fun, and more important, not repetitive. Sure, his vocabulary is limited, but he does many different dances and has several options for when he’s pressed into action, like being pushed forward or dumping a load.

Rocky the Robot Truck runs $59.99 at retail and is available now. If you splurge on one higher-end kids toy for a birthday or Holiday present, we can’t help but to glowingly recommend Rocky. Top to bottom everything is well conceived, we’re pretty impressed given it’s a first effort. There’s no doubt Rocky will top many wish lists this year and parents should feel good about the purchase.

Editor’s Rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars – Editor’s Choice

Our friends at Mattel have starting pitching the release of the Holiday line, the first of which we expect to see is Rocky the Robot Truck. The Fisher Price line of TV games, including the much anticipated update to the Smart Cycle are expected shortly thereafter. And thanks to Amazon, we even have a tentative release date and price for the mind-bending Mattel Mindflex Game, it’s slated for October 1st and $99.99. It’s hard to start thinking about Holiday shopping already, but the new gear is almost upon us and we’ll be doing our best to stay ahead of it with extensive product reviews and coverage.

Update 10/1/09- Rocky The Robot Truck Review Posted

Kids are going to love Rocky, in our short time with him, we came away impressed with his functionality and personality. Of course he works like a standard dump truck and while robotic, is still very durable. But work his exhaust pipe and the interactive Rocky comes to life. Rocky stands up, squats, shakes, tells jokes and even dances. Kids will be greeted with statements like, “Shake what your mama gave you!” as Rocky the Robot Truck wiggles and jiggles to his own music.

He has 99 other phrases and several motorized movements and positions, his headlights even blink as he talks. Rocky can also sense the weight of a load in the back and will dump it for the full dump truck experience. And when the day is done, Rocky goes to sleep, squatting down into his tires, snoring loudly. The pre-production unit that we saw was very sharp and will definitely make a lot of wish lists this year.

Rocky the Robot Truck is suggested for kids 3+ and is scheduled for release this June for a retail price of $59.99.

Update 10/1/09- Rocky The Robot Truck Review Posted