Matchbox Smokey The Fire Truck

by Mattel

Product Features

• Smokey is a real working fire truck brought to life
• This interactive buddy talks, tells jokes, eats, exercises and sings
• Smokey is a freewheeling friend is complete with movable hoses that spray water mist
• Features expandable ladders and sensors that respond to the child's movements
• Kids will love interacting with their new friend

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13 x 8.5 x 13.5 inches ; 6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B004U53AA8
• Item model number: T9036
• Manufacturer recommended age: 36 months - 7 years
• Batteries: 4 Nonstandard Battery batteries required. (included)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #1 in Toys & Games > Preschool > Pre-Kindergarten Toys > Activity > Cars, Trucks, Boats & Planes
  • #1 in Toys & Games > Play Vehicles > Play Vehicles
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Get ready for hours of imaginative fun with Smokey the Fire Truck from Matchbox. With his ability to speak, sing, dance, and launch "water" balls, Smokey is a playmate that really interacts with your child during play. Whether putting out a fire together or learning a new song-and-dance routine, Smokey and your child will form a fun friendship and be ready for anything together.

Smokey the Fire Truck

• Ages: Three and up
• Requires: four C batteries (included); Phillips-head screwdriver to replace batteries

At a Glance:

• Sensors allow for motorized interactive play
• Multiple modes stimulate imaginative play
• Opportunities for teamwork when fighting fires
• Batteries included

Realistic details and large, sturdy tires. View larger.

Shoots the cannon to help Smokey put out "fires". View larger.

Two Smart Truck Modes for Multiple Interactions

Smokey has multiple modes for different kinds of interactions. Depending on his positioning, Smokey can operate in one of two main modes--character mode or truck mode. Smokey is in character mode when he is half or fully upright, and says phrases such as, "Smokey here! Reporting for duty!" When Smokey is on all six wheels, he is in truck mode and can be pushed forward and pulled backward to activate lights and sounds.

Using motion sensors and sound activation, Smokey is always on alert. He knows how to say over 95 phrases and can sing 4 different songs. He won't sing every time, so keep raising and lowering him if you really want to hear him. Though he's always ready to play, Smokey will fall asleep if you leave him alone long enough. Press his lights or push him around to wake him up again!

Use Teamwork to Fight Fires

When he's in water cannon mode, Smokey is ready for teamwork. When he's ready to be a firefighter, he needs your help, and will say, "Load me up, chief!" Load the included "water" balls into the chute and use the lever to launch them at the fire. When you hit the fire, Smokey will say things like, "Good shot!"

Our testers had fun engaging all of Smokey's imaginative modes and sayings. With all the things he knows, Smokey is a smart, interactive buddy!

Smokey requires four C batteries (included) to stay active.

What's in the Box

Assembled toy, "water" balls, four C batteries, and instructions for use.

Product Description

Joining Rocky the Robot Truck and Stinky the Garbage Truck is Smokey The Fire Truck. Smokey is a freewheeling friend with movable hoses that spray water mist and expandable ladders and sensors that respond to a child's movements. Smokey is a real working fire truck brought to life. This interactive buddy talks, tells jokes, eats, exercises and sings. Kids will love interacting with their new friend.

• Product Dimensions: 13 (L) x 8.5 (W) x 13.5 (H)
• Age: 3 to 7 years

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The strangest fire truck I've ever owned!, September 27, 2011

By 

M. Kelley "mpkelley20" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Matchbox Smokey The Fire Truck (Toy)

(What's this?)

Smokey the Fire Truck in one of the strangest toys I have ever received for my two young boys. My Father is a retired Captain from the Boston Fire Department so I basically love anything to do with fire trucks since I grew up around them.

Matchbox has clearly designed a toy that goes beyond the basics of a regular fire truck that kids usually play with. The closest way to describe this toy is a cross between a tonka style truck, a transfomer toy and talking robot type toy. In its simplest form, Smokey can be used as a regular fire truck and can be pushed around a room like a standard truck toy. In this stage, Smokey's personality will still be in full force as it will sing, make jokes,and do about 100 other things with its built in recordings. The one item that my kids were laughing so hard is watching Smokey's mouth move while he talks. It is quite funny.

From here, Smokey can be turned into what Matchbox calls "character mode". Using a handle on the side (and some force...which I will discuss in a moment), the frot two wheels will come up and Smokey will turn into a more interactive style robot. The sayings and actions are about the same when its in truck mode but watching the wheels move around like hands is quite a sight!

The one part of this toy that got the most use is the fire hose. the toy comes with 3 balls that fit into a chute. There is a little handle that you crank and the balls shoot out of the water cannon. The handle takes a bit to crank but my 4 and a half year old was able to do it without any issues.

This is a very fun toy and has a lot of features that should keep little ones playing for hours. However, there are a few things that didn't work as advertised.

1. Transforming Smokey between truck mode and character mode is not as simple as pulling on the handle. the one I have requires some siginifcant force to get the front section to open and close. using the handle only gets it to move to a certain point and then it is all about force. Unless I am doing something wrong, this will be tough for little ones to do on their own.

2. The directions stink! The directions only show pictures rather than words. If I am doing something wrong in the opening and closing part, I wouldn't know as the pictures are lacking in what is supposed to be done.

3. The water cannon has some issues with either no balls being shot out or 2 coming out at the same time. The cannon has to be at a very specific angle to get the balls to load properly to shoot. Not a huge deal, but worth noting

I'm pretty sure that Smokey will become one of those cute toys that adults will start to hate after a while as the kids continue to play with it. Even with the amount of different sayings it has, the voice itself can get annoying! But the kids love it!

If anyone else can give me some tips on the opening and closing method, please post up. Like I said, I must be doing it wrong, dealing with a defective unit or it is just that difficult to open and close.

***edit***

Thanks to Krista's comment, I found the little tab that has to be removed in order to get Smokey to open and close easier. The tab did not have a directions sticker on it and it is not included in the main directions so it was easily missed by me.

Both my kids still enjoy playing with Smokey after several weeks now. And yes, the voice does get annoying after a while! LOL!!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You Will Hate It, Kids Will Love It, October 7, 2011

By 

Nerd Alert (USA) - See all my reviews

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Matchbox Smokey The Fire Truck (Toy)

(What's this?)

Please, Smokey, stop talking...

Smokey seems to have boundless energy. Whether he is in traditional fire truck form or standing up like an Autobot, he always has something boisterous on his plastic lips. He is like a crazy uncle to play with your children, and hopefully keep them entertained. Hearing his constant flow of sound may drive you crazy, but your children may just love it. Additionally, he shoots balls! Chances are that these will be aimed directly at you, but no worries -- it will only be a flesh wound. They shoot with a satisfying click and will help smaller toddlers learn manual dexterity. I'm sure many children will set up targets to shoot down as well and pretend (let's hope) that they are putting out fires.

Smokey moves his tire arms, sings, and has plenty to say. If you have a child in that age of loving this sort of persistent stimulation, this would be a fun interactive toy to consider.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cool at first, but not a lot of staying power, October 19, 2011

By 

B. Edwards - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Matchbox Smokey The Fire Truck (Toy)

(What's this?)

Initially this toy has a lot of "wow" factor going on, primarily due to the fact that the grill of the truck moves like a mouth in sync with its (incessant) talking.

But this is not one of those toys that your kid will play with for long periods of time (YMMV of course, depending on your kid), like Legos, or matchbox cars, or Lincoln logs. It's more of a stand alone toy that you watch and listen to rather than something to really interact with.

PROS:
- initially very cool to see the robotics technology implemented
- design is cool, looks good, I like the three wheels
- I actually like the concept of the "water" gun since it's got plenty of shooting power, but harmless due to very soft ball

CONS:
- Freaking packaging is HORRIFIC, maybe some of the worst I have seen. You better have some serious cutting tools to get this guy out of his cardboard jail.
- After a while, the style of the toy's voice (very macho, talk-show host/movie trailer, over the top voice) is just grating and annoying.
- This is kind of a nit, but the noise of the various joints moving often makes it hard to understand what is being said (not necessarily a bad thing if you don't think fart jokes are funny! You hear a kind of mechanical whir every time a movement is made, which is at a pitch that seems to be at least as loud as the voice itself.
- the water cannon works about 50% of the time. Not a huge deal, because if you keep pumping, it will eventually shoot the ball out, but I doubt it was designed to do that, and if so, why? I see some others complaining about the same thing, so it's not just a problem with my particular unit apparently.
- You need some strength to move the truck from "truck" position to "standing" position (and back). Not sure younger kids will be able to do this very easily.

Ultimately, the toy is more flash in the pan than actual interactive fun. If you wanted to play "trucks/cars", I think you would likely pick up a Tonka, or a "real" Matchbox, or something built mostly for rolling, rather than this kind of gimmicky toy.

Not as bad as it probably comes across in my review, but in this day and age of some fantastic toys, it's competing against some serious competition and comes up a bit short.