"Recommended by one out of four nieces and nephews! Oh, who am I kidding; even for $10, you can buy a far better toy."

---from the review

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It's easy to be jaded with a $10 robot, after buying a more expensive toy that does so much more. That in mind, as much as I tried to keep a very open mind when giving some Tekno Dinkie Robot toys to my niece and three nephews --getting a few "expert opinions" for this review-- memories of Kasey the Kinderbot were still strong. Mind you, the kids were not as jaded in their opinion, since they did not see Kasey until the holidays (as a gift). Were they any more impressed with the little Dinkie 'bots? Let's put it this way; only one of them even bothered to take theirs home after testing it. "Thumbs down"...? For three of them it was!

Not that I am any stranger to robots of this type, that act as cyber-"pets". Following a long line of such faux pets, these robots need constant attention. They need to be "fed," cared for when "sick," and so on, or they'll "die." They have a built-in microphone, so you must talk to them too, or else they'll "cry." They even sneeze on occasion, and for half a minute before going to sleep, they snore. An LCD screen, as their face, shows you when they're happy, sad, sleepy, or sick, with an additional light that blinks when they're "talking" in their robo-gibberish. Sounds cute so far, eh? Well, that's what I thought too...in the store...

Upon coming home and pulling out the "demonstration tab" (to activate the full product's features), the truth sets in. The bottom line is: these little robots have no "off" switch. Getting them to "go to sleep" and shut off is almost as complex as those Furbies from a few years back; a toy which forced me to, inevitably, just take the batteries out of the thing. This toy is too small to take the batteries out easily, being a watch-battery product, and all. I'd throw the robots out, though removing the batteries first would make it an ordeal, or else what would the garbage men think, if suddenly my garbage bags for that week were crying for attention?!? There is also a slight empathy felt for a toy that acts like a baby and needs to be fed/talked to. In other words: I'll actually feel guilty throwing them out. What fun, eh?

To make matters worse; this is one of those deals where the toy doesn't work perfectly without the full "family" set of six: The mother, the father, the dog, a boy, a girl, and a baby. With the family, the toys will mostly talk amongst themselves and leave you alone (aside from the beeping of course). With just one, you need to "take care" of your toy...endlessly. Given that buying multiple 'bots ups the price to 20-60 bucks, let's be frank; there are many far superior toys out there for that higher price bracket. In case you wondered: no, simply putting one 'bot in front of a TV set doesn't work...probably because the computer chip recognizes a constantly-noisy TV from a human, or another 'bot. That begs the question though: if the 'bot doesn't respond to a TV because it's constantly noisy, then why can't the 'bot cut you some slack, and let you stop talking for a few minutes...?

I'd talk about the alternate "modes" of this toy that are supposed to play simple games and what-not, though it's difficult to keep track of what mode is which when pressing the tiny "mode" button, and if an adult finds it hard, most kids will likely find it even harder. There's also only one front action button on the thing, so you can imagine what "games" are possible. This one paragraph is for anyone who would send me letters asking "what about the games I read about on the box?" Simply put; these games aren't worth your time.

As a parting thought, perhaps this would've been a cute toy if at the bare minimum it shut off eventually, only it turned on when you wanted to. Nope; the thing has a built in clock, so it will turn on automatically, every day! The lesson to be learned: every toy needs an OFF switch. Without one, the child or parent will just have to discover a means to "off" the toy ourselves...and it's not pretty. One simple off switch, and this would've been an amusing enough mini-robot to recommend for $10; as-is, it's a whiney toy...and who wants one of those?

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