Tickle Me Elmo Extreme

A few days ago, my 2 year old daughter got a "TMX: Tickle Me Elmo Extreme" from her grandparents for Christmas.

Trying to get it out of the box was very annoying. They have placed a little speaker that constantly reminds you that "Elmo is ticklish in here". I think the headache started at that point.

When Elmo finally emerges from the box, he is about a little over a foot high and has some rather large feet (you know what they say about Muppets with large feet?) to hold the six AA batteries.

Compared with the other presents that required "some assembly", Elmo was a breeze.

All that was left was to tickle him.

Then something surprising happened. Elmo really started to impress me. Not from a stupid red doll standpoint, but from an engineering standpoint. Whoever designed this thing was doing some really advanced robotics. Elmo can pretty much fall on the floor and then get up from practically any position. It even tries two times if it doesn't make it on the first attempt.

I do question how much children are going to like this. They really can't carry Elmo around because he is very heavy for them as well as "anti-soft". I could almost compare TMX to a Big Mouth Billy Bass, fun to watch, but not a very good toy.

I'm guessing that the novelty will soon wear off and we will be looking at Elmo in a closet every year when we are searching for Christmas ornaments.

Until then, I'm enjoying him....tickle on.....

Here is a link to a YouTube Video showing TMX in action. I like the dog.