Minion MiP Turbo Dave

Any fan of the Despicable Me movies has dreamed about having their own troop of zany yellow creatures to serve them just like Gru does.  Now you can bring home your very own Minion courtesy of WowWee.  Some of my daughters favorite toys including CHiP the Robot Dog, Fingerlings, and MiPosaur have been manufactured by WowWee with the Minion MiP Turbo Dave Balancing Robot recently joining that list.

Minion MiP Turbo Dave brings one of the wacky minions characters from the Despicable Me movies to life in your own home.  The toy incorporates a number of high tech features that provide for fun interactive experiences allowing your new loyal henchman to carry out all sorts of mischievous schemes for you.  Accelerometers & gyroscopes allow your Turbo Dave to balance itself up right and whip around a room really fast while also allowing the robot to sense when it is being picked up.  Capacitive sensor technology allows a Minion MiP to respond to being touched.  Its sound detection system allows the robot to react to noises in its environment. Plus GestureSense allows your WowWee robot to respond to gesture-based interactions like swipes, claps, touch and more.  So you can have lots of fun playing with Minion MiP Turbo Dave without the need of a remote control device!

Expanding upon the controllability of Minion MiP Turbo Dave there is also a free downloadable app for Android and Apple mobile devices and phones that allows the robot to be controlled via Bluetooth.  There are a variety of games, like Fart Battle, you can play with Turbo Dave accessible through the app.  The Minion MiP also has more than 140 sound effects taken from the Despicable Me and Minions movie soundtracks which are a hoot to hear!  Additionally the app has a coding option within it that provides a STEM learning aspect to the toy by helping teaching kids, or adults, how to program the robot themselves.

There is a whole lot to discover about Minion MiP Turbo Dave and exploring all its abilities and options is exciting.  Being able to interact and control Turbo Dave both through an app as well as by gestures, sound and touch really enhances the fun of its interactive capabilities. This toy has been very entertaining and everyone in our family has enjoyed playing around with it!  It is recommended for ages 8+ and requires 4 AAA sized alkaline batteries that are not included with the toy.  The batteries are the one negative aspect of the Minion MiP as it would have been nice to have a plug in rechargeable battery for all the use the toy gets from our family.  Of course on the flip side of that critique is we've also like the product enough to be using it a lot.

To get some inspiration for the antics and adventures we wanted to engage in with our new WowWee toy, we watched MINIONS on Movies Anywhere before playing with it.  Movies Anywhere simplifies your digital video collection by providing access in one place to movies from multiple studios purchased or redeemed through a variety of retailers.  Redeem digital copy codes found in eligible Blu-ray and DVD disc packages from participating studios or purchase a digital download of a movie directly from the Movies Anywhere app or website.   Stream a movie to your television for a family movie night or download a film to watch by yourself on a mobile device.  Watch your movie collection whenever and wherever you want with Movies Anywhere.

Bello!!! Who is in the mood to watch MINIONS now?  A Geek Daddy has a digital download code for MINIONS courtesy of Movies Anywhere to give away.  For a chance to win simply complete the entries within the rafflecopter form below before 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, December 17, 2017.  One lucky winner will be randomly selected from all eligible entries.  Must be a United States resident over 18 years old to participate.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A special shout out to Costume SuperCenter who provided the costumes that allowed us to get into character for this post.  Costume Super Center has a great selection of costumes for both kids and adults to choose from.  Looking for a Santa suit for a Christmas party, a Jedi robe to go see Star Wars Episode VII in, or some Minions inspired outfits to add some fun to a family movie night party?  A Geek Daddy gives CostumeSuperCenter.com a thumbs up for affordable prices, quality products, and dependable delivery of your purchases right to your front door in a timely manner.  Costume Super Center can provide extra fun to any occasion!

WowWee MiPosaur

 ** A Geek Daddy was provided the featured product for free **

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween this year.  Halloween is always such a fantastic time for our family with all the spooky fun that it involves but it also has us having to be very cautious with all the treats that are passed around because our children suffer from life threatening food allergies to peanuts and tree nuts.  We didn't want to exclude our kids from the thrill of trick-or-treating, especially with that being an exciting event that all their classmates participate in, but did set some important ground rules.  No touching or eating their candy until they return home and my wife or I have screened what they've been given.  Since 80% of the candy they normally receive is dangerous because of ingredient or production contamination issues, we have an annual tradition of our kids trading in their trick-or-treat candy for a special toy surprise they have been wanting.  This year's Halloween special surprise was a WowWee MiPosaur - a robotic pet dinosaur kids can dance with, that will play fetch with them, and can be taken for walks with an electronic leash.

The MiPosaur is equipped with GestureSense™ Technology that allows you to control the movements of your pet robot with the swipe of a hand.  Your MiPosaur will respond to 10 different hand commands ranging from moving right or left following your gestures to acting frightened if you cover its eyes.  Yank its tail though and you'll see an aggressive side as it rolls around to chase you down.  Push your hands toward it and the MiPosuar will sit back and the clap of your hands will have it pop back up on its feet.

There is also an app that you can download for free as part of your purchase price of this toy.  The app will let you drive the MiPosaur around like a remote control car, play BattleMode games where you can challenge another MiPosaur or a WowWee MiP robot in gladiatorial combat, or feed your dinosaur different variations of food to alter its mood.  The MiPosaur's mood will change in relationship to how you interact with it either being curious, excited, and annoyed.  It will react differently to commands from gestures, the app and the included TrackBall depending on what it's mood is.  Here's a tip, Fetch likes to be petted and given snacks after it follows a command or does a trick to keep it curious and excited.

My kids favorite way to interact with their MiPosaur, which they have names "Fetch" is to use the TrackBall.  Your robotic dinosaur will follow commands from how you move the TrackBall around and which of its 6 mode settings it is set on.  My children really like to play fetch with their MiPosaur which is "Ball Mode"-- roll the TrackBall around a room and the robotic dinosaur will chase after it.  "Leash Mode" is also really fun which when activated will have your MiPosaur follow you around as if you were taking it for a walk on a leash.



My daughter just loves though more than anything else dancing with Fetch in "Dance Mode".  MiPosaur really has some great speakers projecting sound effects and music.  The music my daughter and Fetch are dancing to in this video is being emitted from the toy.



Other play modes you can set on the TrackBall include "TeddyBear Mode" where the ball becomes the robot's favorite toy, "Food Mode" where you can reward your MiPosaur with a treat to keep it in a positive mood, and "BeatBox Mode" where when it gets close to the TrackBall the dinosaur will begin to beat box. To change the modes on the TrackBall you just spin this dial on it around to the corresponding labels to activate.

My kids have really enjoyed playing with Fetch so this toy absolutely gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval because of its fun factor and also because we haven't had any technical difficulties with it.  Every parent knows electronic toys can really be hit or miss on how well they work and hold up to child play.  MiPosaur has performed extraordinarily well from our family's experience.

The only knock on the product is that it requires 4 AA batteries for the robotic dinosaur and 4 AAA batteries for the TrackBall which needed to be replaced after a couple days of intensive play.  A nice feature though is that the app does show you a power meter for your batteries so you know exactly how much of a charge you have left with the toy's batteries.  Before buying you should also know this is an "indoor only" toy not because of durability but rather due to the sensor technology used by the toy.  The impressive interaction abilities and treats that WowWee's sensors provide though more than makes up for the lack of being able to play outside with this toy. We also found that MiPosaur worked equally well on carpet, tile and hard wood floors.

For more information, visit WowWee.com/MiPosaur.