 
Hasbro FurReal Friends Squawkers McCaw Parrot
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I bought this for my 4 year old daughter for Christmas and she loves it. She brought it into show and tell for her preschool and all the kids thought it was the best thing. It is just like having a real bird except no clean up and it can be shut off!
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My 11 year old daughter requested this toy. She loves it. It is comfortable for her to pack around and still sits on its perch. She has wanted a real bird, but I didn't want the mess. This is a good substitute. It is a good electronic toy. Much easier than the "furby" requested by the older daughter years ago. It does encourage patience and reading. To really enjoy, someone MUST read the directions and understand them. Not a toy to just pick up and go with. My Daughter read the instructions and has made this a new friend.
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I'm a sucker for robotic toys. Every year it seems I buy one and pretty much every year they disappoint me. Last year I made the mistake of buying the awful 'Tekno' robotic dog and I promised myself that I wouldn't fall for another robotic toy. But this year when my daughter asked me to get Squawkers McCaw how could I refuse? Sure, I expected it to be a bust, but when a four year-old asks for a Christmas present it's hard to turn her down. Anyway, imagine my surprise when Squawkers McCaw turned out to be a hit - it's the present the whole family most enjoyed playing with this Christmas!
In terms of looks, Squawkers McCaw looks incredibly lifelike. His feathers are just fabric but it has been chosen for its realistic look, and from a few feet away people might be fooled into thinking it was a real bird. The feet, legs and wings and head are articulated and the bird moves in a very lifelike manner. He even has eyelids that blink and close when he goes to sleep.
In terms of what Squawkers McCaw can do, he doesn't walk around like some other robotic toys, but he makes up for his lack of mobility in other ways. He does play a song and dance to it - and he'll dance to any music you play for him, either songs you sing or music on the radio or CD. He responds to stroking by cooing and wriggling. He also eats a rubber cracker treat (it's sometimes fun to feed him too much, which makes him start hiccuping). Mostly though, he listens, shuffles on his perch (very realistically I might add) and speaks. He has a rather large number of pre-programmed phrases and responses. When he's switched on he will squawk random phrases every now and then if he hears activity around him. If he's left alone he will go into a 'sleep mode' and power down for a while, waking up every ten minutes to listen for activity. He is programmed to respond to certain phrases with two or three responses per phrase - so you never know which phrase he'll respond with. For example, when you ask him "Whatchya doin?" he could respond with either "Chillin!" or "Talking to you!" I find this to be a little more fun than just one response per phrase.
A really fun feature is that you can record phrases that he'll repeat and you can tie them to a number on the remote keypad. My daughter uses this a lot. Also, he will play these phrases as a part of his random phrase vocabulary, which is a neat feature. Also, you can program in a few custom phrases and responses, meaning that these responses become unique to him. In my view this level of customizability takes Squawkers McCaw beyond the realm of a mere plaything and makes him your own interactive 'pet' with a vocabulary that is unique and individual to you.
Speaking of programming in unique phrases and responses, Squawkers McCaw's voice sounds very realistic. When you set it to record phrases it actually records them in a higher-pitched 'squawky' voice rather than your own voice so you actually don't have to say the phrases in 'parrot talk' - it translates them for you. One of the best things about it is that unlike a real bird it's not too loud. It's loud enough but not so loud that it's aggravating.
My daughter has had this toy for a week and a half now and she has played with it every day since Christmas day. That's pretty good going for the kind of toy I'd usually expect her to play with for five minutes and then forget about. Not only has she played with it every day, but I think I have too. It's that charming! It's sometimes hard for me to give it up when we both want to play with Squawkers at the same time.
One minor criticism I have is that Squawkers doesn't always stay securely on his perch. When he's dancing the mechanism that attaches him to the branch can work loose. He's never actually fallen off the perch yet, but it's a possibility that people should be aware of. Fortunately the feet are articulated so that Squawkers can stand on a flat surface too. I suggest storing him on his perch when he's not switched on and perhaps standing him on a flat surface when he's in use. Although he seems fairly robust I wouldn't want to see him fall off a shelf or table.
Some reviewers have said that the bird doesn't respond well to commands. In my experience it responds very well, but it does have trouble if the room is not quiet. In a quiet room I've found that if you speak directly to him in a normal voice from two or three feet away he will respond about 90% of the time, which is pretty darn good for this type of toy. With some robotic toys I've owned I'll be lucky if they respond 20% of the time.
Another criticism I've seen from a couple of people is that the bird doesn't work at all when they first open him up and switch him on. Something that people should realise is that these toys often sit for weeks on store shelves in demo mode, and the batteries wear down quite quickly. Now I'm sure that some toys are defective - there's always a small minority that get damaged or that just don't work for some other reason - but in my opinion this toy is extremely well made and I suspect a lot of problems that people are having in this regard are from defective batteries or from the original batteries wearing out before purchase.
As other reviewers have said, if it's to be a surprise present, take the bird out of its packaging first and switch it off or remove its batteries (or just keep it somewhere well out of earshot of the gift recipient) otherwise it will give itself away.
All-in-all, Squawkers McCaw is one of the best Christmas presents I've bought for my child. It actually performs well in everything it's supposed to do. In my opinion it's a great toy and I think I enjoy playing with it just as much as my daughter does. If they release it in other colours I might even buy myself one - it's that much fun.
Rating:  -
I bought the bird for our granddaughter (7)because she has been asking her parents for a real one. She loves this toy. The way it interacts is better than the real thing and she loves teaching "Squawks" to talk. Stock up on AAA batteries. The remote takes these and until the newness wares off, you may be replacing them. Even when he is shut off, she loves to pet him and talk to him. My daughter is hoping that she will forget about the real thing.
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Absolutely hysterical! We wrapped it before Christmas and kept it in the basement. However, every time the light would come on it would start dancing, singing, talking and laughing. Oh my goodness I love this thing! Oh yeah, so do the kids...
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