I’m not sure who liked playing with the Automoblox T9 Pickup truck the most, Lil B, who is 3, The OG Kid who is 13, or the big kid, Dominick, who is 27. The boys shared and played nicely for the most part, as they switched parts with the Pickup and the OG Kid’s Compact car. Every Automoblox car you purchase allows you to customize your car more and more. Eventually, owning them all is ideal. I know the boys are already hankering for a new one.
While the Compact, which the OG Kid reviewed, has orange wheels, people and other parts, the non-wooden parts of the Pickup are green. You can, of course, mix and match these parts. That’s the whole point of Automoblox. These toys inspire creativity and help to allow boys in a family to bond with one another. I love the toys that bring my family together and this is one of the toys that does that. Even I wanted in on the fun!
Positives & Negatives:
Positives
-Sleek design
-Incredibly durable and well built
-Beautiful craftsmanship
-Easy to put together for most
-Fun to play with
-Inspires Imagination
-Great for solo or group play
-Long lasting in appeal and structure
Negatives
-Not as disability friendly as we’d hoped
-Can be easy to pinch fingers when snapping parts together
Pricing & Availability:
It’s easy to find an Automoblox vehicle if you have access to a computer. If you didn’t have access you wouldn’t be reading this article. You have three courses of action. The best choice is to go to the Automoblox website. The second choice is to search for the toys through Google or Yahoo. Put the term Automoblox in your search engine of choice and choose a store selling the toys. You can also go to Amazon and purchase the cars by looking for them. Amazon has a nice selection of these toys.
At the Automoblox website, you can mouse over the shop link. You’ll have two options, store locator and shop. The store locator lists places you can purchase the toys by U.S. state and Canadian province. Michigan has plenty of places where these can be purchased, but none within 30 minutes of where we live so it’s better for us to just shop online.
At the Automoblox online shop, you can choose from many different Automoblox cars. There are regular sized cars, which are $34.99. This includes the price of the T9 Pickup. There are special edition cars for $39.99. There are also Automoblox minis. These are available for $7.99 or in a three pack for $24.99. For as long as Automoblox should last the prices are quite reasonable for this toy!
Requirements & Instructions:
There are no special requirements or any additional items needed to play with the Automoblox T9 Pickup. The truck was put together in the sturdy box it arrived in. I recommend keeping the box for storage when your child (or big kid aka husband/partner) isn’t playing with it. The appeal of the Automoblox T9 Pickup is in the ability to mix and match the parts and build an innovative car. The cars roll smoothly and have a great look to them. The attention to detail down to the wheel rims is just perfect. It looks like a mini- wooden version of a car.
You will probably want to own at least two Automoblox because it’s more fun to mix and match. Taking apart the pieces and putting them together is fun, but the fact that other cars can be torn apart and put together with mixed up wheels, rims, connectors, front ends, hoods, back ends and even people makes this a fun and creative toy. You simply cannot have just one. You’ll soon want to collect all the Automoblox.
Durability:
These cars are strong. They are durable. Lil B is rough on his toys. He drops them. He rams them into things. He throws them around. He’s your typical three-year-old boy. He had more than one collision with the OG Kid and both of them survived the crash unscathed. The wood is beautifully finished and the toy is carved in a way you know it is meant to last.
I’d only heard of these kinds of handcrafted toys, which were made when my grandfather and even my mom were kids. People still took pride in their craftsmanship, especially with toys. The Automoblox T9 Pickup reflects this kind of craftsmanship.
The maple wood on the Automoblox was sanded with three coats of laquer put on between sanding. There is no need to worry about splintering wood. The finish is smooth and safe. It won’t scratch, tear up or dent due to the extra layers of laquer, even with hard play by rambunctious three year olds! The rims, hoods, and axles as well as other parts are molded from polycarbonate plastic. The axles are incredibly small (though they’re attached to the wood) and so are the people (which can come out of the car).
Speaking of the people, they also appear to be made of polycarbonate plastic as well as the connectors for the wooden parts of the car. The smaller pieces can pose a choking hazard for kids under three years of age. This toy is not recommended for those under the age of three for this very reason.
Ease of Use:
I watched Dom struggle with the parts on this toy. He has trouble with most building blocks. With a progressive muscle disease, SMA, he needs assistance playing with this kind of toy. While he could pull the pieces apart sometimes and putting the pieces together was easy, he struggled at times. This toy can be played with by those with disabilities, but independent play may not be attainable. It may be more frustrating for a child with a disability if he or she doesn’t have a parent or sibling helping him/her when they play with the Automoblox T9 Pickup.
Dom managed to pinch one of his fingers when putting the pieces together. While I don’t see this as something that happens often, I can imagine it can happen and will sting little fingers. Care should be taken when snapping pieces in place. This is one of the few, minor problems we noticed, but it isn’t enough of a big deal to not make us want to play and/or recommend this toy.
Fun Factor & Overall Appeal:
Even with the minor flaws that Dom experienced, the boys had fun playing with the Automoblox T9 Pickup and the Automoblox A9 Compact. It’s a great toy that allows the family to bond and build together in a fun environment. The overall appeal of the Automoblox T9 Pickup comes from the fact that this toy is going to last forever. The quality is amazing and the fun factor is neverending. I can see many more Saturday afternoons spent with the boys playing with their Automoblox and it definitely beats a day of watching television or spent apart.
Bottom Line:
The Automoblox T9 Pickup brought my family together. We had fun putting the pieces together and then driving the cars around. I don’t care if you have kids or not. This toy is a touch of nostalgia that every person needs to own. This is the car you’d always wished you had owned when you were a kid. This is one of our editor’s choice toys and comes highly recommended! Purchase the Automoblox T9 Pickup and all of the Automoblox cars while you can!
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Technorati Tags: Automoblox, T9 Pickup, building toys, build a car, car toy, adult toy, wooden car, blocks
Written by Ashtyn Evans - Visit Website
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Ashtyn lives in her home state of Michigan with her life partner, Dominick, her 14 year old son, and her baby, the Shih-Tzu, Oliver Twist. Ashtyn is in college, going for a degree in Psychology. She plans to get her Ph.D and work as a therapist in the field of human sexuality. Ashtyn is an experienced and talented chef. She also excels at writing and has worked as a professional writer for the past five years. Ashtyn enjoys spending time with her son and four year old nephew, watching movies, listening to music, and writing works of fiction.
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