How to Train Your Dragon's Toothless is a hungry dragon, and the new Tame and Train Interactive Toothless announced by toy maker Spin Master on Tuesday is no different. You'll earn its trust partly by letting him have his munchies.
The $50 animatronic is based on how Toothless looks in the live action film that came out this year. Once you've unboxed and powered him on, the dragon will constantly growl while showing red eyes. As you play with Toothless -- petting the toy's head, holding his stomach and flying him around in the air or feeding him his fish using the IR sensors by his "nose" -- Toothless's eyes will start glowing green to show he likes you.
These interactions trigger based on sensors throughout the toy, and Toothless will also make various growls and roars. Feeding this dragon is a two-step process: You first bring the fish to his nose, so he sniffs, and then you need to quickly put the fish in mouth before it closes up. When I didn't get the fish inside, the dragon's eyes turned red (I imagine he's hungry and angry that I "teased" him). When I got it inside, the eyes turned green, Toothless made a chewing sound and then burped the fish out.
Toothless will initially have his wings folded up. He'll unfold them like this when he "trusts" you.
Mike Sorrentino/CNETYou'll know Toothless has really grown to like you when his wings unfold. This happened to take place during my colleague Tara Brown's unboxing of the Tame and Train Toothless, right as she was preparing to have the toy "fly" around our studio.
It doesn't take too much playtime to get Toothless to trust you. A Spin Master rep said that you can reset the dragon if you want to relive that moment.
The Tame and Train Interactive Toothless goes on sale Tuesday at Amazon, and will come to other retailers like Target and Walmart on Aug. 1.
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