Mum-of-one Stephanie tested this Minion Ultimate Fart Blaster with her six-year-old son. Here, she shares her thoughts on whether you should add this to your child's toy collection.
Whether you're looking for a birthday pressie or one of the top Christmas toys for a child in your life, it can be difficult to know what's worth your money. Fortunately, that's where we step in. Here at GoodtoKnow, we test new and popular toys with the help of mini toy testers to help you spend your money wisely.
This time, we roped in mum Stephanie to test the Despicable Me 4 Ultimate Fart Blaster toy, with the help of her son, Ted. The fart blaster not only offers 15 different fart sounds that kids will absolutely adore, but it can also blast scented fog rings and can project a Minion image for kids to aim at. Each blaster comes with two different scents - stinky and banana.
Packaging and set up
The blaster is easily removed from its cardboard packaging, which will be a relief for parents who have an eager child standing right buy waiting to get their hands on it. You will need six AAA batteries, and these aren't included, so if you plan on buying this as a gift for a child outside of your immediate family, it's worth including a pack of batteries in with the wrapping.
In the box, you get the fart blaster toy, plus two bottles of scent liquid - one smells like banana, while the other is the ominous 'stinky' smell (although our tester found it wasn't as bad as she anticipated and smelled like burnt popcorn).
What's the play experience like?
Stephanie explained that her son enjoyed playing with the Fart Blaster, saying that Ted giggled his way through the experience as it spoke to the appeal of toilet humour and gross things with kids of this age.
"You pour the liquid into the hole on the side, press the black button and it starts the smoke coming out of the front, then press the grey button that sounds and makes the smoke blow into circles which made Ted giggle."
When it came to the scents the toy emitted, Stephanie was initially concerned. "It’s not as bad as I first thought. You pick from ‘stinky smell’ or banana scent. The stinky one is like burnt popcorn. It lingers for a few minutes but does disappear quite quickly. Fair warning though, you will have the machine thrust into your face so your child can make sure they ‘stink you,’ and the heat and smell that close to your nostrils are… well, a lot." So you might need to lay some ground rules beforehand. The blaster also emits a range of sound effects that Ted enjoyed, from fart noises, laughter and the iconic Minion chatter.
While Ted managed to operate the blaster without too much help, adult supervision is definitely required when it comes to pouring the scent liquid into the chamber. Stephanie explains: "The trickiest bit for the adult was pouring the liquid into the hole. If you spill it, it’s oil-like and makes the handle very slippy."
Speaking of the handle, Stephanie also found that "the pushing of the buttons on the handle seemed good for pincer grip too," but "they were quite clunky and hard for him to grip."
Does the Fart Blaster offer good value for money?
While Ted definitely enjoyed playing with the blaster, with an RRP of £30, Stephanie feels that it's expensive for what it is, largely because of the fact that the scent bottles are quite small and run out quickly: "The bottles that come with it to create the smoke and smell don’t have much in them, and I’m not sure what you could replace them with - it’s not like refilling bubbles with washing-up liquid."
Once the liquids have run out, we have spotted a seller on Etsy selling refills, but these are an ongoing cost, which again affects the toys value for money. Plus these unofficial refills are not available at major toy stores or on Amazon.
However, even if the liquid runs out, the sound effects and Minion connection offers a good opportunity for a child to use their creativity and engage in some imaginative play using the toy itself and sound effects alone.
For more toy reviews, check out our thoughts on the Really Real Puppy from Little Live Pets, the De'longhi coffee machine toy and this Pati School crafting set.
