Dave's Transformers Rant: T.E.C.H. Wave 1

     Digital Dagger
     Quick Bow (not reviewed)

     Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/TECH1

     Transformers Electronic Combat Hardware is like Real Gear's less
interesting cousin, "real sized" gear that turns into roleplay weapons.  I
was originally going to pass on this entire first wave, but a friend was
having so much fun with her Digital Dagger I decided to grab one.  The line
seems to be trying to shoot for the upper end of the toy-buying kid range,
using the "looks like a real phone/PDA/etc" aspect to draw buyers.


CAPSULE

     Digital Dagger: Big phone that turns into a little energy dagger.  Nice
electronics, but I don't really see this appealing to someone whose main
interest in Transformers is the robot stuff.  Neutral.  $12.99 at Target
($12.88 at Wal-Mart).
     Quick Bow: Really big and chunky PDA that turns into a weird-looking
miniature crossbow, firing the stylus as a missile.  I passed on this one.
$12.99 at Target.


RANTS

     Packaging: These are on blister cards shaped like the Deluxe toys, but
not quite the same size, and not the same trade dress.  The card is 12"
(30cm) tall and 9" (23cm) wide, with roughly the same blister shape as on
Deluxe.  However, instead of the mechanical pupil design behind the toy,
there's a yellow crosshairs on a red background.  The "swoop" piece has the
TECH acronym spelled out.  In the lower left of the blister front is a black
and yellow drawing of a tween in semifashionable clothing holding a photo of
the "normal" mode of the toy thrust forward while smiling.  Along the bottom
front is the name of the toy, its altmode, and "MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE".
For instance, on Digital Dagger, it reads "DISGUISES AS A CELL PHONE!" with a
little note underneath that saying, "Not a working cell phone".  In the lower
right is a bullseye (molded over the card printing) and arrow pointing out
the Try Me button slot, and a small indicator that 2 AAA batteries are
included. 
     The toys are packaged in weapon mode. Pressing the Try Me button cycles
through the toy's sound effects and flashing lights.  On Digital Dagger, you
get a G1 transforming sound, a zapping energy effect, and a goofy ringtone
version of the G1 TF theme song.  
     The left panel repeats the kid image, as does the back of the card.
There's a couple of call-outs pointing to the pictures of both modes, and an
arrow cycle logo with "CELL PHONE TO DAGGER!" or whatever else as
appropriate.  The other toy in the wave is shown in a co-sell in the lower
right.  There's also a repeat of "Not a working cell phone."  They're listed
as Level 1 "Easy Conversion" toys.
     There's no individual techspecs or bio note on the cardback, just the
name followed by a line-wide description:

     "Hidden among us, alien machines of incredible power fight their ancient
battle for the AllSpark.  They are...THE TRANSFORMERS!  Now you can join the
battle for the AllSpark with these amazing TRANSFORMERS T.E.C.H. weapons!
Your robotic allies have created an array of powerful weapons disguised as
every day [sic] objects.  Whether you want to protect the universe like the
AUTOBOTS, or conquer it alongside the DECEPTICONS, you're ready for battle on
a moment's notice with this fast-changing battle gear!"

     I'll note that there's no faction symboles on the toys, or indications
that any of them are faction-specific, aside from the screen images.  Both
Quick Bow and Digital Dagger have Optimus Prime on their false screens, but I
suppose you could be texting Prime to annoy him.  "IM IN UR BASE, STEALIN UR
ENERGONZ!" annat.
     These come with the Ultimate Bumblebee-edition catalog.  The
instructions booklet is grayscale with red, and are fairly straightforward,
including a few troubleshooting points.  The instructions also make it clear
that "Try Me" is a separate mode, much like the Voice Changer helmet.
     No twist-ties.  Instead, we get the H-shaped hooks and rubber bands as
with the Star Wars TFs.


TECH: DIGITAL DAGGER
Altmode: Cellphone

     Cellphone Mode: In order to be even a remotely useful size as a dagger,
this has to be a pretty big phone.  5.5" (14cm) long, 2.5" (6cm) wide and
just under an inch (2.5cm) thick.
     Most of the phone is a dark gunmetal plastic with metal swirls in it.
The border along the upper right and upper left is made of black plastic,
with some neon green plastic visible at the very top.  And yes, the neon
green glows really brightly under UV.  There's some black paint around the
bottom edges to match the black plastic, and I suppose the idea is to look
like rubberized borders to protect against falls or something.  There's a red
LED in the upper right that double-flashes whenever you press the rocker
button, and then continues to double-flash eight more times at several second
intervals after that.  It only does this when the switch is in "NORMAL"
position, not in "OFF" or "TRY ME".
     The keypad is molded but not mobile (no button-pushing), with numbers
and letters printed in neon green that I suppose is meant to evoke a backlit
pad.  The "END" button has red letters (and is also non-pushable).  Only the
center "rocker" button actually pushes in, and it triggers sounds in "TRY ME"
mode or in phone "NORMAL" mode.  The rocker is ringed in regular green and
has five dots in neon green.  The screen is a sticker, currently set to the
texting screen in full color, with Optimus Prime's head showing as you
prepare to text him something.  The battery is at 3 bars out of 5, guess the
energy blade eats power.  :) Reception is at four bars, though.
Interestingly, the neon paint on the main keypad doesn't glow under UV, but
the neon paint on the upper part does.  The red paint does not glow.
     The copyright stamp on back is 2006, although the manufacturing stamp
has it actually made in 2007 (if I'm reading it aright).  The speaker opening
is also on the back, as is the battery compartment.  There's a "do not throw
away batteries" symbol on the back.
     In this mode, when the switch on back is in "NORMAL" position, pressing
the rocker button cycles between two sounds: a cheesy TF theme ring tone (as
per the "TRY ME" mode) and random gabble meant to sound like someone talking
but impossible to make out.  That, or it's Frenzy on the phone.  When in
phone mode, the button does nothing if the switch on back is in "TRY ME"
position. 

     Transformation: Pull down on the keypad.  The top sides will fold out as
a crosspiece and the dagger blade will extend.  If you have the switch in the
"NORMAL" position, you'll get a transformation sound effect, which will play
in reverse when you push up the keypad to go back to phone mode.

     Dagger Mode: A total of 9" (23cm) long, with the crossbar tines
spreading 6.75" (17cm) wide with neon green tips.  The blade itself is a
disappointing 3" (8cm) long, made of clear colorless plastic with neon green
paint accents (that glow under UV).  The three blade segments telescope out,
but if you grip the hilt firmly they won't collapse back in.  The hilt, by
the way, is definitely for an adult hand, if not a little too wide even for
me.  Additional clear plastic is visible on the sides, uncovered by the
crosspieces moving away, so I suppose the blade could be considered to be 5"
(13cm) long in total.
     All in all, it looks more like a weird taser than a dagger, energy or
otherwise.  
     The rocker button does nothing in "NORMAL" mode here.  Instead, the
energy zap effect heard from the "TRY ME" mode triggers when the weapon is
shaken enough (just like with the Star Saber and Megatron Sword toys).  It's
hard to get enough acceleration to trigger this without also slamming one of
the crosspieces into the blade, though.  You also have to be in dagger mode
for "TRY ME" to do anything.  All sounds are accompanied by a green LED
inside the phone flashing out through the blade in time with the sounds.
This green LED does not flash in phone mode.

     Overall: Big for a phone, small for a dagger.  This is what I don't like
about convergence devices, eh?  The electronics are nice, but when you come
down to it, this is basically the Star Saber roleplay toy all over again.
Probably couldn't be made less expensively, but not really that good at the
existing production budget.

     Dave Van Domelen, has never actually owned a cellphone this big.