Dave's Transformers Rant: T.E.C.H. Wave 2

     Flash Bang
     Tight Shot (not reviewed)

     Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/TECH2

     You can tell how bad the local TF drought has gotten because I was
actually *excited* when I saw these on the pegs at Target.

CAPSULES

     Flash Bang: A little small in terms of grip, and the missile firing is
anemic, but it's a fun toy nonetheless and becomes a chibi Sten gun.
Recommended.  $12.99 at Target.
     Tight Shot: A camcorder that turns into a gun and shoots a little
missile.  Given that I already have a camcorder that turns into a gun AND a
bird and I don't care so much about the missile part (i.e. I have Armada
Laserbeak), I passed on this one.  $12.99 at Target.


RANT

     Packaging: Same style as wave 1, complete with "Not a working
flashlight" notes all over the place.  Same generic line blurb on the back as
seen in wave 1.  The missile is just held in by the blister shape, the main
toy is held in by four rubber bands connected with those H-shaped things
introduced in SWTF.  Someday I'm gonna find a use for those little H-things,
but until then I'm saving them up in an old film canister.
     Thing is...to a limited extent it IS a working flashlight!  Sure, it's
not going to act like the high-candlepower spotlight it looks like, but it's
bright enough to let you see around a darkened room.  :)
     The instructions suggest you can manually pull out the barrel, but it
strikes me that doing so would just strip the gears.  The instructions also
call the obvious ammo clip a "side panel", no doubt trying to downplay how
clearly the gun mode is based on a real submachinegun.


TECH: FLASH BANG
Altmode: Portable Spotlight

     Spotlight Mode: Your basic handheld spotlight, about 6" (15cm) tall
including the handle.  The main part without the handle is a slightly rounded
rectangular prism 3.75" (9.5cm) tall, 2.5" (6cm) wide and 3.5" (9cm) deep.
The main body is bright yellow plastic.  The handle is black plastic.  Part
of the molding around the front end is very dark gray plastic, the trigger
and a button in back are red plastic, and there's a gunmetal plastic bit at
the back.  The front face is clear slightly blue plastic with various molded
dome-lets on it to spread out the light some.  The bottom third or so of the
front is mirror-chromed to increase the light cast by the two yellow LEDs
visible through the clear plastic.  The top part has the front end of the
extending barrel visible.  There's black paint on the rest of the front
molding to more or less match the dark gray plastic, and some black details
on the top.  A sticker on the top has an Autobot symbol, making this one tool
that declares its allegiance clearly.  It also says "FLASHLIGHT" in large
letters, and then "Powered by Energon Cells" in smaller font (the "Convoy" or
"RiD" font).  The whole thing has a good heft to it, although the handle is
kinda short and is clearly (by the indentations) intended to be held only by
three fingers, leaving the pinky flapping in the wind.
     There's a power switch on the right side, with ON, OFF and TRY ME, the
last being how it's set in-package.  In TRY ME mode, pressing either button
cycles between the firing sound and the transform-to-gun sound, with the
firing light sequence.  The two buttons are a yellow one on the left side
more or less opposite the power switch, and a red button at the back.
     In ON position while in flashlight mode, either button toggles three
yellow LEDs on or off.  Two of them are visible, the third is deep inside the
body and mainly makes the housing glow.  It will turn off on itself after 14
seconds.  The LEDs are no million candlepower spotlight, but they're bright
enough to let you see safely in a darkened room or on a cloudy night away
from city lights.
     It takes two AAA batteries, included.

     Transformation: Rocking the trigger grip causes the barrel to extend and
the sight to flip up, or reverses it.  The "side panel", extendable stock and
bipod are manually deployed.  If the power switch is OFF or TRY ME, nothing
happens during the automorph portion.  If the switch is ON, you get a forward
G1 transformation sound when deploying the barrel, and a reversed one when
returning to flashlight mode.
     The bipod can be a bit tricky to get out if you don't have strong
fingernails, but bringing out the ammo clip first levers the bipod out enough
to make the rest of the way easy.

     Gun Mode: It's like a chibi submachinegun.  Specifically, a chibi Sten
MkIII with the addition of a MkV-like pistol grip, bipod and some other
spotlight mode concessions in the design.  See, for instance, this webpage
for a Sten gun: http://www.scottsdalegunclub.com/mga/sten.php
     The total length is 7" (18cm), the height to the top of the sights is 8"
(20cm) and the width with clip out to the side is 4.5" (11.5cm).  The stock
is gunmetal gray, the ammo clip is yellow plastic, the barrel is clear red
plastic with a cooling jacket of safety orange.  The missile is gunmetal
gray.  Pressing the rear red button fires the missile.  With the bipod
deployed, the gun rests stably on it and the handle with barrel horizontal, a
nice gun emplacement for other Transformers.
     In TRY ME mode, the buttons have the same effect as in flashlight form,
but the red button will now also fire the missile (it is disengaged from that
function in flashlight mode).  It doesn't fire very well, though.  In ON
position, either button triggers several seconds of energy blasting sounds,
while all three yellow LEDs flash and at least one red LED inside the body
also flashes.  Might be two, I'd have to disassemble the thing to be sure.
     It's kinda awkward to push the red button if the stock is deployed, but
even moreso to press the yellow button unless you're holding it in your left
hand, or two-handed.  The natural inclination to squeeze the trigger just
causes the barrel to move.  I do, however, thank the designers for not
putting in a function that automatically fires the missile when transforming! 
     The ammo clip's universal joint is smooth but not very tight, so it
can't act as a standing platform for anything bigger than a light Mini-Con
out-of-box.  A little glue or nail polish topcoat worked into the joint might
help it hold up a Scout, though.  A Deluxe might be better off using the
stock as a seat.
     There's just a few too many joints and sliding bits to repaint the
yellow parts some darker color, although dyeing might work if you're willing
to take the whole thing apart and really want a less garish crew-served
weapon for your TFs.  On the other hand, it's just right to give your GoBots
or Fast Action Battlers some fire support!

     Dave Van Domelen, might keep this at the office against the inevitable
blackouts caused by our antiquated power systems.  :)  (Seriously, the campus
power plant has these huge 40kV "Frankenstein switches" that have to be
thrown using several-meter-long insulated poles.  We get a campus-wide
blackout at least twice a year, and the state's not keen on coughing up the
money to bring us into the 20th Century.)