Dave's Transformers Artifact Rant Energon Sports Watch Energon Prime-Head Watch These two watches are available at some Wal-Marts, possibly also at other stores but I've had no sightings to that effect as of November 14, 2004. There's no indication of the difference between the two on the card inside the packaging, so my names for them are unofficial. CAPSULES Energon Sports Watch - Bright red and blue, with the usual cheap watch features. Not immediately obvious as a Transformers product, but clearly not something you'd expect to see on an adult. Decent value for the money. $6.43 at Wal-Mart. Energon Prime-Head Watch - A big Optimus Prime head on a bright blue strap. Pressing a button makes the face slide down and reveal a VERY limited digital watch. Worth it for the freaky novelty, but I wouldn't advise wearing it. $6.43 at Wal-Mart. RANTS Packaging: Both are in crimped-closed blisters 2.75" (7cm) wide and 6.5" (16cm) tall, with thin cardstock cards inside and the watch face poking out through a hole in the front. It is possible to remove the watch without cutting open the package, although it's harder for the Primehead. The cards are identical. The fronts have the Energon logo with "Digital Watch" underneath, and the following claims and warnings: - Ages 3 and up - Includes battery - Digital readout - Super Quartz Accuracy - One year limited warranty Of course, the postage you have to spend to redeem a warranty on something like this is almost more than buying a new one. :) Each has its own instructions, which are generic to the workings of the style, not unique to the license. A sticker on the back of the package tells which style the watch is...the codes differ only by a string of three numbers near the end, 031 for the sports watch, 126 for the Primehead. Sports Watch: The slimmer of the two, but that's not saying much. The main watch part is 1.5cm thick, which is a lot for a watch. The central LCD part has a red ring about it, and there's a red "paddle" projection from both top and bottom. The east and west quarters outside the ring are a slightly different red, with functions written on them in black. The four buttons (Light, Mode, Start and Reset) are red. The rest of the main chunk is bright blue. A tiny TF:Energon logo is above the top red paddle shape, a small Autobot symbol is below the bottom red paddle. The band is blue down the center and red on the edges and back (blue paint on red plastic) with oval air holes on the non-buckling parts. A tiny Optimus Prime (regular robot mode) is printed on the long band piece just before the buckle holes. The slider that secures the end of the long piece is red with an Autobot symbol printed on it. The band is long enough that I can wear it with the buckle on the second hole and the slider just far enough in so that the thicker end of the strap catches on the lip of the slider, rather nice. The straps do not hinge, the main body is of the sort that blends into the strap so that it has a fixed curve and no need for hinges. The watch's face has tall thin numbers, showing hours and minutes at full height and seconds about 2/3 as tall. A row of dots along the top have two-letter abbreviations for the days of the week. The light button activates a more purplish version of the Indi-glo style of backlight. Hitting Start while in time mode shows the month and day, while hitting Reset in time mode shows the time the alarm is set for. The mode button cycles through stopwatch, alarm set and time set. All in all, a fairly good set of functions for a six dollar watch. However, the LCD is set back so deeply from the face that it's hard to read without using the backlight. Overall, a nice little watch, especially for a kid of the target age for Transformers. And it's functional enough that I could probably get by using it in a pinch (if my regular watch and its predecessor both die at the same time, I suppose). Prime-Head Watch: This is clearly a novelty watch, like so many others I've seen at Wal-Mart before. The Prime head takes up more of the resources, resulting in a crappy timepiece inside and a cheaper strap (which barely fits on my arm, BTW). The strap is bright blue and fairly thin, with cut-out strips along the sides to give it a more techy feel, I suppose. The Energon logo is printed very small below the head, with Autobot symbols both just above the head and at the very tip of the long strap. The straps are on very free hinges, so you can lay it flat when not worn. The head is 1.75" (4.5cm) tall, only slightly less than that wide, and just over an inch (2.5cm) thick. That's one bulky thing to strap to your wrist. The head is made of bright blue plastic with light gray paint on the faceplate and forehead tablet, and yellow paint on the eyes. Pressing a button on the left side of the head (Prime's left, not yours) makes the face spring down rather disconcertingly, as if his face was falling off. This reveals a tiny LCD watch screen with control buttons that can only be operated by pushing them with pins or a sharp pencil. In other words, your "3 and up" child probably shouldn't be setting this watch, or checking the seconds or date. The numbers on the screen are a tiny 2.5mm tall, and the default just shows hours and minutes, no AM or PM. Pressing one of the tiny buttons gives date, then seconds. This is the functionality I had on my very first digital watch...in 1978. Yeah, this is more an excuse to wear a Prime head on your wrist, not really a functional watch. Maybe remove the straps and glue it to your computer monitor. Worth getting for the freakiness factor. And maybe for attachment to the actual toy to create a sort of chibi Prime. Well, not exactly chibi, but big-headed. Dave Van Domelen, putting the sports watch on Unicron. It matches his sandals.