February 16, 2001 CURRENT RUMBLE R/C Revisited Darren 2.16.01 Ah, sentai -- Bandai's annual belch of transforming toy froth. Last year, we were introduced to Timeranger, and its excellent but relatively short toy line. There was, however, a crowning jewel toward the end of the season, the Voice Command V-Rex. This digital-age dino is an example of one of Japan's latest trends: high-end remote controlled toys. This Rumble will examine two such R/C wonders, the V-Rex itself, and Takara's Voice Command Metabii, from Medarot Spirit. Turned off already? Consider sticking around. This is fairly well executed technology and an interesting prelude to the holy grail of R/C figures, the upcoming R/C Zaku. Timeranger Voice Command V-Rex A very large box. A fairly heavy plastic toy. A giant battery door on the bottom. The sounds of gears straining against un-cooperative motors as a large dinosaur is pulled from its styrofoam tray. These are your first signs that you are not dealing with the typical sentai toy. The tail is attached. The firing rocket punch is attached. Clicking into place the six-barrel gatling missiles feels very, very sinfully fun. I scramble around for two "C" batteries, three "AA" batteries, and two "AAA" batteries, temporarily disabling the TV remote for needed parts. The V-Brace remote control comes with a strap so you can stylishly wear your Badge of Geekness on your forearm, but the pizza delivery man is on the way. If he doesn't tell me about Bad Andy, I'll spare him from "Morphin' Time". V-Rex is switched on. He roars. I am startled. I manage not to drop him. The V-Brace is switched on. V-Rex periodically growls in the background, waiting on me to get my act together. I press a few buttons on the controller. V-Rex angrily howls back at me in reply, but does nothing. Maybe the "C" batteries are dead? Ah. There's a microphone on the V-Brace. I thought the "Voice Command" label was just a gimmick, but maybe a little verbal assistance is necessary after all. Too lazy to look at the instructions, I press the "forward" button and bark "UGOKU!", probably ruining a perfectly good Japanese verb. The LED on the V-Brace happily blinks, V-Rex roars a satisfied "thank you", and churns to life. His feet ride up and down in a simulation of walking while rubber wheels do all the work below. He charges full speed for the couch. I try "TOMARE!" while pressing the "stop" button, and V-Rex obediently shuts down. I think I've mastered the art of shouting military-style orders in Japanese, but my academic high is destroyed as I accidently learn that the V-Brace will respond to just about any noise while pressing a button. Uttering "SPOON!" while pressing the turn button is sufficient to make V-Rex spin in a circle. But any remote controlled toy can start, stop, and turn. V-Rex is specifically a Japanese robot toy, and I'm dying to try out the remote weapons and transformation. The major toy powers of Nippon are just starting to experiment with automated toy transformation. While some lite technology has been tried in toys such as Megaranger's Mega Winger, the expensive B/O Daitetsujin-17 is probably the best known auto-henkei wonder. None of them are particularly memorable. I press the "V-Change" button, and shout something appropriate. The transformation between V-Rex dino-mode and robot-mode isn't the most complex or awe-inspiring concept one can imagine, but being able to sit back and watch something happen on its own that you'd normally have to accomplish manually is strangely captivating. I repeat the cycle a few times, watching the parts fold and turn, and listening to the whirring and clicking. The robot mode offers the best choice of weapons. While both modes have two different sets of LED shoulder cannons available on the "F1" button, only the robot mode has the rocket punch and gatling missiles on tap through buttons "F2" and "F3". The missiles may be fired individually, or repetitively by holding down the firing button. Click-POW, click-POW. They fly about six feet, all controlled from the comfort of your couch. V-Rex is, indeed, kinda fun. Of course, without the B/O functionality, he's not very useful. You can't transform him yourself, and you can't fire his weapons manually. He's not very poseable, as you might expect for a big R/C brick. His tail waggles. Only his arms and elbows may be adjusted in robot mode, but that's actually par for the course with most sentai robots. V-Rex has two sensors to support R/C communication. In robot mode, they are on his chest and back, in dino mode, they are both on top. Getting your V-Brace positioned so that commands are transmitted line-of-sight to the V-Rex is difficult at times, but the supplied VHS video will explain the proper way to digitally address your dino. Timeranger's main mech, the TimeRobo, can ride on top of V-Rex in dino mode, but I didn't get around to experimenting with that. Bandai's take on remo-con fun is promising -- let's look at Takara's offering ... Medarot Spirit Voice Command Metabii Metabii hails from the Medarot Spirit TV anime. If you are not familiar with the anime, the premise should sound vaguely familiar: Humans collect robots called Medarot, and fight them. The winner may take whatever parts of the losing robot he or she wishes. Think of Metabii as Pikachu, and you'll have the gist. Minor assembly is required -- a few pieces of his armor shell and decorative adornments must be de-sprued and snapped on. Four "AA" batteries go in Metabii, and two watch batteries go into the wristwatch style controller, which intentionally looks like a Control Coin from the anime. Metabii's lower half and upper half must be independently switched on, with each activation generating a youthful and energetic "ON!" Where V-Rex has token voice control, Metabii is fully voice controlled. You get the robot's attention by declaring "METABII!" into the controller, followed by a command. "ZENSHIN!" causes him to move forward. He replies with a determined "IKUZE!" The LED's on the controller blink in sequence to let you know if you're getting the hang of it, or simply wasting your time. The controller's selector switch must be toggled between controlling Metabii's upper and lower parts. When placed in the "A" position, the controller will accept four different commands related to Metabii's armament: he can raise either or both of his arms and fire spring-launched missiles. When placed in the "B" position, the controller accepts a set of four other commands related to mobility: he can move forward a short distance, turn right or left, or spin in place. Metabii may also be placed into mode where he performs random acts. This is usually a dull gimmick, especially if you remember the "mystery path" from the old Micronauts Battle Cruiser, but Metabii is actually entertaining, especially considering his range of motorized motion and rather complex interactive vocabulary. Metabii becomes a total statue without his B/O functions, but there are other Medarot sets you can buy if you want a poseable or transformable Metabii. The big guy is meant for pure R/C fun. Wrap Up Fun? You betcha. Both of these are a lot of fun. Remotely dispatching a toy to fire a missile plainly rocks. On the other hand, the technology is not mature. It takes practice to get the controls right. Sometimes, it seems impossible to make the toy do what you want. Sometimes, it seems as if the range is not nearly enough. Further, you have to like this kind of toy. I'm sure it's not for everyone, and I wonder if the manufacturers are widening or limiting their market with these offerings. At any rate, look for more of this stuff, and look for it to get better and more sophisticated. And hopefully, look for controllers that won't raise the pizza man's eyebrows. Names & Players - Timeranger V-Rex ...     Toy manufactured by: Bandai     Review toy sourced by: Robozone Names & Players - Medarot Spirit Metabii ...     Toy manufactured by: Takara     Review toy sourced by: Robozone  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE