ver dream of taking Anakin Skywalker to Disney World? How about hanging with Darth
Maul at a sculpture garden? Meeting a Jedi Knight at a dinner
party? Taking Queen Amidala to the prom? Well, now all those things are possible--sort of.
Tiger Electronics' Star Wars: Episode I Picture Plus Image Camera is another in a very long line of Episode I-licensed products. Built
to look just like the "electrobinoculars" that are
"standard issue" for all Neimoidian Trade Federation
battle droid unit commanders, this camera's special
feature is that it superimposes images of characters
from The Phantom Menace over standard 35mm
photos, thereby including these characters in the
picture it takes.
The characters that can be included are
Qui-Gon Jinn in robe and with raised lightsaber, a
slightly pouty Anakin, Obi-Wan Kenobi with raised
lightsaber (no robe), Darth Maul with double-bladed
lightsaber (no robe), Jar Jar Binks in mid-stride, and
Queen Amidala in her palace dress. There's also the option not to insert any characters; that is, to take just a
regular picture.
The Picture Plus Image Camera uses 400-speed film
only and has a built-in flash that is used--indoors
or outdoors--whenever one of the characters is inserted
into the picture. To do this, one must first
raise a "viewfinder box" and then move the lens
cover switch from "closed" to either "open" (no
characters) or "mask" (with characters). After this
is done, a blue translucent region that takes
up roughly one-quarter of the image appears in the viewfinder--this is where the
image of Jar Jar at Lincoln Center shows up. "Meesa love pictures!"
Cool idea, weak product
While this camera has many things going for it--it's pretty
lightweight, it looks cool (relatively speaking),
it's not too expensive and it's a pretty neat
idea for a toy--it is unfortunately hampered by a
good number of shortcomings.
In these days of ever-increasingly automatic cameras, it takes a long time to take a
picture with this thing. For not only does one have
to go through all the rigmarole mentioned above
just to get ready to snap a shot, but
switching between character images (which are marked
only by the letters "A" through "F" and don't actually
appear in the viewfinder) takes at
least five turns of the manually operated "Background
Index Wheel."
The images themselves are also less than "most
impressive." Neither the position nor the size of the
inserted character can be adjusted, which means that
all the photos have the character at the left of the picture. The real subjects must always stand at the same distance, or the The Phantom Menace's
heroes (and one villain) end up looking like gigantic
versions of themselves. It takes a good amount of
practice and the right conditions to create photos that look proportionate or "authentic." Additionally, more often than not the character
images appear translucent. Is that the ghost of
Obi-Wan? Wait, he's not supposed to be dead until Episode IV!
And while the Star Wars: Episode I Picture Plus
Image Camera can be fun to use and can produce some
decent results with practice, who is it really for? Younger children very well
may not have the patience for it, and the older crowd
most likely would want more quality for their efforts. Sadly, this toy's low price is a good indicator of its quality.
