ans who've dreamed of learning at the knee of the venerable Jedi Master
Yoda will find Tiger Electronics' Interactive Yoda doesn't fulfill
their longings.
The toy is a revamped version of Tiger's Furby doll, and stands about
five inches tall. He has two unmoving arms, he wears the standard tan and brown
robes of the Jedi, and he rests on a solid plastic base. His most Yoda-like, and most expressive, feature is his face. His eyes blink as he speaks, and his ears twitch in synch with his lips as he imparts such Yoda-isms as "Wars do not make one great."
Interacting with Yoda is done through a variety of means. Hand sensors
detect when his palms are squeezed, and an internal sensor alerts him when
he's shaken or turned upside down. A detector in his chest can tell whether he's surrounded by darkness or light, while also serving as a communication port for the small lightsaber packaged with him.
Yoda has three major game modes--"Yoda Says," which asks players to repeat
certain patterns; "Ask Yoda," which lets players quiz the master; and "Jedi
Training," in which players must execute 21 different lightsaber maneuvers
in order to become true masters.
When not playing games, Yoda lectures to his students with such classic quotes as "Try not. Do or do not--there is no try." He also tries to get his
owner to play with him, but if that fails or if he gets bored, he goes to
sleep.
Unimpressive--most unimpressive
Unlike full-size collapsible lightsabers and mint-condition Kenner
Millennium Falcons, Interactive Yoda is a toy best enjoyed by its
target audience. Two of its games, "Yoda Says" and "Jedi Training," are just
modified versions of Simon Says, while "Ask Yoda" is a variant of the
classic Magic Eight Ball. These games probably aren't appealing to anyone
older than the nine-year-olds at whom the toy's aimed, and none is the kind of game that grown-up kids can easily play at their desks.
Yoda's interactions are extremely basic: he can sense when users turn off
the lights, and he'll complain if shaken vigorously, but that's about it.
He's incapable of responding to voice commands, although he does a good job
of pretending he can during "Ask Yoda."
His lightsaber--which stands less than a foot tall--is disappointingly
small, even for nine-year-olds. It does make lightsaber sounds, but a
full-size one would have been so much better (and adults wouldn't feel quite so
silly wielding it). Like Furbys, Yodas can talk to one another, but they can't talk to computers. This in turn makes their program unchangeable by users--downright primitive for this day and age.
Most of Yoda's sayings are stock phrases from the original trilogy, but he
does say at least one line that will shock devoted Star Wars fans: "Beware. Stronger is the Dark Side of the Force." Quicker? More seductive?
Certainly. But stronger? The real Yoda would disagree.
Ultimately, this Yoda's biggest problem is that it isn't nearly interactive
enough. In a world where Barney can be taught to speak a child's name by
synching up with a website, and Legos can be programmed to react to their
surroundings, a toy like this needs to do much more. Kids expect it, and
fans demand it.
