Customer Reviews

1998 Hasbro Star Wars CommTech Reader

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A fun idea that takes action figures to a new level. The CommTech reader not only allows your SW action figures to talk, they'll say their corosponding lines to each other! I am really apreciative of the fact that the chips are separate from the figures so you can just play with them as regular action figures, making up your own dialogue. Another bonus is collectors don't even need to take figures out of their boxes to 'read' their chips, it will work through the cardboard if desired the figures can remain MIP. Comes with a handy chain to keep all to the chips in one place as well if you do want to take out the cards.

A squawk-box toy with a twist -- it takes the sounds embedded in the Episode 1 figures' 'commtech chip' bases (along with a couple permanently stored in the reader), plays them individually or stores them (4 chips' worth at a time), and can play them at random or have certain figures engage in tiny conversations. Use it while playing with your figures, or carry it with you to torture friends and loved ones. The sound quality is a bit dodgy, but what the heck. Not an essential part of a Star Wars collection, but a surprisingly fun and addictive one. And rumor has it that chips from foreign figures will play on it as well -- though the prospect of Jar Jar speaking French and Spanish is a little alarming. (The instructions are mercifully simple. 9v battery not included.)

If you're a collector or a player this device works for you. Figures talk and interact with each other. TALK about fun. The more figures you have, the better it gets. Which I think was Hasbros idea (to get you to buy more figures). The only bad part is that some chips don't sound like the characters in the movie. It's really great to play a line in front of someone who has never heard of it before. Example:(Battle Droid) "Halt you're under arest". And Qui-Gon Jinn's line "May the force be with you" is perfect for the answering machine. This thing is a great gift for any kid (Just make sure you get a couple of figures to). I only have one suggestion for Hasbro, next time put more save spaces on it.

When this first came out at a price of $20(or however much it was a year ago), I said to myself that I would not be getting this UNLESS they did COMMtech chips for POTF figures. No way was I gonna spend $20 on this!

Well, I broke that rule. I bought it when it had been discounted to $10. But I was not too impressed with it. Some of the chips were OK- giving off good lines and sounds. They improved as the figures came out. But the majority sounded nothing like who they were supposed to be.

Then came the breakthrough: Power of the Force COMMtech chips! Now these were the real deal. Han, Luke, Greedo, more are coming out after Leia, Darth Vader, and Admiral Motti. Next up Porkins, Obi-Wan, and Chewie(playing chess)

This is a toy that gets more fun as you collect more action figures. With enough figures (and plenty of time on your hands) you can even recreate scenes and convesations from the movie. Most of the sounds are suprisingly high quality. I would say that it's also educational, as kids can learn not to stray to the dark side through these quotes.

The Comm Tech reader and chips are a great idea. All you have to do is activate the reader, wave a chip over the scanning area, and you hear one of the phrases spoken by the chips' figure. You can even store all of a figures' phrases on the reader, and the reader has room to hold four chips' phrases. You can even scan the chips while they are still in the package, allowing collectors like myself to keep them in the package. Some chips even respond to each other, if one says something,and you play a chip meant to react after it, you will hear the phrase meant for the first chip. Unfortunatly, the poor quality of many of the chips gives this the 'could have been better'. While I was satisfied with Jar-Jar Binks and R2-D2s' sounds, Darth Maul and especially the Battle Droid sounded nothing like the movie characters. And Obi Wan and Qui Gonn could have been anyone that could do a halfway decent impersonation of them.

I first acquired a CommTech reader when my brother recieved many of the Star Wars Episode I action figures with chip included. It was great while it lasted but eventually the device seemed to wear out. It would turn off almost immeaditly after activating and would rarely read a chip. We recently bought a replacement at a reduced price to the same effect. Could there be a problem with the durability of the scanner? I grant that the idea was a great one, I only wished that the toy would last longer.

This was a good idea, but bad product. The voices are hard to understand and/or do not sound correct. There is a need for improvement. I don't see much point with it. New thought, will it work with Episode II toys or will a different one be needed?

The sound quality of this item is very poor. It's hard to understand what's being said and in some cases it's even hard to identify who is speaking. This could have been so cool, if only they hadn't tried so hard to be cheap.

Comm Tech reader can be used to play pretend with acion figures or not. Fun to have light saber sounds and the "real" voices of Obi Wan and Luke.