Customer Reviews

Star Wars Science - Darth Vader Robotic Arm

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

My 6 yr old recieved this as a gift. He and his father build it within one hour, it was a bit hard to put the pieces together for my husband's fingers - but perfect for little hands.

My son is been playing with it non stop and picking up items. He's mastered the controls within minutes.

This is geared for 8 year olds, I would recommend that age unless an adult is helping...

My son has wanted this forever. We picked it up yesterday and assembled it. I've been a model car builder all my life so it was a breeze. It is pretty straight forward, however the finger tendons are quite stiff. The gold finger inlays are hard to snap into place as well. A small pair of pliers with a cloth over the jaws made it quite simple. Once we got that out of the way we ran into an operation problem that most on here has mentioned. The fist would not close.

I followed the instructions very closely and they fail to mention a vital point. First go ahead and install both levers from the get go. This will come into play later. When inserting the actual arm into the spring loaded canister MAKE SURE you are holding down the gold rod, that attaches to the hand, with your thumb. While FIRMLY holding the rod down, line up the arrows and PRESS DOWN HARD while twisting. This will ensure that the rod is firmly seated in the mechanism that the handle operates. It is designed to compress together then expand and catch the inner lips of the cylinder. You can test whether you have done it correctly by holding the gold rod and turning the left handle back. You will not be able to hold the rod back when pulling the lever. Hence installing the levers first. On the other end when you attach the hand at the wrist, don't pull the gold rod up to place in the hole on the tendon unit. Simply pull the tendon unit down and the gold rod will fall in place. Once in the hole give it a firm push to ensure it is seated. Problem solved.

If you have assembled a non working unit. It is possible to take it back apart. The hand is fairly easy as one fastener sits in a straight groove along the palm. Push up slightly and you will see it raise up. Gently pop it out, disconnect the rod and raise the hand back up opposite of assembly. The shaft (arm) is tricky but can be done without ANY damage. Get a firm grip at the bottom and push down and gently turn. The plastic will begin to separate along the seams but very gently yet forcefully (oxymoron I know) twist it back and forth. It will pop out. Once done simply follow the directions above.

Another problem is the ropes that the levers pull. The one on the right, that twists the arm, must lay across a silver pin. If you extend the arm and look at the base you will see both the string and pin. I used needle nosed pliers to lay it back across the pin. This takes up the slack in the string and ensures the unit functions properly.

With better instructions or following these I have mentioned, this item is a blast to build. I would recommend to anyone using the information I have shared. This item is NOT JUNK.

My son is in 3rd grade and had a blast building this. He ran into the issue (mentioned in other reviews) where the fingers would not contract...but found a step that was missed in the written instructions which fixed the problem. The illustrations in the instructions were pretty good. He was able to put the whole thing together pretty-much by himself in about an hour.

After building the device there was grave dissapointment. It's very hard to pick anything up! The smooth plastic on the inside of the fingers makes it almost impossible to grip objects. The base is too light, making the arm tip and slide when using the controls.

This product is terrible! It took me an almost an hour to put the thing together and then when I finally finished it did not work! I had to take it almost completely apart and put it back together. Then it worked one time and broke.There is some part that is malfunctioning. My son was so excited about this toy when he saw the box, I am very upset with the company who made this product. It was the wost money I have ever spent!
I did not want to give this product any stars but Amazon's rating system would not allow me to do that.

Star Wars Star Wars Science - Darth Vader Robotic Arm

This item was a waste of time. It was difficult to assemble and it did not function properly. The hand would not close as other mentioned. I was mislead in thinking this was a robotic item based by the name. It does not move by any motors. It is moved by 2 plastic levers that one twisted the arm and the other was supposed to open and close the hand which it did not. You pushed both levers to lower the arm. Don't waste your money on this item. It is on it's way back to Amazon.com as we speak. There is another robotic arm that looks better and is better reviewed on here for about the same money!

Just a few notes:

- "Robotic" is a bit misleading. There aren't batteries or any sort of power involved. You move the hand.

- I don't have an 8-year-old, so I'm not sure whether one could follow the assembly instructions or not. I get the feeling that this is one of those toys where the combination of a child's small fingers and an adult brain make a good team.

- In the end, you still have a Vader arm on your desk, and that's pretty fun.

There is a reason this went to clearance. My son got this for Christmas and it was really cool in the beginning, but it broke within a few hours of playing with it.

We thought this would be a really cool toy for my 7 year old son who loves Star Wars and science. Unfortunately, the fingers didn't work because they were not linking together correctly with the wrist. Although when we had the hand off of the arm, we could see how the fingers should be able to work, but there was no way to troubleshoot when the toy was all together.
Also, the levers that control the arm would not stay in place- they would just pop off!
The decorative parts would also pop off. This is a very flimsy toy.

My 6 year old son got this as an exchange gift, and after many minutes of reading the tedious instructions and finding the little pieces to attach, the fingers would NOT move!!

We took it apart and checked that the latch would move when the hand was not attached, but as soon as you put the hand back on, the lever was not strong enough to make the fingers move.

What a waste of money and what a big disappointment!!!

After assembly the Dath Vader Robot Arm Force Choked several members of my family and the dog. When I tried to dissassemble the arm for our safety the arm kept pulling the screwdriver out of my hand. Eventually we had to knock the arm off the table with a broom and while it was disoriented my girlfriend smashed it with her bowling ball. Please take the choking warning very seriously.