Oh why Oh why did I buy these???
Written: Jan 03 '02
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Pros: I'm so angry right now, I can't think of any
Cons: uses too many batteries, don't work that well, have to re-swipe cards
The Bottom Line: If you treasure your sanity, don't buy these toys!!!
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| gdwtch22's Full Review: Rumble Robots |
Well, Christmas has come and gone, and generally I feel pretty good about this seasons purchases. I say generally because I made the gross mistake of buying Rumble Robots for my seven year old son. These toys are completely stupid!(for lack of a better word) Oh where to begin:
My mother bought the first Rumble Robot for my oldest son about two weeks before Christmas. She told me about the toy and I decided it would be silly to just have one, who was it going to fight with. So I ran out and bought another one. I just knew my son was going to love these toys ( he's a huge fan of the show Battle Bots). Being a forward thinking mommy, I also purchased AA batteries too. Christmas day comes and my son opens his presents and he was very excited about the Rumble Robots. He immediately wanted to play with them. So we took them out of the boxes and started to read the instructions while my husband tried to put the batteries in. Here's where we ran into our first problem. The toys take both AA and AAA batteries and not just a few of them. The remote takes four AAA and the robots take four AA. Well, forward thinking or not, I did not purchase that many batteries. So my son was disappointed but willing to wait. We got the batteries the next day, and finished installing them. We read the instructions which are pretty complicated. Each robot comes with six cards. You have to swipe the cards on the back of the robot in order to make it work. Some cards are for power, others are for speed, and still others are for different moves. Now, if you only had to swipe each card once that would be one thing, but that's not the case. Often you have to swipe, re-swipe, and then re-swipe again to get the darn thing to accept the card. This process took us nearly two hours, yes, TWO HOURS!!!!!!!!!
Finally, the robots were ready to fight. We put them on the kitchen floor and it was game on, or so we thought. They don't move very fast and the remotes make it difficult to move the robots in any direction other than back and forth. Further reading of the instructions showed me that you can make the robots move faster buy purchasing more swipe cards. I was disgusted, not only did I have to buy 16 batteries for the darn things, but then in order to make them move faster I have to spend more money and buy cards. I don't even think so!! Frustrated by the slow moving robots my son and I shut them off and played with some other toys. Later that evening, my son decided he wanted to play with the robots again, so we turned them on and commenced to fight. But, now the robots were moving at an almost snail pace. I again, looked at the instructions and there I saw it, You have to re-swipe the cards every time you shut off the robot. I wasn't about to spend another two hours trying to get the robots to take the cards. So my son and I just drove them around the kitchen for about ten more minutes. Then, something even more annoying happened. The batteries ran dead!! I again looked at the instruction sheet and there in very small print and the very bottom read: Rumble Robots are a high power toy, and may only get an hour of play time out of the batteries.
I just about went through the roof!!
I have had it with these toys. They have no redeeming qualities at all! They are expensive, they suck batteries, and the actual fighting isn't all that neat. The remotes are a hassel to use, and the card are an enormous pain to swipe and re-swipe. These are truly stupid toys. Don't buy them if you enjoy your sanity. Oh, and the what a clever little marketing tool making you buy more cards in order to make the robots perform like they should in the first place.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 24.99 each
Type of Toy: Radio Control
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
gdwtch22
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Member: Star Melville
Location: Sprague, Washington
Reviews written: 25
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
24 year old full time postal clerk and mother of two adorable little boys
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