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Topic starter
19/01/2023 12:06 am
New Wave Toys is starting a line of mini-animatronics beginning with Characters Unlimited's Zoltar Speaks which is based on the Zoltar machine seen in Big. I've got all of their scale arcade machines along with the change machine USB hub and the micro boombox (and soon a couple of mini soda machine fridges) and all are amazing little gadgets so I don't expect this one to be any different, can't wait for fall to get it into my hands. The price on this one is a surprise, too... $100 for all that that thing does seems cheap compared to what they're now charging for the video games. Remove the spaces to check it out, be sure to watch the video...
htt ps://neww avetoys.c om/products/zoltar-miniature-fortune-teller-machine
My friend told me to stop quoting the Monkees. I thought she was joking. But then I saw her face.
Matt Zimmer reacted
20/01/2023 3:20 am
When I first saw the announcement I thought they were offering Chuck E Cheese characters (I mean, they kinda hafta at some point now don't they?).
Zoltar is a smart choice for the first release, can't wait to get it and add to the display
Topic starter
22/01/2023 2:54 am
The first thing I thought when I saw "animatronic" was Disneyland's Lincoln then I realized that was crazy and the thought went to The Rockafire Explosion. I will say that I was very happy to see that it was Zoltar Speaks. It's an item that will fit into an arcade setting which is how I plan to display my machines (once I get some space for it) and a Zoltar machine was something I was toying around with making on my own (no animatronics or voice, just the cabinet with lights) so I'm glad it's getting made (plus it's probably cheaper for their full version than what I could do on my own for a static item). That said, I did take a look through Characters Unlimited's website to see what else they make and was disappointed to find that there isn't a single other thing that I would buy if New Wave were to scale it down. It's nice stuff for what it is but CU has made a name for themselves primarily with Zoltar and other character variants of it. Their animatronic animals and bands don't belong in a normal 80s arcade. I could see New Wave tackling The Rockafire Explosion but would there be a big enough audience for anything beyond the bear?
My friend told me to stop quoting the Monkees. I thought she was joking. But then I saw her face.
22/01/2023 11:19 pm
So ... what else could they possibly offer in this line that people might actually want?
A "Test your strength" arm wrestling type machine?
A "claw machine"?
Rock-a-fire Explosion/Chuck E Cheese?
Does New Wave toys have some sort of mascot/doorway greeter in the works that is an original IP?
While I am excited for this as a concept, I just don't see myself buying into any of it for nostalgic reasons so they better have something damn cool in the works that I'm just not recalling.
