Tricked-Out Tricorder Toy

I picked up Playmates' Tricorder toy from the forthcoming Star Trek (2009) movie, and it's a lot of fun ... even for adults who like pushing buttons and watching LED features.

You start out by toggling the switch on the left-hand side, and bam ... the top of the tricorder snaps open, all the lights come on and there's a triple-beep sound effect.

There's a "readout" sticker inside, along the top, and from the way it's configured, it's possible that the movie prop has flashing lights similar to the TNG/DS9/VGR television props.

Below that, you have two buttons, "Scan 1" and "Scan 2." The former has three sound-effect features and lights up four lights: the three on the face of the tricorder (yellow, green, red) and one inside the snap-open feature labeled "ERM" (it's orange — and I don't know what the acronym stands for ... could be "environmental readout" something. Scan 2 also has three sound-effect features and lights up four lights: the three on the front and a green one next to "ERM" that's labeled "READ" (could be an acronym, too, but I like to think it simply means "read").

Finally, when you manually snap shut the tricorder's pop-open feature, the toy fully lights up again and blurts one final "nee!" sound effect, as if it's annoyed that you're closing it.

Like the Playmates phaser toy, the tricorder doesn't come with a holster and/or belt clip. So ... if you wanna wear it to the premiere, then you'll probably have to exercise those brain noodles and create one of your own. Have fun!

P.S.: I'm still not buying Playmates' communicator toy, even though it does come with a holster. It just doesn't look right, and something about its appearance when opened reminds me of the "unfinished" communicator prop used in Star Trek's two pilot episodes.