Snake Mountain & bluetooth

[Andy]

I'm not sure how the electronics will effect international sales, plus some folks don't seem to want bluetooth.

Since this sounds like it's going to go the route of pre-order, do you think they should have the option of ordering with bluetooth and a second option at a slightly lower cost without the bluetooth.?

[Dynamo of Eternia]

If the inclusion of it will prevent Matty from being able to ship it overseas, then IMO they should remove it. Snake Mountain will need all of the preorders that it can get. Alienating international fans would not be a good idea.


As for the cost, if the only issue were cost alone (and the inclusion of bluetooth did not create problems for international orders), then whether or not it should be removed depends upon how much it adds to the cost of the thing. If we are talking a $50 or $100 difference in price, I can see removing it. If we are talking a $10 or $20 difference in price, and the it is well hidden and doesn't mess with the astetics of the playset, then I say leave it be (again, assuming this doesn't impact international orders).

[_RZ_]

Bluetooth functionality like they're talking about is available in items as low as $10. I can't see it costing a lot. The microphone/speaker is where the cost would be, and I am sure they're talking to Barbie and other departments about what's cheap and available... As far as I am aware the issues with electronics and overseas has more to do with signal shielding, power supplies, and non-removable rechargeable batteries. Bluetooth stuff tends to get a pass. It shouldn't be too hard to do without messing up the aesthetics of Snake Mountain. 200x castle had the electronics and I remember them being well hidden. DSP and electronics are so cheap now it'd probably be cheaper to have a variety of digital effects vs. the spring-in-a-can echo from the original. What I hope they do include is an 1/8" minijack output, so we could plug our "spooky voice" sound into larger speakers.

[Matthew L. Martin]

What I hope they do include is an 1/8" minijack output, so we could plug our "spooky voice" sound into larger speakers.

I'm not up on Bluetooth, but couldn't you just link the app to a larger Bluetooth-compatible speaker without having to run it through Snake Mountain? Or are Bluetooth connections like that usually dedicated and unchangeable?

[Mechanizor]

If the SM's bluetooth is turned off, typically you can run your SM's app on another exterior bluetooth speaker just like most devices with bluetooth capabilities.

[zombihamma]

It's cool, but it's playing in to the fact that every one has a iPhone / smart phone , to be honest I would have preferred it as just a plain back drop

[Captain Atkin]

It's not really something I'm interested in. If it saves people a few bucks on their Snake Mountain purchase, I think they should drop it. Its an interesting idea, but I don't think it is something many people would ever use more than once.

[Nemisythe]

With the way technology comes in and out it was a nice idea but by the time it gets to us, the tech may be outdated. Plus i don;t see Mattel keeping continuous updates for the stuff so why sell something that will be irrelevant by time?

[_RZ_]

Bluetooth has been pretty good about backwards compatibility- and while it's mostly associated with smartphones, so many devices have it, from DVD players, video game consoles, etc. The best thing they could do to make it more "future proof" would be putting 1/8" minijack inputs & outputs (like the little headphone jack on your mobile phone.)

The more I thought of the idea, the more I liked it. If the speaker area did things the cheap way - a "slinky" spring in there acting as echo - you could have the classic Snake Mountain echo on anything you run through the Bluetooth. Which would be a lot of fun. Also cool thought, if they went modern and did the echo as a digital internal effect you could have your DVDs of the show on, and output that through Snake Mountain, all echo-y and spooky. Skeletor's cavernous cackle sounds awesome to me!

[IrinaDerevko]

I think it's a stupid idea. This isn't a kids toy. It's very easy to hook up sound to your own display with a lot more flexibility, and do the same thing without having it built-in. I hope they take this feature away, it's not worth the additional cost or all the issues - from defective units on down. Bluetooth is a great tech but also notoriously fickle, especially around other Bluetooth devices. I can't imagine how many people are going to return just because they can't get it to work and think it's broken. It's just completely unnecessary and nothing that adds long term value to the piece.

[Battle Ram Man]

Exactly. There are free smart phone apps that can already do all kinds of voice effects. No need at all for something like this.

[IrinaDerevko]

The app itself is OK, and it seems it has already been done. My real concerns are that it seems that the app is required to run the speaker, period - the settings, etc. So offering the app as a voice changer is nice, I just see no need whatsoever to tie it into the playset itself. Cheapie Bluetooth speakers are also crappy speakers. I know some folks are just charmed to all hell by it, but it's like - when are you going to use it? Drunk at parties? And again, if you really want one - buy one online LOL.