2-XL
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- For the Estonian band formerly known as 2XL, see Soul Militia.
2-XL, in its initial release, was an educational 8-Track based toy, in the shape of a robot that was introduced in 1978. 2-XL was the brainchild of Dr. Michael J. Freeman who felt that toys should be both fun and educational at the same time. By utilizing the various tracks on the magnetic audio, tapes he could make the toy both interactive and fun.
The name, 2-XL, has a double meaning. One to sound like that of a Sci-Fi type robot, and it also is supposed to sound like "To Excel", meaning that this robot will offer education and knowledge.
The toy was released in two different time periods. The 1978 release was produced by a toy company called Mego Corporation. It was brought back in 1992 by Tiger Electronics in a version that used cassette tapes rather than 8-Track.
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[edit] Mego Corporation Version
The original 2-XL, (see image to right), was made of hard, brown plastic, with white plastic coverings on the front.
He had two tiny yellow light bulb lights for eyes that flashed at various moments while listening to the 8-track program tapes, and he had four red push buttons on his stomach. The first button on the left was the "Question" Button. The second button was labeled "A or Yes Or True". The third button was "B or More Info" and the last button was "C or No or False". There was also a volume and power on knob found on the lower right portion of the unit. At the bottom was a large slot where an 8-Track tape would be inserted.
Essentially, the weird looking toy was nothing more than a regular 8-Track player, with each button operating a different track, much in the same way any 8-Track tape player does. All of the game tapes would work just fine in any capable player with 4 track buttons on it. It was powered by a common 9-volt AC adapter with a 3.5 mm mini-plug tip.
Michael J. Freeman had a hard time convincing companies of the benefits that such a toy would give. Many companies turned down the idea, saying it was just too expensive and not practical to invest so much into an educational toy when kids normally don't buy things willingly to learn. Finally Mego Corporation decided that it fit in well with their company. They were makers of action figures based on popular TV shows, a lot of which happened to be Sci-Fi based.
Freeman was hands on with everything, including coming up with the idea behind 2-XL and how the mechanism would work. The 8-Track tapes focused around a nerdy robot with a New York accent, (voiced by creator Michael J. Freeman himself) that would talk as if the listener was right there with him where ever he happened to be in the storyline. He would ask multiple-choice questions based on the subject of the tape, and the user would answer the question he asked by pushing the corresponding button. A right answer resulted in 2-XL congratulating the user on his knowledge, while a wrong answer would result in a razzing as 2-XL explained what the proper answer was. In between questions there would sometimes be a story going on that the user was involved with, with the answers to the questions corresponding to the storyline. Other times 2-XL would crack a bad joke and laugh at his own humor with a very crazy sounding laugh that was one of the many running gags that would be found on almost every tape in the series.
Originally the programs were very basic. There was just be one general story line. Each track flowed through the same time length differing only by telling you you are correct or wrong. Eventually, Freeman started to take advantage of the four tracks found on a tape to have up to three different programs on one tape.
There were some general themes to each tape. The first would be the 2-XL bleeping and buzzing sound effects as it turned on, as if you were activating this huge robot (although he would often refer to its size as only a foot or so tall). He would always introduce himself in the same way, saying, "Thank you for turning me on. I am 2-XL..." and the voice did not sound robotic and was pretty much Michael's voice only a bit slower speaking and more sophisticated sounding. There would always be a moment where you had to push the Question button, as that got you back to track one, which is where the main talking took place. There was always music or beeping sounds while you would think, or while the new questions were loading, to make everything space out properly. Towards the end of the tape 2-XL would give you warning that he was getting tired and that it was time to wrap things up with one last question. He was always very friendly and acted very human, as if he was your new buddy that just wants to help you learn things in the funnest way possible. His humor was silly as were his wise cracks but the same themes were found throughout the various tapes, getting more and more creative as the future tapes were introduced for the robot. He would often say "Please turn me off now" and often relate the reason he has to go somehow to the topic of the tape.
2-XL came with one tape, it was titled "General Information" , and it would touch on various topics from sports, movies , pop culture and many other general themed questions. Each of the various other program tapes was sold separately and most came with a separate activity book that could be used as well while doing the activity with 2-XL. Some also came with face plate cards that could be placed over the various buttons that had different words on them that were specifically to be used for that certain program tape. Not all of the tapes were educational, some told stories that you would just listen to and be able to answer a few questions about the story afterwards. Not all tapes were focused around 2-XL either. Other voices would appear on them depending on what the focus of each tape was. But somewhere 2-XL's voice would show up to keep everything in the same universe. There was also two tape sets available that would continue on with the theme of the first tape after you finished it.
The Mego version of 2-XL lasted for four years, (1978-1981). The mold and look got a minor change in 1980. Instead of just yellow lights for eyes he would have red. The louder the volume was turned, the brighter the lights would flash in the newer slightly altered 2-XL. The speaker in the back of the unit was changed from a hexagon shape to a more traditional round speaker shape. The plastic also seemed shiner and glossier looking on the second make of the toy. Besides that it looked and felt exactly the same as the previous version.
All told there were about 50 program tapes made for the Mego 2-XL. It was highly popular in its first years, but it faded into obscurity after the turn of the decade. The toy will often show up on auction sites and in used toy stores. They aren't rare by any means, but aren't in mass quantities either. Some of the tapes can be harder to find; the last year tapes are rarer due to the decreased popularity of the toy in its last year on the market.
[edit] Tiger Electronics Version
In 1992, Tiger Electronics re-introduced 2-XL onto the toy market and Dr. Michael J. Freeman was still heavily involved with this newer version of the toy. . This time instead of the old defunct 8-Track tapes, it was more up to date with cassette tapes that had double the length on them than the old tapes and better sound quality to boot. (See image to right)
With the update came a brand new, modernized 90's look to the toy. It now had arms, huge red eyes, and a round face on top inside of a space helmet like dome. It also had a handle on top of the unit so you could carry it very easily. The tapes now slipped into his chest via a pop open cassette deck lid. There were three blue tape operation buttons above his chest. One to play the tape, one to rewind and another to stop the tape. The same four buttons from the original were still on the toy, now they were square shaped and also blue and were found at the very bottom of the toy. The first button on the left was now the "Question or Yes" button, the second was "A or No" the third was "B or True" and the last was the "C or False" button. Each button was also numbered one through four with a sticker label below them. Besides the eyes in the dome that would light up, he also now had a circle for a mouth that could also light up as he talked.
Instead of the buttons going to different tracks like the old version, the new tapes were recorded on either right or left channels of the sound using both sides of the tape. Like the old unit was just an 8-Track player, this was pretty much just a cassette tape player that played tapes either forwards or backwards. You could put any tape into 2-XL and it would play just fine. It could also play the tapes in reverse depending on what button you pushed. The biggest change to the toy besides the look was that it was now battery powered. It was also slightly smaller than the previous toy making it even more travel sized for any kid on the go. They even put in a headphone jack in the side of the unit.
The voice and attitude was similar for 2-XL but with a more updated and 90's flare to it (Still voiced by Freeman though). He would get mad if you did things like push random buttons when you weren't told to or be more witty and off beat with his answers. Overall though it was the same robot that kids of the late 70's had fallen in love with. The tapes were also very different in nature. While the idea was still to learn, they were now more commercially based to famous comic book and cartoon characters. Spider-Man, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men and Batman are just some of the tie in themed tapes that were available for the system. You could now go on an adventure with various superheroes, deciding their fate by pushing one of the buttons. Of course there were still the regular old education and question and answer tapes that still made up a huge part of the programs library. It seemed that the story tapes were more popular than the educational ones so during the last year and a half of the Tiger Electronics version, there were a lot more story/adventure based tapes than traditional educational ones. The TV commercials also highlighted the adventure tapes over the educational ones for their selling point.
2-XL would have a slightly less successful run the second go around. But with about 45 tapes in total it still had a nice following and offering for the most part. It lasted from 1992-1994, with the last of the left over inventory being sold in 1995 bundled with the Power Rangers tape.
This version of 2-XL got even more exposure due to it being used on a kids TV Game Show at the time named "Pick Your Brain". A 10-foot replica of the Tiger Electronics 2-XL was used on the set to ask questions and offer extra information on the topic being talked about. Freeman was asked to do the voice of 2-XL but declined. The show was hosted by Marc Summers and 2-XL on this show was voiced by Greg Berg. The 2-XL was very similar to the toy, bad jokes and all but the show only lasted one season.
[edit] Tri-Lex
One of the last tapes released for the Mego Corporation version of 2XL was "Tri-Lex", a complete board game designed to be played by 2XL. The tape came completed with a board which fitted over the front of the 2XL unit itself, placing the board in front of the tape slot. The game board consisted of an inverted pyramid shape, 4 squares wide at the top to 1 square at the bottom, with each row coloured in a different colour (Blue, Yellow, Green, and Tan), and 4 slots through which pieces (which 2XL called "checkers") could be dropped into the pyramid. The slots aligned with 2XL's 4 buttons, with the intention that dropping the checker would also press the appropriate track button on 2XL. The objective of the game was to create either a line or a triangle of 3 checkers of your own colour. The game and tape design are inteesting because they enabled the 4-track tape player to provide a passable simulation of a game-playing AI.
Several "tricks" had to be used: an additional set of "front" slots that did not interact with the buttons were provided, and 2XL occasionally told the player to "make a move in the front" so that the track would not change. 2XL would also ask the player to "remember a codeword" at certain points in the game, and to repeat it back later. Often the game would end before the tape did, meaning that 2XL would prompt the player with "please turn my volume down to zero", after which the player would have to wait for the remainder of the current game's recording to wind through before a track-changing "click" signalled they should turn the volume back up. (For this reason, Tri-lex was the only 2XL tape that did not say "thank you for turning me on" at the start, since the player was expected to play several games in a single session.) Finally, although the tape appears to loop after 1 game, it in fact has 4 games recorded on it.
The game itself is easily solved, and correctly played always ends in a win for the starting player. The tape was thus more valuable for teaching pattern recognition than as a genuine boardgame. On the tape, the player can in fact beat 2XL, but only on 2 of the recorded games (those where the human player goes first). The player can defeat 2XL by using the guaranteed win, or - on occasion - by using other strategies where 2XL "makes a mistake". 2XL does not use the guaranteed win strategy against human players.
The guaranteed win is as follows: first player plays Tan (forced, only space available), second player plays Green 1/2 (forced, only spaces available - which one does not matter, as the ensuing positions are mirror images of each other; continue following the moves on the appropriate side of the /), first player plays Green 2/1, second player plays Yellow 3/1 (forced, else first player plays it and wins with a line), first player plays Yellow 2, second player plays Blue (3 or 4)/(1 or 2), first player plays Blue (4 or 3)/(2 or 1) (forced, else second player plays it and wins with a triangle), second player plays Yellow 1/3 (forced, only space available), first player plays Blue 2/3 and wins with a line of three.
[edit] Similar Toys
- Kasey the Kinderbot would carry on the use of the interactive technology that Dr. Michael J. Freeman originally created for the 2-XL toys. Again he would be involved with the new product that this time was specifically targeted at kids aged 3-7. Instead of tapes like the previous versions, this one uses small cartridges that weren't all linear flowing like the tapes, but now kids could jump around to various sections and do what they wanted to at the moment. It was purely an educational toy with the cartridges focusing on such subjects as Math, Science and languages. The cartridges were also color coded to let kids know what group of subject it belonged to. The toy was first released in 2002 by Fisher-Price who specifically produced items for the young kid target audience. Spin off characters would include Toby the Totbot that focused specifically on teaching letters and numbers and Fetch the Phonicsbot that was a dog shaped robot holding a letter board with all the letters both uppercase and lowercase and was aimed at the toddler age group.
[edit] External links
- World of 2-XL An extensive source on anything regarding 2-XL and its inventor, Dr. Michael J. Freeman.
- http://www.pickletreats.com/2XL/ Unofficial 2-XL Page
