Originally posted by mattdm I have pretty much only one thing to say to that:
My Gods, that thing's like a Mary Kay Porsche. You're either going to embarrass yourself or someone else, but it ought to be fun either way.
Seriously, folks, the robot-toy edition is kind of a Japanese thing, it's meant to be a little silly, despite what's under the hood. It really takes an American to think a camera's going to perform worse if someone's not all serious about the brand image of some silly edition out there.
I'm personally very much about not drawing undue attention to the camera itself, but my take on a lot of the Japanese silliness is it's like karaoke: insisting on seeming all 'professional' is no way to get people up and singing.
(Frankly, in these times where a lot of people and places get a real burr up about bringing a 'professional' camera anywhere, bring on the Space Cruiser Yamato edition. Malls need a photodoc.
)