The Energon Pub

gotta get ready for work now, but I wanted to comment on something I've noticed. It seems alot of people didn't like the movie and don't like the toys, so I wanted to comment on why I do like them.

I collected and loved TF's when I was a kid, but when I was 12 I had to move to a new town, and my G'mas idea of "moving" meant, "throw out everything and start over." Sadly this included all the toys I'd collected. When I moved I discovered guitar and never really looked back.

Now flash forward 18 years and I see the TF movie come out and go see it because, well, because it's Transformers. And I loved the movie! I thought Prime was awesome, all the bots were awesome. The Decepticons were absolutely monstrous and to me seemed frightening and scary with thier power and contempt for humanity. I just thought it was a great movie and it really got me excited about TF's again. So I ran out and started looking for the toys.

The first ones I got were Bumblebee and Barricade. Now I know I can't compare them to any other toyline other then G1 because those are the ones I had. But I've got to say I was really blown away with Bee and 'Cade. The transformation was much more dynamic and intricate. I love how Bees legs and feet automorph into position. They don't look boxy, *which I don't mind since I like G1, but still* they just looked cool, posed well, had more intricate transformations, and most importantly, when I made them into cars, all the pieces locked together and it really became a nice, solid car. Not flopping around with loose pieces. It was enough were now I've got almost 20 TF's, which I admit isn't a huge collection, but it's a nice start.

I'm running out of time to write this, but I just wanted to say that as a 'new' fan, I absolutely LOVE the new toys and the movie. Yes I've got the Entire G1 and G2 series, Armada and Cybertron, and I'm trying to catch up on all that I've missed, but I think the movie toys are always going to have a special place to me because they're what got me back into collecting them. I remember the G1 toys had really, really simple transformations, and I really love how the new ones are so much like little puzzles. I get really excited now when I find a new TF, because I know I'm gonna sit there for at least an hour playing with it, finding all the hinges, seeing what moves and what doesn't and where it wants to go. They're just great little puzzle boxes. *except Voyager Megatron, he,........well yeah he kinda sucks in the transformation department*

But anyway, I just wanted to point out to some of the guys who consistently want to point out how much the movie toys suck, that to alot of us 'new' fans who only remember the originals, they really don't suck. I think they're incredible and I'm so glad Hasbro made what I consider to be some really amazing Transformers. Now I want all the movie toys and the G1's and Cybertron. I'm already running out of space for them all, lol.

So, just wanted to say that, been on my mind for awhile, see ya'll later, off to work to make more money for TF's, lol.

Alot of the animosity comes from the QC issues, plastic quality and poor paint applications.

The preceding Transformers lines to the Movie were quite good on all counts, sure each line is going to have certain problems with certain figures, but the Movie line had far more than it's fair share.

Cybertron and Classics, the two main lines that came directly before the Movie line had some QC issues, but their overall quality was good, the plastics used were strong and of a decent width. Figures did not fall apart in your hands. Painting was also fairly good across the board.

The Movie line however had problems from the get-go, figures had stress-marks straight out of the box, other figures had poor robot modes to accommodate the more complex transformations (not a terribly bad thing), weak joints and weight issues. Even more figures had such bad painting, it was like a monkey with the shakes had painted each figure personally.

The movie line was the line that Hasbro should have used to show all the new, old and returning fans how good their products were, instead they cheaped out, selecting inferior plastics and paint apps to the previous lines.

I grew up during G-1, but I still loved the movie, but i hate the toys. So far I've only gotten G-1 Jazz, because he's G-1! I leave him in car mode along side the Classics. I also picked up Concept Bumblebee, because of the hype. I keep him in Bot mode, all alone next to MP Prime and Megatron. He stays in Bot mode because I can't turn him back into a freaking car!

That's why i don't like the movie figs. Even for my 35 year old ass, they're TOO HARD to transform without almost breaking them! Transformers were pretty easy to transform back in the 80's even for a 10 year old! I can't see a child playing with these things without them breaking, or pieces falling off.

Classics had great modes, and didn't require an hour to transform. Hasbro dropped the ball on this one. I can just picture a kid trying to transform CC Bumblebee and then giving up and hitting the Playstation.

The funny thing is a lot of people who dislike the movie line are probably looking for at least one or two of the toys from that line.

Hasbro knows they can get away with it, and that's not too cool.

I think the new toys are genius. I have yet to encounter QC problems with the movie line, save for a missing paint app on FAB Barricade's left thigh. That one tiny minor "defect" (I wouldn't call that a defect) on over 50 movies toys. Not bad.

On the other hand, I've seen crappy paint jobs on Classics Astrotrain (the first one I had used a super dark purple on on one side that made it look almost black), Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, bad part alignment on Hot Rod, 2 left guns with my first Starscream, some guy got a Ramjet that was missing his face... All recent lines have had their problems, but the designs are still awesome.

Movie toys use thinner plastic by design (a LOT of small moving parts), not to save money (previous lines were still using blocky designs with less intricate transformations and less moving parts overall that allowed the use of thicker molded plastic parts).

Also, a lot of people confuse QC problems or poor performance with "I don't like the design or aesthetics".

megatroptimus wrote:Movie toys use thinner plastic by design (a LOT of small moving parts), not to save money (previous lines were still using blocky designs with less intricate transformations and less moving parts overall that allowed the use of thicker molded plastic parts).

That's what I put it down to. They might feel less robust, but it's mostly down to thinner plastic rather than cheaper plastic. And that's a direct result of getting as close to the movie designs as possible. The only one I've come across that I genuinely thought the plastic felt cheaper on was Swindle. But I still like that figure for it's interesting transformation.

megatroptimus wrote:

Movie toys use thinner plastic by design (a LOT of small moving parts), not to save money (previous lines were still using blocky designs with less intricate transformations and less moving parts overall that allowed the use of thicker molded plastic parts).

Also, a lot of people confuse QC problems or poor performance with "I don't like the design or aesthetics".

Soem good points. Chunky Plastic won't mean a good or faithful replica to the movie. A lot of the movie toys are quite ambitious and I like that. And the movie aesthetic I'm a fan of.

Only problem is I don't see kids appreciating it. They might like Cyber Planet Keys or something rather than an animated feature like Automorph or Advanced Automorph.

Some of us Transformers collectors are very nitpicky, and would pick the most perfect transformer to death. Some of us only look for the flaws in things, and right off the bat too!! I loved the movie toys, and am glad i bought them..I was put off by the lack of Metallic colors since this was a big thing for me..but I am buying doubles so that I can repaint them...

don't believe everything you read, the posters on this or any other site is just a fraction of the fan and collector community.. there may be 92,888 members or what ever, but only about 50 ever post in the forums, as far as i can tell..and most tend to be smartasses, or jerks..... while others genuinely are here to teach, learn or chat on a friendly level..

overall, judging by the sellouts around here with the restock flying out the door.. I think the toyline was well recieved by fans outside our little slice of heavenly rants..

Good point. A lot of us are very picky and forget these are children's toys.

One thing I might complain about the movie line: not enough playability, and strange choices for size classes, although it might have been inevitable.

i_amtrunks wrote:Alot of the animosity comes from the QC issues, plastic quality and poor paint applications.

The preceding Transformers lines to the Movie were quite good on all counts, sure each line is going to have certain problems with certain figures, but the Movie line had far more than it's fair share.

Cybertron and Classics, the two main lines that came directly before the Movie line had some QC issues, but their overall quality was good, the plastics used were strong and of a decent width. Figures did not fall apart in your hands. Painting was also fairly good across the board.

The Movie line however had problems from the get-go, figures had stress-marks straight out of the box, other figures had poor robot modes to accommodate the more complex transformations (not a terribly bad thing), weak joints and weight issues. Even more figures had such bad painting, it was like a monkey with the shakes had painted each figure personally.

The movie line was the line that Hasbro should have used to show all the new, old and returning fans how good their products were, instead they cheaped out, selecting inferior plastics and paint apps to the previous lines.

QFT. QC issues and poor quality of plastic. QC issues are almost prevalent in every figure of this line, maybe because they were rushed to be on time for the movie release. poor paint applications. everything is sooo rushed.

i like some of the figs, true, and i'm dying to get my hands on some, but i'm still not liking the overall quality of this line. too many problems.

I personally love the movie line of toys. Granted, I don't have many of them but that is just because they are so popular here and I can't find them! Personally I think that some of the transformations may be a tad hard for children: my husband had to help me get Barricade in the right position to get him transformed back into a car! But such is life I supose. I'm just glad that they are still putting out Transformers!

I have no gripes about the movie or its toys personally... It is what it is and they are what they are! I love all my toys and I am not one for griping , if I dont like it I dont buy it simple as that.. The only thing I dont like is being broke after a succesful day of hunting

TF's were apart of my whole growing up process. All my friends had at least a couple, and the G1 T.V. show was dominant, although I never really collected until the movie.
I had nothing to base these new figures off of, so I had an unbiased introduction to the movie line. I think they are absolutely AWESOME. yeah the transformations are a bit tough, but I think it brings about memories from the transformations in the movie. The plastic is a little thin, but I didn't really care, 'cuz I wasn't planning on running them into walls or rolling them down a flight of stairs. They also opened my eyes to previous generations. I now have collections from Classics, G1, Movie, and Cybertron, and they're all growing! when I grew up, my attentions were drawn elsewhere, and if it weren't for the movie toys, I never would have given TF's a second glance...

EDIT: As for some of the 2nd wave figures go; they're not my cup of tea, but there are ppl out there who think they're FANTABULOUS, and that makes them alright by me.

I'm kinda hella OLD so I'm not worried about a toys 'playability'. It be kinda sad to see me laying on the floor pushing these toys around, crashing them and making appropriate sound effects.

I buy them cause they look cool. And when painted realistically, make nice display peices. I'm a fan of miniatures!

I'm sure the movie toys are great but I really didn't like the movie or any of the 'characters' (not that there were any fleshed out TF characters) in it so I didn't want to buy the toys, added to that the actually physical designs are IMO messy overly complex and ugly. I just have no interest in buying the toys to find out how good or bad they are.

Yours AK

All are good.

I guess for me I really enjoy the 'overly complex' transformations. That's what I really love about Leader Prime, it's very intricate. I'm really hoping that Iron Hide is the same way. I love the way his chest his split open and angled to the sides. I just know that if it weren't for the movie toys being the way they are, *transformation wise* then I probably wouldn't have gotten so into them again and started collecting them again.

I think people who like to slam the movie are taking for granted and forgetting that, FINALLY, we got to see actual cars and trucks transform believably into giant robots. Everytime I see Prime transform on the highway, his wheels skidding and stuttering in mid-transformation, I get excited. When Barricade chases after Bee and transforms while running, I get excited. It's amazing and I've seen the movie over 10 times and I'm still not sick of seeing it. Much like the new halloween movie is a ROB ZOMBIE movie, the new Transformers movie is definetely a Michael Bay movie. It has it's flaws, but I can't presume that I could have made a better movie. I'm just glad and thankful that I actually got to see alot of high quality extremely realistic looking transformations, and I'm glad the toys look as cool as they do. I've been lucky with the QC issues. My Blackouts chest is kinda screwed up, Barricade likes to autopunch a bit too much, and Starscreams automorph likes to get stuck halfway through, and yeah Jazz's arms kinda suck. But I remember having issues with my original ones too. Not wanting to stand up, floppy car modes, and didn't Prime not even have fists? I seem to remember you had to put his fists in or something. I could be 100% wrong though, it's been 20 years since I held a G1 Prime.

I'm just glad the movie and the toys were made. If the toys weren't so well designed in terms of the transformation, I'm not so sure I'd be collecting them now.

BLACKOUT2007 wrote:I'm kinda hella OLD so I'm not worried about a toys 'playability'. It be kinda sad to see me laying on the floor pushing these toys around, crashing them and making appropriate sound effects.

I buy them cause they look cool. And when painted realistically, make nice display peices. I'm a fan of miniatures!

You're never too old to play with your toys!

Anyhow, I really liked the movie, and I was very upbeat about the toys initially, but my affection for them has really cooled off. I'm not a very picky fan, and the movie toys I really love are mostly the ones people hate like Deluxe Brawl and Scorpanok and Swindle and Dreadwing and the much hated Voyager Megatron. I guess I really can't explain my recent dislike for these figures, I'm just not very thrilled with the Deluxe classes. The new Voyagers that are coming soon, that Allspark line, I am eagerly looking forward to them.

Malikon wrote:I guess for me I really enjoy the 'overly complex' transformations. That's what I really love about Leader Prime, it's very intricate. I'm really hoping that Iron Hide is the same way. I love the way his chest his split open and angled to the sides. I just know that if it weren't for the movie toys being the way they are, *transformation wise* then I probably wouldn't have gotten so into them again and started collecting them again.

I think people who like to slam the movie are taking for granted and forgetting that, FINALLY, we got to see actual cars and trucks transform believably into giant robots. Everytime I see Prime transform on the highway, his wheels skidding and stuttering in mid-transformation, I get excited. When Barricade chases after Bee and transforms while running, I get excited. It's amazing and I've seen the movie over 10 times and I'm still not sick of seeing it. Much like the new halloween movie is a ROB ZOMBIE movie, the new Transformers movie is definetely a Michael Bay movie. It has it's flaws, but I can't presume that I could have made a better movie. I'm just glad and thankful that I actually got to see alot of high quality extremely realistic looking transformations, and I'm glad the toys look as cool as they do. I've been lucky with the QC issues. My Blackouts chest is kinda screwed up, Barricade likes to autopunch a bit too much, and Starscreams automorph likes to get stuck halfway through, and yeah Jazz's arms kinda suck. But I remember having issues with my original ones too. Not wanting to stand up, floppy car modes, and didn't Prime not even have fists? I seem to remember you had to put his fists in or something. I could be 100% wrong though, it's been 20 years since I held a G1 Prime.

I'm just glad the movie and the toys were made. If the toys weren't so well designed in terms of the transformation, I'm not so sure I'd be collecting them now.

Ironhide is the shiz. You won't be disappointed at ALL. He's my #1 toy from the movie line. Leader Prime is up there for me as well. I'd like IH to be a little bigger, because that TopKick isn't smaller than a H2. Other than that, I have no major gripe.

The movie is being re-released in IMAX theaters today. I've seen it 3 times so far, and plan on at least doubling that within the next week.

im a 12 year old and it only takes me 5-7 minutes to transform my toys for the 1st time. after that it only takes me 1 minute or less.

zemper wrote:QFT. QC issues and poor quality of plastic. QC issues are almost prevalent in every figure of this line

You didn't bother reading my post about this issue before posting, right?

Regardless of the possible reasons for using the thinner plastic, the toys still feel cheap. The plastic just feels like it will break at anytime. I'm all for complex and fun transformations but I'd definately exchange some complexity for a little sturdier feel to the toys. Blackout stays in bot mode because both the tabs on his head got stress marks after one transformation and one of them is bent in such a way that it won't lock into place in alt mode.

I don't like the automorph gimmick either. Seems pointless and needlessly complicates things.

I also think a lot of them are kinda on the ugly side. Bonecrusher looks like a bridge troll. I'm not crazy about Blackout who seems misproportioned. Same goes for Jazz and Barricade who seem to be all legs. Lets not forget Barricade's stupid punch arm that will spring out at the slightest touch.

I am quite fond of Dreadwing though.

Somehow my 70s Camaro Bumblebee broke when i tried using the Automorph. Luckily it wasnt visible and didnt affect the figure much.

I've got 13 figures so far from the movie line and have yet to have a single stress mark in the plastic. Maybe I've just gotten lucky though. I'm pretty careful with them also, I don't force things at all. Usually it seems like if something doesn't want to go where you think it should, there's a reason. Somethings in the way, the legs aren't closed completely *Barricade*

as for Transforming them in under a minute, that's cool and all, but I'm in no hurry. As a matter of fact, I've found that during the week if I'm stressed out over work, I'll sit down with about 5 of them, change them back and forth, relax, enjoy myself, and an hour later I'll find that I'm much more relaxed and not to bothered by work.

I guess I just enjoy taking my time transforming them. I know what you mean though. First time I changed Ratchet to a bot it took about an hour of playing with it, but now I change him back and forth in a couple minutes.

Then again I usually don't look at the directions, I enjoy the challenge of trying to figure it out. Though Leader Prime demanded instructions. I was so glad to finally have him and with what I paid for him I was really nervous about accidently breaking him.

Well, I am 32 and a 20+yr collector(well, minus that 5yr hiatus when I was in college and broke...), and I quite enjoy the Movie line.

Realistic alt modes+complicated transformations+articulation=WIN.

There are some figures that I don't like, and scaling could have been much better, but I enjoy the overall puzzle approach and they make for great display pieces. Some of the head-sculpts are a little out there for me.

Never had a problem transforming them, but maybe it's because I'm used to complicated assemblies and intricate moving parts. A couple were tricky the first time through. I do agree that these toys are generally not for kids under the age of 10. But that's what the RGs, Basics, FABs, and Cyberslammers are for.