The Energon Pub

Excluding rescue bots and the forthcoming simplified deluxes, I was curious for those of you who actually share your transformers with your children which toys have passed the "play test" at your home?

Here are some fun field-testing results from my 7-yr-old and 5-yr-old sons. The results may surprise you!

Greatest Hits

- TF Prime Shockwave
Shockwave consistently beats the crap out of his opposition - he has yet to lose a limb or accessory, and stands strongly in virtually any pose, and is fun to (try) to transform.

- TF Prime Smokescreen
Despite repeatedly losing arms, doors and wheels, and refusing to ever be transformed, Smokescreen can stand reliably on carpet, and always recovers from his asswhoopings to jump back into battle.

- Generations Cyclonus
Despite the nature of his character being a complete mystery (he's not in TF Prime or Animated) and a tendency for his shoulders to unhinge in battle and a tenuous and instabile stance on carpet, he is easy to pose (and stay posed) and just looks too damn cool to leave out.

- TF Prime Wheeljack
He has swords, he's sturdy, he's cool as hell. Tends to never transform, once in either mode.

- TF Animated Bumblebee
Though he too refuses to ever transform and has chosen to keep his hood covers in storage, he and his turbo boosters and stingers launch into every battle with gusto.

- TF Animated Cybertron Optimus
His axe and shield long ago discarded, and his chest rarely securely tabbed in, Optimus transforms with ease and rolls into defeat eagerly.

- TF Animated Ratchet
This first-owned transformer is a veteran of countless battles, with a missing chunk of door to prove it. Yet he remains a core part of nearly every battle, despite preferring his robot mode and long ago putting his tools in storage (and losing legs from time to time).




Forgotten, Abandoned, and Ignored

- Generations Metroplex
Too big to take to battle scenes, too hard to use as a city, and too heavy/loose to stand as a robot. He generally sits against the wall and keeps an eye on things.

- DOTM Sideswipe
Crap.

- DOTM armor Topspin
Was a big hit for awhile, but his tendency to lose arms, legs, weapons, and hood pieces put him in a dark place in a box.

- Animated Arcee
Her arms fell off one too many times.

- TF Prime Knockout
He was part of many battles early on, but his sheer crappiness eventually outweighed the coolness of his character.

- Ulimate Optimus Prime (the big one with the trailer that turns into a suit)
Don't even know where to start. Frustration in a box.

- Generations Rodimus
His right arm won't stay on, eventually he was discarded to the crap box.

- Animated Wreck-Gar
He's awesome, I don't know why they don't play with him. Think he's too hard to stand up.

DarkEnergon wrote:- Generations Cyclonus
Despite the nature of his character being a complete mystery (he's not in TF Prime or Animated)

Are you saying you don't know where he comes from? Or your children don't know?

He was created by Unicron in the 1986 film.

I.. I love this thread.

I'd like to urge more parents with kids to do the same, just to see what comes out of it!

Mykltron wrote:

DarkEnergon wrote:- Generations Cyclonus
Despite the nature of his character being a complete mystery (he's not in TF Prime or Animated)

Are you saying you don't know where he comes from? Or your children don't know?

He was created by Unicron in the 1986 film.

I got out of it that his kids didn't know who he was.

Also, yes, he was in Animated.



Anyway, I can't test this out for myself, though I imagine a lot of the PRiD line is kid-friendly considering their somewhat simplistic yet fun transformations.

Generations Rodimus? Are you referring to the Reveal the Shield figure?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Generations Rodimus? Are you referring to the Reveal the Shield figure?

There was a reveal the shield Rodimus?

njb902 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Generations Rodimus? Are you referring to the Reveal the Shield figure?

There was a reveal the shield Rodimus?

Yep there was, but he was a practically straight re-release of Universe 3-pack Rodimus:


Universe on the left, Reveal the Shield on the right

He's... decent, but the original Classics and Henkei ones are better. And just because:


Universe on the left, Reveal the Shield on the right

Best colors of all, show-accurate or not.

Least? G1 Jetfire. Brittle as glass. I'd fear for a reissue (if it was even possible), since the plastic quality never seems to be as good.

Best? Power Master Optimus Prime. Its Optimus Prime, its big, its got a base, it combines and its got loads of guns.

Beastwars II Galvatron....not even adult friendly

I don't have children, but I would think RoTF/DoTM Leader Optimus and DoTM Leader Sentinel are hella hard for kids to transform, so they're probably not very appealing to them. Hell, even I get pissed at Sentinel sometimes. Stupid panels in truck mode. I think that's a main reason the TF4 Leader Optimus we've been seeing is so simple. Too many complaints about the previous Leader Class Primes.

Armada, Energon and Cybertron all really had fluid transitions, so pretty easy for kids to comprehend.

Movie toys all have relatively tiny limbs, tight joints and thin parts.

Blurrz wrote:Armada, Energon and Cybertron all really had fluid transitions, so pretty easy for kids to comprehend.

Movie toys all have relatively tiny limbs, tight joints and thin parts.

Cybertron Inferno is a big hit, as are the power core combiner scout figures (very sturdy figures). But - the kids love the characters they see on TV, thus Smokescreen managing to be a favorite. (And yes, I meant RTS "Battle for the Matrix" Cyclonus and Rodimus). (And, no I didn't realize Cyclonus was in Animated, but I meant as far as my kids know they are unaware of the character, just love his design).

Yes, I would say most of the Armada/Energon/Cybertron toys are kids friendly. They are easy to transform, nothing to break off easily, and mostly look good (screen accurate) in either mode. If Hasbro decided to go back to the easy route, they really should consider AEC designs (but make the screen appealing reasonable for toy making too, this is a different topic).

I was hoping PCC line will be a big hit for kids but many of them suffer quality issues.

Animated line is surprisingly not very kids friendly. I don't have many to make the judgement but the Animated Bumblebee is hard to transform.

Classics seekers are all pretty good for kids.

The movie trilogy toys are all pretty least kids friendly besides the legend/commander class.

Movie's fast action line had good concept but most of the robot mode looks ugly (again, screen accurate).

I love ROTF's activators line. Owned Bumblebee and Starscream and both of them are really good. But they didn't win my son's heart that much. Reason? Again, not screen accurate enough.