The Energon Pub

I've seen alot of comments and things about difficultys with transformations so I thought this might be an interesting topic. Maybe some of us might even discover easier ways to transform thoughs difficult Transformers.

So, please post the Transformer you find to be the most frustrating and what problem you're haveing.

First items on the list for me.

Armada Optimus Prime Combination with Overload: There are so many pegs and slots to get him in place that every time I get one thing set another pops back out. Even whith all the pegs in place (or at least I think they're all in place) the thing falls off at the slightest touch.

Movie Megatron: This figure has way too many coliding parts makeing him so difficult to Transform that he's the only Transformer in my entire colection who I absolutly refuse to ever transform again. I bought him in Robot mode, I transformed him to vehicle mode after takeing him out of the packageing, and he's been in vehicle mode sence then. All of my other figures I've transformed more times than I can care to count. Movie Megatron has only been Transformed ONCE the entire time I've had him. That was maybe a year ago.

Any of the Alternators/Binaltech. Also, Animated Blitzwing's jet form is tricky to get right.

I'm sure I could think of more, but off the top of my head I'd have to say Energon Starscream and Classics Sunstreaker have been problematic for me.

Alternators Wheeljack... dispite having him for over a year now, everytime I try and transform him the arms still confuse me to no end and without fail I always end up popping the doors off by accident.

..It frustrates the ever-lovin' **** outta me

MP Megatron. Not sure if it is actually that difficult, I started, and saw parts showing signs of stress, and not seem to be moving right and said "Damn it, this is too hard. I don't really feel like breaking a $100 toy today." And I havent touched it since.

I allmost forgot to list Masterpice Prime.

I offten have trouble with the Matrix chamber not fitting perfectly into it's place in vehicle mode causeing the windows not to shut all the way and the coneting wheels not to tab into place.

Diem wrote:Any of the Alternators/Binaltech. Also, Animated Blitzwing's jet form is tricky to get right.

Can't help you with the Alternators, I don't have any myself allthough I love that toy line. Just can't afford them.

I do happen to have Animated Blitzwing sitting on my desk though.

*Transforming from Tank to Jet*

I've just transformed him to jet mode and I can see some issues but I think that might just be because I wasn't useing the instructions and haven't transformed him in a while.

My biggest issues were just remember how to position the torrent into it's thruster position and getting the nose cone out of tucked in place. (that sounded dirty)

If you're refering to that HUGE @$$ GAP in the jet mode, unfortunatly that's actully how it looks. Thoughs tabs to get in the way a bit and serve no real purpus. If they were longer they'd actully fill that gap bit they'd hinder the transformation even more. They could make the wing assembly longer (not the wings themselfs but just the pices they're attached to oppisite the hindering pannels) without hindering the transformation.

At any rate what exactly is it you find tricky?

I actully have more issues with the loose treads in tank mode as it seems there's no way to lock them in place.

Saber Prime wrote:Armada Optimus Prime Combination with Overload: There are so many pegs and slots to get him in place that every time I get one thing set another pops back out. Even whith all the pegs in place (or at least I think they're all in place) the thing falls off at the slightest touch.

Are you sure you're doing it right? There are only three connection points between Prime and overload and on mine they're all tight.

Anyway, my vote for hardest to transform is MP Megatron (he's actually more bothersome than hard), followed by Big Convoy (not hard per se, but lining up his parts to create a smooth mammoth form is time consuming).

Saber Prime wrote:Movie Megatron: This figure has way too many coliding parts makeing him so difficult to Transform that he's the only Transformer in my entire colection who I absolutly refuse to ever transform again. I bought him in Robot mode, I transformed him to vehicle mode after takeing him out of the packageing, and he's been in vehicle mode sence then. All of my other figures I've transformed more times than I can care to count. Movie Megatron has only been Transformed ONCE the entire time I've had him. That was maybe a year ago.

Yeah, I transformed him today too(not for the first or last time), and remembered how unweildy it is. There's just no fluid method, you kinda have to force everything in place ya know. I also found out his jet nose extends! Did not know that.

Beast Wars TM II Megatron is another pain. The parts just seem to have a tendency to hit each other while transforming.

CC Deluxe Movie Bumblebee's arms have a tendency to fall off, and lining the parts up can be a nusciance.

The doors on Prowl/Silverstreak also seem to come off during transformation no matter what I do.

Movie Ironhide is bothersome to line up right, plus his roof falls off a lot....

Energon Slugslinger And Alt. Ricochet (which is the only Alt I've bought). With both of them I transformed them and they've never been transformed since. I've actually TRIED with Slugslinger and just couldn't. Of course, I haven't tried him in over a year now.

cheeser82 wrote:Energon Slugslinger And Alt. Ricochet (which is the only Alt I've bought). With both of them I transformed them and they've never been transformed since. I've actually TRIED with Slugslinger and just couldn't. Of course, I haven't tried him in over a year now.

Good ol' Sluggy took me quite some time to figure out. I got him 2nd hand with no instructions (Yes I know Hasbro has them, but where's the fun in that?) I finally got him from robot to plane, then back again and haven't bothered since.

MP-05 for me. I only changed him into a gun and back once, just to prove to myself that I could do it. Gives new meaning to the phrase sweating bullets.

I have over 300 TF's and none really give me too much trouble with transforming them. Sure some are difficult like my Collector's Club Airazor (remold/paint of Energon Slugslinger), Classics Prowl and Transmetal 2 Megatron. However, there is only ONE figure I deem IMPOSSIBLE to Transform...

Alternator Ricochet. I bought him a few years back on a whim. I transformed him from car to robot pretty easily. I then tried to convert him back to car...and literally took an hour trying to get his parts to line up. I gave up and left him in robot mode. Since them, I've tried about 20 or so times to get him back in car mode and have fruitlessly wasted hours of my life. I'm convinced that the engineering and problem solving abilities to get this mofo back into car mode are beyond my mind's comprehension. Therefore, he earns the title of "Impossible to Transform".

I forgot how to transform my Universe Galvatron, and that was hell trying to refigure out. Hopefully soon, I'll add MP Megatron to the 'piss off' list.

Saber Prime wrote:Movie Megatron

Geez I sure hope you're not talking about Voyager Movie Megatron...I mean, he just stands up! It's not THAT hard



Most Transformers that are difficult for me the first couple of times become much less so fairly quickly...I found most of the Marvel Crossover ones to be tricky until I had done them successfully a few times...And several of the Movie figures I would probably have some trouble with because I haven't transformed them in so long I likely don't remember how...But off the top of my head, there ARE a couple bots that have always been tough for me and haven't gotten any easier for me over time:

Movie Ironhide: Robot mode isn't so bad but it's a bitch trying to get him in his truck mode...It seems like everything I snap in causes something else to come loose...

Voyager Animated Megatron: It's the only Transformer I actually CAN'T Transform...I turned him into a robot when I first got him and I've NEVER gotten him back into ship mode...I've tried several times but I can't figure him out to save my life...Even with the instructions which, as usual, are crap...

Definately Universe Galvatron for me. I've tried over and over to get him back into tank mode, and its just a gangly mess of parts and that damn loose arm. Arrrgh. First time I actually kinda regretted a Universe figure. Bot mode is cool, but alt mode just... blows.

Close second is Deluxe Movie Concept Camaro Bumblebee. That's a real biatch to get back into carmode. I'm hoping that the new one is a little better, since its that darn hood that kinda gave me problems keeping locked down so I can get the legs in right.

i too had a load of trouble with movie Ironhide, especially with the roof falling off. i like the tranformation though. it is interesting to me.

WolfDawg wrote:I have over 300 TF's and none really give me too much trouble with transforming them. Sure some are difficult like my Collector's Club Airazor (remold/paint of Energon Slugslinger), Classics Prowl and Transmetal 2 Megatron. However, there is only ONE figure I deem IMPOSSIBLE to Transform...

Alternator Ricochet. I bought him a few years back on a whim. I transformed him from car to robot pretty easily. I then tried to convert him back to car...and literally took an hour trying to get his parts to line up. I gave up and left him in robot mode. Since them, I've tried about 20 or so times to get him back in car mode and have fruitlessly wasted hours of my life. I'm convinced that the engineering and problem solving abilities to get this mofo back into car mode are beyond my mind's comprehension. Therefore, he earns the title of "Impossible to Transform".

That's sort of the same mold as Smokescreen right? Personally I have found his transformation tricky, but not impossible. I don't transform him that often but I've learned how to manage with him. It's mostly the arms that are a heck of a lot of pain to figure out how to get them back into his hood. I dunno what's different about Ricochet, but in my opinion Smokescreen is just a really annoying Transformation.

R.I.D. Ultra Magnus, I could never get him into Altmode. He's one of only 2 transformers I've ever destroyed out of sheer frustration. The other one is movie Barricade, I hated him as well.

there's actually a few minicons that are tough,

if you transform them properly, smooth, quick no problem,
incorrectly parts fall off in the process, very frustrating.
these few require skill, and some of them not all of these, are amongst the best of the minicons.

It's not necessarily hard in general, but every time I transform Classics Prowl or Bluestreak, the doors pop right off. I have a similar problem with MP Starscream as well, but in both cases I just put the pieces back on.

G1 Onslaught - not so much as hard, but dangerous. Those pegs holding his arms in are too small and too stiff, the lack of "give" in the build makes him prone to snapping.

G1 Jetfire. I've always found the head\back\roof a bit tricky. I've taken to leaving him in robot mode and away from my hands.

Rid Megatron's "claw" mode. I never can quite get that right. To be honest, it's such a crap alt-mode you can't really tell if it's 100% correct anyways.

Oh, and G1 Topspin\Twin Twist - damn they're hard.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Universe Nemesis Prime is annoying because his panels fall off all the damn time.

Which Nemesis Prime are you talking about, the mammoth or the truck?

If it's the truck, that's news to me. Defective product maybe?

Alternators Wheeljack. Not just hard, but almost impossible to get right. Is there anyone with this figure who can actually get his alt mode to hang together properly without thinking "Those doors aren't really sitting properly. Maybe if I could just get everything pressed together tighter..."?