The Energon Pub

do you think the people at hasbro or at takara have the money and the ability to mass produce transformers that can be self-transform just with the push of a button. in other words do you think it's technically possible to make one in today's current technology. if toys can be play like that, it would be a huge step to leap forward in the toy industry.

If it was possible, it would sure take the fun out of playing with them

Not yet. And even in the future, it would probably cost thousands for at least another 20 years.

you mean it would cost thousands to buy one or to make one? but tell me the truth, any hardcore fans wouldn't mind to buy despite the hefty price, right? so if they do make them, people will buy it, but only a small fraction of the world population.

The only thing i can think of that even comes remotely close to this was Armada Optimus Prime's trailer.

Once you put the 4 AA batteries into it and turned it on, you had to transform optimus prime into the "upper torso" at which point via infrared, it would send the signal to the trailer (provided the signal wasn't blocked by something) and the trailer would either transform from trailer mode to base mode, or to "super pants" mode.

do you have a picture of this toy Armada Optimus Prime's trailer. where can i buy it?

Here Self Transforming Figure.





http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/sear ... r+slammers




Enjoy.

is that a joke? explain to me how can they be self transform since they're just ordinary plastic transformers.
nice but not close enough to what i've picture in my mind though. btw where can i get the armanda figure?

This is what i am speaking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeSNPmNlEO4

Otherwise, i am not aware of any other affordable ones not already listed in this thread.

recently there were mass rumors spreading on the internet stating that the upcoming ultimate bumblebee figure can self-transform. this generates a lot of excitment among fans, but later a video clip proven false that you indeed need to transform the figure by hands traditionally. do you guys feel disappointed or feel extremely relief that it doesn't have that ability to auto-morph.

There's always the jumpstarters and the throttlebots, they auto-transform when you pull them back.

OMG i've had armada prime all this time and never knew it could do that. I never put batteries in you see. Ever since G2 Megatron who would randomly start talking...very scary stuff.

Whoa, I've always just looked at him as an ugly giant brick but this makes him so much better. I have to try this later.

OK this shuld answer your question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwThfORmVt4

I'm afraid I may have been the one who started the rumor about Ultimate Bumblebee being self-transforming. I remember speculating about it when the toy was first announced to be electronic and "voice activated." Alas, it is not true. And if the rest of the movie toys are any indication, the features that they employ to sell Ultimate Bumblebee will hamper its design as a toy. That is, the motors and gears for the toy's movement will make the figure bulky, difficult to transform, and/or difficult to pose.

However, I think the idea of a self-transforming Transformer is a neat idea. The caveat is, you'd want to be able to transform it manually as well, otherwise you take away one of the funnest aspects of a Transformer (seriously, TFs at a work desk make Rubic's Cube look like just a paperweight). When I thought of Ultimate Bumblebee being an auto-transformer, I had a vision of a line of cars on a table, and at the utterance, "Autobots, transform!" they'd all stand up on their own. It's the kind of thing you've never seen before and would totally blow you away if you did.

The issue with such a product is the manufacturing. TFs have always been a favorite among toy admirers because they have lots of moving parts. Self-transformers would not only need moving parts, but also more moving parts to do the moving! While it may not cost much to make those parts, putting them together can be a barrier to mass-production.

It can be done but it could cost over a thousand as one already mentioned. It would have to be very well thought out and some sort of computer inside or chip to control the transformation at certain times.

The problem is, if you can control its actions by remote control, you wouldnt be able to pose it by hand without serious risk of damage because the gears and motors would have to be tight in order to work.

They have robots out there and the technology to do it .... although right now the character/transformer will probably be the size of energon Unicron or larger..

It's possible, as the Armada Optimus Prime trailer shows, but it all depends on how intricate and articulated you'd want your toy. For an affordable price, you'd get something fairly basic. If you wanted it to look like a very real movie version of Optimus Prime, it would have to have many small moving parts that would cost a lot to produce after equally costly research and development. Plus, they wouldn't be able to make very many. Also, something so intricate would be sure to break or be subject to all manner of glitches.