The Energon Pub

News Credits: 21 · Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:19 pm

i bought generations activators bumblebee i couldnt get him into car mode then i remberd youtube video that click thing that snaps into place but it does not show in the instruction should hasbro go back to there g1 instructuctions its not just bumblebee its oter toys i found out to animated, maybe universe others

with detailed pictures & small decriptiions in picture panel?

i almost went back to toysrus tommorro to get refund i thought it was broken until i remberd youtube video that was shown

News Credits: 668 · Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:45 pm

YES. If it wasn't for the pictures included in Starscream's instructions, I'd have never figured out his arms without breaking them. Heck, even with instructions, the slot that takes the tab to hold his arm in robot mode snapped.

Yes, pictures instead of terrible line drawings would be a tremendous help.

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

Autobot032 wrote:Yes, pictures instead of terrible line drawings would be a tremendous help.

100% agreed

News Credits: 1082 · Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:52 pm

Mkall wrote:
Autobot032 wrote:Yes, pictures instead of terrible line drawings would be a tremendous help.

100% agreed

Why would G1 Starscream toy instructions help you to transform a movie Starscream toy? 8-}

Sorry.

News Credits: 668 · Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:54 pm

tigertracks 24 wrote:
Mkall wrote:
Autobot032 wrote:Yes, pictures instead of terrible line drawings would be a tremendous help.

100% agreed

Why would G1 Starscream toy instructions help you to transform a movie Starscream toy?

Sorry.

NO! BAD! NEIN!

Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:05 pm

I agree as well.

Any of my newer non g1 style purchases have tended to make me a little angry when it came to transforming them.

I have at least 200+ G1 from original to reissues and I never have issues with the older instructions whatsoever.(ok at least 98% of them time I dont)

News Credits: 3 · Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:59 pm

The first TF released in 1984 had color picture instructions. Loved them because it was like having a picture catalog of the toy.I assume they stopped because it probably cost too much just to make the booklet.

FansProject does an interesting thing with making it a comic book/instructions combo. Not a bad idea.

News Credits: 1 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:16 am

I also do not like the newer instructions these toys come with. I find them hard to follow. Most the time I end up ignoring what the picture is attempting to show me and I just study the figure, then I do what I think should be done. Just as often I end up going back a few steps to double check when something doesn't seem right. Third party instructions are at times not an improvement either *coughWarbotDefendercough*.

Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:49 am

Yes, a thousand times yes! The lineart instructions are immensely hard to follow. Pictures and instructions would help tremendously!

News Credits: 241 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:21 am

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Yes, a thousand times yes! The lineart instructions are immensely hard to follow. Pictures and instructions would help tremendously!

Do you speak English?
Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Parlez-vous français?
Spreekt u Nederlands?
Hablas español?

Imagine translating the instructions themselves into like 12 languages for Europe

Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:30 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Yes, a thousand times yes! The lineart instructions are immensely hard to follow. Pictures and instructions would help tremendously!

Do you speak English?
Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
Parlez-vous français?
Spreekt u Nederlands?
Hablas español?

Imagine translating the instructions themselves into like 12 languages for Europe

Better than the crap we're getting now, to be honest.

News Credits: 217 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:50 am

Despite the impenetrable Japanese Takara instructions are usually good.

News Credits: 241 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:57 am

Diem wrote:Despite the impenetrable Japanese Takara instructions are usually good.

Not so impenetrable once you know the English approximations...

News Credits: 217 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 9:43 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Diem wrote:Despite the impenetrable Japanese Takara instructions are usually good.

Not so impenetrable once you know the English approximations...

True, but that might be a high bar for most Transfans to jump...

Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:34 am

I always wondered if anyone ever asked Hasbro, during their bazillion panel discussions at various events, about why their instructions are so terrible... I mean, I suppose the translating to many languages would not be very cost efficient, but they had to do it in the past. Unless of course, they deliberately make them terrible so that you break it, forcing you to have to get another...

I know if whoever makes these instructions sheet, presented them to my technical writing professor, that person would end up with either an F, or an Incomplete.

News Credits: 217 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:42 am

Makes one nostalgic for 1987.

CAR MODE
PULL OUT FEET
FLIP BACK HOOD
LIFT ARMS
ROBOT MODE

News Credits: 668 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:35 am

Also, since they've used line art, they've skipped steps in he the transformation, or gimmicks that should've been shown.

For example...ROTF LC Optimus, the panels on the back of his legs. They do pop out. Nothing in the instructions on that.

News Credits: 241 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:49 am

Autobot032 wrote:For example...ROTF LC Optimus, the panels on the back of his legs. They do pop out. Nothing in the instructions on that.

And the point to that is...?

News Credits: 668 · Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:58 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Autobot032 wrote:For example...ROTF LC Optimus, the panels on the back of his legs. They do pop out. Nothing in the instructions on that.

And the point to that is...?

It fills out the leg, gives him a bigger calf, and it does pop out, you can tell it's not just a piece of plastic that happens to be loose. There's a snap and a catch to it as well.

But my point is, it's one of many features overlooked on TFs. Whether it's small or huge, it's guaranteed to be left out at some point, on some figure.

Leader Class Starscream's toes can be spread apart, but it's not shown in the instructions. His kneecap flaps can be moved but it's not shown. The toes help with balance and stability, depending on how you have him standing.

Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:40 pm

Diem wrote:Makes one nostalgic for 1987.

CAR MODE
PULL OUT FEET
FLIP BACK HOOD
LIFT ARMS
ROBOT MODE

That's what's so funny... not in a ha-ha, well maybe, in a ha-ha sort of way... Those G1 Transformers were very simple to transform, and yet the instructions were so highly detailed that there was absolutely no way one could mess it up. With all the advancements of Transformers Toys and the complexity of their transformations, especially with the movie lines, NOW is when we NEED those highly detailed instruction sheets.

Heck, if it wasn't for Youtube, I'd have never figured out Deluxe Sideswipe, the first time I transformed him... or worse, even with Youtube, I still have a heck of a time transforming Mixmaster... otherwise, Sideswipe would have suffered the same fate in my hands that Jazz did in the 2007 movie, thanks to the lovely Hasbro Instructions.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:44 pm

It seems the simpler the transformations the more detail the instructions. The harder the transformations the less detail on the instructions. Perhaps there is so much involved they think the detail is in the instructions but it's only in their head that it was added...and it was skipped over. That happens to me when I write a story and I hate it because it leaves important stuff out.

Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:57 pm

Autobot032 wrote:
Yes, pictures instead of terrible line drawings would be a tremendous help.

Or they could just put some decent shading into the instructions to convey depth a little better, or actually use a two point perspective drawing with shading, but then again, I've had plenty of practice with old lego instructions to help me figure out the modern TF ones.

And well, Transformers as a whole are so complicated now a days that most of my non Transfans friends insist that they make self transforming Transformers (No, they never saw Armada Prime). Also, there's only so much they (Hasbro) can invest in a sheet of instructions that get throw away when you are done with them. Granted most Transformers fans (Hardcore) hold on to them, but to the other 80% of kids buying them, the parents throw them out.