The Energon Pub

chuckdawg1999 wrote: I think it's a lovely nod to folks like me who were kinda miffed that the first update to Six Shot in years was a Headmaster. If you use the gimmick great, but if you don't that's fine too.

I agree, but saying you arent supposed to take the head off definitely goes against the instructions showing you ways for the titanmaster to interact. You are free to your opinion, but I wouldnt want to misinform fans who dont have the toy and could misconstrue your earlier comment.

Officially, as per the instructions, the titan master is meant to come off and interact with the different modes, but you can all do as you wish.

william-james88 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote: I think it's a lovely nod to folks like me who were kinda miffed that the first update to Six Shot in years was a Headmaster. If you use the gimmick great, but if you don't that's fine too.

I agree, but saying you arent supposed to take the head off definitely goes against the instructions showing you ways for the titanmaster to interact. You are free to your opinion, but I wouldnt want to misinform fans who dont have the toy and could misconstrue your earlier comment.

Officially, as per the instructions, the titan master is meant to come off and interact with the different modes, but you can all do as you wish.

One of the things I love best about Sixshot is that they came up with a different integration for each of the 6 modes, especially the car mode with 2 TM seats, Revolver can take someone out on a date! Of course the integration for the submarine mode is a bit ridiculous in the directions, by having him sit in his joined weapons on the front of the sub, so he can pilot a submarine from outside the submarine.

Cobotron wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote: even these horribly printed TR ones.

You know, I've been meaning to bring this up. What in the 13 Primes is going on with the instructions lately? They are completely illegible. Who ever is designing these graphics must have dropped out of their community college graphic design 101 course, day 2. How they got the job baffles me.
The choice to print them in grey scale with no white is atrocious and goes against every principle of composition in visual communications. It's like trying to read a book printed in black ink on black paper. Just simplify, PLEASE! Black, red, blue, anything. Just lines printed on a white field is the perfect contrast for the viewer to interpret the images.
I don't let a lot of whats wrong with these toys get to me, but the incompetence that has gone into the design of CW and TR instructions sheets drives me BAT **** CRAZY!

End rant.

I sometimes have to use a tactical flashlight to brighten up the page.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Cobotron wrote: rant.

I sometimes have to use a tactical flashlight to brighten up the page.

Looking at the instruction is like gazing up the anus of dead rhino.

After finally getting Hot Rod in hand, I can honestly say I absolutely love him. Talk about doing right by where the Classics figure went so horribly wrong. The only thing that's not perfect on him in that his Titan Master sits kinda low, so his head can only swivel. But my favorite part is how the exhaust pipes/arm blasters fit into the pipes on his legs.

With the instructions, I prefer to look at a finished alt mode and try to figure out how to get there. If I'm stuck, though, I'll refer to the instructions then. :p

Man, the instruction sheets... yup, they're undoubtedly terrible. I miss the days of Cybertron when they were easy to read. White background, grey figure, bam. All you need.

My favorite is when they print the instructions awfully and leave steps out, so you have absolutely no idea what you're doing at all!

I remember when I was younger (primary/middle school, back in the Cybertron days), when it was a matter of pride amongst friends to work out Transformers without the instructions. I remember being absolutely mortified when, transforming a new Scout-class toy for the first time (Overhaul I believe), I almost had to actually use the instructions! But nowadays, honestly, I think half of these guys would be easier to figure out if one didn't do so - I'm actually kind of amazed to see that instruction quality has dropped to the point that they're nearly more a hindrance than a help, but here we are.

First, if the line of your youth was Cybertron, I hate you. Second, how about G1 instructions with actual text for each step.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:First, if the line of your youth was Cybertron, I hate you.

chuckdawg1999 wrote: Second, how about G1 instructions with actual text for each step.

Those are even more helpful than the UT-era instructions! I usually tend to find the issue with text instructions is that it's hard to indicate specific parts/details through verbal description, but the G1 instructions hit the right balance by including both text and demonstrative images.

Honestly though, TF instructions tend to be perfectly fine as long as it's possible to tell what's going on in them - which was, almost always, possible all the way up 'til now. As helpful as text is, it's not absolutely necessary as long as the pictures on their own are decipherable.

I didn't get interested in Transformers until I was 25. My first line was Prime but I still went straight to youtube to watch and learn. I'm spoiled. Most the time I try to figure it out on my own but the instructions sometimes lie and you can break a toy. I really look at a figure before I move any parts for the first time. I'm probably too careful with my toys but I really get a lot of enjoyment out of them so a little extra TLC is worth it.

I honestly think the worst instructions of any line I have collected are the ones that come with the RID toys. IIRC Thunderhoof had some missing steps in his plus you have to save the box to save the instructions (which suck anyway). Youtube is better.

WreckerJack wrote:I didn't get interested in Transformers until I was 25. My first line was Prime but I still went straight to youtube to watch and learn. I'm spoiled.

I, too, immediately went to seek out more Transformers stuff pretty much as soon as I got into it (albeit at the age of 7-8 rather than 25). In fact, the first Transformers media I properly owned was an old set of G2 tapes I managed to bum off a friend, less than a year or so after discovering the franchise through Cybertron - so in some weird way, G1 still feels like my childhood Transformers fiction as much as Cybertron does (and more-so than the Unicron Trilogy as a whole)!

*ahem* Sorry bout that, where were we.

WreckerJack wrote: Most the time I try to figure it out on my own but the instructions sometimes lie and you can break a toy. I really look at a figure before I move any parts for the first time. I'm probably too careful with my toys but I really get a lot of enjoyment out of them so a little extra TLC is worth it.

I honestly think the worst instructions of any line I have collected are the ones that come with the RID toys. IIRC Thunderhoof had some missing steps in his plus you have to save the box to save the instructions (which suck anyway). Youtube is better.

I've never really had much trouble with breaking any of my Transformers (except for, to bring it back again, Cybertron Overhaul whom I broke by jumping on but that's a story for another day/thread) but I've usually found that the instructions tend to lessen the chances of breakage. Though it can vary depending on one's nature I suppose - if you're that cautious type you're less likely to force something if you don't "know" that's how it's supposed to be (and thus never transform it properly without the instructions), but alternately a reckless person might think they know what to do and force something that actually isn't supposed to move that way after all.

Ultimately, while a Youtube video is indeed pretty much always the best way to work out how to convert a figure, Hasbro hasn't yet worked out a way to include embedded YT videos in their packaging so for now we'll have to make do with what they give us. (And while RiD's instructions aren't fantastic, at least you can see the things they're showing you - and printing them on the box does save paper, so, hooray for that!)

I didn't have any of the channels that featured Transformers when I was a kid. In High School my friend showed me the 2007 movie but I didn't really get into it. It wasn't until years later I decided to get into the series because a friend suggested it. It's a long story really and I will probably post that in my collection thread because it is close to my heart.

I'm all for the saving of trees, but I like the small booklets. I recycle the boxes and pretty much everything in my house already.

heh, I may not read the instructions but I sure as heck keep 'em! I recycle the box though.

The Instructions of RID Soundwave are stupidly small and not especially clear - but as i'd seen Chefatron's video I knew how he worked - so I didn't need to squint at them - but Starscream is especially obtuse too.

When it comes to the 3rd party sector I don't even bother opening the instructions I just watch a video first as that is the best way to find out about any points to be cautious of.

I agree that Titans Return Instructions are next to useless though - Fortress maximus' are pretty funny as he barely has any - I thought it showed up that maybe when Hasbro designed him he really needed more play features than he had - as he does really fall down in that area compared to the original which does loads of different stuff by comparison.

One area that is really hard to see on TR instructions is the way the Titanmaster is designed to "stick" in to the gun-seat or vehicle - like how many people even notice Chromedome has a hole in the lower part of the seat to plug the Titanmaster figure's ankles into so the figure doesn't rattle around in the cockpit ?

RAR wrote:One area that is really hard to see on TR instructions is the way the Titanmaster is designed to "stick" in to the gun-seat or vehicle - like how many people even notice Chromedome has a hole in the lower part of the seat to plug the Titanmaster figure's ankles into so the figure doesn't rattle around in the cockpit ?

I actually did notice that (no thanks to the instructions, however), and the same on Blurr too! ...But I can't actually get them to peg in ever, so around they shall be forever doomed to rattle.

While it's indeed impossible to tell from official documentation, it would appear that every figure has some intended way to secure TMs, whether they work or not. Those seemingly useless holes on the back of Titan Master calves? They peg into tabs inside Wolfwire's cockpit, something I failed to notice for a good few months! (Though, has anyone worked out where/what the securing-points are for Skullsmasher/Hot Rod? I assume they're the regular heel-slots buried somewhere in the pilot areas, but again I have yet to actually get anything to work at holding them in securely.)

EDIT: Actually, upon further examination of Chromedome: Huh, what, how? I guess I must just have been thinking of Blurr, because I can't see a single thing in Chromedome's driver area that would secure a Titan Master. Where is this ankle hole and how may it be used, so that Stylor and Rev can finally sit comfortably?

RAR wrote:The Instructions of RID Soundwave are stupidly small and not especially clear - but as i'd seen Chefatron's video I knew how he worked - so I didn't need to squint at them - but Starscream is especially obtuse too.

This made me think of another point. Hasbro has tried to make toys simpler because even parents had problems trying to transform the toys. Well, maybe if the instructions were easier to understand or they did instruction videos (put a QR code on the packaging) that wouldn't be a problem.

Kids are smart and sometimes we don't give them enough credit. Almost anyone can figure something out given good instructions.

WreckerJack wrote:

RAR wrote:The Instructions of RID Soundwave are stupidly small and not especially clear - but as i'd seen Chefatron's video I knew how he worked - so I didn't need to squint at them - but Starscream is especially obtuse too.

This made me think of another point. Hasbro has tried to make toys simpler because even parents had problems trying to transform the toys. Well, maybe if the instructions were easier to understand or they did instruction videos (put a QR code on the packaging) that wouldn't be a problem.

Kids are smart and sometimes we don't give them enough credit. Almost anyone can figure something out given good instructions.

And the grayscale printouts are no help either.

Qwan wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:First, if the line of your youth was Cybertron, I hate you.

I think what Chuckdawg means is that with all of these youngsters around here, some of us are feeling pretty darn old.

Think of it as some of us are crotchety old men who say things like that in complete jest and affection.

Now, get off my lawn!

As for Chuck's assertion that the Titan Master is meant to be kept in Sixshot's helmet at all times, I get what he is saying. I would have maybe put it more along the lines of what WJ88 was saying. I would guess the intent was for us fans/toy players/8-year-olds-in-40-something-bodies to have a choice in how we want to transform Sixshot. The intent may have been to allow transformation without removing the TM from the helmet in all modes. And I like choices!

I got Sixshot the other day, and I cannot wait to get him out. Moving day is fast approaching... Do I put together my bed first, or pull out all the last wave TR that I haven't yet touched...

Agamemnon wrote:I got Sixshot the other day, and I cannot wait to get him out. Moving day is fast approaching... Do I put together my bed first, or pull out all the last wave TR that I haven't yet touched...

ROBOTS!
Who needs sleep?

It would make sense that they would allow you the option to not remove the TM if the transformation allowed it. The only reason they didn't do that in the case of Galvatron, imo, would be that Galvatron was originally designed without the TM gimmick in mind (like Alpha Trion) and hence in the adaption they couldn't figure out a way to do it as well as Sixshot.

Kurona wrote:I can't wait for the Wave 6 Voyager to be triple-changing Bumblebee.

We already have a Bumblebee

Kurona wrote:I wouldn't personally rule out the hope for Voyager Apeface and Snapdragon completely, despite what I said - I still feel it's a distinct possibility. The last wave of CW surprised us by coming up with a completely unique and new mold (Sky Lynx) completely out of nowhere, and given Wave 5's Voyagers are minor retools, I'm fully expecting Wave 6's Voyager(s) to be completely new.

I was simply pointing out that the rumour instead being about Titan Masters is a distinct possibility now we have the precedent of TM re-issues.

I'm still hoping for an Apeface and Snapdragon Voyager and Apeface TM dosen't have a Titan Master name, so it's just "Apeface". i accept the name Spaxma or "Spasm"
For Snapdragon... err.... i think Krunx would be better? .
We still don't have Needlenose (might be a new mold for the next wave) or any of the two Targetmasters yet, but for Crosshairs, i'm sure he's gonna be a TM rather than Deluxe.

Albatross250 wrote:We still don't have Needlenose

Depends on your point of view:

We just got this toy last year

william-james88 wrote:

Albatross250 wrote:We still don't have Needlenose

Depends on your point of view:

We just got this toy last year

I think he's specifically referring to the Needlenose on one of the rumour lists.