The Energon Pub

Okay, I saw a new wave of Real Gear show up in the store last night, and it included a Decepticon who turned into a watch. A NON-WORKING watch! Even Time Warrior worked as a watch. You can buy a cheap digital watch in a dollar store. Would it have been that hard to make it be a working watch?

I always thought most Real Gears should be working items when it wouldn't cost too much to make them work - flashlights, cheapo LCD gaming pads, I've even seen $10 digital cameras on keychains at Walgreens - why not make a Real Gear Digital Camera that works? I'd buy it for $10 more. Heck, if you made a working Nokia phone with an Autobot logo and a simple transformation, some people would buy it.

Redimus wrote:I really think you're missing the point of the Real Gear line. The whole point was to make something that was the basic/scout size/price, to go with the movie line (cuase all the movie designs are far too complext for scout figures.

Yeah it'd be cool if they worked, but then they become dangerously close to collector orientated items rather than actual toys for kids.

That and the fact that, even if digital watches are cheap, making Meantime into a working watch means the cost goes up, which means the price to the consumer goes up accordingly.

At in Canada, these suckers, cool as they are, are still 10$, and that's alot to pay for a small toy, and I don't want to pay more just for it to be a working watch (I already have one of those... so it doesn't transform, at least it's comfortable and doesn't cause people to laugh at me...)

Time Warrior didn't exactly turn into a highly articulated able to be played with robot either.

Yeah, it should be possible in this day and age. Even if it adds $10 to the price, I think it'd be worth it. For the watch they really ought to be ashamed. We had kronoforms back in the eighties.

who cares if they actually work? As if anyone would want to wear something like Meantime...

I might wear a working TF watch or carry a working TF flashlight or camera. I think it would be fun to take pictures of new store releases on TFs with a Digital Camera TF.

Since cheapo digital cameras start at $10 this seems possible. Heck, put a 99 cent store FM radio in a Blaster reissue, and I'd pay for it!

ScottyP wrote:who cares if they actually work? As if anyone would want to wear something like Meantime...

If I could secure the latch on Meantime I would happily wear him out and about.

Having Meantime be an actual working watch would be nice and all, but I'd prefer not to have to pay more than I already do for the scout class figures. Especially considering he would always be a toy to me first and foremost, and thus end up spending most of his time being displayed.

That and I already pay $16 or more for scout class figures, and I would not like to pay any more.

Scaleface wrote:I might wear a working TF watch or carry a working TF flashlight or camera. I think it would be fun to take pictures of new store releases on TFs with a Digital Camera TF.

Since cheapo digital cameras start at $10 this seems possible. Heck, put a 99 cent store FM radio in a Blaster reissue, and I'd pay for it!

Didn't the original diaclone version have a working radio? Mines still MIB, but I do think he and SWave did used to have working radios before TFs.

They could always produce the non-working toy varient for folks who wanted a simple display piece and also so kids could play with it, and for folks who wanted a more complex item, they could add the electronics. I imagine if there was a Masterpiece equivilent for the movie figures, those might be where they would add the electronics stuff.

i also would love to have a working meantime watch. thats th reason i have not got one

I don't see why people here are saying "who cares" because if we think about who these things are really made for, KIDS, they'd care. The real gear things are not meant for adults to wear and display anyway.

When I was 10 or 11, my grandma got me a Super Mario watch that worked AND had a little video game mode in it that you had to rescue the Princess. It was a very simple format, but entertaining as hell to a kid. So a functioning watch that transformed to a robot doesn't seem out of line to me.

Hell, they could have included a couple songs on that MP3 player with a little headphone or something, maybe the G1 theme song or something is all it'd need. The cell phone could have buttons that you could punch to make noises like you were dialing, because even toddler toys do that. Real gear sounds like boring gear.

Pontimax 01 wrote: So a functioning watch that transformed to a robot doesn't seem out of line to me.

They had these back in the eighties. There's no reason they couldn't do it again. Some of the other Real Gears might be a little more tricky, but doable nonetheless. Cheaping out on the watch is inexcusable.

It's not so much that anyone wants to wear the watch, it just adds a bit more perceived value to the toy: a transformer with a functional alt mode is a very cool thing.

Heck, Perceptor was a "working" microscope!

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