The Energon Pub

[william-james88]

ABC News has just reported that Transformers are one of the twelve nominees for this year's National Toy Hall of Fame. The winner will be announed November 10.

The National Toy Hall of Fame is housed at the Strong National Museum of Play (now The Strong) in Rochester, New York and currently has 60 toys.

Here is the list of nominees for 2016:

The Fisher-Price Little People
Care Bears
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
Transformers
Nerf
Clue
Uno
pinball
the swing
Dungeons & Dragons
coloring books
Bubble Wrap

The Fisher-Price Little People and Care Bears will square off against Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and Transformers for a place in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Whether any or all make it will be announced Nov. 10.

Twelve finalists for the Class of 2016 were revealed Tuesday by the hall at The Strong museum in Rochester, New York.

Also making the list: Nerf, the board game Clue, card game Uno, pinball, the swing, Dungeons & Dragons and coloring books.

Rounding out the list is bubble wrap, which could join the cardboard box and stick among unconventional honorees.

To be recognized by the hall, toys must have lasted across generations, influenced the way toys are designed or played with, and fostered learning or creativity through play.

[Bronzewolf]

God, if we get beat by bubble wrap...

[Mugshot]

Is there somewhere we can vote?

[Decepticon Stryker]

How has Transformers not already won? It's about ROBOTS THAT CHANGE FORM, any normal kid would want one! It should have won ages ago! How has it not w- why is bubble wrap in the list? Just why? Is there a market for this? Can I make money off of this? Bubble wrap is more of a stress relief than a toy.

[Decepticon Stryker]

God, if we get beat by bubble wrap...

If we get beat by bubble wrap then I'm going to rewatch the entirety of the Combiner Wars series.

[Sigma Magnus]

Even if we don't win this year, we will at some point. I mean...c'mon. It's Transformers. I just hope they pick good toys for the display...

[Decepticon Stryker]

Even if we don't win this year, we will at some point. I mean...c'mon. It's Transformers. I just hope they pick good toys for the display...

And all of them are from the Kiss Players line. I'm calling it. That or they put up GoBots instead.

[SureShot18]

Even if we don't win this year, we will at some point. I mean...c'mon. It's Transformers. I just hope they pick good toys for the display...

And all of them are from the Kiss Players line. I'm calling it. That or they put up GoBots instead.

That would be funny. If anything it'll probably just be G1 Prime and maybe G1 Megatron.

[Sigma Magnus]

Even if we don't win this year, we will at some point. I mean...c'mon. It's Transformers. I just hope they pick good toys for the display...

And all of them are from the Kiss Players line. I'm calling it. That or they put up GoBots instead.

That would be funny. If anything it'll probably just be G1 Prime and maybe G1 Megatron.

If they're gonna go that route, I hope they do G1 Prime and MP-10 at the least...

[Bronzewolf]

God, if we get beat by bubble wrap...

If we get beat by bubble wrap then I'm going to rewatch the entirety of the Combiner Wars series.

Hey now, that's just unnessicary. No one should have to go through that

[Decepticon Stryker]

God, if we get beat by bubble wrap...

If we get beat by bubble wrap then I'm going to rewatch the entirety of the Combiner Wars series.

Hey now, that's just unnessicary. No one should have to go through that

TBH it is bet tree r than watching all of Energon.

[Burn]

God, if we get beat by bubble wrap...

If we get beat by bubble wrap then I'm going to rewatch the entirety of the Combiner Wars series.

Hey now, that's just unnessicary. No one should have to go through that

He could do it while popping bubble wrap, that stuff makes the worst situations a little bit better.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Since when is bubble wrap a toy? I use bubble wrap for packaging toys!

Man, if that stuff wins then it's a giant slap in the face to all those talented toy designers particularly of our fave brand who have to work out millions of different ways of how to make a vehicle turn into an action figure.

[BATTLEMASTER IIC]

I live near The Strong. If any of you find yourselves in the Rochester, NY area, I highly recommend a stop at The Strong. There are some really neat exhibits and galleries.

They have some Transformers in a couple displays. I recall there being a G1 Optimus Prime, G1 Megatron, G1 Metroplex, a G1 Kup, and a G1 Hotspot. Some of them might be mistransformed as the museum staff probably weren't familiar with how they should look.

Of course, there are tons of other places to visit in or near Rochester. Plenty to see and do!

[Morbalis]

You know what—thanks, but no thanks. I don't really need my favorite brand to join the ranks of blanket (2011), cardboard box (2005) and G.I. Joe (2004). I'm just saying—any organization that puts G.I. Joe in a “Hall of Fame” more than a decade before Transformers is dealing with serious issues in judgment. I mean, “cardboard box”?!?—literally packaging for something else and fully intended to be discarded.

I do really want to see a “toy” commercial for a blanket though.

“It’s the amazing blanket! Comes in colors! Can keep you warm! Changes color and smell when wet! Folds nicely, or you can display it proudly on your bed! Provides hours of fun while you sleep! Get yours today from … your linen closet.”

[RAR]

Gi Joe is a brand that would be well know to multiple Generations via the large 12" versions popularity in the 60 & 70s.

It took a very long time to lever Action Man out of the zeitgeist in the UK as "Generic Boys toy example" Hasbro has done a fantastic job of utterly destroying Gi Joe by not knowing what the heck they are doing with the brand for quite a large number of years now - but Gi Joe got in there based on the 12" figures and it's long History not on the back of the post 1983 "Real American Hero" theme as such.

Transformers was a brand the general public often remained unaware of as anything other than "That thing from the 1980s" not it suffers from the General Public thinking Transformers is a Movie Franchise (only).

That said I think the names Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are pretty well known now to a lot of people especially since 2007.

But yeah - poor ol' Gi Joe - Poor ol' Action Man too for that matter.

[Bronzewolf]

I have a feeling that they're going for rudimentary "toys" first, meaning, what you played with before you had any toys. I.e. A cardboard box, or a blanket.

And, yes, G.I. Joe is more historical than Transformers, so I could see that.

[Bronzewolf]

We're almost there, Transformers fans! As you probably remember, The Transformers toy brand was nominated to be inducted into the National Toys Hall of Fame (we reported on this earlier in September) Since then, voting has opened, and we are in second place! Dungeons and Dragons, another nominee, currently has a pretty substantial lead over Transformers, but if we rally some support, we can overtake them and win!

It has not been said how many toys from the nominee list will be inducted, so make sure Transformers takes and stays at number one! You can do that by casting your vote on the official Hall of Fame website, where you can vote once a day for the remaining days of the contest! Remember, your vote counts! Be a part of history! For once, it's up to you to lead the Transformers to victory!

[shauyaun]

Transformers is such a far second

[Relic0037]

A cardboard box and a stick are in there for crying out loud.

[shauyaun]

Bubble wrap too

[dragons]

Being beat by dudgeon and dragons board game

[shauyaun]

Being beat by dudgeon and dragons board game

Never played it
How is it?

[GuyIncognito]

Being beat by dudgeon and dragons board game

It's being beaten by D&D. Not the board game, just plaid old D&D, the dice-and-paper RPG. It's described on the nominee page:

Developed in the 1970s, Dungeons & Dragons plunged participants into imaginary worlds of magic and monsters. It required players to role-play without a board or other defined game space, asking them to rely on their imaginations. Dungeons & Dragons heavily influenced the computer video game industry, inspiring the earliest text-based role-playing games to the more modern massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

[Deathsanras]

I'm somewhat inclined to let D&D have its victory, simply because Transformers is a pop culture mainstay, while D&D is culturally relegated to rose-colored memories. Even the Big Bang guys saw it as a quaint retro thing.
Basically, this is all D&D has. On a regular day, nobody's thinking about it.
Transformers deserves to win, but it has more going for it. Much more. And more opportunities for HoF membership.