The Energon Pub

Mon May 16, 2011 10:41 pm

It's horrible. I saw the toys in stores and they are ridiculously small compared to RotF figures. Bumblebee's barely larger than a Scout! And this is all so Hasbro can use up ridiculous levels of plastic on absurd weapons that don't even belong on the vehicle modes! Yeah, it's appealing... To a five year old boy. Five year old boys aren't the only demographic that matters. Look at Leader Bumblebee... What kind of Camaro carries a whole shitload of artillery on top of it? That's no disguise. I like the toy designs, but they're too damn small because of the stupid oversized weapons. This line could have been a lot better. Shame on you, Hasbro.

News Credits: 12 · Mon May 16, 2011 10:59 pm

Mechtech is alright. The thing I saw is that they took all the aspects of automorph and mech alive and removed them from the figure and put them into the weapon.

The problem is that the figures sizes suffer. I would have rather had them put the mech tech weapons into assorted accessory packs and maintain the size of the figures.

Mon May 16, 2011 11:02 pm

robofreak wrote:Mechtech is alright. The thing I saw is that they took all the aspects of automorph and mech alive and removed them from the figure and put them into the weapon.

The problem is that the figures sizes suffer. I would have rather had them put the mech tech weapons into assorted accessory packs and maintain the size of the figures.

That... is a brilliant idea. That would have been loads better. Ugh... I won't even be able to put RotF figures next to DotM figures without them looking funny together.

News Credits: 1 · Mon May 16, 2011 11:20 pm

I like how they worked it with Megatron. If all of them were so nicely blended into the vehicle modes the way Megs' weapon becomes the front portion of his cargo, I'd be much happier. As it is, they're RoC missile launchers all over again.

News Credits: 12 · Mon May 16, 2011 11:45 pm

Treetop Maximus wrote:
robofreak wrote:Mechtech is alright. The thing I saw is that they took all the aspects of automorph and mech alive and removed them from the figure and put them into the weapon.

The problem is that the figures sizes suffer. I would have rather had them put the mech tech weapons into assorted accessory packs and maintain the size of the figures.

That... is a brilliant idea. That would have been loads better. Ugh... I won't even be able to put RotF figures next to DotM figures without them looking funny together.

I based it off the Star Wars Episode 1 toys. They used to sell accessory packs for the toys. Would have been nice to add to this toyline.

Probably would have been more interesting as well.

News Credits: 668 · Tue May 17, 2011 1:26 am

It depends on the figure. Some work well with Mechtech, others not so much.

Sentinel Prime, Voyager Optimus, Voyager Megatron, the Wreckers, all work well with their Mechtech.

The rest of the Deluxes, Barricade specifically, do not.

It's a mixed bag.

Tue May 17, 2011 2:48 am

Treetop Maximus wrote:It's horrible. I saw the toys in stores and they are ridiculously small compared to RotF figures. Bumblebee's barely larger than a Scout! And this is all so Hasbro can use up ridiculous levels of plastic on absurd weapons that don't even belong on the vehicle modes!

That was my fear. I didn't see any DOTM toy in person, but it seems I will only get the Leaders and HA toys.
Not making all movie toys in the same scale (per size class of course) was really a bad decision for collectors.

But maybe the kids will find the toys more fun. Let's see ...

News Credits: 9 · Tue May 17, 2011 5:16 am

I like Ratchet's weapon - I've spent surprising amounts of time flipping out the spinning blade and I think it's a great design but it's too bloody big. Crankcase's gun looks better on Ratchet. I'm currently making plans to make the blade attach to Ratchets wrist and chop up Crankcase's gun to make a clip-on gun for Ratchet. I think all mechtechs will suffer similar fates in this house.

The main problem is that (at least with Crankcase and Ratchet, the only two I've opened so far) is that the weapons are so heavy the ball joints can't support the weight. Very clever Hasbro.

These things may appeal to very young kids but those kids are probably too young to be able to transform the toy.

News Credits: 1 · Tue May 17, 2011 9:58 am

Treetop Maximus wrote:Bumblebee's barely larger than a Scout...I like the toy designs, but they're too damn small because of the stupid oversized weapons. This line could have been a lot better.

I agree completely. Some of the vehicles still look near the size of past Deluxes, but when you transform them it's just no contest at all in bot mode. The Bumblebees are a good case in point. The worst thing for me is, it's going to be hard to pose all three movie figures together scale-wise. This is most obvious in the Voyager class figures. in

I think some of the Mechtech weapons look good. I like Roadbuster's, Ratchet's and Crankcase's, for instance. But put them on the vehicle, and they look downright ridiculous. Deluxe Starscream's a good example of this. As standalone weapons they're nice, but put them on the 'bots, and many of them look like crap. Plus for the nice ones, it would have been great to be able to lock them in place and display awesomely. Unfortunately this isn't so.

News Credits: 1 · Tue May 17, 2011 10:06 am

Well, it could have been better. What bugs me is that Roadbuster's weapon can't stay in chainsaw-mode. On the wreckers they're not so out of context. On 'clean' cars, it doesn't look so good.

Tue May 17, 2011 1:37 pm

there not THAT much smaller, Roadbuster aint too small, I like the Mech Tech, voyagers looks awesome with deluxe weapons on them, plus Leader Class Starscream can hold Mech Tech weapons and he looks kickass with them

Tue May 17, 2011 2:55 pm

Autobot032 wrote:It depends on the figure. Some work well with Mechtech, others not so much.

Sentinel Prime, Voyager Optimus, Voyager Megatron, the Wreckers, all work well with their Mechtech.

The rest of the Deluxes, Barricade specifically, do not.

It's a mixed bag.

agreed

News Credits: 12 · Tue May 17, 2011 2:59 pm

Barricade definitely has the weakest mechtech weapon as well as having a lot of difficulty holding it.

I do like the claw thing itself, but it doesn't fit with the figure.

News Credits: 609 · Tue May 17, 2011 3:03 pm

EXPERT OPINION: MechTech isn't that bad.

Some of them are pretty fun. The smoothness with which Bumblebee's gun unfurls is mesmerizing. I wish it stayed open, but c'est la vie.

The deluxes are negligibly smaller, but they're also $2 cheaper than ROTF deluxes, and we're in a period of re-god-damn-diculous inflation. If we were still getting ROTF-sized deluxes, they'd be $15-$16.

Also, parents complained to Hasbro that ROTF was too complicated and un-playable. So the line got tweaked/simplified to make it easier to transform. As great as ROTF Prime is, it's a 30-45 minute process that requires a horizontal surface.

News Credits: 12 · Tue May 17, 2011 3:11 pm

Razorclaw0000 wrote:EXPERT OPINION: MechTech isn't that bad.

Some of them are pretty fun. The smoothness with which Bumblebee's gun unfurls is mesmerizing. I wish it stayed open, but c'est la vie.

The deluxes are negligibly smaller, but they're also $2 cheaper than ROTF deluxes, and we're in a period of re-god-damn-diculous inflation. If we were still getting ROTF-sized deluxes, they'd be $15-$16.

Also, parents complained to Hasbro that ROTF was too complicated and un-playable. So the line got tweaked/simplified to make it easier to transform. As great as ROTF Prime is, it's a 30-45 minute process that requires a horizontal surface.

Valid points.

ROTF stuff was amazing, but 90% of it is not kid friendly and the one that was was way out of most kids price range. (Devastator)

Economics state has definitely affected the size of the new TFs.

Yes, there are some great mech tech weapons and I do enjoy a few of them, but I would have rather has them sold separately like Minicon boosters.

Bumblebee, Crankcase, Roadbuster, and Skyhammer have some of the better mechtech weapons if you ask me.

News Credits: 609 · Tue May 17, 2011 3:13 pm

Jolt's is fun too. High caliber...

News Credits: 12 · Tue May 17, 2011 3:14 pm

Razorclaw0000 wrote:Jolt's is fun too. High caliber...

Still don't have him. Almost bought him, but I didn't want to break the bank on launch day. (Cam really close though.)

News Credits: 15 · Tue May 17, 2011 3:46 pm

As far as the technology is concerned, I really like how you can switch the guns amoung the figures, and the multiple ports make it so that you COULD have thousands of weapons like in movies and games. There IS however a scale fail. Still love all the figures.

News Credits: 1 · Tue May 17, 2011 4:03 pm

I don't have any MechTech figures, but since it's making the figures so much smaller, I do hate it. It's especially bad with Voyager figures, which I've heard aren't much bigger than normal Deluxes. Voyager is often used for figures with larger alt. modes which Hasbro doesn't see fit for larger toys, so it's especially bad when a Voyager is downsized, since in many cases, they are already smaller than they should be.

News Credits: 1 · Tue May 17, 2011 4:41 pm

Yeah, mechtech is a waste of plastic, if you ask me. But then they had to include the gimmick in the toys, since it was featured in the movie and video game. I just wish they didn't take the plastic allocation from the main figure to make the BFG's.

I'd rather take a couple dollars' increase in price than to have a dwarf figure.

Tue May 17, 2011 4:52 pm

I've only got Megatron and Crankcase and so far I like them. To me weapons are part of the character and the mechtech weapons make them stand out more. They are pretty dumb in vehicle mode though.

News Credits: 2 · Tue May 17, 2011 6:52 pm

All of the MechTech weapons I get are going straight to Roadbuster. He needs moar dakka.

Tue May 17, 2011 6:57 pm

All I've got is Voyager Megatron, but it really fits for him. Since, you know, Megatron's are usually known for the size of their... cannons.

Although I wish it could lock into place. Or can it?

News Credits: 15 · Tue May 17, 2011 6:58 pm

Twitchythe3rd wrote:All of the MechTech weapons I get are going straight to Roadbuster. He needs moar dakka.

Yes out of Topspin, Leadfoot, and him, Roadbuster is the less armed than his movie counterpart. I say arm him up.

Tue May 17, 2011 7:50 pm

Eh, I got Voyager Optimus today and it is kind of fun to combine a bunch of weapons, but the small size of the toy and this weird soft plastic turn me off a bit. Anyhow, I didn't have any other MechTech stuff, so I just used older stuff and made these ridiculous combinations...