Top 5 Most Difficult Transformers Toys
Saturday, November 26th, 2016 2:07PM CST
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Top 5 Most Difficult Transformers Toys
Last time, we looked at toys that were annoying to transform regardless of whether they were complex or not. But now we are looking at difficulty all around and not just annoyance at a step. For this list, I tried to pick toys that had a good balance of difficulty in terms of complexity (number of steps) and difficulty in terms of frustration (like panels not fitting properly or parts being either too tight or fiddly). It has to be a combination though. In the end these are the toys that take me a while to transform without instructions after a few months of not playing with them.
5. Transformers Robots In Disguise Side Burn
RID gave us some very interesting designs for car transformers we had not seen yet. Especially for the three brother Prowl, X-Brawn and Sideburn who were asymmetrical and wore their car shells on one their arm. Of the three, Sideburn was by far the most difficult. The fact that the design is asymmetric makes it hard to visualize how he should fold onto himself and transform. It is also a very tight fit getting everything into the car. Magnificent car mode though.
4. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime
This guy is symmetrical and though he has a ton of steps, the next move from truck to robot can be anticipated. It is actually a great joy to undo panels and have this figure totally morph in front of your eyes. The big problem is getting him back into truck mode. The nose segment gets infinitely tricky since several panels have to come together at once including two chest panels that just won't stay put. And at the same time you have his swinging swords that keep popping up, it gets really involved. And if you forget to fold down those pieces above his shoulders, then you will have to fiddle for another 10 minutes to redo what you just did.
3. Transformers Masterpiece Megatron (MP-05)
Transforming MP Megatron is a long and arduous process. He isn't as complicated as others say because his transformation is logical and you can tell what goes where. However some pieces and panels are very small and his waist is extremely fragile that you have to take your time transforming him. And all the while, other sections can require an enormous amount of force which is quite counterintuitive and frightening considering the cost of this toy. I do absolutely love him though, since both modes look awesome to me and give me a very rewarding feeling. Also, he wins the award for being the only TF I know who is as difficult and takes as long when transforming from alt mode to robot as robot to alt mode (which is usually far more difficult in comparison).
2. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Mixmaster
This is such a complicated toy. Getting the arms oriented the right way for either mode can take a while and the feet pieces won’t stop popping off every time you touch them. The robot doesn’t have logical proportions so there’s no rhyme or reason helping you figure out if what you are doing is correct of if you’ll have to double back to swivel the waist the other way. And getting him back to truck mode is super tricky since everything ends up being really tight and flush. That’s great news for the truck mode but it means that certain steps must be done in parallel and all come together at the same time. It’s ROTF Leader Optimus all over again but in a smaller scale and with a lot more parts at stake (oh and with the top of the cab popping off at the same time).
1. Transformers Alternators Grimlock
This is the one TF that I can never remember how to transform correctly. Especially back to alt mode. Almost all alternators were complicated and complex and featured some unintuitive transformation steps, usually with their waists or arms. Like all the alternators, forgetting a step or doing it wrong can cause severe misalignment in alt mode. And the instructions don’t help. It’s sometimes just a matter of positioning and that can’t be conveyed precisely in the instructions. Since the day I got Alternators Grimlock (I actually got the Binaltech version), I would transform him to robot, then back to car but not completely. I would have the hood section still lingering unfinished due to arms seemingly impossible to position correctly for everything to fit. Then comes the trial and error, flipping the arms inside out, turning them the other way making them face another direction. It really feels like a Rubiks cube, and takes as long if not longer (for me at least). And then after a fever dream, I just happen to have the arms in the only possible way they can fit and everything locks together flush. I never know how I do it. This is by far the TF that takes me longest to transform, instructions or not.
Honourable Mentions: I hear MP 09 Rodimus was pretty hard but I never got a chance to transform him.
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Posted by Burn on November 26th, 2016 @ 2:16pm CST
Posted by X3ROhour on November 26th, 2016 @ 3:15pm CST
Transformers
ROTF
JETFIRE
not only is he a finicky piece of work
but
the combo mode
with
OPTIMUS PRIME
can be a real brain buster!
the end result is beautiful
but at what cost?
i ask ya!
AT WHAT COST?!
Posted by william-james88 on November 26th, 2016 @ 3:21pm CST
Z3ROhour wrote:i feel u missed one that is possibly the worst i've dealt with:
Transformers
ROTF
JETFIRE
not only is he a finicky piece of work
but
the combo mode
with
OPTIMUS PRIME
can be a real brain buster!
the end result is beautiful
but at what cost?
i ask ya!
AT WHAT COST?!
He was covered last time when we were looking at toys that were more annoying than anything else (the link is in the article above at the beginning). And he certainly fits the bill, as you mentioned. Since he isnt really complex or anything, just frustrating and annoying, I felt he was better left in that list and limiting repetition as much as possible.
Posted by dragons on November 26th, 2016 @ 3:39pm CST
Posted by thedistinctroom on November 26th, 2016 @ 3:49pm CST
Posted by Emerje on November 26th, 2016 @ 3:53pm CST
I don't it doesn't technically count as a transformation, but the Transformers Go! Autobot combiners are all ridiculously difficult to combine. They're the only Transformers in my collection that I need the instructions handy for. Now that I think about it, Optimus ExPrime is a pretty tough figure to transform in his own right.
Emerje
Posted by frogbat on November 26th, 2016 @ 4:45pm CST
Posted by Evil Eye on November 26th, 2016 @ 4:58pm CST
Posted by OptimalOptimus2 on November 26th, 2016 @ 5:07pm CST
Posted by -Kanrabat- on November 26th, 2016 @ 7:51pm CST
Glad I got rid of that beautiful but oh so frustrating thing.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on November 26th, 2016 @ 7:56pm CST
Emerje wrote:I find the Alternators Mirage/Hot Rod mold to the most tedious of the line. Especially trying to line up the chest just right so it pops out, I think most people just give up and lay it flat.
Emerje
I have Alternator Hot Rod and I never had any problems to transform him. In fact I find it one of the most easy and enjoyable to transform.
Posted by Ultra Markus on November 26th, 2016 @ 8:41pm CST
Posted by TulioDude on November 26th, 2016 @ 10:14pm CST
Posted by william-james88 on November 26th, 2016 @ 10:23pm CST
-Kanrabat- wrote:D'ohoho! Will you sucker! Enjoying that Binaltech Grimlock I traded you some years ago I see.
Glad I got rid of that beautiful but oh so frustrating thing.
It was still a great deal. I dont regret the money I spent. I really wanted to experience a Binaltech version and I wanted to experience that mold so it was win win. And he is beautiful and a great example of embodying a character in a different alt mode. I just hate his arms.
Ultra Markus wrote:what about RID Megatron /Galvatron 10 modes and i have had heard some of my friends couldnt figure it out let alone their kids figuring it out
I never found him that hard, even when I first got him back when I was 13. When a toy has so many modes they are all just a few steps away from one another another.
Posted by Deathsaurus1 on November 26th, 2016 @ 11:34pm CST
Posted by Megatron Wolf on November 27th, 2016 @ 1:52am CST
Posted by Gingko on November 27th, 2016 @ 5:56am CST
Pannels keep pop out as you said, but the worst of the worst, for me at least, is the way legs and torso fold up in the vehicule mode. It's seem I always put the torso the wrong way at first.
Bot form is weird, but a kinda cool weird. Like "insectoïd" weird.
I like it, after all, why space bots should look like human in proportion ? But it is another debate.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on November 27th, 2016 @ 6:13am CST
First time I got ROTF Mixmaster, I transformed it back and forth without instructions. I was in for a ride! But when I'm finally done for a mode, it's very rewarding and satisfying.
Posted by Evil Eye on November 27th, 2016 @ 6:17am CST
-Kanrabat- wrote:ALL of the ROTF constructicons are hard as fawk to transform. But you know what? I like them because they are their own things. Not only the transformation is complicated, but the "non-human" bot modes make for a real challenge. Especially without instructions. Because you just can't expect the final form.
First time I got ROTF Mixmaster, I transformed it back and forth without instructions. I was in for a ride! But when I'm finally done for a mode, it's very rewarding and satisfying.
The ROTF Constructicons are actually some of my favourite movie designs, Long Haul especially. I need to get that guy, he looks pretty awesome. Even poor old Demolishor is a surprisingly fun toy, and the transformation is genius, and deceptively simple. I should really dig him out of storage.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on November 27th, 2016 @ 6:23am CST
Black Hat wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:ALL of the ROTF constructicons are hard as fawk to transform. But you know what? I like them because they are their own things. Not only the transformation is complicated, but the "non-human" bot modes make for a real challenge. Especially without instructions. Because you just can't expect the final form.
First time I got ROTF Mixmaster, I transformed it back and forth without instructions. I was in for a ride! But when I'm finally done for a mode, it's very rewarding and satisfying.
The ROTF Constructicons are actually some of my favourite movie designs, Long Haul especially. I need to get that guy, he looks pretty awesome. Even poor old Demolishor is a surprisingly fun toy, and the transformation is genius, and deceptively simple. I should really dig him out of storage.
Try to buy him now! Longhaul is pretty awesome. And you have the choice between the original ROTF green or the HFTD yellow versions. And it's pretty cheap.
Sigh... Don't bother with Ebay.
Posted by Gingko on November 27th, 2016 @ 7:52am CST
Mixmaster can be found complete between 25 and 200 euros.
And long haul between 50 and 250 euros. I can't understand such difference...
Posted by rickdraco on November 27th, 2016 @ 10:53am CST
DoTM Leader Sentinel Prime. Damn he's a pain in the aft to get into his alt mode!!!
Posted by -Kanrabat- on November 27th, 2016 @ 11:02am CST
rickdraco wrote:Hmm, I can't judge your top 3, however one figure staggers me by not being in your list.
DoTM Leader Sentinel Prime. Damn he's a pain in the aft to get into his alt mode!!!
That one rate more as "annoying" than dificult. His transformation is pretty straightfoward. However, all that panelling massage...
Posted by Carnivius_Prime on November 27th, 2016 @ 3:38pm CST
Posted by fenrir72 on November 27th, 2016 @ 5:51pm CST
Posted by -Kanrabat- on November 27th, 2016 @ 7:25pm CST
fenrir72 wrote:TFA UM
What? How? It's no harder than a standard deluxe.
Posted by Ultra Markus on November 27th, 2016 @ 10:10pm CST
william-james88 wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:D'ohoho! Will you sucker! Enjoying that Binaltech Grimlock I traded you some years ago I see.
Glad I got rid of that beautiful but oh so frustrating thing.
It was still a great deal. I dont regret the money I spent. I really wanted to experience a Binaltech version and I wanted to experience that mold so it was win win. And he is beautiful and a great example of embodying a character in a different alt mode. I just hate his arms.Ultra Markus wrote:what about RID Megatron /Galvatron 10 modes and i have had heard some of my friends couldnt figure it out let alone their kids figuring it out
I never found him that hard, even when I first got him back when I was 13. When a toy has so many modes they are all just a few steps away from one another another.
maybe, but without directions its almost too hard to know how to do it
Posted by william-james88 on November 27th, 2016 @ 10:37pm CST
Ultra Markus wrote:maybe, but without directions its almost too hard to know how to do it
I never used instructions, even as a kid. Most of the toys i got were second hand anyway and back then many instructions were written on the box and kids would throw out the boxes. So as an 8 year old I learnt to figure out TFs without instructions. For RID Megatron, the internet was around and I would just look at an image of the modes and figure it out from there. I really don't find him tricky in any way, he whole idea of the toy is to reorient his limbs and tail. The tail becomes the head for one mode, or the legs become the neck for another. Its the same parts being used over an over you are just changing the stance and orientation of the same parts.
Posted by Ultra Markus on November 28th, 2016 @ 12:16am CST
william-james88 wrote:Ultra Markus wrote:maybe, but without directions its almost too hard to know how to do it
I never used instructions, even as a kid. Most of the toys i got were second hand anyway and back then many instructions were written on the box and kids would throw out the boxes. So as an 8 year old I learnt to figure out TFs without instructions. For RID Megatron, the internet was around and I would just look at an image of the modes and figure it out from there. I really don't find him tricky in any way, he whole idea of the toy is to reorient his limbs and tail. The tail becomes the head for one mode, or the legs become the neck for another. Its the same parts being used over an over you are just changing the stance and orientation of the same parts.
So your saying if you didn't have internet help you would have had a hard time figuring it out much like everthing else in the list
Posted by primalxconvoy on November 28th, 2016 @ 3:39am CST
I think other mentions should be:
- Beast Wars Neo toys (especially Big Convoy)
- Most third party Transformers.
- Movie Audi R8 robots.
Posted by william-james88 on November 28th, 2016 @ 6:24am CST
Ultra Markus wrote:william-james88 wrote:Ultra Markus wrote:maybe, but without directions its almost too hard to know how to do it
I never used instructions, even as a kid. Most of the toys i got were second hand anyway and back then many instructions were written on the box and kids would throw out the boxes. So as an 8 year old I learnt to figure out TFs without instructions. For RID Megatron, the internet was around and I would just look at an image of the modes and figure it out from there. I really don't find him tricky in any way, he whole idea of the toy is to reorient his limbs and tail. The tail becomes the head for one mode, or the legs become the neck for another. Its the same parts being used over an over you are just changing the stance and orientation of the same parts.
So your saying if you didn't have internet help you would have had a hard time figuring it out much like everthing else in the list
Thats not what I said. I said all I needed was an image of each mode and I could figure out how to get there without the instructions and without any problems. Much unlike the toys on this list. If all you show someone is a pic of what ROTF Mixmaster looks like in robot mode and alt mode, the transformation will still be very challenging.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on November 28th, 2016 @ 4:18pm CST
Posted by Michael Alex Kawa on December 2nd, 2016 @ 4:59am CST
Others that come to mind for me would be Sentinel Prime Leader Class (as mentioned by someone else) and MP-09 Masterpiece Rodimus.
Posted by paul053 on December 2nd, 2016 @ 10:50pm CST
Posted by RK_Striker_JK_5 on December 3rd, 2016 @ 12:43pm CST
Posted by william-james88 on December 3rd, 2016 @ 12:55pm CST
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Another great list, William. And unlike last week, I've played with all these toys. So i can agree with no real reservations.
Thanks man!
Posted by Optimum Supreme on December 8th, 2016 @ 7:42pm CST