It appears that other toy companies are getting into the "transforming robots" game. I just found this toy. It's from a new line called "Modifighters" by Hot Wheels (Mattel). It was in the toy car aisle at the Wal-Mart in Greensburg, PA: This particular guy is named "Skullface" and he's supposed to be a Ford Mustang GT. Other ones available (according to the back of the card) are "Streetwyse" and "Bedlam" (Cadillac Escalade), "Mr. Big" (Ford F-150), "Live Wire" (Scion xB), "Nightlife" (Dodge Charger) and "Quick-Tyme" (Ferrari F430). And they all transform in exactly the same way. They all have the same gimmick, too: water-guns and color-change battle damage (but only on certain spots, not on the whole toy). I don't know anything else - I couldn't find any information about this toyline on Google or any of Mattel's websites. Something else I found, but didn't buy, is a new toyline by Playmates called REVs. You can see everything about them at their website. Essentially they're robots that are almost anatomically human with automobile shells they fit into, and those automobile shells can turn into weapons/armor. They're not based on real vehicles, though. My theory is that they're trying to horn in on Hasbro's territory in anticipation of the movie.
nice. its like being back in 84'. After the initial success of tf's there were all soerts of non-tf tf's.
It would be interesting to see another manufacturer actually make a dent in Hasbro's market share in the transforming robot genre. Most of the others I've seen, though, just can't seem to get the aesthetic down.
those are ugly ick. Theres also the marvel transformer things, that go from vehicle to superhero. They dont look good either.
Noy transforming robots but robots too. As I mentioned before there seems to be no decent "robot toy" competitior for Hasbro in the US and Europe - the closest competitior being the Power Rangers and that's not saying much. Its a different story in Japan though where Hasbro's partners TakaraTomy face alot of competition from the other companies such as Bandai, CM, Yamato.
That's fine with me as long as the stuff isn't too goofy. The Megamorphs and Shape Shifters are pretty bad, the Roadbots are quite good.
Just like it was back in the 80's. Not everything that transforms is a Transformer. Hasbro should get more serious about thier rubsigns again.
the first in a new line of geriatric robots. This one comes with his own oxygen tank. Other models feature walkers, canes and colostomy bags
Although in seriousness they all have the same watergun gimmick. And I tested out the battle damage by putting the toy in water, and certain parts turned orange. That was it. It sucked.
Those have a website They've been showing up at a toystore here in Sweden to but I always thought that they're low quality junk.......although I'm seriusly tempted to pick one up now
The head kinda reminds me of A-Demolishor, and the body of some Playskool attempt. The REV things look interesting, and I wouldn't mind checking them out - you never know, it might be possible to retool them into a proper TF, since it's basically giving you the bare bones in the first place. Any idea what the size is of those things?
^They're available in sizes that would resemble Deluxe, a classics Prime and ultra if one where to compare them to Tfs
ya Ya, I saw one of these the other day I was going to get it and make it have the correct body and such, but only if it was cheap, it was like 9 dollars, I might as well just buy an Alternator , I thought they would be 4-5 dollars.
It may be something to with demographics - TFs probably have a much larger percentage of older fans than other robot toy lines. My guess would be that we're a lot more demanding than kids.
Definitely a lot of truth to that. Plus, there's a lot of nostalgia that us older fans attach to the TF brand and the specific characters that kinda influences us to actually like some otherwise "meh" designs. Imagine if a new tf'ing robot brand came out that used design aesthetics similar to G1 Ironhide...how many of us would want to buy that thing?
