My personal favorite is the Mech-Alive thing. It added some pretty cool detail, and was relatively unobtrusive.
i really enjoy the minicons also. they were pretty well done. the occasional light up eyes are cool when you fire weapons, ie. beast wars optimal optimus. i think some of the not so great gimmicks were those action punching things. ie animated ratchets spring fist and rotf skids and mudflaps punching thing. i'd be perfectly fine without them.
Favorites: Light piping Mech-alive Auto-morph Minicons Gestalts (if that actually counts as a gimmick) Least Favorites: Electronics Spring loaded joints
Electronics I decided to put batteries in my ROTF Leader Starscream last night an discovered that the new batteries didn't work when the hatch is closed and works when the hatch is open, but work fine when I found the original Hasbro batteries. I don't know why the Hasbro ones work and others don't but I think it's a design flaw, I don't know if it is only mine or not. Well while I was switching batteries the Decepticon button in Jet mode stopped working all together. Is it me or does the electronic crap in toys always break before the figure, and for some stupid reason you can't get in there to see whats wrong. PM me if you jnow how to fix this
Love: Transforming - the best gimmick of all! Targetmasters - these need a full fat update! Headmasters - Im sure todays engineering could yield some very cool ideas Hate: Light Piping - Painted eyes FTW! Electronics - Take up valuable transforming space, not to mention annoying as hell Cyberkey/Minicon activation - A button would suffice!
Favorite: 3mm clips 5mm hand pegs articulation looks Worst offenders: Light/Sound Any other gimmick that hinders the favorite gimmicks, especially articulation. A CLEVER transforming scheme + good articulation + decent accessories = a good transformer. No need for all these other crap.
Really? I don't even consider light piping a gimmick, but I think it's a fantastic addition to any headsculpt.
favorites light piping 3 mm clips combining (non energon) masters least favorite electronics spring punch gimmicks
I like the Laser Rod light-up sword gimmick as well as Rotorforce style weapons. If combining is a gimmick, then I like that too. As a kid I did like Jumpstarters and Duocons. And nowadays I also like PCC gimmickry. I guess I like lights and sounds too--especially talking. Worst for me is probably Cyber-keys.
The only time I dislike a gimmick is when it interferes with the overall figure. The most current line I can think of is PCC. Grimstone would have been a bit better with some arm articulation. For the most part I tend to prefer simplicity. Hence why I have more Classics then any other line. Electronics and hair trigger weapons can be bothersome. Minicons and cyber keys have their moments as well as drawbacks. Universe 2.0 Hotshot seemed pointless with his. Fortunately Takara corrected that by giving him weapons.
Favorites: Light Piping Missiles Electronics Popout Weapons 3mm Weapons Dislike: Energon Stars Mini-Con Ports Auto-Morph
I'd have liked Cyber Keys more if they'd had another place to store on the figure when not in use. I like to keep the keys with the figures but not always have the gimmick deployed. There were a few with separate key clips (Armourhide on his gun and Snarl on his hip come to mind) but it should've been available on all of them.
