On the contrary, I’m absolutely loving the fact that we’re getting so many female characters - given than the Transformers franchise in general has such a male skew, I’m delighted that the Botbots are beginning to redress the balance, in their own little way - it’s a massive part of their charm, for me. If more girls get hooked on Transformers via the ‘gateway drug’ of Botbots, then I’m all for it.

Furthermore, it’s great that we’re getting female characters in all shapes and sizes. While there have been a few exceptions in the past (Strika, Strongarm, Aileron, the Bayverse motorcycles), the vast majority of female Transformers have been slim and curvy. Again, it’s great that these new female Transformers are coming in all shapes and sizes, and without exaggerated girlie features like lipstick and eyelashes.

I mean, if you’re looking at a figure like Bottocorrect and are just assuming it’s male coded because, in Transformers, male is essentially ‘the default’, then that’s simply evidence of exactly how the franchise has failed in this regard over the years.

I’m pleasantly reminded of the Go-Bots where, even in the 80’s, toys such as Crasher, Snoop and Pathfinder were portrayed as females in the cartoon, despite not having the stereotypically female hourglass shape.

TL;DR: Yay for Botbots!

 

For what it's worth, when I give my daughter (7) a new Botbot, the first thing she asks me is "is it a he or a she?" and if it's a female, then she is more delighted. So that strategy is certainly working!

 

So the four sets I got:

Goo -Goo groupies (Botte O Tears and High Stroller) has Smooth Shaker as the lost bot

Goo-goo Groupies (Nampy & Cribwatch) has Fail Polish

Fresh Squeezes (Avocando & Smerg) has Nanny McBag

Fresh Squeezes (Trend Blend & Bunches) has Smooth Shaker

 

Who are you liking the most?

 

So now we need to find which pack has Grave Rave...

 

I would guess one of the Seasons Greeters 5-packs

 

Quackles by far. Of the new molds I have, I have to say I’m a little underwhelmed. Overall they them seem more “delicate” and fiddly than series 1 & 2, some with very tiny parts (I fear losing Nampy’s crib mobile, or High Roller’s arms.) Bunches is my least favorite so far. What a cool idea, but terrible execution (on par with Croaks/Venus Frogtrap for me). I hope the ones I am missing will make me think more of series 3 when I get them.

 

Shoot! I was looking forward to Bunches

 

Must. Find. Trisourtops.

Yeah, I'm good with the "this isn't a big deal" approach. I don't really need lipstick and eyelashes as identifiers on an alien robot for kids to help me remember what gender they are. They're doing a great job and it's a fun toyline, I'm content to leave it at that!

 

Here is the lost bot for the other packs

Goo -Goo groupies (Botte O Tears and Shushifier) has Trisourtops as the lost bot

Goo-goo Groupies (Cribwatch and Bottle O Tears) has Strike Four

Fresh Squeezes (Avocando & Bunches) has Fail Polish

Fresh Squeezes (Sensei Spiney& Trend Blend) has Strike Four

 

So was I!  

 

To build off of what Hungover Rover posted, and to have photographic versions, here are some additional sets.

Goo-Goo Groupies #2
Trend Blend, Bottle O-Tears, Shushifier, Dinger, Batterhead, Choc-O-Lawless, Perfumigator, Trisourtops (Lost Bot)

Goo-Goo Groupies #3
Avocando, Crib Watch, Shushifier, Batterhead, Halloween Knight, Sardank, Excessory, Strike Four (Lost Bot)

 

What do you think of Series 3 so far?

 

Halloween Knight is pretty awesome, like something out of The Nightmare Before Christmas.


t h e b a b y
Shushifier is a quirky bot. Vaguely angelic cyclops that turns into a binky. Even for this line that's pretty weird.

Avocando sucks. A lame shellformer who's wings barely stay on and are nearly too warped to transform (it's like he took the worst aspects of Sour Wing and Dizzy Bones, ugh).


The rest of the set I got was repaints. Crib Watch at least completely changes the alt mode, and I'm a sucker for monsters so of course I love Sardank, but still a good chunk of the set is straight recolors. Meh.

 

trisourtops is probably the greatest use of creative names since frostferatu

 

After much deliberation, I think I've found a good method for getting all of the Series 3 8-pack BotBots with the least amount of duplicates.

Fresh Squeezes #1: Avocando, Choc-O-Lawless, Mal Content, Moldwich, Quackles, Smerg The Sad, Yule B. Bored, Nanny McBag

Goo-Goo Groupies #1: Bunches, Crib Watch, Croaks, Loudsy, Mal Content, Nampy, Sugar Saddle, Fail Polish

Goo-Goo Groupies #3: Avocando, Batterhead, Crib Watch, Excessory, Halloween Knight, Sardank, Shushifier, Strike Four

Goo-Goo Groupies #4: Bottle-O-Tears, Cuddle Wuddle, Highroller, Mal Content, Minnycake, Trend Blend, Wristocrat, Smooth Shaker

Duplicates: 2 Mal Contents, 1 Avocando, and 1 Crib Watch.

 

Good start! Any thoughts about rounding it out on 5-packs and singles, or should I take a run at it on my Spreadsheet of Doom?

 

For the 5-packs I'd recommend Season Greeters #3 (Perfumigator, Stringaling, Sugar Breath, and Swoonberry), Playroom Posse #2 (Pop-O The Clown, QUROBO 6000, and Blabberbook), and Playroom Posse #4, which has Dinger in it. Kikmee would have to be Playroom Posse #1 or #3. It really depends which Lost Bots end up in which packs.

I'd recommend getting Calamity Keys and Sensei Spiny in the blindpacks. The multipacks that they're in are mostly redundant.

Possible 5-pack Lost Bots: Grave Rave, Greeny Rex, 1 more Trisourtops (and maybe 1 more Nanny McBag).

 

Would you mind explaining a little more? Besides Quackles, Bunches is honestly the Series 3 new mold I'm looking forward to the most, and I find Venus Frogtrap/Croaks the worst Botbot by a LONG shot. Does his transformation legitimately not work?