I like my vehicles man, I just think that if you're gonna do animals do them right instead of bland boring standerd animals

 

I wonder how much of me not enjoying actually transforming my Transformers is down to the godawful instructions?

I don't ever remember using the instructions as a kid, but there's no way I could figure out the WFC bots otherwise. I don't know if that's just cos I'm old or impatient or both.

 

Impatience is popular, for sure. I've found quite a number of the "notorious" transformations rather intuitive, it just wasn't quick.

 

Yup. Thing is these days (mobile phones, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter), that's a relative ask. I know my attention span isn't what it used to be, but again, it could just be that I'm now in my late 30s!

 

Oh god I hate some of the newer instruction manuals, especially for “smaller” lines like the Siege stuff... Masterpiece directions are normally larger folded sheets that are pretty straightforward, but the tiny, dark manuals for the siege line test my poor eyesight with dark highlighted parts on darker backgrounds...

 

You can't help wondering was it a cost-saving exercise; even if it was some attempt at an aesthetics thing it still needs rectifying! Cyberverse isn't really any better and that's aimed much younger!

 

It's all overly-detailed CAD files that show the entire toy instead of just the parts you're actually transforming, joints that move in bizarre ways, confusing arrows, no words to explain anything, and the feeling that there are extra steps added in for no reason than to have more steps. I find myself staring at these useless things for ten minutes before deciding fuck it I can figure this out on my own.

 

Emgo is your friend.

 

Oh jeez, you just reminded me of some of the older figures (I believe TR did this?) where they'd literally have the act of folding up both fists into the forearms as separate steps each.

 

Totally, but I only want his reviews!

 

The Transformers Authentic figures... the irony is they look like knockoffs.

 

I don’t care who hates me for this, but here goes:

I think combined wars Devastator and POTP Predaking are straight up the best combiners ever and I think all all combiner work (looking at you, Seacons) should stop IMMEDIATELY and be reissued at that size and scale. Not just reproduced, either, I mean tooled up so they’re solid at that size.

I did, however, like the idea of alternate/backup limbs, so they can sell one of those separately as well.

Carry on.

 

I'd be with you on Devastator but Predaking looks abysmal, especially with the individuals. The legs have the entire thigh and half a pelvis on their backs and Predaking's abdomen is 90% air. Also aren't his arms backwards?

 

I don’t think Predacons look that bad, with one exception, that exception being Rampage. The arm connection pack looks bad. The animals look way better they originally did. Easily. Perfect? No. But you have to make exceptions for combiners. Always.

 

On the subject of instruction manuals: I don't know if I've just gotten used to how most Transformers transform, but I don't really use them beyond the Masterpiece figures anymore. With Studio Series, I've found that I can pretty easily just figure out the transformation on my own. Only problem is when you have a joint that's super-tight. It makes you think it's not supposed to move.

 

Usually, I just articulate it for a minute and then I basically know how it transforms (I don't know why that's just how I work) The one exception in the last year has been Spinister who has a hilarious Transformation that I Love to death!

 

The catch there is that those aren't multiple robots designed to become one big robot, they're one Titan class robot designed to become a group of smaller robots.

I.e. it's not Mixmaster who becomes a leg of Devestator, it's the leg of Devestator who becomes Mixmaster.

 

I use them so I know where to start, and usually by the middle of the process I've abandoned the instructions in favor of just trying to do it on my own.

 

Instructions have also been objectively terrible for the last few years.