in the smaller stuff, less it better, in the bigger stuff anything goes

 

Go nuts... I want to spend 20 minutes transforming a figure only to realize I threw out the instructions and have to watch Utube vids to figure the rest out...

 

Skip the YouTube, and that's my idea of a good time.

The only reason I keep my instruction booklets is if I ever sell my figures. Which I never have, so... I don't know why I'm storing all those cardboard boxes that weigh a freakin' ton, filled to the brim with paper.

 

They are Transformers after all... Isn't that the point

 

For me the fun with these toys is ‘unveiling’ the robot mode as you work through the steps! Complex transformations are great so long as each step is useful, intuitive and everything lines up when tabbed in.

ROTF leader prime got a lot of flack but it’s a really straightforward transformation when you get down to it, and as soon as you tab him together the truck holds together like a brick.

MPM 6 however has poor tolerances, shallow tabs that don’t stay plugged in and an approximative transformation where you just kind of hope everything stays where you put it. I can get him transformed up in 15min and then spend 20min just finessing the cab together as one side explodes every time you push a tab in.

 

I don't mind a complex transformation, but I prefer my TF toys to be exactly as complex as it needs to be to get the job done. It could be a hundred steps, or it could be two, but don't take a hundred steps to do what could be done just as effectively in two.

For me:

* I tend to enjoy the simpler, quicker transformations as more fun. A toy that can be changed back and forth quickly and easily can be picked up and played with any time, but a complex transformation is a project at best, a chore at worst.

* Anything that relies on extreme force, or depends on the flexibility of the plastic parts to work at all, is a bad thing.

* I'm most annoyed by 'busy work' in transformations. You don't see it as much in official toys lately (maybe MP), but I used to back when I got more third-party stuff. Anyway, if you have to unlatch a part so another can swing out of the way so a panel can open, so a wheel or wing can swing out from inside it, then you close it back up, put all the parts back where they were, and latch it again, then I feel you're doing something wrong.

 

I could care less if a toy transformed in under 8 transformations steps. As long ad the ty is highly sculpted in both modes.Had all the required articulation. I like. Toy characters are the height I like.

Noticed some third parties are striking gold with easier transformations. Like Mega Steel Monocrat. MMC Star Convoy.

Just give me simple transform toys like G-2 and AEC had

 

I don't need super complexity, the same way how I don't need super simplicity. Some figures benefit from being extra complex while some benefit from being extra simple, and some figures are arbitrarily oversimplified at the expense of the toy while some are arbitrarily overcomplicated at the expense of the toy. Both qualities can be good or bad depending on the figure.

 

I will say that I hate super complex Combiners, though. I want to be able to take them down and transform them every so often, and not have it take two hours, and my fingers are bleeding afterwards.

MMC's Feral Rex and Assaultus (and their Defensor is shaping up nicely as well) are pretty much the perfect level of Combiner complexity in my books. All the panel fiddling and ratchet wrestling of TFC Piranacon, not so much.

 

The *amount* of steps in a transformation can be a very arbitrary number based on a bunch of subjective criteria, depending on what one wants to consider a step and how much they want to pad or conserve that number.

Complexity and complications from the way a thing is engineered, not the number of steps. There are bots with a ridiculous number of steps that are relatively simple and easy but time consuming. Then you have something like Carifex shoulders which have many parts, very complex engineering, can be confusing, and yet is also incredibly simple with very few steps in practice if one knows what they are doing.

A lot will come down to individual designers and what they personally consider easy or simple or not.

And what one considers a fun transformation can be nightmarish for someone else.

I remember that dumb flex going all the way back to first grade.

it's like "yeah dude, we're all impressed. We can do it without instructions too. But there's less chance of breaking something if I do use them".

And let's not get started on the Hidden Features threads that are 50% simply steps that were in the instructions.

 

I'd think complex toys hurt kids having fun with the toys playing with their friends. Nothing kills the mood of a battle if someone calls time out for 15 minutes to transform their toy.

When i was a kid, I'd play with friends with g1 figures and we could have battles with both modes since it took only a minute or so to convert them. Starscream could run on the ground, then turn to a jet, strafe the Autobots and then turn back into a robot in next to no time. Now that same move would take over 15 minutes. Not very fun. He'd probably just do the whole thing in robot mode.

 

I prefer having the most efficient way it takes to get a good looking A to a good looking B with minimal/no kibble and zero partforming (weapons don't count but need storage in both modes).

If it's simple, fine. If it takes some work, also fine. Just make both modes look good.

 

I prefer a transformation that makes sense and flows well. Some of these new MPs, even retail figures, their transformation just doesn't seem to flow well, to me at least.

Having just got an MP Hound I can actually transform I found his feet to be overly complex to the point I was afraid to break things. I also, having recently got MP52s, found their overall transformation to be pretty rough. Again, afraid to break it.

 

I want satisfying but not frustrating. ROTF figures are my most hated because of how intricate and unintuitive they are. MPM Megatron was sold on eBay right away because I couldn’t transform the fucking thing. I think the current WFC+ is the way to go.

When I was a kid, I loved being able to transform them within a minute because you can’t spend a half hour transforming while the Decepticons are attacking the base!

 

I mostly stick to HasTak's figures, so I don't have much experience with 3P stuff, but I enjoy both.

It depends on the size and character, but I enjoy more simple deluxes and voyagers, and more complex larger figures. Usually if its a larger figure I expect a complex transformation. I'm always interested in a triple changer for that reason because they can usually can drift between simple and complex.

What kills it for me during a transformation is having to force parts unnecessarily, or just weak tolerances where stuff doesn't stay put. If I have to constantly tab something down, then I'll just want something more simple to skip that headache all together.

 

I'd prefer something that's more simple, yet engaging as well. Stuff like SS86 Perceptor and Legacy Skids lean slightly more towards the simple, but they're good examples here. Also stuff like the WFC Sideswipe mold (because let's face it, the Cybertronian and Earth ones transform identically), a hefty amount of the Titans Return figures, and the SS86 Dinobots are also good examples.

This right here. I've prattled on about how much Siege Springer's transformation sucks, but recapping it again; more complex than it needs to be, and tolerances are all over the place. Also plugging Kingdom Rhinox here because that leg transformation can go screw itself with the parts constantly colliding.

 

Complex is fine, provided that half of the steps aren’t just folding up 19 panels into a backpack or inside the leg or something.

Panels are fine, but they can be way too excessive. And they never compress down cleanly when layered more than like, 2, idc what anyone says.

I also don’t like the transformation to be too simple. Simple is also fine, but a Transformer is something to fiddle with, so things like 1 step changers or “roll me forward and I auto morph” miss me too.

 

The more the merrier.

 

To me, it's more about the "look".

Example I kinda regret not buying this when it was out (well ok I was tight on money back then so it can't be help).

Well ok I don't know how many steps he had but he has that autotransfoming gimmick so it much be like less tha five steps?

Now the types of Tranformers toys I avoid like the plague is pretty much anything Cyberverse/ Bumblebee adventures cos the look so cheap. I'm aware they were made for little children in mind but they have zero appeal to me!

 

I like my TFs like my women...unnecessarily complicated and prone to cracking...haha...