To describe this product line as “crap-tastic” would be giving Hasbro too much credit for their “engineering marvels”. By engineering marvel, I am of course referring to their success in making a successful product… that is… if the product was intended to make children cry and parents frustrated.
Bravo!
Last October, I went back to the States for a week to attend a funeral. I took this trip solo. Before leaving, I asked Grayson if he wanted me to get him something. As any young child being successfully raised, Grayson’s only request was the Transformer “Bumblebee”. How could I deny his one request?
During my trip I ducked into a Target and found an overwhelming number of Bumbleebee options. Models for all different age groups. Since Gray was 3 at the time, I settled on the “Animated Activators” line of Transformers. It was advertized 4+ and featured an activator button, which, when pressed, “Pops” the action figure from car mode to robot mode. Perfect, right? The price was right too, so I also picked up Megatron and Grimlock as well.
This was a mistake. These Transformers are made very cheaply and feature arms and legs that easily pop off. Furthermore, the activator buttons for Megatron and Grimlock never worked properly, so it was near impossible to transform them into their not robot modes… they would immediately pop back into robot form.
This became very frustrating for both Grayson and me. You see? Although Grayson loves transformer, at 4 years old, he can’t really manipulate the transformation process… which is why the activator buttons are fun. He would turn it into a robot and then give it to me to turn into a car, dinosaur, or helicopter. As pieces began to break off and activator buttons stopped working (within minutes to opening the package), Grayson couldn’t do anything with the figures.
As for me? If I knew my son wouldn’t be able to use the action figure advertized for his age group… and I would be stuck transforming it for him… I would have forked out the money for a really nice one. One that wouldn’t break and one that would be fun for me to transform. One that would work.
In the end, I threw Grimlock and Megatron away. They weren’t worth the hastle. Bumblebee is still okay… it seems to work a little better.
2 comments:
Grayson's compadre Quinn also requested Bumblebee for his birthday in February. Marijke and I were there for his birthday and went with the Animated Deluxe version.
http://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Animated-Deluxe-Action-Figure/dp/B0017QTC32/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1271017572&sr=1-1-spell
It similarly is quite frustrating for adults. Arms and legs pop off rather easily and good luck figuring out exactly how to transform them. I expected better.
Quinn was happy with them though. We brought Bumblebee, Bumblebee Elite Guard, Jazz, Ratchet, and one other one (aunties are allowed to go overboard!!).
You never did tell me how he liked his birthday present. At this point I'm almost afraid to ask.
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