Just opened my first animated

[LordCyrusOmega]

I always thought the coversion level was in contrast to the size. 1've noticed that Deluxe are a 2, voyager a 3 and so fourth increasing size class as well as conversion level.

I like Animated Ultra Magnus, The conversion is neat and apart from the shoulders relatively simple. Though i agree, conversions are getting more difficult. I like complex transformations but some are ridiculous eg ROTF Optimus and don't get me started on linking him with Jetfire.

I don't se how a child could manage it.

[Doubledealer]

As I don't own the figure, would you say that the 'Level 3 Advanced" statement is accurately indicative of the conversion DD? - In Your Words?
I ask because I know that some Classicsverse figures I've felt have been rated much higher than what I would've thought.

Hmm, I'm struggling to fully remember his transformation but I think kup's right, the size more than anything makes things a bit fiddly.

What a toy though eh, and to think some lucky devils got him for $30!

[griffin]

The conversion difficulty level used to be based on the size class, but more recently I think the people at Hasbro must have been hearing the comments at BotCon (it's been criticised there a few times), and are individually rating figures now. It isn't a guarantee, but I think they are making the rating more reliable.

[SharkyMcShark]

I don't understand this concern with whether small children will be able to transform the figures.

Collect for yourself. Unless you're a 4 year old, or indeed have a 4 year old you're buying $100 toys for then it shouldn't matter.

[doublespy]

I'm kind of glad that Hasbro are making the Dark of the Moon toys less complicated.

agreed. probably the feedbacks for the rotf toy line weren't all that good from kids parents.. iirc in the 2009 generations books one of the designers mentioned that takara and hasbro had set the tone that they would start to prefer designing "fun and creative" ways of transformation rather than more "complex and screen accurate" transformation

[griffin]

I don't understand this concern with whether small children will be able to transform the figures.

Collect for yourself. Unless you're a 4 year old, or indeed have a 4 year old you're buying $100 toys for then it shouldn't matter.

For us personally, it doesn't matter... I myself prefer quicker, more playable figures.
But for the toyline as a whole, the concern is that if we don't have enough of the target demographic able to convert the toys, them and their parents won't buy more of them, and we we miss waves/assortments because stores don't need to restock.
It's kinda looking out for ourselves, by making sure the toyline is successful... and us adult collectors aren't a big enough portion of Hasbro sales to carry the toyline in this country. It's just a compromise or a necessary evil - we still get a few brainteaser figures for our longer attention spans, while most figures are easier and fun for the kiddies (and most of us too), who are the ones creating the demand/turnover/restocking in stores.

[UltraMarginal]

I don't know, I remember when I was about 5 r 6 getting My g1 Megatron, it was really hard to transform, but I got my Dad to help me and we figured it out and then I was fine, can't tell you how many time I transformed it after the first time figuring it out.

I think the draw of transformers is the complexity, there are certainly some that are more complex than others, I've noticed the deluxe seekers rated at 2 while others are rated at 3. Perhaps if there were a larger percentage of less complex figures it would be a better balance but one of the age old draw cards of transformers for me has been the complexity/engineering involved.

[Pipesqueak]

Most G1 Transformers were incredibly simple compared to the modern ones. I doubt if i was a child again today that I would have become a big TF fan because of the fiddliness and frustration involved in modern toys for the sake of 'posability' and 'screen accurateness'.

I really loved the Energon and Cybertron lines, especially Cybertron, for getting the balance just right. A lot of the Classicsverse toys aren't too bad either on that score.