Top 10 Transformers Gimmicks

[liegeprime]

Mine would be
1) Transformation - sub section would be - number of alt modes. as long as it isnt forced looking or senseless altmode - I'm looking at Rid Galvatron right now... a giant hand - oh really now?
2) Articulation - the more the better, plus ankle tilts for the win!!
3) Combinations and partnering - Gestalt, Or trailer combines to make armour, that sort of thing. With Partnering - e.g. Soundwave and his Cassettes - now who didn't get entranced the first time you saw and heard - Ejct! Eject! Eject! That kind of Partnering is as Iconic as can be. Too bad though that the gimmick worked only great with Players and their cassettes and not for other TF characters.
4) Unique character Weaponry - each character is given a specific weapon - well except now for the cyberverse which rehashes the weapons. Some weapons have become so iconic and are well associated to the character owning it themselves - e.g. Megatron's Fusion cannon.
5) Light piping - particularly not just limited to the eyes but also for those using light up gimmicks for weapons - e.g. MP Grimlocks weapons
6) Binary Bonding - especially the updated versions - e.g. RtS Cyclonus with Nightstick - it's like you get 2 bots for the price of one...
7) The standardized 5 mm posts which will fit any weapon be it from small character to big one and even old weapons to new toys.
8) Stickers - call me old school , but I like putting up the stickers on the toys. Granted to days toys have molded details into the plastic which is great, but stickers brings out a fresh crispness to even an old toy.
9) Chrome parts - when done right and not in excess - it makes a beautiful toy even more desirable - e.g. Henkei Astrotrain.
10) Minicons - I love my minicons!! Better than keys as these little buggers are cute as too, IMO. Also, they come in such wide array of altmodes ( granted they get recoloured into different characters all the time but, they are a cool gimmick IMO.

[Sinnertwin]

Gimmick wise i'd also be inclined towards

Robot points
Pretenders
Action Masters
Minicons
Lights & Sounds

[DELTAprime]

I think aside from order Gok's list is fairly spot on. Only thing I would drop is Binary Bonding because if the kid looses the Headmaster he has a headless toy thats probably destined for the trash. Since I came back into the franchise with TFTM I'd say Automorph would replace Binary Bonding on the list for me.

[Sky Shadow]

10. Automorphing and autotransformation.
9. Combining with oneself.
8. Triple-changing.
7. Heads that turn.
6. Exclusives and redecos.
5. Robot points and mailaways.
4. Weapons.
3. Media - cartoons, movies, comics and books.
2. Factions and faction symbols.
1. Profiles and tech specs.

[GoktimusPrime]

8) Stickers - call me old school , but I like putting up the stickers on the toys. Granted to days toys have molded details into the plastic which is great, but stickers brings out a fresh crispness to even an old toy.

I personally prefer paint apps and detailed sculpting over stickers any day. I don't mind stickers for G1 reissues because that's a different context, but for any non-reissues after 1995 I would expect paint apps and sculpting to add details.

10) Minicons - I love my minicons!! Better than keys as these little buggers are cute as too, IMO. Also, they come in such wide array of altmodes ( granted they get recoloured into different characters all the time but, they are a cool gimmick IMO.

The Mini-Cons themselves are great toys, but IMHO the gimmicks that they activate are just too intrusive and compromising. Cyber Keys aren't toys, they're just accessories, but the Cyber Key gimmicks are so much less intrusive and better than Mini-Con activated gimmicks. So insofar as judging them as gimmicks, I personally prefer Cyber Keys over Mini-Cons. But I do love Mini-Cons as toys, but not massively fond of them as a gimmick.

Action Masters
<snip>
Lights & Sounds

Curious. What is it about Action Masters that appeals to you? For me I see that gimmick as being an affront to the gimmick of "transformation."
I don't mind lights when done well. Sounds on the other hand I'm not a fan of as I find it often too intrusive because designers usually end up engineering a toy around this solid and immovable electronic block. A few toys manage to do it better than others (e.g. Leader Class Movie OPs, Leader Class Animated Megatron), but I find they're the exception rather than the rule. Most sound gimmicked TFs tend to suffer more than they gain from carrying around that electronic lump inside them.

Only thing I would drop is Binary Bonding because if the kid looses the Headmaster he has a headless toy thats probably destined for the trash. Since I came back into the franchise with TFTM I'd say Automorph would replace Binary Bonding on the list for me.

I collected Headmasters as a kid back in 1987-88 and I've never lost a Nebulan. Part of it being that they are essentially "self contained" accessories (especially Headmasters). In robot mode they're the heads, and in alt mode they're pilots (re: stowage). Also the idea that they're characters made me take care of them more than regular accessories I guess. I've lost guns and missiles from other TFs before, but I've never lost a Nebulan.

But I know not everyone was as diligent with caring for their Nebulans. My Needlenose, which I got from a childhood friend who decided to "grow out" of Transformers and gave me all his TFs for free, is missing Sunbeam (but at least he still has Zig-Zag ). Also my Powermaster Optimus Prime (another freebie from a cousin) was missing Hi-Q (which I've since acquired separately). And I did once lend Snapdragon to a schoolmate who returned it without Krunk. (moral of the story: never lend out nuthin'! ) But you could make a similar argument with other incorporated/stored accessory - at least the incorporation/storage feature gives you an impetus to not lose that accessory.

10. Automorphing and autotransformation.
9. Combining with oneself.
8. Triple-changing.
<snip>
5. Robot points and mailaways.
<snip>
1. Profiles and tech specs.

re: 10: I do like automorphing. I'm not a huge fan of autotransformations, except for Flipchangers. I love me a good Flipchanger! The Generations/FoC data discs were also done pretty well - as UltraMarginal said, it'd be interesting to see how factory workers would have to assemble these things!
re: 9: Not sure what you mean with "Combining with oneself." Are you talking about toys like Duocons, Magmatron etc.?
Totally agree on the others. Triple changers are awesome - even if they stuffed up Generations Blitzwing... but he's an exception (and IMO he's still conceptually a good toy, just badly executed). Robot points and mail-aways were AWESOME! I wish Hasbro would go back to doing that instead of the official club. It might make club exclusive toys more accessible for non-North Americans -- imagine if all those club exclusive toys were available as simple mail away toys? Heck, each 'robot point' could come with a unique code (similar to the JAN codes that TakaraTOMY includes to access each toy's online survey) that people could submit on Hasbro Australia's website along with an online form to make electronic payment. And yes, totally agree on well written tech specs and profiles too. Aah, the days when tech specs were written by comic book writers instead of toy execs.

[Sky Shadow]

"Combining with oneself." Are you talking about toys like Duocons, Magmatron etc.?

Yeah - Duocons, Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, Ironhide, Energon Tow-Line, Landquake, etc. Transformers who can... combine with themselves. I'm not sure what the official name is for that.

[GoktimusPrime]

Ah right, cool. Yeah, I'm not aware of any official or commonly accepted fan term for them either, but yes, I agree they are quite nice.

[Sky Shadow]

Ah right, cool. Yeah, I'm not aware of any official or commonly accepted fan term for them either, but yes, I agree they are quite nice.

I know there's Super Mode and Brute Mode, but it doesn't cover all of them.

[Magnus]

That was an interesting read, Gok!

My 2c:

As an adult collector, I like the Automorph/MechAlive gimmicks built into the Movieverse toys, since they're a good representation of the complexity of the CGI models. In my opinion, Automorph or some other form of autotransformation would replace the rolling wheels/through-axles as a top 10 gimmick.

I'm not a big fan of self-contained weapons, because I feel that the design of the weapon is compromised by making it fit into something, although it does yield some interesting design choices.

Lights and sounds are cool Perhaps there's an 'expectation' that larger toys have to be able to 'do something' in order to justify their increased cost, which is why Leaders and up tend to get light and sound boxes.

[GoktimusPrime]

That was an interesting read, Gok!

Thank you.

I'm not a big fan of self-contained weapons, because I feel that the design of the weapon is compromised by making it fit into something, although it does yield some interesting design choices.

I think it depends. Some pull it off better than others. One of the better ones are the tanks on Buster & DotM Leader Optimus Prime that can detach and combine to form his rifle. An example of a poorer one, IMHO, is Jawbreaker. His weapon is his hyena mode's tail, marketed as a whip. It's a tail.

Lights and sounds are cool Perhaps there's an 'expectation' that larger toys have to be able to 'do something' in order to justify their increased cost, which is why Leaders and up tend to get light and sound boxes.

IMHO electronic gimmicks, especially sound gimmicks, are a lot like a Michael Bay film. It's that wonderful razzle dazzle bells 'n' whistles that gets people to spend their money and will enthral you at first, but eventually the novelty wears off and there's little substance beneath it. I cannot think of any sound gimmick which, to me today, seems as cool as on the day I bought it. At best the toy still holds up well despite having a sound gimmick, but not because of it. Take the Leader Class movie Optimus Prime toys for example... I think they're all great toys, but the fact that TF1 and ROTF Leader Class Optimus Prime can say, "I am Optimus Prime" doesn't faze me one way or the other. As for light gimmicks, I don't mind them on their own - they can be quite cool (e.g. Laser Rods and similar style LED gimmicks). The problem w/ sound gimmicks really is the speaker which is this big block that cannot be shifted around, whereas LED gimmicks don't have this issue.

But I agree that sound gimmicks are often used to justify the higher price points, which could've easily been justified by improving the design/engineering or other play features of the toy. e.g. Movieverse Megatrons -- the Leader Class figures w/ electronic sounds are just poor. DotM Voyager Megatron on the other hand may be smaller, but is a significantly better toy IMHO.