Gimmicks that you really enjoy

[Lint]

I'll go against the grain here and say Actionmasters lol. Loved their basic GI Joe action figure design, looking cool. And the later, hard to obtain transforming euromasters.

I remember the action figure craze of that era and all things considered Hasbro came up with a respectable effort.

They're still slag though

[BigTransformerTrev]

Well that's just damn rude on any scale. I hope you gave him a double nipple crimp for his efforts.

I was that flabbergasted by the level of rudeness I was speechless! Apparently I must have been taking too long figuring out the new toy so the person decided to just take it off me and transform it themselves.

Then considering the same person later cracked the sooks massively when their mate got a prize from Griffins bag that he himself wanted, and complained until the other person simply gave it to him, I should not have been surprised.

Anyway, enough digression from me.

I'll go against the grain here and say Actionmasters lol. Loved their basic GI Joe action figure design, looking cool. And the later, hard to obtain transforming euromasters.

I remember the action figure craze of that era and all things considered Hasbro came up with a respectable effort.

They're still slag though

I bought the ones that came with transforming vehicles when they came out but none of the individual ones as I thought it was just stupid to spend money on Transformers brand toys with no transformation. Now I'm an adult collector I try to pick the odd one up. Really want Snarl with Tyrannitron.

They must have been at least kinda popular considering how many Action Master specific characters have gotten Generations/CHUG toys

[CHILENO20]

Targetmasters (Original & New) & Arms Microns, all time fav gimmicks

[GoktimusPrime]

Targetmasters, much like many other Binary-Bonding gimicks and unlike Headmasters, are fairly inoffensive gimmicks. If you lose the partner then you've only lost a weapon. And being all 5mm post weapons, you can easily substitute it. The core robot remains the same. Same with Powermasters, Breastmasters etc. - the core Transformer remains in tact and functional. Headmasters are the worst because their robot modes are useless without heads.

Nearly as bad are Brainmasters/Motorvators who of course are faceless without their partners. I suppose they can still be serviceable robots if you like your Transformers looking like freaking Ring Wraiths.

[DaptoDog]

A lot of votes for combiners, but what made them really cool was the Scramble City gimmick. Allowed a kid to make their own combiner if they didn't have a set of one team - which could be an outright pain to find before the days of the internet. The Scramble City combiners were also in scale with each other, another plus.

[TaZZerath]

Targetmasters, much like many other Binary-Bonding gimicks and unlike Headmasters, are fairly inoffensive gimmicks. If you lose the partner then you've only lost a weapon. And being all 5mm post weapons, you can easily substitute it. The core robot remains the same. Same with Powermasters, Breastmasters etc. - the core Transformer remains in tact and functional. Headmasters are the worst because their robot modes are useless without heads.

Nearly as bad are Brainmasters/Motorvators who of course are faceless without their partners. I suppose they can still be serviceable robots if you like your Transformers looking like freaking Ring Wraiths.

NAZGHUUUUULLLLLL!!!!!
*shriiiieeeeeeekkkkkk*

That's a fair call though Goktimus on the Headmasters. I think what could've fixed this would be if they sold replacements separately if need be. Like have a little after-sales support with some spares in case one got lost.

Come to think of it, a 'spare parts' store for TFs in general would be a great idea...

[GoktimusPrime]

A lot of votes for combiners, but what made them really cool was the Scramble City gimmick. Allowed a kid to make their own combiner if they didn't have a set of one team - which could be an outright pain to find before the days of the internet. The Scramble City combiners were also in scale with each other, another plus.

It wasn't so much the difficulty (they became especially easier when they were reissued in the early 90s) but the expense of buying any of the core body boxed figures. The carded limbs were cheap and easy to get, and as such, gestalts like Devastator and Monstructor were easy to complete with your pocket money. The Scramble gestalt gimmick was both a blessing and a curse - the upside was that you could mix and match members between teams. But the downside was that it was more expensive/harder to complete teams because each team required the purchase of a dearer boxed leader figure.

I think what could've fixed this would be if they sold replacements separately if need be. Like have a little after-sales support with some spares in case one got lost.

Come to think of it, a 'spare parts' store for TFs in general would be a great idea...

I suppose the problem with mass producing and selling spare parts would be the cost benefit or lack thereof. And to Hasbro's credit, they did provide spare heads in the form of body-less individual Titan Masters. Takara did this in 1987-88 with the Master Warriors (e.g. Shuffler, Rodney, Zetoca etc.); and from a marketing POV they sold better because they were new/unique figures and not just spare existing figures. The Master Warriors probably go for crazy prices on the after market because they're unique. I don't think they'd be as highly prized if they were nothing more than duplicates of existing Headmaster/Godmaster figures (e.g. Spike, Hi-Q etc.). And it also gives collectors a bonus incentive to buy both the standard Titans Return figures and the individual Titan Masters. Same with the current Prime Masters (although they have the bonus features of also being Pretenders and Targetmasters - 3 in 1!).

[Autocon]

Come to think of it, a 'spare parts' store for TFs in general would be a great idea...

If you got the right type of plastic, couldnt you print spare parts out on a 3d printer?

[TaZZerath]

If you got the right type of plastic, couldnt you print spare parts out on a 3d printer?

Yeah I guess you could if you had the template, and could afford a 3D printer