Thursday, April 5, 2012

Transformers Bot Shots, just for kids? I think not!

What do you get when you combine Battle Beasts with Transformers?  Yeah, I know, you get Transforming Battle Beasts.  OR, smart-alec, if you read the title of this post, you get Transformers Bot Shots.

To give you some background, Bot Shots are tiny vehicles that jump and transform into a little robot figure when their front end hits another object.  Now, if slamming a toy car into something and seeing it transform isn't enough fun for ya, let's add the dimension of rock, paper, scissors.  When the cars spring into their robot mode, a spinning chest piece stops on either a fist, blaster, or sword symbol.  How this code plays out is that: 1) blaster beats fist 2) fist beats sword; and 3) sword beats blaster.  I can wrap my head around why fist beats sword since the hand wields the sword, but following that logic, why wouldn't fist beat blaster too?  Do you agree?  They should have had robot fist, sword, and computer.  Fist holds sword, sword smashes computer, computer hacks into the electronic components of the robot hand programming it to destroy itself!  Alright, so I guess it's not that easy to come up with something as easy to understand as the fire, water, and wood combination used by the Battle Beasts heat activated stickers.  But what happens when both chest plates show the same symbol?  Luckily, next to the symbol is your strength score.  The larger number wins.  You also win if you transform, but the other guy doesn't after your head-on collusion.



I like the stubby features of all the character designs, but my favorite is the police car, Barricade.  The black paint scheme and the face sculpt come together in a way that's really appealing to my eye.  I know there are endless repaints and recycled molds to come, so I'll enjoy this incarnation while I can.  I also recommend the Optimus Prime with launcher.  This Optimus not only has a darker, more accurate paint job than the single figure, but the semi trailer/launcher completes the look.  Of course, you can't fire Decepticons from Prime's trailer -- that's just wrong.  You've got to snatch up the Megatron launcher too.  This version of Megatron is the military tank.  Megatron's launcher doubles as a cargo/weapons trailer and looks pretty cool. 

The only thing I can think of that these guys are missing is an accessory for each hand.  How about a little sword and blaster for their tiny little fists?  It would be poetic, and add to the playability, but it would also knock up the minimum age recommendation.  Thank goodness there isn't a maximum age recommendation as I might exceed it by about 30 years.  Just goes to show you that these Bot Shot appeal to various ages on primary level.


Build your own convoy of vehicles to crash or collect at the PGT ebsite.  Wave 2 just hit our shelves.  That's the blue Mirage, clear Bumble-Bee, Ratchet, and more!  Get yours right here from pastgenerationtoys.com

Do you think you will get one or a few for youself?  Maybe for your kids or family/friends?  Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the Transformers Bot Shots.

Until next time, I'll be seeing you in the toy aisles. Steve R. Ticulation

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

good post, added you to my RSS reader.