This is a busy weekend, we have MCM London, Paris Comic Con, Shanghai Comic Con and TFcon here in the States! Coming out of London Comic Con this morning, we have a look at Studio Series Leader Class Dark of the Moon Megatron and Jetfire. Megatron comes with his cloak and what looks to be Igor. No word on if Jetfire will combine yet. Stay tuned as more info and pics drop throughout the weekend!
Shmoptimus Prime
Love your vids man!
PeolesDru
I produce high quality instructional videos: peolesdru
GizmoTron
I used "managed to figure out" because everyone around here seems to act like they're so impossible to follow. That it's some kind of f'n accomplishment if you used basic instructions to transform a toy. But they're not that bad.
And saying that they could be better is just honest. Takara's could also be better. HasTak could even join the 21st Century and post the instructions online with how to videos already. But for something that 9 times out of 10 the box they're kept in is a trash bin, they serve their purpose.
Lore Keeper
Went to correct, saw the blue text, backed away slowly…
maxxzander
I always wondered what is that extra Optimus ab piece that included in the package for? now I know .it's to fill that hole for jetfire's back.
Dinocon93
They seriously need to rerelase this guy again for the 10th anniversary of ROTF with that version that had the random Cryotek blue color-scheme but in the right colors.
[Wing_Saber-X]
Screw the "brand unification" shinnagens
opoptimus
Agreed. I said that semi-jokingly kinda sarcastic way but yeah probably should've used blue text.
Being a bit of an engineering nerd myself, I'd like to think I know a thing or two about how TT and Hasbro collaborate. And I'm definitely not trying to put John Warden or his team down in any shape or form as he's done some great great work for the Generations line.
In my personal opinion, the Hasbro designers can be considered "concept artists"; TT are the real magic workers that work out the engineering. Imagine you're a TT designer that have worked so hard to on a figure, only to have Hasbro's instructions constantly omitting steps, leaving out intentional design features, and just being sucky in general, which leads to the general public not being able to fully appreciate your design work. I'd kinda feel bad for myself as a designer. And imho this is in a way disrespectful to the TT designer.
Shmoptimus Prime
I think having a well-produced video on each figure is a bit much for them, but the rest of what you said seems very reasonable and doable. It's actually a bit crazy that they don't have easily-available, clear online instructions. They should even have an archive for as many figures going back as far as they can.
darthsutius
Why not use a variety of methods – include the shit paper instructions for the 7 kids left in the world with no internet, but then publish hi-res, clear coloured instructions on the web, AND produce instructional videos of the transformations. I mean, a lot of us head to review videos as instructions already, make it official!
PlanckEpoch
The POINT of instructions is that they're supposed to be clear. If you have to use "Managed to figure out" and "Could they be better…yes" is pretty much exactly what I'm talking about. If they're not clear and concise then they're worthless. I have my instructions all in a box just to keep them, right? I feel the horrid instructions started in Titans Returns. They weren't as bad but you can tell the quality of them was going down real quick.
GizmoTron
I don't know, I managed to figure out Jetfire's transformation using Hasbro's instructions. Could they be better? Sure. But they're really not that bad.
mx-01 archon
I doubt omitting instruction steps is intentional. It's just a mistake.
I think a lot of times though, what we don't really account for most of the time, is that these things are just hard to come up with clear, objective instructions a lot of the time. Especially when cost-cutting is in effect and they're trying to rely on just pictures, instead of having to come up with multi-lingual instructions like they did back in G1. Especially as the engineering is more complex, and the designs are more detailed and abstract than they were back in the 80s.
People say "well, obviously the toy's engineer didn't check these before they went out to the printers", but you can't really say that for certain. When you know the in-and-outs of the toy's workings, it's actually pretty easy to miss subtle bits that you just tend to do automatically. Personally, I never use instructions for the sake of the puzzle, but if I ever take a peek after the fact, I can usually follow the instructions just fine because I generally know already what they're trying to tell me, so it becomes super hard for me to scrutinize.
While the current darkness of their prints makes things kinda difficult to see, I feel like there've been worse things in the past. For G2 and Beast Wars, the instructions could be pretty bad, because the line drawings were really vague and blobby. For RiD (2001), Hasbro experimented with fairly precise-looking CAD linework, like Takara had been using. While it was very clean looking, the toys were so detailed that all the lines crossed into each other and got really muddled looking. There were years where they used photography based on grey-scaled prototype photos, but in that case, because of the lack of colour differentiation, sometimes the parts wouldn't immediately look like what you had in front of you.
Really, the only thing that works in the greatest certainty is large, full-colour photographs like they used to use in G1. But high-quality, magazine-style colour printing is super expensive, and they're trying to cut back on packaging and paperwork costs as much as possible.
general saberwi
This is so annoying. Not only did Hasbro switch to dark backgrounds for instructions, (Why? Wouldn't white paper cost less?), making them harder to understand, now they are out and out omitting features of their figures. It is utterly inexcusable. Hasbro is seriously taking things in a bad direction with stupid decisions like this, and all of their other blatant cost cutting, while they continue to increase prices. Oh, and distribution still sucks.
GoLion
Ah nice! I'm thankful to whomever found these scans, now I have a place to store that chest piece.
Gilgamesh
People have a very strange version in their heads of what Hasbro and Takara's partnership is like.
WEEGEE
I think someone has drunk the koolaid.
Lore Keeper
Thank you for the support. I'm used to Hasbro instructions having issues by now, but I have to admit that Jetfire's are a new kind of bad.
TFXProtector
I'm going to take the advice given to me by a fellow collector in my state, I'm going to use the break to pop out the pin, pull him apart and then sand the edges down to get rid of the ratcheting (which is the cause of this fracture) and glue the plastic for the pinhole back together and once it's cured, carefully reassemble him and not worry about it anymore. Shouldn't have to go to extremes like that, but they're clearly not going to fix it and he doesn't need to be ratcheted there anyway. Terrible design.
Huh? Do tell, please.
Well, to be fair, John Warden and his team DO share design responsibilities with Takara Tomy on these lines. TT only works on the MP by themselves, everything else is a collaborative effort. Hasbro can then choose whether or not to bring the TT original designs to the US as a main or exclusive release. Aside from that, I agree that the Hasbro instructions are simply awful and make the angels cry.
They're just getting worse and worse. They're utter garbage at this point.
Nah. It's all about making the shareholders happy. I get that they use that money to keep running, but doggone I'm kind of sick and tired of people who know nothing about toys controlling a toy company's movements, much like shareholders do the same with other companies such as tech and whatnot. Though, to be fair to them for a sec… They do expect the company they fund to actually know how to operate, so they can continue to operate. "That's what I pay YOU for!" kind of deal. So, really it's all still on Hasbro's shoulders and they limp to the finish line on certain subjects when they could blast past it. They choose to do it this way. Aggravating to no end.
I hate it with a passion, but I've actually taken the time to figure out how to transform the figures myself, without the instructions and then to rely on a video review to get me the rest of the way if necessary. It actually bothers me a great deal, I hate not having instructions. I can't stand it. It's what Hasbro's forcing us to do, though.
It's all about the money lining pockets, it has nothing to do with cutting costs above and beyond what's already been cut. It's just cheapness, period.
Your review isn't flawed, it was an honest review of what you thought at the time with the info given to you. It's Hasbro's fault for leaving you in the dark trying to figure it out by yourself. That's ridiculous. You shouldn't have to have a guess at it like a 3rd party sample that doesn't come with instructions, this is a finished product that's given a crap job instruction sheet that gets you the basics and nothing more.
Here, not in package. They'll be printed on paper, just like Hasbro's and it's not going to cost them much more, if anything.
Prime135
Takara’s are digital