Hasbro making LEGO-like products again with Transformers this time

[Hive]

Licenses such as especially Star Wars but also Batman, Spider-Man and Indiana Jones seems like a lucrative investment to me... they always seem in high demand. But something like Prince of Persia, which ran for barely a year before now being more or less permanently slashed in price big time makes me wonder whether that was a good investment on LEGO's behalf.

[Zarkan]

What the... these don't transform either? Well, I think that pretty much seals the fate of this line right from the start - the kids that buy regular transformers aren't likely going to be interested in a line of buildable transformers that don't actually do what their name implies. And since the piece quality is apparently just as poor as their previous attempt, you can forget about any lego fans buying them.

Well, looks like Hasbro dropped the ball again. I admit, I thought this line had some real potential, but it appears to be just another rushed attempt at cashing in on TLC's success, rather than a legitimate attempt at offering some innovative competition to Lego. If these things actually transformed, they would have offered something that no lego line has yet to offer, but since that's not the case, there's really nothing being done here that TLC isn't already doing.

[Hive]

And since the piece quality is apparently just as poor as their previous attempt, you can forget about any lego fans buying them.

Why do people keep assuming this with absolutely no basis to support any such claim?

Maybe the quality does suck, maybe it doesn't. But untill the sets are actually released and someone gets their hands on them, we won't know.

[Brickdoctor]

Why do people keep assuming this with absolutely no basis to support any such claim?

Maybe the quality does suck, maybe it doesn't. But untill the sets are actually released and someone gets their hands on them, we won't know.

I think they went and read the FBTB article from Toy Fair.

As for the plastic quality of the pieces, you can see it in these promo images. Some parts are waxy, and translucent in a few cases. The colors are swirly in many of the pieces, you know that marbled look. I had these same observations at the Toy Fair booth. You can look at the high res Optimus photo to really take it all in.

[Hive]

I think they went and read the FBTB article from Toy Fair.

Still, the sets are ~6 months away from release. Things can change. And the bricks *looking* like poor quality does not necessarily mean that they *are* poor quality. People just seem really eager to bury this project.

[5150 Lego]

Still, the sets are ~6 months away from release. Things can change. And the bricks *looking* like poor quality does not necessarily mean that they *are* poor quality. People just seem really eager to bury this project.

Its the fanboy in them speaking out. Many had their minds set on this and always see a competitor brand as being inferior. Even with no direct evidence. Its very possible that these could have MB quality; Its also possible that Hasbro has had plans on releasing this line for some time and have worked through any past hicups with their previous lines. I have to say it seems odd that they would wait till now to release their own brick built line based on Transformers considering this is the 3RD and presumably last TF movie for a while. It would have made more sense to introduce this back when the first movie came out. Hopefully within that time they did in fact work out quality. I really hope these do turn out good as the designs do look fairly good. It would be a shame to have great designs yet poor quality bricks. Time will tell.

[Zarkan]

Still, the sets are ~6 months away from release. Things can change. And the bricks *looking* like poor quality does not necessarily mean that they *are* poor quality. People just seem really eager to bury this project.

Uh, no. I'm just incredibly disapointed that they seem to be making the same mistakes all over again - and until the fbtb report, I was really hopeful that this line could actually offer some unique competition to lego. Now... I'm not so sure.

[ziljin]

I just found about this.

Wow they look exactly like lego if it was not for those hollow studs. Looks like Lego MoCs at first glance.

[Arigomi]

I really don't understand the logic behind the Transformer minifigures. Why do you want them if the sets focus on building the Transformers? They could've integrated them in some way like the Headmaster, Targetmaster, and Powermaster toys. Right now they seem a bit redundant.

[Bricks2000]

I really don't understand the logic behind the Transformer minifigures. Why do you want them if the sets focus on building the Transformers? They could've integrated them in some way like the Headmaster, Targetmaster, and Powermaster toys. Right now they seem a bit redundant.

Agreed.

[IAmWillGibson]

What sucks specifically and unequivocally for me is the non-transforming aspect. It's just... I can't even say. I mean, I know transforming LEGO-style structures are hard, but I've seen enough examples online of ways of doing it that don't seem to compromise the kid-friendliness of the model. That's what bugs me.

As tot he quality, I'm not gonna speculate one way or the other. I know that one person's opinion on the "quality" of plastic can vary hugely from anyone else's, because it's such an unspecific thing. [As to 'swirliness,' aren't all of LEGO's gold bricks swirly?*] I personally never had any problem with the BTR bricks physically. The set designs just sorta stank. But if these are like the U-Build bricks [also Hasbro] well, yeah, they're thinner and lighter than one would hope for. But Kre-O being designed, I'd assume, more for rugged building and rebuilding than U-Build is, I'd hope the sturdiness would be upgraded.

End of the day, the designs of these sets look good. And also terrible, as they don't transform. I remain uncomfortably conflicted.

*Sidebar, related both to gold and Hasbro: Do you think LEGO's gold elements might ever succumb to Gold Plastic Syndrome? Ponder, and fear.

[vexorian]

So, i have to rebuild the set to transform it? pathetic.

Worse, if you look carefully, Truck Optimus and robot Optimus are different sets.

edit: Ok, not really. I just got confused by the way fbtb named the pics. Anyway, I found out the prices: http://tformers.com/transformers-toy-fair-2011-official-looks-at-kre-o-transformers/15147/news.html

The piece/price ratios seem about equal to higher LEGO's o_O, you would have expected megabloks pricing, but I guess they expect parent fan boys to blindly buy them.

Does Hasbro even need a new license for this? They have the action figure license already, so they couldn't just brand them as action figures with the building blocks as 'accessories', the same way that TLG brands them as building toys with minifigs as 'accessories'?

Hasbro owns the brand. So in effects, the shows and movies are the ones licensing from Hasbro, not the other way along.

Edited February 23, 2011 by vexorian

[IAmWillGibson]

Worse, if you look carefully, Truck Optimus and robot Optimus are different sets.

How carefully do you have to look to reach that conclusion? 'Cause it ain't that way to me.

[5150 Lego]

Worse, if you look carefully, Truck Optimus and robot Optimus are different sets.

What evidence supports this? Its very possible that extra parts are included for the joints and such if you decide to build a robot.

[Joey Lock]

I'm not sure if anyones realised this though but. It's not Hasbro. It's COBI.

I have had a few COBI sets and recognised the missles on the back:

And yes. They are the same. Look at the ones for sale on Firestar toys which are the ones I have:

[5150 Lego]

I'm not sure if anyones realised this though but. It's not Hasbro. It's COBI.

I have had a few COBI sets and recognised the missles on the back:

The Brand has been named as Kre-o, made by Hasbro. Not Cobi. Looking at the parts from other Cobi sets i don't see any other simular parts other than the missiles that link the two brands together. Its possible they took the same missile design, but for now, its been named as Hasbro's own brick brand. So since you have some cobi sets, how is the quality?

Edited February 25, 2011 by 5150 Lego

[Joey Lock]

The Brand has been named as Kre-o, made by Hasbro. Not Cobi. Looking at the parts from other Cobi sets i don't see any other simular parts other than the missiles that link the two brands together. Its possible they took the same missile design, but for now, its been named as Hasbro's own brick brand. So since you have some cobi sets, how is the quality?

I had a Cobi spaceship set I bought for £5 in Wilkinsons once, The quality of the build was terrible, as in, most of the pieces would not fit, I kept trying and trying but there were slight gaps between them. However, many of the bricks fitter better together with Lego than they did with each other! Cobi has many many useful items for Lego, most of them are quite well built, such as the Military sets and Rome sets, And contain like, the bombs, the ammo boxs, the binoculars, the engine brick from the Willys Jeep e.t.c.

[Peppermint_M]

Cobi is very good quality. Not quite TLG but better than old MB, on a par with MB's recent output.

What you possibly bought was the last of the Best Lock/ Cobi sets, when there was a mix of Cobi/Bestlock branded boxes that had Best Lock brick but dual branding. There have also been Best Lock with Cobi stock. They had a partnership that went bad recently. I have been finding dual branded boxes with the same poor quality brick produced by Best Lock's old manufacturer, single branded Best Lock boxes with Cobi made bricks and then Best Lock branded sets with the old quality in.

I have never seen pure Cobi in Wilkinsons (I go there weekly we have a large store locally) only Best Lock and other brands from a chinese manufacturer, sometimes with generic brand and sometimes with Sluban or even a Wilkinson's own.

[Joey Lock]

Cobi is very good quality. Not quite TLG but better than old MB, on a par with MB's recent output.

What you possibly bought was the last of the Best Lock/ Cobi sets, when there was a mix of Cobi/Bestlock branded boxes that had Best Lock brick but dual branding. There have also been Best Lock with Cobi stock. They had a partnership that went bad recently. I have been finding dual branded boxes with the same poor quality brick produced by Best Lock's old manufacturer, single branded Best Lock boxes with Cobi made bricks and then Best Lock branded sets with the old quality in.

I have never seen pure Cobi in Wilkinsons (I go there weekly we have a large store locally) only Best Lock and other brands from a chinese manufacturer, sometimes with generic brand and sometimes with Sluban or even a Wilkinson's own.

I actually found my Cobi Desert Willy's Jeep (Actually liscened by JEEP) in the Fort Nelson Gift Store in Portsmouth when visiting there, I saw it at first then once finished, went back and bought it, and loved it, the pieces were great quality, the gas cans, the artillery barrel, weapons e.t.c. But the best and most favourite piece of Cobi? Has too be their Shells. The shells in the cannon sets, Like Howitzer, My goodness they are perfect! Shame I only have 3 shells though, but they would be perfect for my tanks, they're 1 stud wide and 2 studs high. Perfect to fit in a tank, just need more!

[MAB]

On 2/14/2011 at 8:51 PM, AndyC said:

Which is why asking for Transformers Lego is as pointless as asking for Bionicle Playmobil. It just won't happen.

Isn't it amazing how things change with time. Something that would never happen has happened. It just took slightly over a decade.

[Peppermint_M]

Good grief.

I am sure that zinger was worth it.

[Darkdragon]

5 hours ago, MAB said:

Isn't it amazing how things change with time. Something that would never happen has happened. It just took slightly over a decade.

Are you kidding me? Necro on a thread dead for 11 years to say that? You should have use multiquote and just posted the quote and comment in a thread that makes more sense instead of bringing this up from the dead. Please don't do that.