The Transformers craze is alive and well with multiple movies being made and the action figures making a comeback. It was no surprise than that Hasbro had to double up on the toy goodness, however, creating a whole new line of action-figures based on household items versus the cool cars seemed somewhat strange.
Fortunately, after getting my hands on these I can safely say that any doubts I had about these are washed away. Hasbro was kind enough to send over a giant box to my house over the holiday weekend filled with these little heroes. Did this feature anyone from the mainline Transformer series? Unfortunately not, however, inside were over 150 tiny little Transformers with alternative modes like lollipops, slushies, milk cartons, and baseball bats, and once my kids got their hands on them I thought it was genius.
Hasbro’s Transformers BotBots seem to have a broad cross-gender and cross-age appeal. With BotBots there are numerous themes to collect, known in the BotBots universe as “tribes,” where each figure converts into an everyday item that everyone can relate to.
Within my box came a variety of the BotBots with seven actual packs featuring one mystery Bot and multiple one-off mystery packs. Each group of figures is separated into “tribes”, each figure falling into that theme. The tribes vary in sizes, and the packs are themed. They did not just include the figures to that respective pack though. The packs are all well packaged in very bright, colorfully pleasing packaging and bubbles. I appreciated the charm and personality Hasbro brought to each individual box.
Opening the packaging is simple and to-the-point. There is no way to tell what is in the mystery pack, all you can do is open it. Pull up on a tab on the bottom of the card, break the paper open, and the action figure awaits you. Each mystery bubble contains a figure and an instruction sheet. On the flip side of the instructions is a poster scene that also acts as a checklist. Pack-in documentation is presented nicely, giving you the transformation sequence for your BotBots as well as a fun poster of the bots in action.
After opting all the packing, the kids and I were ready to play, and thankfully BotBots were undeniably fun to mess around with. Every Transformers fan under 12 is going to love to get these and many hours can be spent trying to collect every single one. Each series comes with rare BotBots and in my large box I was able to nab a few, but still were missing some. I also had received many repeated mystery BotBots that made it somewhat disappointing that I could not have the entire collection, but it’s a small gripe nonetheless. These will make excellent toys for sharing amongst friends to see if you can attain that full collection.
The transformation for each character is simple enough for its targeted 5-and-up crowd, but is still engaging. Each bot was oozing with personality and each one had unique transformations, never really feeling the same. Goofy expressions, clever transformations, and a distinct sense that the designers were given free rein to do what they wanted all contribute to a surprisingly stellar unique line of toys.
Overall, Hasbro’s Transformers BotBots are an engaging and fun series that I hope can gain some traction, as the collect-a-thon nature of catching them all is very strong with these toy sets. Mystery toys are always a thrill to collect and trade, even when you get duplicates which can just be given to a friend. Add on the mass appeal of Hasbro’s Transformers license with the ability for the toys to transform in clever and unique ways, and you have yourself a winner. This is a very inventive line, and hopefully Transformers fans will embrace it the way my children have.