Dave's Transformers Artifacts Rant
Transformers Animated Game Collection
Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/TFAgame1
This is a Wal-Mart exclusive, although the fact that it's proclaimed
by
a sticker suggests it wasn't planned to be one from the start.
CAPSULE
Transformers Animated Game Collection: A decent kiddie game, if a bit
too simple to engage adult collectors (and yes, there's simple games that
CAN
engage an adult...I mean, you don't get much simpler than Go, yet few
master
it). Nice box, and some pretty good figurines. Probably not worth the
money
unless you either have kids or like making up house rules for kiddie
games.
$19.96 at Wal-Mart.
RANT
The premise here is of a box full of games and activities with a
Transformers Animated theme. As such, the packaging itself is part of the
product, and not something to be ditched once opened. The games are
Little
Kiddie stuff, but there's a quartet of PVC figures that older collectors
might be interested enough in to buy the thing. It's sold under the
Milton
Bradley brand.
Packaging: The box is somewhat irregular in shape, intended to look
like
the front end of Optimus Prime's vehicle mode. The overall size is 12.5"
(32cm) tall, 10" (25.5cm) wide and 7.25" (18.5cm) deep. The top, sides,
bottom and back are all in the "rectangular solid" configuration, but the
front slopes back in several panels. The bottom panel is 4.75" (12cm)
tall
and parallel to the back one. The middle panel is 6.25" (16cm) tall and
slopes back a little bit. The top panel is 4" (10cm) tall and more
horizontal than vertical. There's Autobot symbol shaped cutouts in that
top
panel, with the minifigures visible inside.
The whole thing is shrinkwrapped, with a thin cardstock insert held
over
the right side, the bottom front panel and most of the middle front panel.
On the front bottom piece of the insert is an inset showing the unwrapped
box, the minifigures and talking about the contents (board game, checkers,
tic tac toe, 100 piece puzzle). The middle front panel has the TF:A logo,
the name of the product, and a call-out for the minifigs. The right side
of
the insert has pictures of all the features, under a proclamation of
"LOADS
OF TRANSFORMERS ACTION!" These are:
- "Cool TRANSFORMERS 100 Piece Puzzle"
- "Unique Checkers Game: it's AUTOBOTS vs. DECEPTICONS!"
- "Tic Tac Toe, TRANSFORMERS-style"
- "Exclusive TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED Game!"
- Pictures of the four minifigs, kinda pointless since the pictures
are
smaller than the actual minifigs, which are already visible in-package.
Inside, the box is decorated to look like Earth Mode Optimus Prime's
cab
on the lid, front and sides of the box. The bottom of the box is just
plain
red with legalese, and the back shows the contents. There's an "Only at
WAL-MART" sticker on the front, I wish they'd put the sticker on the
cardstock insert. Still, it comes off cleanly enough.
Here's the text from the back of the box:
* * * *
OPTIMUS PRIME IS PACKED WITH TRANSFORMERS ACTION!
3 Cool Games, 4 AUTOBOT Figures and a Puzzle!
It's AUTOBOTS vs. DECEPTICONS! Join OPTIMUS PRIME, leader of the
AUTOBOTS: open his vehicle doors [note, you can't actually open the doors]
and get ready for a load of TRANSFORMERS action. Choose an AUTOBOT figure
and search for DECEPTICONS to battle in the exciting TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED
game! Then flip the board over for Checkers and Tic Tac Toe, both
transformed into AUTOBOT vs. DECEPTICON battles. The final challenge is a
100 piece puzzle. It all stores inside this cool TRANSFORMERS vehicle
package, where the next battle awaits!
CONTENTS
* 2-story OPTIMUS PRIME vehicle playhouse with roof, doors and inner
drawer. [Again, the doors don't open. The front grille does, though.]
* 4 TRANSFORMERS AUTOBOT figures: OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, BULKHEAD
and
PROWL
* Double-sided gameboard (TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED game on one side;
Checkers and Tic Tac Toe on the other)
* Dueling spinner/sliding scorer
* Deck of 50 cards
* 24 Checkers/Tic Tac Toe playing pieces
* 100 Piece puzzle in a matching box
* Instructions for all 3 games (Instrucciones del juego en ingles y
espanol)
Ages 6+, For 2 to 40 players
* * * *
The lid lifts off, and comes apart to reveal a black plastic blister
tray inside that holds the figures. This is the upper story of the
playset,
I guess, if you ditch the blister tray. Under the lid is a cardboard
honeycomb piece that fills the top half of the box and keeps the stuff
inside
from flopping around. I suppose you could fill it with toys to carry
around. :)
The front grill is held closed by two Velcro tabs, pulling it open
lets
you slide out a drawer with the main contents of the set. This drawer is
9.75" (24.5cm) wide, 7" (17.5cm) deep and 3" (7.5cm) tall. It has no lid
per
se, relying on the spinner and gameboard pieces to hold everything else
in.
Under the spinner are the rules. One folded sheet for checkers and
tic
tac toe. Rather than stacking checkers for kinging, you flip them over to
a
gold side. The board game rules are three pages with two tiny diagrams
among
the text.
Next down are the gameboard pieces, which are heavy cardstock chunks
shrinkwrapped together. There's five panels connected together, unfolding
into a long skinny board 32.5" (82.5cm) long and 9" (23cm) wide.
A black plastic gamepiece tray is under the board. A sheet of
punch-out
cardboard "checkers" lies on top of the tray, with an indent in the tray
intended for storing them. The game deck is on the right, and the puzzle
on
the left. The deck is shrinkwrapped, no rubber band is provided. The
puzzle
box is fairly thin cardstock that would't survive on its own on the shelf.
At least the puzzle pieces are inside a plastic bag inside the box.
There's
space under the tray, but not enough to neatly store the spinner there.
THE GOODIES
Figures: Okay, this is probably the main reason most of you will be
buying this, unless you're buying on behalf of your kids. These are meant
to
be game pawns, and are made of soft but not gummy plastic. They're not
all
to scale, although Bulkhead is really the only significant standout. No
articulation, the poses are all just standing at attention with arms to
the
sides. The paint applications are generally decent, but I'll note
exceptions.
Bumblebee: Made of bright yellow plastic with a strong UV glow.
5.1cm
tall. Medium light gray is used on the face, windows and hubcaps. The
eyes
are bright blue, a red Autobot symbol is printed on the chest. There's no
police light on the chest. Plenty of black paint on wheels, arms, waist,
knees and soles, plus sometimes-sloppy black panel lines in various
places.
He has more black detailing than the Deluxe toy does. Even considering
the
somewhat sloppy panel lines, this is a nice looking piece, with possibly
the
best color scheme of any Bumblebee toy so far...which is kinda sad.
Bulkhead: Made of olive green plastic and probably heavier than the
other three put together. Hm, let's see...about 45 grams. All together
the
other three are 20 grams. Yep! 5.4cm tall at the head, 6.1cm at the
shoulderpads. The right claw is open, the left claw is closed. Gunmetal
paint on the face, neck, shoulder stars, upper arms, claws, abdomen and
thighs, with some sloppiness here and there. Dark gray on the abdomen and
elbows, yellow abdominal headlights, bright blue eyes, red Autobot symbol
on
his chest. Lots of black panel lines and other details, a bit of black
got
splashed on the side of the backpack on mine. Oh, and just noticed, he
has
red taillights on his butt...that's a detail even the Leader version
lacks, I
think. :) Pretty good all around, although white shoulder stars would
have
been nice. I can understand needing to limit the number of paint colors,
though.
Optimus Prime: Made of medium blue plastic with a strong UV glow.
6.3cm
tall, and probably the only really awkward pose of the lot. Red paint on
the
torso and upper arms. Black chest windows, flanks, soles and boot
stripes.
Light gray paint on th thighs, neck, cheeks and grille. Yellow on the
roof
lights, headlights (it's hard to tell), pelvis details, toes, helmet
stripes
and bits on the backs of his hands (which are rather messily applied on
mine). The face is a slightly bluer light gray, and the eyes are bright
blue. A white Autobot symbol is printed on the left shoulder. The paint
job
is generally good enough that the only reason I'm sure of the base plastic
color is the UV test (not wanting to cut it open to check inside).
Prowl: Black plastic, 5.7cm tall and a bit wobbly. Probably the most
at-ease pose of the four, though. Pelvis, thighs, thumbs and fingers are
painted taupe (a sort of brownish light gray). The face, abdominal
flanks,
wheels, wheel centers and a dot on his back are medium gray. Bright blue
visor, tiny red Autobot symbol printed on the abdomen. His main accent
paint
is a sort of dull gold that glows a bit greenish under UV, and it's found
on
his crest, chin (a bit sloppy), shoulderpads, chest panel lines, forearm
chevrons, thigh pads, backpack, wheel hubs, boot details, belt buckle.
The
legs got a little warped in-package, so he doesn't stand as stably as the
other three.
Gameboard: Pretty sturdy, although it doesn't want to lie completely
flat. The main side is a pretty generic winding single path of circular
spaces strung together like beads, with intermittent Battle spaces. The
background is an overhead shot of future Detroit with the Autobot hideout
at
the start in the lower left and Sumdac Tower at the upper left at the end.
The path winds around pictures of the various opponents. In order,
they're
Meltdown, the Dinobots, Lockdown, Blackarachnia, Soundwave, Starscream and
Megatron. The Dinobots and BA are shown in beast modes.
All folded up, the "cover" is a ****trait of the five Autobots with
the
TF:A logo. This panel is a non-game part of the backside of the board.
Calling this panel #1, panels 2 and 5 have a quartet of tic-tac-toe
battlegrounds using the following backgrounds: Decepticon war****p bridge,
Sumdac Tower (exterior), Autobot hideout (interior), Autobot ****p bridge.
Panels 3 and 4 are a checkerboard in red and dark gray over a Detroit city
scene.
Game Spinner: A single sheet of heavy cardstock 9.25" (23.5cm) by
6.25"
(16cm) with two 1-6 spinners. One is purple and charcoal with a
Decepticon
symbol, the other is red and charcoal with an Autobot symbol. Megatron
stands next to the Decepticon spinner. Along one long side are the
numbers 0
through 6 and a checkmark (for victory, I presume) and a red plastic
slider
clip.
Checkers: Sigh. I was kinda hoping for plastic checkers molded with
faction symbols, but no such luck. Just medium cardstock punch-outs. The
background is silver on one side, gold on the other. 12 have Autobot
symbols in white with red borders, 12 have Decepticon symbols in white
with
blue-purple borders.
Puzzle: The image is the first TF:A promotional image we got, with
the
five Autobots leaping into action. The box is 4" (10cm) by 3" (7.5cm) by
2.5" (6cm) and has the goal image on the two large faces. Pretty standard
cardstock jigsaw puzzle.
Game deck: A mix of red-backed Power Cards with Autobot symbols on
the
back and Battle Cards in various colors with antagonists on the front.
Power Cards come in only a few varieties: Space Bridge (move to the
next
Battle Space), Ratchet Helps (take another turn...I guess this is why he
has
no figure), AllSpark (instant win on your current battle), and a whole lot
of
Energon cards (from +1 to +4 bonus to any spin).
There's six colors of Battle Card, one for each of the Battle Spaces
except for Megatron's at the end. Each color has three cards, sometimes
all
the same character, sometimes not. Repeated characters are in different
poses.
Green: Meltdown twice, Colossus Rhodes
Orange: Swoop, Snarl, Grimlock
Yellow: All Lockdown
Blue: All Blackarachnia (two robot mode, one beast mode)
Magenta: All Soundwave
Purple: Lugnut, Blitzwing (crazy face), Starscream
Game Rules: I'm going to assume you all know how to play checkers and
tic-tac-toe, and concentrate on the board game.
The idea is to be the first to reach the end of the path and defeat
Megatron. The more foes you beat along the way, the better your chances
are
against Megatron, and there's deliberately fewer enemies (Battle Cards)
than
players so that the last one to reach a space may not be able to collect a
Battle Card (although if someone ahead of you fails to beat a foe, there
may
be one left for the tail-end player).
Power cards are left face up, although I'm sure older players would
be
willing to play with hidden hands. They're no use against Megatron, but
can
guarantee a win against other foes. You do not start with any Power
cards,
however (you get one at the end of every turn), so the first person to hit
the Meltdown zone may not have enough cards to be assured a win (you have
to
move 9 spaces to hit Meltdown, though, so you'll always have at least one
card). You can burn multiple Power cards on a single spin if you want.
The Megatron battle uses the slider on the spinner. You start at a
number equal to your number of Battle Cards, and then engage in unmodified
spin-offs against Megatron. Lose and you go down a number, win and you go
up. If you hit 7, you win the game. 0 and your turn ends, someone else
could get to Megatron before your next turn and win instead.
Okay, time for some rules clarity issues, because I am a long time
gamer
geek and part time rules lawyer.
1) If you land on a space occupied by another player, you move to the
next space. This could be construed to mean that you can't go into an
occupied Battle Zone, although I think the intent is that the Battle Zones
(which are off the path) are not regular spaces and can be multiply
occupied.
2) If you reach a Battle Zone with cards still on it, you must stop
and
do battle. It's not established if you can get past a Battle Zone with
cards
on it if you fail. Option 1: Fail and you can't get that Zone's card
unless
you draw Ratchet Helps (which lets you immediately try again or give up
and
move on). Next turn you move off the Battle Zone, tough luck. Option 2:
Zero spaces is still a move, and you can't leave until you either win or
someone else exhausts the enemy cards in the Zone. Either one works for
me,
although the rules for Ratchet Helps sup****t option 1, since it lets you
move
on without collecting a Battle Card.
3) It's not established how you start your second try at Megatron.
Do
you reset to your number of Battle Cards, or do you start from zero? I
expect they intend for you to reset, but it's not stated. The rules seem
to
expect you won't get to try again, that someone else will win before your
next turn.
In any case, there's not a lot of strategy possible, especially with
your hand left face up at all times. I'd suggest the following rules to
make
things a little more interesting, because if I didn't create house rules
I'd
have to turn in my gamer geek ID.
1) Power Cards are held concealed.
2) You can move UP TO the number on the spinner if you want. This
will
let you slow down to collect more Power Cards if you want to risk someone
beating you to the battles. You must always move at least one space,
however.
3) If you land on the same space as another token, do a spin-off, and
respin any ties (Power Cards may be used if you really want to). The
winner
can choose to either move their piece one ahead of the shared space, or
move
the losing piece one back. If this lands a token on a Battle Space with
cards remaining, and that player has not collected a card from that space,
there is an immediate battle regardless of whose turn it is.
4) If Megatron defeats you, discard one Battle Card. If you run out
of
Battle Cards, you are out of the game. If only one player remains, that
player wins. Somehow. After all, Megatron Must Be Stopped!
Overall: I'd call it a decent $10 game and the figures are worth
maybe
another $6. $2 for the puzzle, and I suppose the box itself is worth $2.
So it's decent value, especially if you have kids who would enjoy the
relatively simple board game.
Dave Van Domelen, prefers the Armada Battle Game, though.
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