By Mike BrunoWhat would this summer's tentpole movie Transformers be without new ''Robots in disguise'' action figures? (A smidge less profitable, for one thing....) Well, worry not, fanboys and girls — Hasbro has given EW.com a sneak peak at the first action figure to be released as part of the Transformers Movie Deluxe Assortment line, which goes on sale June 2, ahead of the DreamWorks movie's July 4 release.
Introducing Barricade, a rather mean looking fellow (clearly a Decepticon) who can transform from robot into police car in the blink of an eye (or longer, depending on how adept you are at folding the thing up). Hasbro says of Barricade: ''The greatest thrill in his life is knowing people trust him because of the human decorations on his door panels. The look of betrayal they get when they realize what they're dealing with is as sweet as candy.'' He also has a twisted take of the familiar police slogan enscribed on his bumper: ''To Punish and Enslave.'' Clearly, not a robot to be tinkered with.
Also this June, IDW Publishing is releasing two graphic novels tied to the Transformers film: Transformers: The Movie Prequel, which will tell the story leading up to the movie, and Transformers: The Movie Adaptation, a full-color graphic novel interpretation of the film.
The movie follows the feud between the Autobots and the Decepticons as they bring their battle to earth. To prevent their war from overwhelming the planet, the Autobots meet up with an unsuspecting teen (Shia LaBeouf) who could be the linchpin in the intergalactic war.
Transformers is directed by Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock, Bad Boys) and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. For more information about the movie or the new product lines, head to www.Transformers.com beginning Friday, April 27.
The movie follows the feud between the Autobots and the Decepticons as they bring their battle to earth. To prevent their war from overwhelming the planet, the Autobots meet up with an unsuspecting teen (Shia LaBeouf) who could be the linchpin in the intergalactic war.
Transformers is directed by Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock, Bad Boys) and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. For more information about the movie or the new product lines, head to www.Transformers.com beginning Friday, April 27.
9 comments:
I'm sorry, but the transformers are absolutely ridiculous.
I mean, a transforming toy is cool. It's a car (about six inches long, since it's A TOY) and then it's a robot (also the same size, since it's A TOY to a different scale). One toy becomes another; I get it.
But extending the concept so that a REAL, DRIVABLE CAR turns into a FUNCTIONAL FIGHTING ROBOT that's not even close to the same volume/mass (ignorig the part that you can see into cars, which are mostly hollow) is just dumb. Yes, I know there was a cartoon, but the cartoon was just to hype the toys.
Remember the plastic "camera" toy that became a plastic handgun? THAT was cool. "Spy camera" or some clever name like that. But the tranformers are just dumb.
"tranformers are just dumb."
Agreed.
I mean, do I have it right? Tranforming TOY = cool. Pretending that the actual object transforms the same way (because it was feasible in an animation context) (barely) = dumb.
At least with Voltron it took five of them to make one robot.
I prefer the Sifl & Olly approach: coffee can = robot.
Are you saying "I don't get it?"
Sorry, I just referenced a movie we all spent some time hating a while ago.
I agree, though. I never did the Transformers toys partially because I missed the age window (I know how weird that sounds coming from me), partially because the toys were crap and I was always in danger of breaking them when I "transformed" them, but also because I had a similar problem with the basic idea.
What's that little robot that comes with the toy pictured there? Do the Transformers have little drivers? Are they actually human-sized? Do I even care?
Also, those toys were REALLY DIFFICULT to transform.
Maybe for your fumbling polish fingers they were. I never had a problem. Why I could transform an 18 wheeler into a truck and back in less than 6 seconds back in my day.
Jordan's right about toy = ok, concept carried out = ridiculous. I do think the movie has a lot of fun potential though.
"polish fingers"? He touches things and they become smooth and shiny? No wonder he couldn't operate the transformers!
Whoops, I meant "Polish". I'll chalk that up to my innate polish stupidity.
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