More Than Meets the Eye?

Transformers - more than meets the eye! Long before it was a multi-million dollar industry, Transformers was just a cheesy cartoon. But the toys? Man, those things were IT! They really were more than met the eye.

Now, I want you to know that I never wanted to be one of those "when I was growing up" kind of people. But I'm finding myself quickly turning that way. It's not that I think life was so much better "way back" then. But there are two areas that I think it definitely was. Cartoons and toys. This post is about (one of) the toys (I really don't want to spend as much time as it would take to go into my cartoons-aren't-what-they-used-to-be rant.)

The one Transformer I remember most was Optimus Prime - commander of the Autobots. Iron cast. Nearly indestructible. In fact, I remember throwing him high into the air and watching him bounce off the concrete driveway, seconds before I ran over him with my Mongoose bicycle. And yet, he would stand strong, with nothing more than a few scrapes. It took a curious 10 year old and a Philips head screwdriver to finally get the best of him.



So when Transformers came out a few years ago, I was excited. I knew they would pull out all the marketing stops with this one. We were bound to be inundated with the movie/toy/lunchbox/t-shirt/temproary tattoo/anything-they-can-get-the-brand-on kind of marketing. But the toys were what excited me. Because finally, my sons would be able to play with a toy I had known and loved. Finally, they would discover something that was more than meets the eye.

Then, Jackson bought his first Transformer. He saved his allowance and "patiently" waited until he could buy...Bumblebee. Bumblebee?! Ok, so that one wasn't around when I played with them. No big deal. At least it's still the car/robot concept. And at least Jackson would know the greatness that is Transformers.

Well, he still doesn't. And he never fully will. When we opened the package, we didn't discover the strong, nearly indestructible iron cast toy I played with; the one I had for years. What we found was a cheap plastic mess of gears and pieces that fall off and will no doubt break if even dropped.

So I'm making this prediction now. I predict that this toy will last maybe until the end of the summer. Sorry, dude. You probably won't even remember that you had this cheap little thing.

More than meets the eye? Try, less than advertised.