What Transformers to buy for pre-teens? 2

Quick answer: Construct Bots & Bot Shots

If I get to a third post, this will be a series – but until then, it’s just a pair of posts on the topic. My previous one talked about Kre-O and Rescue Bots, and both lines are still in the market.

So here’s the second part of the guide to buying Transformers for pre-teens, ie, children.

(Image from Seibertron)

Construct Bots

Construct Bots are Hasbro’s foray into fusing the customisability and building aspects of construction bricks (that is to say, Kre-O and Lego), while maintaining the core aesthetic of the Transformers (that is to say, not forcing them to all be made from the same identical bricks).

They’ve done it before in the Iron Man 3 line of toys, where you can swap limbs from different Iron Man armours.

(Image from Parry Game Preserve)

Here, it allows for children to create and customise their very own Transformer without requiring a background in toy engineering and a 3D printer. Pretty nifty idea, right? Build your very own Transformer that nobody else has!

As with all construction sets, this also promotes spatial awareness and helps build creativity and lateral thinking with children. It’s not so much a puzzle, the way Kre-O is, as it is a canvas upon which kids can build and create their Transformer. There’s no wrong way to do it (unlike Kre-O), so Construct Bots really do foster creativity without any damage to the ego.

Bot Shots!

Bot Shots

The spiritual successor to Robot Heroes, except that they can transform! Bot Shots are toys that are meant to be played with – ie, smashed against each other. In fact, that’s the very play pattern it promotes!

Bot Shots don’t have any accessories, which means they are suitable for younger children (and fussy, OCD collectors). As with all Transformers, it helps build creativity and improves the child’s skill at physical manipulation of objects. It’s also two toys in one – a vehicle and a robot!

(Image from TFW2005)

The slight problem with Bot Shots is that Hasbro is, in all likelihood, winding up this toyline. The upside is that because it’s sort of in the middle of its lifespan, being a cancelled toyline means that most of the figures are currently on sale now, at $5.90 in most departmental stores (originally it was $7.90 if I remember correctly).

Remember, they’re meant to be smashed!