Transformers Rescue Bots - Mother's view

[Velvet Glove]

So, as I've mentioned off and on, my son is into Transformers Rescue
Bots. The line doesn't interest me as a fan, but as a parent, I
absolutely love it. One of the things I'm a bit fussy about is
avoiding fiction with good vs. evil, heroes vs. villains etc. I don't
mind violence, per se (my son is under no illusions about what happens
to Nemo's mother in Finding Nemo), but I'm personally against
introducing children to such a black and white concept of morality at
this young an age.

On the other hand, I'm a Transformers fan and I want to expose my son
to that. So I was thrilled to bits when Rescue Bots started up,
featuring just Autobots doing rescues. Lots of excitement and danger,
but no mention of Decepticons at all. I didn't really care for the
recent Dr Morocco storyline, introducing a proper villain, but he's
clearly not here to stay, though he might well be a recurring
character.

Anyway, my son has been hooked on the show. His favourite character
is Boulder, probably because Boulder is green, and so he had the
honour of being his first Transformer. My son's reaction when we gave
him the toy? "Wow..." I've never seen him so reverent. We had to buy
Boulder off Amazon, owing to his hard to find status. A friend of
mine brought her son over for a playdate, and he all but pounced on
Boulder while my friend demanded to know where I got him.

Boulder made my son *cool*. We now also have Chase and we're keeping
an eye out for Blades. I like the fact that the actual transformer
toys just cost $15 and there are only four of them (plus the non-show
toys Optimus and Bumblebee) meaning it will be possible for my son to
collect all his heroes. Not so impressed with the deluxe electronic
versions which don't actually transform... thank god I realised that
before I bought one.

I also really like the idea of the little Imaginext-alike figures that
come with little vehicles/accessories for the robots. At just $6,
they're an easy treat for good behaviour when out and about shopping.
There's just one huge problem with that and that's that none of them
are in the cartoon. Sure, there's a Cody and Charlie Burns, but they
don't look remotely like their cartoon selves... We have Cody and the
rescue hose, but my son never plays with him, deterring me from buying
any of the other figures.

When we got Boulder, one of his first questions was: "Where's
Graham?" I ended up going to the Hub website and getting images of
the entire Burns family, plus Doc and Frankie Green. These were
printed off, laminated and given play-doh bases. Basic, but no less
poseable than the toys themselves, and my son was thrilled (his
favourite is Dani, because she's the pilot--I really hope we can find
him a Blades soon). This week, we improvised a Griffin Rock playset
in his bedroom... now we just need his TF-loving friend round on a
playdate.

More pros and cons: the simplicity of the toys. I love the concept of
a one-move transformation, so that my young son can do it by himself.
I love the fact that they aren't likely to break easily, even if my 16
month old daughter gets hold of them. I wish that they could be a
little more poseable, but the sturdiness wins out... the big flaw, in
my mind, is that there is nowhere to put the little human figures that
are sold with the line. I know it would mean compromising the size /
sturdiness / cost of the toys, but... it's another deterrent to buying
those figures. They're not really any more interactive than my
improvised stand-ups.

On the whole though, I love the line, and I hope Hasbro keeps this
idea of parallel lines appealing to different age groups--at least
until my daughter's six or so...

Velvet Glove (though we have a random G1 Tailgate on our Griffin Rock
as well. Just because we *can*)

[Zobovor]

On Jun 6, 6:48 pm, Velvet Glove <goo...@kernowgirl.co.uk> wrote:

> I don't mind violence, per se (my son is under no illusions about what happens
> to Nemo's mother in Finding Nemo)

...She went on a long vacation, right?

> but I'm personally against
> introducing children to such a black and white concept of morality at
> this young an age.

That's interesting. Is it because you feel that morality isn't a
black-and-white concept the way it's often depicted on TV, or is it
because you feel like it's a concept that's too sophisticated for
younger kids to grasp?

> Boulder made my son *cool*.  We now also have Chase and we're keeping
> an eye out for Blades.  I like the fact that the actual transformer
> toys just cost $15 and there are only four of them (plus the non-show
> toys Optimus and Bumblebee) meaning it will be possible for my son to
> collect all his heroes.  Not so impressed with the deluxe electronic
> versions which don't actually transform... thank god I realised that
> before I bought one.

My son is four and a half and I think perhaps he's outgrown these toys
already. I own the Rescue Bots version of Optimus Prime (and let my
son play with him), and Santa Claus got my son Heatwave the Fire-Bot
as an emergency last-minute gift (after *somebody* told the mall Santa
that he wanted a fire truck after Daddy had already finished shopping
for the season on eBay). He's really not terribly interested in them,
honestly. Granted, my boy doesn't watch the show, so perhaps he'd be
more into the toys if they represented characters on a show that he
watched and enjoyed (as I've said recently, he tends to be very media-
oriented). His favorite Transformers, honestly, are Targetmasters.
Kid cannot get enough of the Targetmasters. Kup and Recoil in
particular, by merit of being the only ones on my display shelf.

And yeah, the electronic non-transformable toys seem like a really
lame move to me. I understand why they did it (to make the toy more
simple for little hands to manipulate), but surely there must have
been a way to design at least a perfunctory transformation while still
retaining the electronic function.

> I also really like the idea of the little Imaginext-alike figures that
> come with little vehicles/accessories for the robots.  At just $6,
> they're an easy treat for good behaviour when out and about shopping.

Haven't bought any. I considered getting one for my Optimus Prime,
but the interactivity between the two didn't really grab me. It
wasn't meaningful. I will gladly buy an accessory toy to another toy
if there is promise of added play value (buying Scorponok to connect
him to Blackout; getting Breacher to fit inside Seaspray so that
Seaspray's vehicle mode doesn't look like it's missing a big chunk, or
getting two Destroyer Droids so I can connect the half-shield that
each of them comes with in order to form a complete shield that
envelops one of the toys). In this case, I just wasn't enticed.

> There's just one huge problem with that and that's that none of them
> are in the cartoon.  Sure, there's a Cody and Charlie Burns, but they
> don't look remotely like their cartoon selves...

I don't understand why the disparity between cartoon shows and their
accompanying acton figures exists in so many different shows. It's
not that hard to e-mail a picture of the character model to the toy
company with a note attached that says, "Here, make the toy look like
this." Sure, designs may change and be updated, but that's due to
people changing their minds out of whimsy. It's possible to get the
toys very right (the 2003 TMNT toy line; the Revenge of the Sith toys)—
the trick is to just stick to your game plan.

> More pros and cons: the simplicity of the toys.  I love the concept of
> a one-move transformation, so that my young son can do it by himself.
> I love the fact that they aren't likely to break easily, even if my 16
> month old daughter gets hold of them.

You know, it occurred to me the other day that we really need G1 toys
in stores again. I will add as a caveat that some of them will
require wholesale redesigns, because a lot of the 1984-85 toys were in
fact incredibly fragile. The toys from 1987-88, though, were
amazingly kid-friendly. They were sturdy and easy to transform in a
way that really hasn't been rivalled, even with Hasbro's various
attempts at Transformers for preschoolers.

> On the whole though, I love the line, and I hope Hasbro keeps this
> idea of parallel lines appealing to different age groups--at least
> until my daughter's six or so...

You really do get a completely different perspective on Transformers
when you're looking at it through a kid's eyes, don't you?

Funny story. My son will watch the G1 cartoon on occasion; he likes
The Transformers: the Movie and "The Rebirth" the best, but he will
also ask for episodes with the Dinobots (he got himself a gen-uu-ween
geewun Grimlock for Easter a couple of years ago). There are scenes
that he just laughs and laughs and laughs over that, frankly, I've
never found funny before. For instance, when Spike is running from
the weird flying dinosaur in "Dinobot Island" part 1, he says
something like, "I think that one thinks I'm his next meal. Well, he
can forget it! I'm not gonna end up as..."

...Wait for it...

"BIRD FOOD!!!!111ONE"

Now, of course, I smile when I know that scene is coming. And I find
it funny now, too.


Zob

[Velvet Glove]

On Jun 6, 10:03 pm, Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Jun 6, 6:48 pm, Velvet Glove <goo...@kernowgirl.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > I don't mind violence, per se (my son is under no illusions about what happens
> > to Nemo's mother in Finding Nemo)
>
> ...She went on a long vacation, right?

With Bambi's mother and Old Yeller.

> > but I'm personally against
> > introducing children to such a black and white concept of morality at
> > this young an age.
>
> That's interesting.  Is it because you feel that morality isn't a
> black-and-white concept the way it's often depicted on TV, or is it
> because you feel like it's a concept that's too sophisticated for
> younger kids to grasp?

A bit of both. I definitely feel that morality isn't as black and
white as it's depicted on TV, but I also feel that the concept of
heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys, isn't something children
can understand at this age, because real, honest to goodness, villains
are very rare. Children aren't going to interact with genuinely bad
people in their daily lives, and the risk is that they'll try and
relate what they see in popular fiction (via any medium) to their real
life, categorising their peers as good or bad.

I know it sounds a bit weird, but I remember doing this as a child,
and working under the assumption that it was OK to be mean to bad
people. I was also a bully when I was seven, something I didn't
realise until several years later when it occurred to me that my
victim did not, in fact, deserve such treatment. To be fair, I think
80s cartoons fostered this kind of thing a lot more than modern
cartoons (Mark Evanier talked about why the picked-on character of
Eric was forced into Dungeons and Dragons near the bottom of this
page: http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL145.htm) and I also believe
that I had more difficulty with this concept than most kids would, but
it's still something I'm wary of.

> Granted, my boy doesn't watch the show, so perhaps he'd be
> more into the toys if they represented characters on a show that he
> watched and enjoyed (as I've said recently, he tends to be very media-
> oriented).  His favorite Transformers, honestly, are Targetmasters.
> Kid cannot get enough of the Targetmasters.  Kup and Recoil in
> particular, by merit of being the only ones on my display shelf.

Try him on the show. He's obviously older than my son and might well
have more sophisticated tastes, but it's a fun little show, and
there's some good writing every now and then. One of my son's
favourite episodes was one with a shark submarine, which had a bunch
of Jaws references which I got a kick out of. It's unusual for me to
watch it with my son, but I've seen enough to know that I like Blades
and Chase best (Boulder and Heatwave are pretty bland, honestly).

> I don't understand why the disparity between cartoon shows and their
> accompanying acton figures exists in so many different shows.  It's
> not that hard to e-mail a picture of the character model to the toy
> company with a note attached that says, "Here, make the toy look like
> this."  Sure, designs may change and be updated, but that's due to
> people changing their minds out of whimsy.  It's possible to get the
> toys very right (the 2003 TMNT toy line; the Revenge of the Sith toys)—
> the trick is to just stick to your game plan.

Somebody (and I'm sorry that I can't remember who) told me else-thread
that a cartoon accurate Cody is in the works. That would be good!

> Now, of course, I smile when I know that scene is coming.  And I find
> it funny now, too.

Hah! Obviously, because of my own limitations, I haven't done much
Transformers with him, but there's plenty of stuff in Diego or Thomas
that makes me giggle these days.

Velvet Glove (I also find it funny that Rebirth, of all stories, is
one of his favourites)

[Zobovor]

On Jun 7, 7:27 pm, Velvet Glove <goo...@kernowgirl.co.uk> wrote:

> A bit of both.  I definitely feel that morality isn't as black and
> white as it's depicted on TV, but I also feel that the concept of
> heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys, isn't something children
> can understand at this age, because real, honest to goodness, villains
> are very rare.

I think that Donovan gets the concept of "bad guys" versus "good guys"
pretty clearly, but what's interesting is that he'll watch shows where
characters change allegiance, or their motives in a given situation
are questionable, and he'll ask me things like, "Is he a bad guy now,
or is he still a good guy?" and I honestly don't know how to answer!
Like, just for example, when the Dinobots are brainwashed in "War of
the Dinobots." It's not like they get reprogrammed or anything;
Megatron just says, "Hey, you guys are strong and stuff" and suddenly
Grimlock is ready to kick the crap out of Optimus Prime. That's a
really hard episode to explain to a preschooler.

And let's not even get started about Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of
the Sith.

> I know it sounds a bit weird, but I remember doing this as a child,
> and working under the assumption that it was OK to be mean to bad
> people.

I used to throw rocks at the neighbor dogs when they growled and
barked at me. I couldn't understand why my parents didn't approve.
They were mean dogs; they were growling at me!

> To be fair, I think 80s cartoons fostered this kind of thing a lot more
> than modern cartoons

Yeah. Just once I wanted Brainy Smurf to actually be right and for
the other Smurfs to listen to him instead of throwing him out on his
keyster.

> (Mark Evanier talked about why the picked-on character of
> Eric was forced into Dungeons and Dragons near the bottom of this
> page:http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL145.htm)

I just recently rediscovered the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon on DVD. I
used to watch that show religiously on Saturday mornings, along with
the Smurfs and a few other shows whose titles I don't even remember
any more. (There was a cartoon about a bunch of dogs who were trying
to find their owners. Maybe they were on a cruise ship? There was a
huge group of them and each one was a different breed. I would really
like to know what in blazes that show was called.)

Anyway, Dungeons & Dragons. I absolutely despised the Eric
character. He was such a whiner. He was even helping one of the
villains in one episode, as I recall, though my memory is foggy and I
can't recall if he was doing it deliberately or if he was being
snookered. I definitely got the impression that since the other kids
in the group didn't like him much, then I shouldn't like him, either.
(I think if I were introduced to the show today, he'd probably be my
favorite character.)

When I was a couple of years younger (maybe six or seven), I was
obsessed with Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and there's an episode where
Shaggy and Scooby are hypnotized and they turn evil. They spend the
entire episode trying to drop chandoliers on Daphne and Velma and
stuff like that. I remember being absolutely entranced by the
prospect that such a thing was even possible.

> Try him on the show.

I plan to some time. It's on the Hub, right?

> Velvet Glove (I also find it funny that Rebirth, of all stories, is
> one of his favourites)

I wonder if it's because of the sheer number of toys...er, I mean,
sheer number of characters that are featured. Throttlebots,
Technobots, Aerialbots... all it's missing is the Dinobots. What's
funny is that I really don't have that many 1987 toys so there are all
these cool Headmasters and Targetmasters that he can't play with. He
sure loves the ones I've got, though.


Zob

[Velvet Glove]

On Jun 8, 12:29 am, Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> I think that Donovan gets the concept of "bad guys" versus "good guys"
> pretty clearly, but what's interesting is that he'll watch shows where
> characters change allegiance, or their motives in a given situation
> are questionable, and he'll ask me things like, "Is he a bad guy now,
> or is he still a good guy?" and I honestly don't know how to answer!
> Like, just for example, when the Dinobots are brainwashed in "War of
> the Dinobots."  It's not like they get reprogrammed or anything;
> Megatron just says, "Hey, you guys are strong and stuff" and suddenly
> Grimlock is ready to kick the crap out of Optimus Prime.  That's a
> really hard episode to explain to a preschooler.
>
> And let's not even get started about Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of
> the Sith.

Hah... Yeah, it's going to be a long time before I'm ready to do Star
Wars with my kids.

Obviously, most of my son's friends don't have such restrictions on
them and they have Batman or Spiderman etc toys. I remember one of
his friends, a while back, went through a stage of asking if people
were bad guys--or telling his mother that she was a bad guy--which I
think was his own way of trying to relate the concept to his everyday
life. Inevitably, my son is going to pick up on it, but until then,
I'm trying to focus on shows without antagonists (except for Phineas
and Ferb which we all think is hysterically funny. And to be fair, Dr
Doofenschmirz isn't exactly a bad bad guy. So, it, er, doesn't count.
*shifty eyes*)

> (There was a cartoon about a bunch of dogs who were trying
> to find their owners.  Maybe they were on a cruise ship?  There was a
> huge group of them and each one was a different breed.  I would really
> like to know what in blazes that show was called.)

I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Puppy's Further Adventures. I used
to love that show too--remembered enough of the title to find it on
Wikipedia. The opening sequence had them on a ship, I believe. There
were only five dogs, and they were trying to find the puppy's owner.
I hadn't thought about this show in ages, but the Wikipedia article
brought it all back.... I remember it being brilliant, and I'm not
sure I want to disabuse myself of that by looking it up on youtube.
Fun to see that Michael Bell and Peter Cullen were part of the
cast.... I'm guessing Peter Cullen was the St Bernard. Dash was the
cowardly greyhound... can't remember what Duke was (ooh, in-joke,
Michael Bell voicing another Duke). Dolly was some kind of Pekingese
or something... Ah, good times.

What really surprised me about the show was that at the end of the
season, they did actually find their owner. Even as kids, my brother
and I were blown away by that because we knew full well that the
status quo wasn't allowed to change on these shows. Of course, that
might explain why there was only one other (short) season...

> Anyway, Dungeons & Dragons.  I absolutely despised the Eric
> character.  He was such a whiner.  He was even helping one of the
> villains in one episode, as I recall, though my memory is foggy and I
> can't recall if he was doing it deliberately or if he was being
> snookered.  I definitely got the impression that since the other kids
> in the group didn't like him much, then I shouldn't like him, either.
> (I think if I were introduced to the show today, he'd probably be my
> favorite character.)

I hated Eric when I was little too. And then about five years ago, I
went on a nostalgia kick and actually did watch the show again. It
was really quite disturbing seeing the double-standard the children
had for Eric compared to any other of their number. If Eric
complained about being hungry, thirsty, tired, he got told to shut up;
if somebody else did it, the group stopped to meet their needs. If
one of the kids had a near death experience, the others were worried
about them... if Eric had a near-death experience, he got laughed at.

That aside, the show has stood up pretty well to the test of time and
Eric does get some of the best lines (plus you kind of have to admire
him for his resilience).

> I plan to some time.  It's on the Hub, right?

Yep!

> I wonder if it's because of the sheer number of toys...er, I mean,
> sheer number of characters that are featured.  Throttlebots,
> Technobots, Aerialbots... all it's missing is the Dinobots.  What's
> funny is that I really don't have that many 1987 toys so there are all
> these cool Headmasters and Targetmasters that he can't play with.  He
> sure loves the ones I've got, though.

Aww. I think one of the reasons I liked the episode as a kid (beyond
the fact that Arcee got to do stuff) was that we happened to have
Brainstorm, who obviously has a fairly prominent role. I always had a
soft spot for Brainstorm, although I can't recall what prompted it...
maybe I just liked his colours.

Velvet Glove (and while I'm holding off on it, I really am dying to
sit down and watch G1 with my son)

[Irrellius Spamticon king of the Potato people]

On Jun 8, 8:22 am, Velvet Glove <goo...@kernowgirl.co.uk> wrote:
> Obviously, most of my son's friends don't have such restrictions on
> them and they have Batman or Spiderman etc toys.  I remember one of
> his friends, a while back, went through a stage of asking if people
> were bad guys--or telling his mother that she was a bad guy--which I
> think was his own way of trying to relate the concept to his everyday
> life.

I remember playing on the playground when I was 7, and we couldn't
decide who had to he the bad guy, so we just said heck with it and all
went and played separately. (I remember I was always Hot Rod or Blurr,
nobody wanted to be Kup or Wheelie.)

 Inevitably, my son is going to pick up on it, but until then,
> I'm trying to focus on shows without antagonists (except for Phineas
> and Ferb which we all think is hysterically funny.  And to be fair, Dr
> Doofenschmirz isn't exactly a bad bad guy.  So, it, er, doesn't count.
> *shifty eyes*)
>

Doofenschmirz (sp?) was a genius. That show is entertaining, no-one
really gets hurt, and it's very imaginitive. i don't have kids, but i
still enjoy that show when I can catch it.

> I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Puppy's Further Adventures.  I used
> to love that show too--remembered enough of the title to find it on
> Wikipedia.  The opening sequence had them on a ship, I believe.  There
> were only five dogs, and they were trying to find the puppy's owner.
> I hadn't thought about this show in ages, but the Wikipedia article
> brought it all back.... I remember it being brilliant, and I'm not
> sure I want to disabuse myself of that by looking it up on youtube.
> Fun to see that Michael Bell and Peter Cullen were part of the
> cast....  I'm guessing Peter Cullen was the St Bernard.  Dash was the
> cowardly greyhound... can't remember what Duke was (ooh, in-joke,
> Michael Bell voicing another Duke).  Dolly was some kind of Pekingese
> or something...  Ah, good times.

Until you mentioned this I was thinking Pound Puppies, I used to have
some of those as a kid, even though they were considered "Girls toys."

> > I wonder if it's because of the sheer number of toys...er, I mean,
> > sheer number of characters that are featured.  Throttlebots,
> > Technobots, Aerialbots... all it's missing is the Dinobots.  What's
> > funny is that I really don't have that many 1987 toys so there are all
> > these cool Headmasters and Targetmasters that he can't play with.  He
> > sure loves the ones I've got, though.

I think I've decided to sell my Autobot Targetmasters, and most of my
smaller 87 toys, if you really want.

[Travoltron]

That's really interesting, Velvet Glove.

I don't recall applying "good guys"/"bad guys" to any kids or adults
that I knew.

I knew that there were thieves and murderers in the real world (Etan
Patz and Adam Walsh were killed when I was very young and their
abductions were all over the news) and considered them bad guys. I
still do, actually.

[tanew...@gmail.com]

Do you still have the Burns family action figures? If so, would you be willing to sell them? My 4 year old loves Rescue Bots and I would love to put the figures in his Easter basket, but I can't find just the people anywhere. We already have all of the bots so I don't really want to buy the sets.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

On Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 10:46:29 PM UTC-5, tanew...@gmail.com wrote:
> Do you still have the Burns family action figures? If so, would you be willing to sell them? My 4 year old loves Rescue Bots and I would love to put the figures in his Easter basket, but I can't find just the people anywhere. We already have all of the bots so I don't really want to buy the sets.

Unfortunately I don't think Velvet Glove is still active here.

The Rescue Bots show officially ended, and moved on to the Rescue Bots Academy, so I think the primary place to find the people figures now is Ebay, though I have seen them show up at thrift stores from time to time. Sorry, I might be able to find 1 or 2 locally given a week or so but I don't have anything now.

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 9:46:29 PM UTC-6, tanew...@gmail.com wrote:

> Do you still have the Burns family action figures? If so, would you be willing to sell them?

Velvet Glove hasn't posted to this forum in a number of years. I may have her e-mail in my mailbox somewhere, so I'll ask on your behalf.


Zob

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, March 24, 2019 at 9:46:29 PM UTC-6, tanew...@gmail.com wrote:

> Do you still have the Burns family action figures?

Regrettably, Velvet Glove reports that her boy outgrew Rescue Bots quite a while ago, so all those toys were donated. Sorry!


Zob (she says hi to everybody on ATT, by the way)