Transformers 3 Toys - A Guide for Parents

My boys love Transformers. They are too young to watch the movies but since my younger son received a small Bumblebee toy they are fans. So I've been looking at the latest Transformer 3 toys that tie in with the Dark of the Moon movie. 

Gosh, what a lot of choice! I was really confused, which toys were right for which age groups. What do they all do? How hard are they to transform? It took a while, but I worked it out. Hopefully this article will help you to pick the right gift for a Transformers fan. 

We'll start with the toys for younger kids and work up to the older kids. Ultimate Optimus Prime on the right there is a taster of what's on offer for the older kids. More for them later. 

I have a 3 year old who loves Transformers. He receieved a Robo Power Bumblebee for his birthday and it's been one of his favorite toys ever since. I'm really glad that Hasbro have brought out a range of Transformers toys for younger kids. They might be too young to watch the movie (though my boys have been shown selected clips by their Dad!) but they get drawn in by big brothers and seeing toys in the store. 

The Robo Power range includes toys suitable for kids from age 3+. Some of the toys in this range start from 4+ and 5+ so check each toy for suitability. 

For the youngest Transformers 3 fans the Robo Power Go Bots are a good choice. These are pull back toys that transform from vehicle to robot with one movement. So you do get a transforming toy, but not one that will frustrate little fingers. The pull back action will be a big hit with this age group too!

The there's the Robo Fighters toys. These are action figures that don't transform into a vehicle but do have slide out weapons. My younger son has one of these and loves it. He doesn't seem to mind at all that it doesn't transform (we have another transforming toy that he gets very frustrated with.)

Little kids love dressing up all year round, so it's great that Hasbro have included Robo Power costumes with helmets so little kids can dress up as a Transformer. 

In my experience little kids like the good Transformers (autobots) the best so I've featured Optimus Prime (Autobot leader) and Bumblebee (main good transformer in the movie.)

There's also the Transformers Rescue Bots range of toys which features only the good robots and is designed for preschoolers. 

Transformers Prime Toys
There's an upcoming range of Transformers Prime Toys for kids who enjoy the TV show. Due in November 2011.

The Transformers 3 MechTech range includes the biggest and most complex Transformers toys. 

These toys are mostly Level 2 (Medium) and Level 3 (Difficult) complexity levels. The hardest transformers toys can take an expert several minutes to transform in each direction. If the adults in the household don't enjoy transforming toys then make sure you don't get one too far beyond a child's ability or it will be frustrating for everyone. Look for the Level on the packaging of the toys. The toys are very good for dexterity, spatial thinking and instruction following so having a bit of a challenge is a good thing. 

The key feature of this range is the MechTech weapons. The weapons from this range are interchangeable and stackable. The weapons transform and have attachment points on the robot and vehicle forms of the toys. 

The MechTech range includes Voyager and Deluxe transformers. The Voyager range tend to be larger with more weapon attachment points (and therefore slightly more expensive.)

The MechTech Leader range have lights and sounds making them very impressive toys, and of course more expensive than others in the range. 

And then you have Transformers 3: Ultimate Optimus Prime the biggest (and he's really big!), most impressive Transformers 3 toy. 

Ultimate Optimus Prime has a trailer than transforms into enormous battle armor for the robot Optimus Prime. 

Ultimate Optimus Prime has lights and sounds. He requires 3 AA batteries (included). 

This is a Level 3 (Difficult) transformer, so he certainly takes a while to transform. The toy is marked as suitable from age 5, but don't expect an average 5 year old to be able to transform it. This is definitely a toy for the older kids: tweens, teens and older collectors. The complexity means that it will keep their attention and the impressive size will appeal to them. Slightly younger kids who are really into transforming (future engineers?) will also enjoy the toy. 

The finally we have KRE-O Transformers, Lego-like model building sets. These sets enable you two build either the robot form or the vehicle form of a transformer. Then you can take it apart and build the other form. 

The KRE-O transformers come with KRE-ON mini figures which can go inside the vehicle forms of the transformers. 

There are various sets featuring different transformers. These are proper model building sets for kids aged 7 up to teenagers. The more complex sets are pretty challenging and suitable for older transformers fans. 

As with Lego sets, if parents are willing to help out with the model building then younger kids will enjoy KRE-O transformers. You get a lot of play value from these sets. I've bought my kids one each for Christmas. In our case the parents will be more than happy to help build the sets!