I was thinking a few people garner negative reaction to the toys, or don't appreciate them as much because of easily missed steps in transformation. Be it vital, aesthetic, or just glazed over, the movie TFs are the most easily mistransformed guys since Beast Machines.

So we'll gather the info here.

Protoform Starscream: He actually has a transformation step to fix his legs. Tug on his legs near the ball joint. His legs will click out once, and more of the balljoint will be revealed. Doing this makes his legs a little more further apart.

Leader Megs? The leg bending bit, the spring in the arms...

Deluxe Brawl: Let's ignore his arms for a second. We all know his shoulder problems. This won't discuss those.

Cannon - on his right arm, rotate his cannon around 180 degrees and slide it forward. This puts his molded "gatling gun" arm forward instead.
"Catchers" - His chest mine sweepers are meant to angle downward, but point forward. However, there's little way to get them to look aesthetically pleasing, so on the toy there is no "proper" way to transform them.
Legs - Grab the lower tread on his shins. Pull lightly, then push back. This should hinge on the back of the leg, and reveal more molded robot shin parts. Also, the angled back leg kibble now offers more stability for a wider foot-print.

Thats Awesome!

Leader Megs' left arm boat slides right off, if you don't like the kibble-y look. The right one pops off, and isn't held on with a metal rod the way the other one is.

Woa I thought that was obvious, as with rotatitng the fuel tanks on the back to become dinosaur like back toes.

Real Gear High Score 100:

Though most real gears are pretty obvious (They're basics, for crying out loud), High Score's waist joint is a little hidden. Just unclip his pelvis, and reclick it until aligned better. This gives him waist articulation, and better posture.

Barricade: When more or less done, you can lift his head so the square bit gets above the hood. Helps the toy alot, imo.

Also Barricade has toes; just flip 'em up. (Not in the instructions I think?)

Bonecrusher has two small tabs that fold up (located on his shoulders) that give him more majesty, I guess. I don't remember seeing them mentioned in the instructions.

I took em as Klingon boot spike dealies!

SWINDLE:- His roof section has an extra grey pivot that you can use to force the springing head into a more raised position and stops the "turtle hiding his head" look to him.

I hadn't seen that before! Thats kinda weird... but cool.

I think that is in the instructions, but I'm not sure why?

Also, (can't remember if I read it here or elsewhere) you can pull down ironhide's heels to lock them in place. His feet should form a slight 'V' instead of being flat.

Leader Brawl has shin blades than can be flipped up for deadly kicking.

yeah i do that with my ironhide, i figured it out by accident, it heeps him more stable

It does make him more sturdy...it looks silly though IMO, and I'm pretty sure all you're doing by that is popping the gears out of alignment. It doesn't appear to be designed to move the heels that far.

It's not. At first I thought those toes where for aligning the robotparts in vehicle mode properly, but then I saw a render with the toes up in robot mode.

And Barricades neck... Is it in the instructions? I'm at work, so I can't check.

No, but it does work.

Then why does he have the angle molded into the plastic specificly for it? How does it look silly? They are supposed to have claws like that, its in the movie it is the design and that is how its supposed to look.

Actually, it doesn't affect the automorph at all and they click into that position quite easily without a lot of force. Personally, I like it - he's waay more poseable now that the stability is increased, and the slight v-shape of the feet don't throw off the look at all IMO.

Yeah, I looked at it closer this morning and it doesn't affect the gears alignment at all. It still looks like he's walking on his tip-toes though

This problem has been going on for years. I mean to this day most people don't know about the switch you have to flip on wheelie to make his awesome pop up.

I used to know how to flip that switch -but its been a long time since I transformed him... so I have forgotten.

Cool. I know about all these others, but I didn't know this one. Nice find sir.

Hey if anyone can make a guy's awesome pop up, it's Hunter

I had to figure out Leader Megs' space jet extendo-wang by myself... it was slightly disconcerting.

Hmmm... I usually call it his madhammer.

MaNhammer NOOB!!

Do you have any example pix to show this for SWINDLE? I couldn't find this grey pivot...

Movie Scout Skyblast: When done, you can "fold" the cockpit/jetnose back and down abit from his head. Not in the instructions.. tho guessing most will figure it out. (Not to mention how the picture on the box magically has the jet nose folded back, AND turned, so it's pointing downwards on his back. No swivle joints on my Skyblast that makes that possible tho :o)

Or just refer to the instructions for Energon Skyblast who was the original.

Just tilt the spring-loaded section up a bit and the grey bit should catch on the notch in the bumper.

Just got a ma-hoo-ssive order through from HLJ - so far I have discovered:

Attachment points under '76 Bumblebee's arms for his 'plasma cannons' (underside of the elbow).

If you fold all the bits of Ironhide's roof/windscreen into position, then press down on the right point it seems to automorph flat to his back.

Is leader Optimus meant to speak? the Japanese one doesn't...

Any tips on Leader brawl? My first tranform of him... well, the arms are a Starscream. =P

A slightly older one that's been posted before, but Classics Hot Rod's (Rodimus, whatever...) whole waist assembly can move forwards so he's not bent forward, and can stand up straight.

So I posted how I couldn't figure out Brawl's transformation. Well, I have it down, now... so I figured I'd add in a hidden thing, not marked in the instructions:


on top of the top turret, there are two indentations above the twin barrels. These are, in fact, buttons. In other words, you do NOT need to rotate the top turret to activate the sound effects.

So that just leaves a mystery wire. If you lift up the turret and look under it, you'll see two wires going to the main base of the body. I have no clue what electronics these hook up to.

Edit: Err.. nevermind, duh. Those wires go to the switch on his chest, which fires 3 of his 4 sounds (cannon 1 or 2, guns, top cannons) in sequence.

Doh! I never even noticed such a thing. Idiot, idiot, idiot.

As I said, I don't think anyone has. None of the reviews mention the buttons, nor do the instructions.

Found this on LC Brawl. Not sure what they are, not mentioned in the directions, but I guess its for a little more support:

There's one I found over at seibertron for concept bee. The hood section on his back in bot-mode (just above his windshield) folds up and locks under the black tabs on his shoulders. Keeps his chest automorph from rolling up. But it might limit his waist posability (op's was floppy). Lucky for me, it was a tight squeeze for the blower I put on mine till I spotted this.

Another one that's not a transformation step. Not sure how long, but it took me like a week to realize voyager prime's lower hips rotate. Finally noticed the details were two separate peices and it was just a notch or indent keeping them centered.

Actually, they're shin blades. Serving no purpose other than to look threatening.

Starscream's shoulders can click upwards to be less "flopped down".
Before clicked upwards:


After

My Ironhide has a floppy waist, there is one peg that connects to the upper torso and keeps it from flopping completely over, but there is still a bit of play there. Does the blue piece with two holes lock over the two pegs below it? I can't get mine to go on them if it does. Not to mention I seem to be really good at breaking things.

***EDIT***

Nevermind, I forced it.

Barricade has little Frenzy eject from his chest, but few know that Frenzy can also be useful while in Barricade's chest. Simply eject Frenzy, unfold the arms and/or head of him while keeping the legs in the original folded position, and return him into Barricade's chest. With Frenzy's arms exposed, the front bumper can be folded back just enough that it hooks onto the elbows of Frenzy. If you now look at the assemble, you will recognize the scene from the movie where Barricade's headlights come out to inspect Sam Witwicky/Ladiesman217.

After I saw the movie, that was actually the first thing I did with Barricade and Frenzy.

Had to figure that one on my own.

Most of these instructions are so incoherent one is better off just looking at the package.

Starscream's legs were a Starscream to transform. The instructions simply say to fold them out but it's kind of impossible with the feet in the way.

Arcee, there's not a lot of tricks for since she's pretty much a redo of Energon Arcee. But she has one.

Her wheel halves on her shoulders can fold down for a more "movie accurate" look. However, few notice the that there is a tiny slot near the center of each wheel half. These match up to a slot near the hinge of the wheel half base. As you fold the wheels in, align the slot and tab. It should lightly click into place with enough coaxing.

However, this does tend to restrict her arm motion more than if you leave them as "wings", so it's more an aesthetic thing.

WTF? I'm not seeing this. Unless it's something really obvious.Nevermind, I see it. Pretty ineffective though.

I prefer them outwards, As I can see the holes in the wheels being jet pack vents. She is a hunter!