Articulation
From Transformers Wiki
Articulationcommonly describes the number, position, and type of aTransformers toy's joints."Posability"is a neologism often found in conjunction with mentions of articulation, although they are not necessarily interchangeable (seearticulation vs. posability).
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How to make toys well articulated
The more joints on a figure (in either form), the more articulated it is. This generally includes the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, and sometimes even wrists, ankles, and neck among others. Posability inTransformersranges from theSpychangers,who are limited to rotating their arms up and down (shoulderswivelarticulation only), to the non-transformingRevoltechline, the entire selling point of which is the high amount of articulation per figure. Possibly the only Transformer toys that havenoreal articulation but can still be said to transform are theBattlechargers,theThrottlebots,theDuocons,Under-3,and arguablyFreedom FighterandEnemy.
Articulation is one of many factors that fans weigh when evaluating a toy, and naturally is of subjective value. To some, if a toy has unusually good posability, they will buy it over another figure that looks "better", but can not move as much. Toys with very few points of articulation are often referred to asbricks.Beginning with theBeast Era,ball jointsbecame more common, lending toys a higher level of posability.
Unfortunately, there is a trade-off between articulation and production cost — the more complex the figure, the more parts that must be assembled and therefore produced, and the higher the retail price. For example,ArmadaMegatroncould easily have been given knees, but instead has a plethora of othergimmicks.Manycustomizershave taken to altering the figure to be more posable, and while some fans claim this is how Hasbro "should" have made the original, doing so would likely have sent the figure over budget.
Some figures are hampered in how well they can pose by their transformation oralternate mode.ArmadaHot Shot's shoulders, for example, are limited by how he transforms. A different transformation may have allowed his arms to move on an additional axis... however, as noted above, this would have also increased the toy's complexity and cost. Even when the needed articulation is present, posability can also be limited bykibbleblocking a part's motion.
Conversely, sometimes a toy's posability is improved by its transformation. Or, perhaps more accurately, the designers managed to place the transformation-related articulation in places that would also serve the robot mode's articulation. TheUnicrontoy released duringArmadais an example of this. His neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, hips, ankles, and feet must all be moved to change him from planet to robot and back.
Articulation can have a drawback. If a figure is overloaded with joints, especially in the legs and waist, this can result in the figure having problems supporting its own weight, holding a pose, or even standing. This is a common complaint withOmega Prime.He is loaded with exciting and dramatic articulation, but is so top-heavy that it is hard to get him to do anything beyond "standing up straight". The much-loved ball joints are especially susceptible to weight and play wear problems, and as such are generally not used on larger figures. A similar level of flexibility can be created with a combination of two swivels or ratcheted swivels.
Articulation as a feature
For most of theGeneration 1era, articulation tended to be on the low side. Due to the relatively primitive engineering of the era, most toys featured what was necessary for their transformation and nothing more, which resulted in levels of articulation being highly inconsistent. Compare, for instance,Soundwave(useful movement at the neck, shoulders, elbows, and hips) toMegatron(basically just the shoulders). Many toys had just enough mobility to point their weapons forward.
In the mid 90s, Hasbro began introducing highly articulated toys and promoting their posability as agimmickand selling point. In 1994, theGeneration 2Laser Rodcards advertised the toys as "Super Poseable!", and theDreadwingandSmokescreenbox described the toys as "Super Poseable Robots".Laser Optimus Prime's box notes the toy's "Fully poseable Laser Optimus Prime robot" mode. Other highly posable toys from the G2 era include theCyberjets.Beast Wars(1996) was the first Transformers line to make a high degree of articulation standard across the toyline.
Moving into the 2010's and early 2020's, Hasbro continues to make increasing articulation a selling point as engineering improves and the collectors' market grows. By the time of theWar for Cybertron TrilogyandStudio Seriestoylines, articulation points such as waist rotation, ankle tilts, and wrist swivels have become commonplace even among smaller characters such asWarpathandCliffjumper.
Posable figures and safety
Unlike what most people think, an articulated action figure passes thesafety regulationsbetter than abrick.During the time Hasbro started to make its own molds to represent characters as toys instead of importing from other toy lines, the company noticed that safety standards required a toy to withstand a pulling force of 20 pounds to deem them safe. Because most toys in those days had little to no outward movement in their legs or arms, they would rather quickly break with little force, so most figures were made with fused legs, preventing kids from pulling the legs apart. Because of this, most of the toys dropped articulation to make the figures stronger, turning a large amount of them into "bricks". During the timeTakio Ejimastarted working on the brand, he noted that they could make the toys safer by the use ofball joints,making it easier for the toy to pass the test (ball joints simply pop off under stress and can subsequently be snapped back on, resulting in no breakage and thus no safety hazard), and have a full range of motion at the same time. This idea would even change the standard of articulationoutsidethe Transformers brand.
Articulation vs. posability
Official Hasbro sources have used the neologismposability(also spelledposeability) and the adjective formposeableat least as early as 1994 to describe highly articulated figures.[1]Thefandomoften uses the termposabilityinterchangeably witharticulation;where a distinction is drawn, articulation refers to the number of joints and range of motion, while posability refers to a figure's ability to assume and hold poses (for instance, for display purposes). To illustrate the difference,Beast Machines Mega Cheetorhas high articulation but poor posability due to its difficulty standing up and its arm gimmick.
See also
References
- ↑Underwood, Bill. "Go Joe! // Doll Celebrates 30th Birthday".Tulsa World,29 June 1994.
