Bzzagent Review - Transformers Construct-Bots

Recently, I had the opportunity as part of a Bzzcampaign to review new Transformers Construct-Bots.  Below is my review:

I want to start with full disclosure.  My son is just under seven years old and not particularly interested in Transformers.  He's not uninterested, he's just (in my opinion) too young for the movies, so he isn't really familiar with them.  He is, however, very interested in building toys and cars.

To begin, I really like how this toy is packaged.  In each box is two small, plastic (with LIDS!) boxes.  These store the pieces for each of the two Transformers.  Each box also has an instructional booklet for each Transformer (Megatron and Optimus Prime). 

The building materials are strong plastic, they remind me of Legos or K'Nex quality.  The Megatron comes with just over 60 pieces, and the Optimus Prime comes with just under 80 pieces.  I like that there aren't a ton of pieces, just the right amount for kids.

Building each Transformer was tough.  The directions are step by step drawings, and were mostly easy to follow.  The beginning of each book shows how to construct, then, they have instructions on how to convert it into a driving toy.  Some of the pieces are very similar, so we really had to pay attention to the directions to make sure we didn't use the wrong toy.  As I stated, building was tough.  There's no way that my almost seven year old would have been able to build this on his own.  In fact, it took me about 45 minutes to build one.  Then, I decided to take a break before converting the toy.

I like that I could store the completed Transformer in it's case and come back to it later. 

Converting each Tranformer involves many steps.  You wouldn't want to lose the directions or else it would be nearly impossible to convert.

I love the concept of the toy.  I love the storage (you won't have to buy a separate storage container!).  I like that you can play with the Transformer as an action figure or as a vehicle.  However, my son really wasn't too interested in the toys.  The directions are far too difficult for a seven year old.  I think they should increase the suggested age.  I also felt that the toy was high-quality, it just wasn't my son's favorite building toy.