Two years ago Hasbro asked Transformers fans to vote for a brand new character to join either the Autobots or Decepticons in their never-ending battle. This year they're asking fans to create five robots that form into one massive monster machine.
The first fan-built Transformer promotion resulted in Metroplex security guard Windblade, a female Autobot who is now the star of her own comic book, so we know Hasbro is taking these competitions seriously. This time around the voting is tied to the Combiner Wars line, with fans asked to help design their own amalgamation of five robots as one.
To participate, fans must first download the official Transformers app, available on iOS or Android. Once in they'll be able to participate in the first week of voting, in which we pick which vehicles we'd like the limbs and torso to be.
Not a lot of choices there, which I find worrisome. The options being presented here all seem to jibe with announced toys for the Combiner Wars lines, making me think we're going to get repaints instead of a cool new deign like Windblade's.
Oh, and we also get to choose faction. I left that out as it's really a no-brainer.
Each round of voting is open for one week, leading up to a final question that will pop up on Toys'R'Us' Twitter on February 19 — I'm guessing that'll be the combiner's name.
Doesn't it feel good to help shape a piece of Transformers history? Sure, ultimately our votes matter slightly more than our presidential votes, but at least we can say we voted.