Talk:Instructions

Proposal

1. Move to "instructions". Because there are toys that have their instructions printed on the back of their packaging (Minibots and Legends, for example). Unless we have two articles, one for "instructions" in general, the other one specifically for "instruction booklet", which I'd consider pointless.

2. Reorganize the whole article. Instructions haven't really changed that much in the past few years as far as I can tell, so breaking them down by line is also pointless. A better way would be categories such as: "Photographic instructions vs. line-art instructions", "instruction booklets vs. instructions printed on packaging", "image-based instructions with accompanying text vs. images-only instructions", "North American vs. international/European Hasbro instructions" and "Japanese instructions".

Thoughts?--Nevermore 13:45, 29 September 2009 (EDT)

Yeah, it needs to be changed A LOT. It can't posebly cover every kind of instructions like this, the japanese instructions are almost all the time difrent from the US/EU ones, and there is the entire thing about "out of the main line" thing with the Ipod SoundWave and Alternators.--Sunjumper 14:48, 29 September 2009 (EDT)

Agreed, some of them are "instruction sheet", while others are "instruction booklet". "Instruction" seem to be much better. --TX55^TALK 21:13, 29 September 2009 (EDT)

As the guy who did a lot of this article, I'd like to see a sandbox before any wholesale changes. I agree the post-G2 sections are pretty lacking and could probably be consolidated somehow (or expanded! or reorganized.) The G1 stuff, though, I think is pretty solid and doesn't need to change much. The main gist of the article now is "how has the instruction art changed over time". The proposed sections would be an adequate replacement. If somebody's up for taking them on... well, more power to 'em. It sounds daunting! -- Repowers 23:55, 29 September 2009 (EDT)

The G1 section currently isn't covering stuff like Minibots and Micromaster Patrols with instructions printed on the back of the card. Also, an updated article should mention somewhere that the European instructions, with their five million languages, contain some weird errors. For example, the Greek version of "change to robot" is "Αλλαγη σε καταπελτη", which means "change into catapult". Example: Universe Ironhide A Greek fan confirmed that this is a big case of "WTF?" I checked some of my instructions, and it seems the error occurred in the middle of the Universe line's run. Sunstreaker, Prowl and Ironhide still have the correct "Αλλαγή σε Ρομποτ", as do the movie toys before them, but then Sideswipe, Silverstreak and Ironhide, as well as subsequent waves and the ROTF toys, use uppercase and feature the incorrect "ΑΛΛΑΓΗ ΣΕ ΚΑΤΑΠΕΛΤΗ". Furthermore, the Slovakian version of "change to vehicle", "ZMENA NA AUTOMOBIL", might be incorrect in that it uses "automobil" (which presumably only refers to cars) for tanks (Movie Brawl) and helicopters (Movie Blackout) as well. Need to check that with a Slovakian fan, however - assuming I can find one.--Nevermore 08:46, 1 October 2009 (EDT)

Here's my first draft. Opinions please.--Nevermore 18:27, 4 October 2009 (EDT)

Looks good after a quick skim. The text could probably be trimmed down a little here and there, but I'm not in the mood to do it myself (or perhaps, it just needs more images, which I'd argue for regardless.) Definitely a step up from the current page. -- Repowers 20:36, 4 October 2009 (EDT)

I really don't like how the proposed page bounces from aspect to aspect randomly across 25 years of instructions. It makes the thing basically unreadable, and failing to give a comprehensive picture of any era. I don't see what's wrong with keeping the page in chronological/era order, and simply expanding the content within that. --M Sipher 20:57, 4 October 2009 (EDT)

A lot of it is just "The RID instructions are basically the same as the Beast Machines ones except for...", "Armada is still the same, the only change is...", which results either in a lot of repetition, or brief sections.

The point is that instructions very gradually progressed over the years, so "giving a glimpse of an era" basically means "the instructions from era X were basically the same as before, with the only change being..." My approach is still chronological, it just focuses on specific aspects and their change over time, instead of the entire instructions as a whole.--Nevermore 04:14, 5 October 2009 (EDT)

Okay, here's my proposal of a mere expanded version of the original article. Still need to find a place for Japanese and "international" Hasbro instructions.--Nevermore 12:18, 5 October 2009 (EDT)

That's a lot better. As for the "where" question... I'm not sure what the mystery is. Stick 'em in a sub-section of the relevant "era". Binaltech/Alternity would benefit more from its own sub-section after the UT since their booklets are waaaay more involved, but for the most part, non-US materials should fit in just fine with the US ones. --M Sipher 13:00, 5 October 2009 (EDT)

How's this? Also added a few more images. Still need a few extra languages for the caption joke with the Dune Runner instructions.--Nevermore 17:51, 5 October 2009 (EDT)

So, article's been updated properly. Big thanks to over a dozen TFW2005 members and several people from other boards who helped create what might be the single most elaborate caption joke on the entire Wiki.--Nevermore 17:12, 6 October 2009 (EDT)

Heads

Okay who thinks we should note the recent trend of instructions showing retooled heads somewhere on this article. I mean if not here then where? Flydie 11:07, 29 November 2011 (EST)

Bludgeon

Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon's instructions showing verbal descriptions of the steps, and additionally naming his bladed weapons.

As I posted on the image's talk page, all it is doing is calling them a katana and a tantou, which is what they are. It isn't much different than simply calling them "bladed weapons", it's just a mite more specific. Since the caption seems to be implying something false (that the weapons have unique names a la Excalibur in the Japanese fiction), can I please amend the caption to remove "and additionally naming his bladed weapons"?KrytenKoro 18:28, 29 January 2013 (EST)

The sentence isn't incorrect, just ambiguous. "Naming his weapons" could also mean "specifying what types of swords his weapons are". I'd say amend the caption to say what the instruction sheet actually does. --Khajidha 08:42, 30 January 2013 (EST)

To KrytenKoro: good rephrase. Looked really weird seeing "done per Khajidha", I'm not really that important around here. --Khajidha 10:21, 30 January 2013 (EST)

I shall not break your cover again, my master.KrytenKoro 11:52, 4 February 2013 (EST)