The Unicron Trilogy (looking back)
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:39 am
At this point, I think that we can assume that there will be no official "UT 10th" line. "Beast Wars" got one. Granted, the BW 10th Anniversary involved a line of mediocre to bad recolours (each packaged with a part of a half-assed build-up figure), a couple of dubious comic series and a BotCon set that looked like it was designed and executed at somebody's mother's kitchen table. But, at least that was something.
Over-all, I really liked the UT line(s).
I tried to avoid "Armada". I really did. But, I picked up a few Minicon sets out of curiosity, and was hooked. The line was fun. Even maligned toys like HotShot had their charm. HotShot spent no small amount of time on my shelf with one of the bike Minicons stuck to the car's spoiler, looking not unlike a car being driven to a weekend retreat. (Then, I tried that with Demolishor, and it looked even funnier.) Eventually, I bought most (if not all) of the Deluxe and Voyager (whatever they were called at the time) moulds. I have only sold a few of them off over the years, and came to regret most of those sales. (Demolishor held my "favourite mould" spot until 2008, when the Sunstreaker/Sideswipe mould was released.) Similarly, I tried to avoid the comics. But, DW's run of "Armada", (even Furman's portion), were good. That book was worth reading. And, after having reread some of it, I can say that I still like it. The cartoon was sloppily edited and had all manner of problems that no professional product should be associated with. But, it had its moments. (Thrust is a character that still holds a place in my heart.)
As much as I was not a fan of "Energon", I still can find things to like about it. The comics were bad. And, many of the toys were plagued with intrusive and un-inspired gimmicks. But, there were some bright spots like Sharkticon and Slugslinger. The Scout/Basic price point was always worth a look. Besides a couple of Minicon sets (one of which involved all new moulding for old characters) this was the first time in years that the any TF line had so many dedicated army-builder figures. (The Vehicons in RiD always seemed like an after-thought at best and something that should have been done better, to say nothing of earlier in the line, at worst.)
"Cybertron", as mentioned in another recent thread, was all kinds of fun. The cartroon was standard for the UT era. It came across as a solid draft, but a grossly un-finished product. The comics, (published by Fun Publications), were abysmal to start and only got worse. But, the toyline was consistently fun. While the keys did not have anywhere near the fiddle value of the Minicons, "Cybertron" as a whole was more polished than "Armada" and "Energon". My skip rate for that line was much lower than I had planned, but much higher than I would have wanted. And, Hasbro actually experimented with telling a story using the character profiles, a practice that carries over to the movie line today.
And, the UT was the last time that TF as a franchise focused primarily on newer/non-movie characters. As much as I like being able to get a modern iteration of characters like Prowl, Jazz, Thundercracker or Mirage, there was something to be said for being able to pick up a comic or flip over a toy package and reading about a new character.
Dom
-gonna fiddle with some UT moulds later tonight.
Over-all, I really liked the UT line(s).
I tried to avoid "Armada". I really did. But, I picked up a few Minicon sets out of curiosity, and was hooked. The line was fun. Even maligned toys like HotShot had their charm. HotShot spent no small amount of time on my shelf with one of the bike Minicons stuck to the car's spoiler, looking not unlike a car being driven to a weekend retreat. (Then, I tried that with Demolishor, and it looked even funnier.) Eventually, I bought most (if not all) of the Deluxe and Voyager (whatever they were called at the time) moulds. I have only sold a few of them off over the years, and came to regret most of those sales. (Demolishor held my "favourite mould" spot until 2008, when the Sunstreaker/Sideswipe mould was released.) Similarly, I tried to avoid the comics. But, DW's run of "Armada", (even Furman's portion), were good. That book was worth reading. And, after having reread some of it, I can say that I still like it. The cartoon was sloppily edited and had all manner of problems that no professional product should be associated with. But, it had its moments. (Thrust is a character that still holds a place in my heart.)
As much as I was not a fan of "Energon", I still can find things to like about it. The comics were bad. And, many of the toys were plagued with intrusive and un-inspired gimmicks. But, there were some bright spots like Sharkticon and Slugslinger. The Scout/Basic price point was always worth a look. Besides a couple of Minicon sets (one of which involved all new moulding for old characters) this was the first time in years that the any TF line had so many dedicated army-builder figures. (The Vehicons in RiD always seemed like an after-thought at best and something that should have been done better, to say nothing of earlier in the line, at worst.)
"Cybertron", as mentioned in another recent thread, was all kinds of fun. The cartroon was standard for the UT era. It came across as a solid draft, but a grossly un-finished product. The comics, (published by Fun Publications), were abysmal to start and only got worse. But, the toyline was consistently fun. While the keys did not have anywhere near the fiddle value of the Minicons, "Cybertron" as a whole was more polished than "Armada" and "Energon". My skip rate for that line was much lower than I had planned, but much higher than I would have wanted. And, Hasbro actually experimented with telling a story using the character profiles, a practice that carries over to the movie line today.
And, the UT was the last time that TF as a franchise focused primarily on newer/non-movie characters. As much as I like being able to get a modern iteration of characters like Prowl, Jazz, Thundercracker or Mirage, there was something to be said for being able to pick up a comic or flip over a toy package and reading about a new character.
Dom
-gonna fiddle with some UT moulds later tonight.