The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone! Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
Personally, that's what I call him. It's just more of a fitting name for the figure IMO than Decepticharge.
andersonh1 wrote:I guess I'm not really wondering why it happened, but if it's a generally held opinion that the high level of detail waned over time, for whatever reason. Or are the repaints and character choices creative right up until the end?
Yeah, I'd have to say the level of detail waned, to me mainly because of Rollbar, Ricochet and Camshaft. Sunstreaker I thought was an understandable repaint, given Dead-End was originally going to be him anyway, but those I mentioned are just repaints with little or no effort to make them look like their G1 incarnations. Swindle was originally going to be Trailbreaker, so why not go with that if they were just going to do a repaint? And for Ricochet, why not use the Meister mold? Camshaft I think works as the Acura RSX but Prowl's head doesn't fit for the character. Swerve I also have to say I kinda see as a repaint, but they at least made a new head for him.
Apparently they couldn't make Rollbar black because Ricochet was already black. Sigh. Those were case-balancing repaints, since they shipped with Prime. Prime cost considerably more than your average Alternator to manufacture, thanks to his size, so they had to balance out the cost of the case.
Smokescreen was a hard act to follow, and Sideswipe doesn't bring anywhere near as good an execution in bot mode - not detail, not transformation, not articulation. Not to say Sideswipe doesn't have some charm, but all the love was put into Smokey and then they had more line but not more love. IMO, the line suffered a decline immediately where kibble got worse with each release - Hound, Tracks, Meister. Then with Grimlock they started getting downright lazy, Grimlock is a lot of hollow work, and Prowl has a significant amount of issues in bot mode as well. I like Windcharger, but I know a lot of folks feel he's just too plain and simple - after Grimlock, I think simple was ok because Grimmy was convoluted and it made an unsatisfying finished product. Skids wasn't as bad as Grimmy or Prowl, but he wasn't great either, he seemed simple like Windcharger but with twice the kibble and a less satisfying everything. Finally, we get to Optimus who just didn't work out at all, and Mirage who was like the line's redemption but is still very kibbly. Rumble and Ravage were just more proof that they had gotten lazy and sloppy, I've finally experienced both in person and am glad I didn't put a ton of effort into tracking them down, they're really poor entries by comparison to the first half of the line.
As for the revisits losing their luster as the line went on, going from extensive remolds to merely shitty repaints, that is VERY true, and just another sign that the line's managers were running on fumes.
I don't think the lack of interest in the line was the cause, marketing says that when interest wanes, you don't merely put out more of the same failure, you try to change things up.
I think the problem ultimately came from Hasbro relying too heavily on Takara sharing the cost risks on new molds, and when Takara's interest shifted, Hasbro was left without the skill or budget to continue to execute the line on their own.
Dom, you are fuckin' crazy if you think Dead-End was a mere recolor, Dead End was a kick-ass remold and the ONLY alternator I ever displayed in alt mode. Dead End in many ways was better than the Sideswipe mold he was extensively redesigned from. Now if you had trashed Ricochet, you would have gotten full support, that repaint was a total piece of shit.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
Meister is quite good. A little plain in car mode, but he makes an excellent Jazz update.
JediTricks wrote:s for the revisits losing their luster as the line went on, going from extensive remolds to merely shitty repaints, that is VERY true, and just another sign that the line's managers were running on fumes.
I don't think most of the repaints were bad, just not nearly as good as the earlier repaint/remolds we got. I really like Rollbar and Sunstreaker for example.
Last edited by JediTricks on Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:obnoxious quotes in the quote system fix
I'll second Anderson's comments about Meister. Actually though, I really love that mold's revisit, Shockblast, it has the Mazdaspeed modifications to the car, and is just nifty in bot mode, plus better deco.
I don't think much of the straight repaints:
Ricochet, suck.
Sunstreaker, too little too late. Might have been more exciting except Dead-end came first and looked better in black.
Rollbar, not the worst thing I've ever seen but reeked of "why bother?". Color wasn't even that different from Swindle, yellow to orange, bfd.
Swerve, so-so but just not necessary.
Wheeljack, not a good match (I'm aware it's a remold, but it's minor).
Camshaft, booooooring!
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
My two cents on the repaints (not counting Wheeljack or Swerve, since they have new heads if nothing else).
- Sunstreaker: it seems odd that he's the repaint, since this was who the mold was originally designed for. So I was glad to finally get the colors, but I have to admit Dead End's color scheme was better.
- Rollbar: I like it. Not Rollbar's original colors of course, but the orange jeep is different enough from Swindle's yellowish color that they don't strike me as too similar.
- Ricochet: should have been a repaint of Meister. Otherwise, no complaints about the color, except that it may have prevented the Swindle repaint being Trailbreaker.
- Nemesis Prime: very nice color scheme as always, but I'm a little worn out on 'evil Optimus Primes' at this point.
And even though the vehicle is partially remolded, I'll throw in:
- Camshaft: having Prowl's head really messes with the homage. Technically this is something of a remold since the car is not the police version. One of the weaker repaints that really could have used a new head.
So five straight repaints out of a line of 27... not too bad. Sunstreaker is an obvious choice, Rollbar was chosen because of his jeep mode, and Nemesis Prime is the usual evil Prime repaint. That leaves Ricochet as a good repaint on the wrong mold, and Camshaft as an interesting homage that doesn't work well with Prowl's head.
andersonh1 wrote:- Sunstreaker: it seems odd that he's the repaint, since this was who the mold was originally designed for. So I was glad to finally get the colors, but I have to admit Dead End's color scheme was better.
No, it was designed for Tracks. Unless you mean the Sideswipe Repaint As Sunstreaker concept, then yes.
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
andersonh1 wrote:- Sunstreaker: it seems odd that he's the repaint, since this was who the mold was originally designed for. So I was glad to finally get the colors, but I have to admit Dead End's color scheme was better.
No, it was designed for Tracks. Unless you mean the Sideswipe Repaint As Sunstreaker concept, then yes.
True, it was originally going to be Tracks, until Hasbro got the license to use the Corvette after all.
But after Tracks, it was meant to be Sunstreaker until it was decided to put Decepticons into the line, at which point it was turned into Dead End, even though the mold already had Sunstreaker's head and was a remold of Sideswipe.
