Do you still think,newer TF toys are superior to older toys?

[Tigermegatron]

Do some still think the newer TF toys are superior to the older TF toys?

IMHO BELOW:

Granted I could understand the newer age TF toys being superior to the 1980's TF toys made almost 30 years ago. I just don't see how TF toys made this year,are superior to TF toys made under 5 Years ago. because lets face it,the TF toy technology doesn't vastly improve every 12 months.

I ask this question now. due to some on-line fans being un-happy with Hasbro's TF toy lines in 2011 thru 2012.

If the 2011 thro 2012 TF toys shrunk in their sizes like fans claim. then clearly the TF toys from 3+years ago that are bigger in their size levels,are superior. because fans by default get more plastic/bigger toys for their money.

if the 2011 thru 2012 TF toys are now using lighter/inferior/cheaper plastic. then by default the TF toys made 3+years ago that used the stronger/thicker/high grade plastic are superior toys by default.

if the 2011 thru 2012 TF toys have less bigger molds than the TF toys from 3+years ago. then by default these 3+years ago lines pleased those better who love the bigger toys.

I can only imagine cheaper plastic & shrunken toys has a huge impact on the toys enginerring. as the joints & moving parts inside a toy move around in all the smaller/cheaper/inferior/more breakable plastic.

REGARDING ugly designs or beautiful designs. I suspose this is up to each fans unquie taste. what some fans find ugly other fans might find beautiful & vice versa.

REGARDING,more/less poseabilty or more/less gimmicks or inferior/superior engineering. this all rest upon what that particular fan needs or doesn't need in his TF toys. so this is clearly a case by case basis.

MY 2 CENTS BELOW:

Due to the high cost of oil/gasoline. hasbro/takara is now creating much inferior TF toys in 2011 thru 2012 Compared to previous years. so by default the 2011 thu 2012 TF toys are inferior to ones made 3+years ago. in plastic quality,size,gimmicks,enginerring,sculpt,etc...

Their is only so much a extremly highly sculpted design can hold up,when placed on thin/cheap/inferior plastic. clearly the enginerring with the moving parts & joints will act weaker in thinner/ligher/less plastic.

Using past examples. the Armada toys used the strongest most durable,most heavy high grade plastic,I will ever see this 10+years worth of TF toys lines.

Energon toys were extremly poseable. used decent grade plastic. energon pushed the toy limits by being so creative with all their combiners. like the optimus trio combinations. the 2-in-1 & 5-in-1 combiners teams. the armor combiners & the decepticons hyper mode weapons toys.

cybertron was a 50/50 mixed bag. the toys had less poseable joints compared to energon. but the molds were beautifully sculpted & looked like works of art. the cybertron toy plastic was stronger than the energon toy plastic. the cybertron toy plastic was equal to the armada toy plastic quality/durabilty/thickness/weight.

I thought the 2007,rotf,HFTD movie lines created some decent tf toys. that were very poseable. made of thick strong plastic. decent gimmicks. decent bigger & smaller toys.

the DOTM toys,I thought were pure awful. due to the weaker/thinner plastic used. the smaller toys out numbering the bigger toys 9 to 1. weird inferior joints technology. smaller toys in their size classes. mech tech gimmick that I wasn't a fan over due to it being over sized.

I actually thought the classics 1.0 toys were superior to the classics 2.0 toys. as the character choices were better. the plastic quality was stronger on the 1.0 toys. the sculpt looked better on the 1.0 toys. the only 2.0 toy that i'd give any praise is deluxe cyclonus.

With the current cut backs hasbro is doing. we will never see the sort of high quality TF Toys called the alternators/BT. The current budget can no longer handle the thick plastic used. the liscensed alt modes. the bigger voyager size. the realistic inner car interior. the extremly high sculpt in both modes. the shinny glossy plastic,etc.. then sell these toys for $19.99 each.

The Titanium 6 inch TF toy line. the curreny hasbro/galoob budget can no longer afford to use diecast metal parts,then sell these toys for $14.99 each.

I noticed the current hasbro/Takara budget & it's distrubitors can longer afford to create/sell the really bigger MP TF toys. these keep getting smaller & smaller each year. obviously the plastic & parts are less due to the smaller more compact toy. in this current economy we won't be seeing a MP-01 convoy type TF toy created that's 10+pounds,is 12 inches tall in robot mode, is 60%+diecast metal parts.

Animated while I thought it was a awful/inferior TF toy line. it gets mild praise for creating so many bigger sized toys like three leader sized new molds & over 8+ voyagers. curenntly in 2012 hasbro/takara have no leader sized TF toys. thus far in 2012 for TF prime,Hasbro has barely given us/confirmed 5+new mold voyagers for TFP.

Honestly the only TF toys released in 2011 thru 2012 That I felt were made superior & pushed the toy limits were as follows: DOTM Leader size Sentinel Prime. DOTM Leader sized Ironhide. SDCC Bruticus.

[Onslaught Six]

You know, everybody's always saying the plastic quality is somehow deteriorating or getting worse, but am I the only one who...doesn't notice this, like, at all? All I really see are vague references to things "feeling" off and there's always some jerk who says "Well, I got stress marks on [x part], but it hasn't broken yet," which has happened on...damn near any random TF from any line since Beast Wars.

The last three TFs I can remember who broke:

1) Yellowbox Terradive, and this was all my fault--he took a plunge from my TV to my hardwood floor, and his waist joint broke.

2) ROTF Mindwipe, broke a day after I bought it--leg snapped during transformation at the hip. I suspect this was an issue with mine, because my replacement never did that.

3) Cybertron Skywarp, broke seconds after I got it out of the packaging.

I mean, I'd say that's a pretty decent track record for how often I buy TFs. These things don't break often on me and I've never really ended up with a toy that felt flimsy or bad based on plastic quality. I either haven't noticed a decline in the quality or everybody else is just imagining it.

[Tigermegatron]

You know, everybody's always saying the plastic quality is somehow deteriorating or getting worse, but am I the only one who...doesn't notice this, like, at all? All I really see are vague references to things "feeling" off and there's always some jerk who says "Well, I got stress marks on [x part], but it hasn't broken yet," which has happened on...damn near any random TF from any line since Beast Wars.

I mean, I'd say that's a pretty decent track record for how often I buy TFs. These things don't break often on me and I've never really ended up with a toy that felt flimsy or bad based on plastic quality. I either haven't noticed a decline in the quality or everybody else is just imagining it.

I agree with everything your saying & I feel the same exact way. I created this thread to get some feedback. I noticed this is the extremly hot topic to discuss as all the TF moderated forums Are discussing weaker plastic,smaller toys,lighter plastic,etc...

Honestly I don't get that overly obsessive with my TF toys. These days I barely buy 5 new molds TF toys per year.

I really didn't notice nor cared that some 2011 THRU 2012 TF toys were made smaller or had thinner plastic .

If something is so awful according to my preferences, I just don't buy the TF toys I hate. as simple as that. I hated the DOTM toy line so I only bought two TF toys in 2011,they were leader size sentintel prime & leader sized Ironhide.

The best way to let hasbro know you don't like their TF toys is to not buy the ones you hate.

I've learned the hard way,Hasbro doesn't have staff members that visit the moderated forums looking for feedback. these days hasbro doesn't even hire competent workers who go out into the field to the retail stores recording what sells & what doesn't sell. hasbro likes to hire the bulk of it's employees who don't have a clue about their brands.

Recent example: For the past 3 years hasbro has been unable to fix it's poor distrubtion problems in stores. the econmoy gets named as the blame & nothing else. if hasbro had competent trained field agents & analysis team members they would have fixed the over loading of the assortment cases with bumblebee when this first killed the DOTM toy line,this should have never carried over into the TF Prime toy line.

[Onslaught Six]

There's lots of problems with distribution, mind, and they aren't all Hasbro's fault. A lot of it has to do with retailer demands. Hasbro can't force them to buy cases of their stuff, and for the past few years retailers have gotten into a dangerous practice of over-ordering the first 2 waves of a toyline and then just letting it sit, because it seems to sell at about the same rate.

I mean, think about it, stores don't really want our collector money, because usually what happens is we show up to the store and look at pegs and bitch that nothing's there for a month or two, and then suddenly everything new shows up--and we buy it up all at once, and then bitch that nothing's out until the next wave. We show up and buy 2-4 figures in a case and then that's it for us for another month. It almost doesn't make sense to continue to stock new stuff when the old stuff will sell to casuals just as easily as newer stuff would. Because casuals don't know that those Bumblebees have been there for two months.

I'm not saying Hasbro is innocent here, but it's not just them.

And for what it's worth, back to the original topic: While the ArmEnerTron toylines had a lot of good "solid" toys, in a lot of cases they don't outright impress. A lot of people (Not singling you out, JT, but I know you've been talking about it a lot) have been complaining about a lack of paintapps in some recent figures (or a disconnect between lots of unpainted details that ought to be painted) but look at, say, Cybertron Hot Shot, who doesn't have a whole lotta paintapps either! He just has less..."places" for them, I guess, so it doesn't matter as much. It's weird!

But there's also an increase in complexity with an obvious decrease in...not "plastic" quality but, plastic..."solidity?" Going back to CybHot Shot, he's got these big, chunky-ass thighs, shins and shoulders, right? You'd NEVER see Hasbro just let that go now, in a toy. They'd make him have more joints behind the front of the legs, or something, like Tracks/Wheeljack has. Or there's those big doors hanging off his arms and kinda-preventing some articulation bits--if Hot Shot were an ROTF or Universe/Generations toy, those doors would pull out and rotate around or something. But again, at the tradeoff of that "solid" feeling. So I wonder if that's what people are talking about? But it's clearly not, there's always this sentiment of, "The figure feels 'cheap' and 'not solid,'" which are things that're gonna happen with a more complex design. So it's like...I dunno.