Generations BW Megatron toy on it's way,pics in thread

[Onslaught Six]

It's just such a weird choice, is all. Why now?

[BWprowl]

It's just such a weird choice, is all. Why now?

Because Hasbro had to get a repaint out of the FoC Grimlock mode, and they already did Overkill from a previous Grimlock?

I'm all for more BW-homage toys, so long as they turn out better than Cheetor (screw you, I liked Universe Dinobot!). Maybe this one will work better once we see it in color, we'll see.

Wondering why Hasbro's never done any of the previous Grimlock molds up in G2-blue...

[JediTricks]

I know nothing about the TF toys making process. All my info I get from Hasbro/Takara via conventions/magazines & on-line interviews.

I've read a few times where Hasbro/Takara says doing extensive remolds on TF toys can often cost more than creating a brand new mold from scratch.

Obviously if the exstensive remolded parts are planned from stage one. it does cost leaps & bounds less than doing exstensive remolds on already finished toys.

Sadly most of the time the only thing that gets planned into the early TF toys stages development is the different/newer head sculpt.

I would love to see more exstensive remolded TF toys,especially for the MP TF toys.

I honestly think the TF toys designers lack the spare time to sit there & create extensive remolded parts for future TF toys. it always seems like a rush,rush process more than a money issue. Because creating a TF toy takes years from stage one to the final stage. most of the time,the TF toys need to be on store shelves/sites ASAP. with the TF toy lines getting bigger & more sub lines,there's even less time to sit around in spare time creating exstensive remolded parts on newer TF toys in the early stages of toy development.

The info on tooling I get is from the education garnered from Hasbro's Star Wars division - 6 years of thoughtful Q&As and significant conversations with them at conventions - plus last year's 2 SDCC interviews with Hasbro Transformers division. It's also from my step-father's decades as a manufacturing engineer, making and running tooling for everything from Sony TV set housings to NASA aerospace parts.

Extensive remolds was expensive when they weren't planned in advance, these days they plan them out in advance which saves a lot. Also, while the price of tooling has leveled off, the cost of manufacturing has skyrocketed, so now it's more economical to cut tools when it means better sales.

There's no "spare time" used in this, the brand manager assigns time/budget resources to a designer whether it's a new item or a retooled item. New items take approximately a year and a half to develop, while remolds can be much quicker or not depending on the item. But they are and always have been crucial to the Hasbro business model, reusing a toy as many times as feasible through repaints and remolds. Entire lines are planned 18 months in advance, including remolds.

It's just such a weird choice, is all. Why now?

That's a good question to ask. I bet they literally couldn't think of another recognizable character but wanted to get more mileage out of the mold to stretch the voyager-class expression of the brand, it came on a little suddenly for them, hence 3 passes at the voyager Soundwave mold to fill space when Grimlock development missed making wave 1.

Because Hasbro had to get a repaint out of the FoC Grimlock mode, and they already did Overkill from a previous Grimlock?

They're probably gunshy on Overkill after HasbroToyShop ate it hard on the Universe "special edition" figure that sold so poorly.

I'm all for more BW-homage toys, so long as they turn out better than Cheetor (screw you, I liked Universe Dinobot!). Maybe this one will work better once we see it in color, we'll see.

I liked looking at Universe Dinobot, but I didn't like anything about using it, it was a shitty Transformers experience. I'd prefer BW homages that are more homages and less shitty cash grabs than FOC Megslock here.

Wondering why Hasbro's never done any of the previous Grimlock molds up in G2-blue...

Probably just not visually distinctive-enough to get fans interested, swapping gray for blue isn't distinctive the way AMTC is.

[Dominic]

Blue to/from grey can work. (I have a custom Grimlock to prove it. I used UltraMarines blue on a "Classics" Grimlock, and the result looks much different from the original.)

They're probably gunshy on Overkill after HasbroToyShop ate it hard on the Universe "special edition" figure that sold so poorly.

That line failed because Hasbro could not figure out where they were selling the toys or how to publicize the damned things. I heard more about those toys through unofficial sightings pages during a movie year than I did from Hasbro. (On the other hand, I got toys with an MSRP of $20 for $8USD, so there is no reason to complain too hard.)


Dom
-still rates Dragstrip very highly.

[JediTricks]

Blue to/from grey can work. (I have a custom Grimlock to prove it. I used UltraMarines blue on a "Classics" Grimlock, and the result looks much different from the original.)

Not saying it couldn't work, just explaining why I think they haven't done it so far.

They're probably gunshy on Overkill after HasbroToyShop ate it hard on the Universe "special edition" figure that sold so poorly.

That line failed because Hasbro could not figure out where they were selling the toys or how to publicize the damned things. I heard more about those toys through unofficial sightings pages during a movie year than I did from Hasbro. (On the other hand, I got toys with an MSRP of $20 for $8USD, so there is no reason to complain too hard.)

They promoted the items' existence at conventions and I think in print marketing, they just forgot to make sure anybody in the US was willing to buy them before committing to them.

[BWprowl]

I liked looking at Universe Dinobot, but I didn't like anything about using it, it was a shitty Transformers experience.

I admit the weapon on the toy suffered from basically not knowing what it wanted to be (and crippling what could've been a cool sword accessory as a result), but the rest of the figure, especially bits like the leg transformation or the clever way the hands worked, I felt was pretty nice.

Probably just not visually distinctive-enough to get fans interested, swapping gray for blue isn't distinctive the way AMTC is.

I can kinda see that, my thing is just that I think this mold looks kind of cool, but it's just hard for me to justify picking it up when I already have two perfectly cool grey robot dinosaur toys, and having it available in a different color would alleviate that. Hence my interest in this upcoming remold, even if it only seems to make a mediocre BW Megs homage.

[Shockwave]

I'd still like to see Classics Grimlock done in BW Megs Transmetal colors. Like the one Scourge did. That looked nice.

[Tigermegatron]

I'm honestly in AWE why anyone is getting so bent out of shape about Generations voyager sized Megatron or Titan Metroplex. If you don't like the toy then don't buy it,simple as that. all this acting out & frustration is pure ridiculous . I get the strong impression that some on-line internet TF fans are completist & force themselves to buy TF toys they hate,because they have that completist sickness.

In the case of TF repaints with or without new modified parts. This is needed & has always existed dating back from 1984. Repaints & retools are needed as this helps Hasbro get more profits out of the molds. repaints & retools exist to justify the extremely high cost of the TF toy making process.

Repaints with or without retools breathe new life into the mold & allow it to stay in stores longer. without that repaint/remold,that mold would be out of stores quicker.

Personally I think being a TF toy completist is pure ridiculous. due to the 90% of awful/horrible TF toys Hasbro makes every year. I'd rather pick & choose,doing this allows me to get the cream of the crop. I just prefer to buy the very best TF toys Hasbro made that year. I prefer to buy those TF toys that have the least amount of short cuts,more poseabilty,higher adult age sculpt,etc...

[JediTricks]

I liked looking at Universe Dinobot, but I didn't like anything about using it, it was a shitty Transformers experience.

I admit the weapon on the toy suffered from basically not knowing what it wanted to be (and crippling what could've been a cool sword accessory as a result), but the rest of the figure, especially bits like the leg transformation or the clever way the hands worked, I felt was pretty nice.

The deco and proportions and screw bosses hurt a little, the lack of articulation in beast mode hurt a lot, t he weapons being confused didn't help either, but it's the lack of integrity in bot mode which kills it for me. The beast head comes off easily, the panels making up the torso and shoulders get out of alignment constantly, it's just frustrating to pose without everything coming apart.

Probably just not visually distinctive-enough to get fans interested, swapping gray for blue isn't distinctive the way AMTC is.

I can kinda see that, my thing is just that I think this mold looks kind of cool, but it's just hard for me to justify picking it up when I already have two perfectly cool grey robot dinosaur toys, and having it available in a different color would alleviate that. Hence my interest in this upcoming remold, even if it only seems to make a mediocre BW Megs homage.

Classics Grimlock is a generic robot, you can put any dino-flavored character onto that body and get away with it. With MP and now FOC, those bodies are really designed for one type of character, Grimlock, so it takes a lot of help to get past that. It must be difficult to have such a different collecting behavior from the norm in this brand. I can't imagine buying a G2-inspired Grimlock mold over a G1-inspired one, as it looks worse, whether or not it's repetitive.

[Onslaught Six]

I'm honestly in AWE why anyone is getting so bent out of shape about Generations voyager sized Megatron or Titan Metroplex. If you don't like the toy then don't buy it,simple as that. all this acting out & frustration is pure ridiculous . I get the strong impression that some on-line internet TF fans are completist & force themselves to buy TF toys they hate,because they have that completist sickness.

In the case of TF repaints with or without new modified parts. This is needed & has always existed dating back from 1984. Repaints & retools are needed as this helps Hasbro get more profits out of the molds. repaints & retools exist to justify the extremely high cost of the TF toy making process.

Repaints with or without retools breathe new life into the mold & allow it to stay in stores longer. without that repaint/remold,that mold would be out of stores quicker.

Personally I think being a TF toy completist is pure ridiculous. due to the 90% of awful/horrible TF toys Hasbro makes every year. I'd rather pick & choose,doing this allows me to get the cream of the crop. I just prefer to buy the very best TF toys Hasbro made that year. I prefer to buy those TF toys that have the least amount of short cuts,more poseabilty,higher adult age sculpt,etc...

Hey, I'm not getting "so bent out of shape" over this repaint existing. It can exist and be released and everything can be cool. I just don't like it, and more over, I don't *understand* why it exists. I'm not calling for the death of the designers who made this or anything--I just don't understand why they'd do it. Like, normally when they do a repaint/remould, I can see the logic that went into it. "Oh, Black Shadow is a remould of Thunderwing because they were in G1." "Oh, Skids and Trailbreaker both turn into trucks and have similar robot modes, so they're repaints of each other." "Oh, these three Predacons make sense as repaints because they were non-show characters." "Oh, Hot Spot is a fire truck so he makes sense to be Inferno."

And beyond "They both turn into T-Rexes," I can't really see the reasoning for this. I'm not condemning its existence, and if anyone here does like it, I'm not going to lambast them or call them out on it or anything, like they've done something wrong.