Are the newer 2012/2013 TF toys superior to previous years?

[Shockwave]

I've disassembled everything from G1 Shockwave, Fortress Maximus and Jetfire to movie toys, classics, Generations, Animated, etc... And I can say that Sparky's right, Animated isn't any less complicated than any other line. In fact, I'd much rather take apart an animated toy than a G1 one. If I never have to take apart another G1 Shockwave, it'll be too soon. That thing is a pain in the ass.

[JediTricks]

Well, that and I think the size classes have gone through some weird growing pains. The GI Joes missing articulation has been all but eradicated now.

True, but the price went up again to accommodate that, probably also to accommodate the lower volume of focusing sales on collectors more.

Jedi,Are you a fan of the 2009 Animated TF toy line?

Personally,I felt the 2009 TF animated toys were pure garbage & wastes of fine plastic. . The Animated toys had so many budget cuts & cut corners in them like Simplified sculpts+engineering. The sculpts were so bad I refer to them as "highly stylized play-school go-bots TF toys." I didn't like the overly simplified robot heads as they either had smiley faces or frowns. The toys were too mis-proportioned in the body parts & limbs. Hasbro was trying to go for the super hero design with these animated toys by having skinny legs with bulky chest & partial 50% bulky arms. CLEARLY these 2009 Animated toys were aimed at a slightly lower kids age group than previous TF toys lines years. The factory applied colors/paint was another budget cutting corners thing by hasbro as most animated toys had extremly dull colored plastic/paint on them.

The 2009 Animated TF toys I felt were inferior to previous TF toy lines that had cartoons/movies like AEC,2001 Rid & the movie-verse.

I am very much a fan of the TF Animated toy line, at first I didn't buy anything and I hated the show from the first few episodes. But then the toys looked pretty good and I bought one, then another and another and now I have a ton of Animated figures, and after that I watched the show all the way through and it turned out the first episodes were the worst and it got way better.

I didn't see any budget cuts or cut corners, I did see some figures suffering from last minute redesigns for safety but that was early stuff and most weren't heavily hampered. The simplified sculpting claim doesn't hold up, it matches the style well. And the transformations were complex and high quality designs most of the time.

The idea that Animated was worse than Armada doesn't ring true to my eyes.

CLEARLY these 2009 Animated toys were aimed at a slightly lower kids age group than previous TF toys lines years.

Animated was not aimed for kids younger than any other mainline Transformers toy line has been. Yes, the Animated figures designs was a bit more superhero-esk, and simplified looking, but that was to match the art style used for the cartoon. It doesn't mean they cut corners any more than they usually do for any other TF line, or that they had simplified engineering. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't a big fan of the Animated art style myself which is why I skipped the toys, but I have had the opportunity to transform a few of them back and forth. They really aren't as bad as you make them out to be. I'd really say they are on par with most other Transformers figures.

I would say you're both right, the toys weren't meant for a younger age group the way Rescue Bots is, but they were meant to capture the younger portion of the standard age group which had been supporting the line for a decade with lots of purchases in the BW/BM Basics and the Spychanger packs but seemed to get confused by the Minicons, Omnicons and what have you and stayed away with the movie's basic line.

I'm a mild level kitbasher,I often take apart TF toys from every TF toy line to either swap parts between recolors or to kitbash parts. When I took apart a few 2009 Animated toys,I noticed they were almost hollow inside,void of pressured springs,gears,slots,etc...
The Animated toys had less parts inside & out,taking them apart & putting them back together was a breeze & far easier than taking apart & putting back together 2001 Rid,AEC & Movie-verse toys.

When I took apart a few 2001 Rid,AEC & Movie-verse TF toys,those toys were not hollow inside,They were loaded/stuffed with pressure springs,gears,slots,etc.. It was far harder trying to figure out where all the parts went when putting back together these 2001 Rid,AEC & Movie-verse TF toys. SO CLEARLY THE 2009 ANIMATED TF TOYS WERE OVERLY SIMPLIFIED INSIDE/OUT & CUT CORNERS.

Apples and oranges, the RID line was developed ONLY for the Japanese market who was hungering for a high-quality vehicle-based toy line after having it so good with Beast Wars, so Takara used those lessons to create a more complex, detail-oriented line for a market that was willing to spend more to buy such toys. Hasbro didn't import RID for over a year, and only did so when Transtech got canned late in development. Also, for all the moving parts and spring-loaded shit in those RID figures, those parts often caused flaws - the spring-loaded friction wheel on Optimus Prime's shoulder eventually sheered off the friction bump inside the shoulder. And don't forget that the economic truths of inflation required that Hasbro and Takara deliver the same sized product for the same value with less budget to work with, just because something has less parts doesn't mean it's not working smarter. I'd put up TFA Blurr against any of the Car Brothers in terms of satisfaction and I know I'd be happier with Blurr each time - and that's a super complicated transformation, there's no way that was intended to be Playskool'd.

[Onslaught Six]

I'd put up TFA Blurr against any of the Car Brothers in terms of satisfaction and I know I'd be happier with Blurr each time

I did a double take here where I thought you were talking about Armada Blurr, and was about to go on a rampage.

[Tigermegatron]

I'd put up TFA Blurr against any of the Car Brothers in terms of satisfaction and I know I'd be happier with Blurr each time

I did a double take here where I thought you were talking about Armada Blurr, and was about to go on a rampage.

I'd rate 2009 Animated Blurr as a beyond decent toy. I think it's a closer homage G-1 toy update than Armada & Generations Blurr's toy were.

[JediTricks]

I'd put up TFA Blurr against any of the Car Brothers in terms of satisfaction and I know I'd be happier with Blurr each time

I did a double take here where I thought you were talking about Armada Blurr, and was about to go on a rampage.

Fuuuuuuck no. That mold was ok for its time, but way overhyped and not Blurr at all. I don't think I've ever seen a reference to Armada that called it "TFA", most of the time it was just "Armada", but I guess that's a passable mistake.

[BWprowl]

Fuuuuuuck no. That mold was ok for its time, but way overhyped and not Blurr at all.

Not debating the iffyness of Blurr at all (some more articulation would've made that an amazing toy), but I just wanted to chime in that I don't think it was supposed to be a 'new' version of G1 Blurr, at least any more than Armada Smokescreen was supposed be G1 Smokescreen.

[JediTricks]

Fuuuuuuck no. That mold was ok for its time, but way overhyped and not Blurr at all.

Not debating the iffyness of Blurr at all (some more articulation would've made that an amazing toy), but I just wanted to chime in that I don't think it was supposed to be a 'new' version of G1 Blurr, at least any more than Armada Smokescreen was supposed be G1 Smokescreen.

Yeah, more articulation would have made that figure - although that also means more integration of the actual car into the bot instead of kibble - and as it is a flying car has charm. And yeah, it's just like every Armada character minus Megs and OP, G1 name and then no connection at all to G1 character.

[Onslaught Six]

Blurr had a perfectly appropriate name. He might not have been a fast-talking dude, but he had a little bit of blue on him, and he turned into a race car. His head also had a kind of "race car driver" motif going on, with the helmet kind of looking like a NASCAR helmet or something and having exhaust pipes on it. He might not have been G1 Blurr, but I feel like he was an effective use of the name. They could have just named him Mirage instead, because he was, uh, a race car, and Mirage was a race car, even if that makes no sense--but they already did that for a random Minicon, so!

[Tigermegatron]

I dis-agree,No amount of extra joints could make that Armada blurr toy decent. due to it having a ugly sculpt in both modes & due to it wearing the entire car mode on it's robot back. CHANGING THE MOLD BY MAKING THE CAR MODE BECOME THE LEGS,FEET,ARMS,CHEST WOULD BE CREATING A ENTIRELY NEWLY SCULPTED DESIGN MOLD & IT'LL LOOK NOTHING LIKE THE ARMADA BLURR TOY.

[Onslaught Six]

Parts of the car backpack could fold up or into themselves. It could be done. But the real thing is like, why would you even want to?