TF Views

I looked through photos from Botcon and I didn't see any evidence of the light up gun (not that that means anything, it could still be there) but I did notice that the individual Predicons still have their original swords and it looks like they each come with only one gun each (the Japanese version always had two each).

Shockwave wrote:I looked through photos from Botcon and I didn't see any evidence of the light up gun (not that that means anything, it could still be there) but I did notice that the individual Predicons still have their original swords and it looks like they each come with only one gun each (the Japanese version always had two each).

No gun at all on Saturday, probably wasn't shipped in time for the show, but the box does show it.

And that's a losing battle because Hasbro isn't about to let that IP go freely only to pay more people to design a new line from scratch - look how poorly Transformers: Animorphs did, despite being based on a successful novel series outside the brand, and having TV media support.

Don't use that as an example--Animorphs did terribly because the toys looked fucking terrible. People who liked TF hated them because they were humans who turned into animals (and thus, no robots), and people who loved Animorphs hated the toys because they were both poor animal toys and poor versions of the human characters. The only good toys in the line were the aliens, because they could generally get away with looking weird in one mode or another, because they were aliens. (For example, Visser Three/Inferno Beast, who is pretty great.)

I mean, I can't necessarily come up with any better ideas for how to execute that toyline, but I don't want Jake with big-ass gorilla arms. It's the same thing with how we hate when TFs have big, obvious robot parts in their altmodes--nobody's going to be happy with, say, a Prowl with big robot fists coming out of his roof.

Look at how poorly Kamen Rider has done in the US in its several attempts at cracking that market.

That's only because Bandai sucks dick at releasing anything oriented at anyone over the age of 6, and because nobody is going to air a subtitled TV show over here, and dubbing live action is generally not a thing that happens anymore in the US. There are 'huge' American Kamen Rider fanbases who readily buy up expensive import KR toys and devour the subbed episodes.

Dom wrote:Cosmos had a toy 4 years ago. When did Tailgate last get a toy? When did any number of other comparably important characters last get toys. Does the new Cosmos add anything? When is the last time Cosmos did anything (that would warrant a new toy)? Does the upcoming toy look like Cosmos in the last important appearance? What about Seaspray or Bumper?

Remember, Hasbro has to keep trademarks active--if they don't make a Cosmos toy every so often, they run the risk of losing the ability to name the guy Cosmos ever again.

But beyond that, there are some characters who Hasbro (or the people within Hasbro) consider "popular" enough to warrant multiple updates/new figures/etc. People were asking for a new Cosmos toy for years, and quite a bit of stuff was conspiring against him getting one. (There were at least two cancelled Cosmos updates that we know of--one in Titaniums, and the other in Classics.) Just because he got one Legends toy four years ago (which is an eternity in Transformers toyline time) doesn't mean he can't get another toy for people who missed that one. Especially given how hard to find that wave of Legends was--there are only four Cosmoses from that wave on eBay right now and they are all over $25 with shipping.

Did we bitch this much when Generations Warpath came out, or what?

JT wrote:And Bumper would be a poor choice right now, this is not a welcome environment for little yellow car characters thanks to Hasbro going Bumblecrazbee.

On the contrary--if Hasbro was smart, they would do every "Bumblebee" variation to match a specific incarnation of different guy. I would totally buy an obvious "Bumper" toy if it were still named Bumblebee. (In fact, that would probably be appropriate, given Bumblejumper's mythical origins!)

Shocktrek wrote:Rodimus, Cyclonus and Arcee in particular have had more new figures than we really needed.

First two I'll give you, but Arcee desperately needs a GOOD toy. Animated is in a shitty aesthetic, same goes for the Movie and Prime--and she's even the wrong colour in Prime!

Yes, I'm saying I'd buy a Generations Arcee.

If they're going to keep mining the G1 character well for new toys give us updates of stuff from beyond the first three seasons: Joyride, Getaway, Slapdash, Pinpointer, basically all of the "master" figures which only had one episode of the cartoon and very little comic time.

I'd actually love it if they focused on Masterforce characters, given how that series suddenly reached a lot of new people (myself included) and many of the figures haven't gotten very good new toys. (Skip Landmine; Cybertron Landmine was good enough.)

Some on-line TF fans are HEAVILY SPECULATING that the Hasbro Reissue Predaking might NOT have any diecast metal parts & might be 100% plastic.

looking at the HTS.com pics,I think this is a strong possibility. as Hasbro in 1986 did release The predacons in two release versions,one version with diecast metal parts & the other version being 100% plastic.

Tigermegatron wrote:Some on-line TF fans are HEAVILY SPECULATING that the Hasbro Reissue Predaking might NOT have any diecast metal parts & might be 100% plastic.

looking at the HTS.com pics,I think this is a strong possibility. as Hasbro in 1986 did release The predacons in two release versions,one version with diecast metal parts & the other version being 100% plastic.

That would explain the price difference between the recent Takara Encore reissue (~$200) and this one ($119).

Artist Emiliano Santalucia has released his concept art for the new Generations Rhinox, which he had a part in designing with Hasbro. He also helped design the new Waspinator, Cosmos and Sky High figures as well.

Onslaught Six wrote:

And that's a losing battle because Hasbro isn't about to let that IP go freely only to pay more people to design a new line from scratch - look how poorly Transformers: Animorphs did, despite being based on a successful novel series outside the brand, and having TV media support.

Don't use that as an example--Animorphs did terribly because the toys looked fucking terrible. People who liked TF hated them because they were humans who turned into animals (and thus, no robots), and people who loved Animorphs hated the toys because they were both poor animal toys and poor versions of the human characters. The only good toys in the line were the aliens, because they could generally get away with looking weird in one mode or another, because they were aliens. (For example, Visser Three/Inferno Beast, who is pretty great.)

It's a viable example though, the TF brand reimagined outside the IP to the brand's horrible detriment.

Want another example of Hasbro "thinking outside the box" only to weak results? TF Crossovers - Star Wars and Marvel. They survive, barely, but they're controlled by other licensees and brands rather than TF, they support other IP, not TF.

Look at Transtech, that was trying to at least extend the box and what happened? Abortion.

I mean, I can't necessarily come up with any better ideas for how to execute that toyline, but I don't want Jake with big-ass gorilla arms. It's the same thing with how we hate when TFs have big, obvious robot parts in their altmodes--nobody's going to be happy with, say, a Prowl with big robot fists coming out of his roof.

From the time, all I remember was how many shitty Rachel figures there were everywhere. But in hindsight, they really don't look so bad, except for the actual human integration. Swap out the heads, repaint the hands, they look better than year one BW figures. I'd consider buying Visser Three and Ax/Scorpion. Aso, I'm not seeing a Jake with big gorilla arms, the Jake/Tiger figure's proportions are actually quite good - he's a kibble queen and wearing jean shorts, and his forearms have snap-on tiger paws, but overall not really that awful.

Look at how poorly Kamen Rider has done in the US in its several attempts at cracking that market.

That's only because Bandai sucks dick at releasing anything oriented at anyone over the age of 6, and because nobody is going to air a subtitled TV show over here, and dubbing live action is generally not a thing that happens anymore in the US. There are 'huge' American Kamen Rider fanbases who readily buy up expensive import KR toys and devour the subbed episodes.

Tell that to years of US success with Gundam despite no media support 90% of the time.

Are there really "huge" fanbases here, or is the reason you put it in quotes because it's relatively large compared to other Japanese imports that have tiny fanbases over here?

Did we bitch this much when Generations Warpath came out, or what?

Absolutely not.

JT wrote:And Bumper would be a poor choice right now, this is not a welcome environment for little yellow car characters thanks to Hasbro going Bumblecrazbee.

On the contrary--if Hasbro was smart, they would do every "Bumblebee" variation to match a specific incarnation of different guy. I would totally buy an obvious "Bumper" toy if it were still named Bumblebee. (In fact, that would probably be appropriate, given Bumblejumper's mythical origins!)

I don't follow your thinking here whatsoever.

Shocktrek wrote:Rodimus, Cyclonus and Arcee in particular have had more new figures than we really needed.

First two I'll give you, but Arcee desperately needs a GOOD toy. Animated is in a shitty aesthetic, same goes for the Movie and Prime--and she's even the wrong colour in Prime!

Yeah, the problem is the color, not the altmode or behavior.

Yes, I'm saying I'd buy a Generations Arcee.

Based on G1? Me too. Her getting to the top 5 suggests we're not alone there either.

TM wrote:Some on-line TF fans are HEAVILY SPECULATING that the Hasbro Reissue Predaking might NOT have any diecast metal parts & might be 100% plastic.

Utterly wrong. You can actually see die-cast in my photo here:
http://photos.actionfigs.com/exclusives ... 00381.html
Look at the outside cut-aways on Tantrum, mottled die-cast right there. Moreover, BBTS is selling it as coming with "die-cast metal parts" and a shipping weight of 4.9 pounds - over double the 2.2 pounds of the original die-cast figure. And what about all the gold parts that aren't stickers, don't those HAVE to be metal to take that kind of color? Pretty sure they do, and each gold part has the look of die-cast as well.

Shockwave wrote:That would explain the price difference between the recent Takara Encore reissue (~$200) and this one ($119).

This is why rumors and speculation are toxic to a brand. It's not true, it's utter nonsense since Takara reissues always cost more, but because THAT GUY UP THERE said it, your mind tries to force it to make sense.

Sparky wrote:Artist Emiliano Santalucia has released his concept art for the new Generations Rhinox, which he had a part in designing with Hasbro. He also helped design the new Waspinator, Cosmos and Sky High figures as well.

Glad even he sees why changing the altmode to be more aggressive than his slothful, sleepy rhino mode made sense. He must be talented because that looks just like the figure.

JediTricks wrote:

Shocktrek wrote:Rodimus, Cyclonus and Arcee in particular have had more new figures than we really needed.

First two I'll give you, but Arcee desperately needs a GOOD toy. Animated is in a shitty aesthetic, same goes for the Movie and Prime--and she's even the wrong colour in Prime!

Yeah, the problem is the color, not the altmode or behavior.

Yes, I'm saying I'd buy a Generations Arcee.

Based on G1? Me too. Her getting to the top 5 suggests we're not alone there either.

Me too actually.

JediTricks wrote:

TM wrote:Some on-line TF fans are HEAVILY SPECULATING that the Hasbro Reissue Predaking might NOT have any diecast metal parts & might be 100% plastic.

Utterly wrong. You can actually see die-cast in my photo here:
http://photos.actionfigs.com/exclusives ... 00381.html
Look at the outside cut-aways on Tantrum, mottled die-cast right there. Moreover, BBTS is selling it as coming with "die-cast metal parts" and a shipping weight of 4.9 pounds - over double the 2.2 pounds of the original die-cast figure.

Sweet!

JediTricks wrote:And what about all the gold parts that aren't stickers, don't those HAVE to be metal to take that kind of color? Pretty sure they do, and each gold part has the look of die-cast as well.

Not entirely sure I agree with you on this one as I've seen plenty of TFs (and other toys to boot) with that color gold painted on plastic. Besides, they would have to have replaced some of the original plastic with die cast and I'm not sure they'd be willing to spend the money for all those new molds.

JediTricks wrote:

Shockwave wrote:That would explain the price difference between the recent Takara Encore reissue (~$200) and this one ($119).

This is why rumors and speculation are toxic to a brand. It's not true, it's utter nonsense since Takara reissues always cost more, but because THAT GUY UP THERE said it, your mind tries to force it to make sense.

Oh no, I thought it first but TM was the first to actually say it which is why I agreed with it. I am glad to be wrong though

Onslaught Six wrote: First two I'll give you, but Arcee desperately needs a GOOD toy. Animated is in a shitty aesthetic, same goes for the Movie and Prime--and she's even the wrong colour in Prime!

I agree Arcee needs a newer Classic-verse Deluxe toy,as she never got one in this line. I also agree that all the OTHER TF toy lines Arcee toys were either complete garbage,the wrong size scale or doesn't match the aesthetic sculpts of the Generations toys.

I DIS-AGREE with you on the other Two. Rodimus Prime,The grown up/bigger version that bears the matrix,never got a Classics-Verse toy,so he neeeds one,at least in the 8 inch Ultra size scale or in the 9.5 inch Leader size scale.

2.0 Cyclonus received a classics-verse toy in the WRONG/small deluxe size scale. This character needs a proper bigger sized Voyager or 8 inch Ultra sized toy in Generations. Because the original 1986 G-1 Cyclonus toy was twice the size of the majority of the 1984 TF toys. 1986 cartoon/movie Cyclonus was a huge character,had a high 2nd in command position rank & was almost the size of the faction leaders in the G-1 Media.

Look at Transtech, that was trying to at least extend the box and what happened? Abortion.

Because of Beast Machines, which, while pretty great, had its flaws as both a sequel to Beast Wars and as a cartoon for children. (BM is pretty obviously pitching to at least teenagers, if not full-blown adults.) BM would have done ten times better if it weren't the only thing they were doing at the time.

From the time, all I remember was how many shitty Rachel figures there were everywhere. But in hindsight, they really don't look so bad, except for the actual human integration. Swap out the heads, repaint the hands, they look better than year one BW figures. I'd consider buying Visser Three and Ax/Scorpion. Aso, I'm not seeing a Jake with big gorilla arms, the Jake/Tiger figure's proportions are actually quite good - he's a kibble queen and wearing jean shorts, and his forearms have snap-on tiger paws, but overall not really that awful.

I was wrong, Marco was the one with the gorilla arms:
http://www.tfu.info/1999/Animorphs/Marc ... /marco.htm

And you're completely right; swap the human bits for robot bits, and they're great BW toys. But they weren't sold as that; they were sold as "humans who turn into animals," and they fail as both.

Are there really "huge" fanbases here, or is the reason you put it in quotes because it's relatively large compared to other Japanese imports that have tiny fanbases over here?

Can't it be both? And you've known me for long enough to know that if I meant those to be full quotes, they would be--it's just a lazy way to imply italics.

I don't follow your thinking here whatsoever.

If they released an obvious Bumblejumper or Hubcap toy, I'd buy it in a second, even if it were named Bumblebee. (Bumblejumper was supposedly sold on both Bumblebee and Cliffjumper cards, hence his original name, which is why it'd be funny to sell a new Bumblejumper toy on a Bumblebee card.)

Yeah, the problem is the color, not the altmode or behavior.

They could make Generations Arcee as a motorcycle and I wouldn't mind.