is the hunt over?

[Sparky Prime]

Those figures are outliers, and do not work as reference points.

The bad face-sculpts and lower articulation were more common in "Beast Wars". But, they were acceptable at the time because standards/expectations were lower.

What do you mean it's an outlier? How doesn't it work as a reference point? It's a modern take on a Beast Wars figure. It counts. You choosing to ignore it is cherry picking. Bad face-sculpts, less articulation, and an occasional frankly bad figure... It all still exists in modern lines. That's the point. There is no set "standard/expectation" for how good the figures are supposed to be. While the original Beast Wars figures have aged somewhat, that doesn't mean they are a "lower standard" compared to modern line figures. Again, I'd argue some of those Beast Wars figures, despite being somewhat aged, are still equal to, if not better than some modern figures.

The design and engineering standards are why standards and expectations were lower.

Just because a newer figure can potentially be built better thanks to advancements in design and engineering, it doesn't necessarily mean the new product will always be better than an older product. These are two separate things.

Starting with the "Unicron Trilogy", Hasbro was more careful about making sure that toys and animation models were consistent.

You're kidding right? Just some quick examples off the top of my head: Armada's animation was all over the place and was generally pretty bad, to the point some scenes were redrawn for the Japanese version of the series. Energon, because the CGI used for the Transformers was so stiff, some scenes switched to traditional cel animation to get the characters to show something more than a slacked jaw expression. Cybertron, Leobreaker/Nemesis Breaker had fingers in their combiner arm mode, which the toy didn't have...

I'll say it again... Pretty much all animation makes aesthetic cheats.

[Shockwave]

Is the hunt over for me? Yeah, sort of, but also no, not really. My go to with this sort of thing is Diaclone Blue Bluestreak. I have both Masterpiece and the Buzzworthy Bumblebee figures and I'm pretty happy with both. So much so that when my BB figure broke, I replaced it. But is the hunt over? No. It's never over. There's always going to be that next other figure that I'll want to get or am looking forward to or some character that I'll think "They should do a figure of that".

As for the rest of this discussion, I'll throw in my 2 cents: I think the biggest example of change of standards for what would be considered "acceptable" (a thing that by it's very nature is going to be subjective and therefore different from person to person and therefore, cannot have a scientifically agreed upon measurement of quality) the best example is going to be G1 toys and their modern counterparts. And I'm going to voice the unpopular opinion here with Legacy Blitzwing: Legacy BW is literally the G1 toy updated for modern engineering. And yet, he tends to get a lot of crap and is generally considered a terrible toy for the same features that were on the original toy. I am actually pretty happy with mine. The original toy had the jet cockpit showing in tank mode. The jet mode was almost literally the upside down tank with wings. Both of which are features on the Legacy figure. If I wanted a figure of the original with better articulation, then Hasbro just produced it. HOWEVER: I will say it's a great VOYAGER sized figure, but not a great LEADER class figure. THAT'S where Hasbro biffed it. But, at the end of the day, I do not regret buying it.

So yeah, things like leg, hip, waist, wrist and ankle articulation were things that weren't possible with the engineering of the 80's and the lack of movement was acceptable back then because of what was available at the time. Now, in modern figures, and I'll define "modern" as anything from the 90's on, articulation was better and therefore became expected. The original BW figures still hold up as some of the better TFs ever made. I feel the same way about original TM Megatron as I do about the Legacy version. They are both great figures that look great in both modes, with comparable articulation. And, I'm going to further ostracize myself by defending another mostly universally hated figure: POTP Optimal Optimus. I have one and I do not regret buying it. I wanted an Optimal Optimus in my collection and have been perfectly happy with him for the last... whenever he came out. The lack of ground mode doesn't bother me and the added fun of having a regular Primal that turns into a surfboard thing is actually pretty fun. I also like the inclusion of the Matrix. Now, there's a local toy shop here where I could just go and buy a complete original and for a reasonable price. I have yet to do so because every time I've thought of doing so, I always think "Nah, I already have an Optimal Optimus" and then I usually buy something else. I also had the original Rattrap recently and he's fine. He hasn't aged any worse than any other figure. In fact, I think he's at least on par with the Kingdom/Legacy figure. The only reason I got rid of him was because I didn't need two Rattraps on either my BW Maximal shelf (which houses the Generations figure) nor with the Legends/Core/whatever we're calling this scale these days figures and that's where I have the Kingdom version.

As for the spiders and the complaint about the number of eyes: Black widows have 8 eyes and tarantulas have 6, so the two species actually DO have different numbers of eyes. The more you know.

As for animation models: I think the only time I've seen animation models come close to the toys is with the Combiner Wars Trilogy cartoons. And even that probably had some cheats. At the end of the day, there's no way that's ever going to be 100% accurate because these things were never meant to exist in real life and as such, the toys are not capable of 100% movement that they need to in order to tell a compelling story. Again, G1 is the best example of this. The toys did not have enough movement for what they needed on screen which is why so many of the characters look so different from their toys. But I feel like Hasbro has spent the last 40 years trying to make toys that do look like those models. And quite frankly, I wish they would quit trying. Just make good toys, I don't care if it looks like a show from 40 years ago.

TL:DR:
Beast Wars figures have aged well and are just fine.
Legacy Blitzwing is not as bad as you think he is.
Optimal Optimus is not as bad as you think he is.
OG Rattrap is not as bad as you think he is.
Different species of spiders have different numbers of eyes.
Toys and cartoon models serve different functions and are therefore never going to be 100% accurate to each other.

There are some standards as far as articulation for robot mode on most figures: Shoulders, ball jointed heads, elbows, hips, knees, ankles etc. Some figures have wrists and waists, but sometimes that will be hindered by alt mode and what engineering is required for transformation. But most of what I listed is pretty standard and has been since the beast era, which is why so many of the toys still hold up today.

[Shockwave]

Ok, so I thought of something else regarding articulation. I recently purchased a copy of Armada Overload. This is a figure that was released in... I believe 2005. The original Optimal Primal was what, 1998? 99? About 6-7 years earlier. The original Primal has WAY more articulation than Overload. Seriously, this thing, for as big as it is, has almost no articulation. The shoulders rotate (they don't swing out!) and the legs have hip joints and that's it. There's better articulation on 1980's Star Wars figures. And again, this was 6-7 years AFTER the Beast Era. But, I certainly think the Beast Era standardized articulation to the point where it is expected. I purchased Overload only seeing him in vehicle mode and, figuring that it was a post Beast Era toy that the bot mode would have better articulation. I have to admit, that I am a little disappointed with it. This was bought from the same shop that has that original Primal figure and when I got Overload home, for the first time since I saw Primal there, I found myself wishing I'd bought that instead. Come to think of it, I believe Wing Saber suffered from the same problem. Some UT toys did not live up to the articulation standards that were normalized in the Beast Era and I think we could all probably agree that it's "unacceptable".

[Sparky Prime]

And, I'm going to further ostracize myself by defending another mostly universally hated figure: POTP Optimal Optimus. I have one and I do not regret buying it. I wanted an Optimal Optimus in my collection and have been perfectly happy with him for the last... whenever he came out. The lack of ground mode doesn't bother me and the added fun of having a regular Primal that turns into a surfboard thing is actually pretty fun. I also like the inclusion of the Matrix. Now, there's a local toy shop here where I could just go and buy a complete original and for a reasonable price. I have yet to do so because every time I've thought of doing so, I always think "Nah, I already have an Optimal Optimus" and then I usually buy something else.

To each their own... But to me, a good update of Optimal Optimus should absolutely have all four modes. Especially when the flight mode isn't really all that different from the ground mode. It's a bit careless that they didn't include it. And unlike the contemporary figures in the PotP line, Evolution Optimus Prime and Evolution Rodimus Prime, I don't feel that they incorporated the Optimus Primal figure very well into the Optimal Optimus design. Orion Pax and Hot Rod both worked well as their own individual figure and incorporated seamlessly into the larger body, where as Primal sticks out (literally, on Optimal's back). I like the idea of a Cybertronian Primal figure, but the surfboard thing they went with just isn't very creative to me. Doesn't help that Primal's color scheme somewhat clashes with Optimal's, making the figure stand out more when he's plugged into the Optimal body. The "Throne of the Primes" repaint, which used Primal's colors for the Optimal body, looks a little better with the colors blending into each other.

There are a a few things I do like about the PotP Optimal Optimus though. The Optimal head sculpt is better, more accurate to the show, as is how the cockpit is situated on his chest when the canons aren't deployed. Although, I feel like they could have figured out a way for it to slide down and have the canons come out (or plug in, since they are removable) like they do in the show rather than just sitting on his shoulders. The overall proportions of the figure are better, and I like the improved ankle joints. As I mentioned, I like the idea of the Cybertronian Optimus Primal figure, I just wish they'd been more creative in coming up with an alt mode for it, and integrated better into the Optimal figure. To me, the negatives outweigh the positives, I prefer the original Optimal Optimus of the two.

Ok, so I thought of something else regarding articulation. I recently purchased a copy of Armada Overload. This is a figure that was released in... I believe 2005. The original Optimal Primal was what, 1998? 99? About 6-7 years earlier. The original Primal has WAY more articulation than Overload. Seriously, this thing, for as big as it is, has almost no articulation. The shoulders rotate (they don't swing out!) and the legs have hip joints and that's it. There's better articulation on 1980's Star Wars figures. And again, this was 6-7 years AFTER the Beast Era. But, I certainly think the Beast Era standardized articulation to the point where it is expected. I purchased Overload only seeing him in vehicle mode and, figuring that it was a post Beast Era toy that the bot mode would have better articulation. I have to admit, that I am a little disappointed with it. This was bought from the same shop that has that original Primal figure and when I got Overload home, for the first time since I saw Primal there, I found myself wishing I'd bought that instead. Come to think of it, I believe Wing Saber suffered from the same problem. Some UT toys did not live up to the articulation standards that were normalized in the Beast Era and I think we could all probably agree that it's "unacceptable".

I almost brought up Armada as well. The Armada toyline was a huge step back compared to the Beast-era figures. Supposedly, Hasbro wanted to make the figures a little more simple after the complexities of some of the later Beast-era figures, and with how gimmick heavy the Armada line was, needed to cut costs. I think they overcompensated. A lot of the Armada figures were severely lacking on articulation and detail, they felt so much cheaper than the Beast-era toys. I remember being disappointed by so many of the Armada figures. Hotshot as an example has no head articulation (just a visor that moves up and down), wonky shoulders that could only move outward, has elbows, hips and knees... This is a deluxe figure with only 8 points of articulation. Even the basic Beast Wars figures had at least 9 points of articulation, if not more. Another example: Super mode Optimus Prime... Because the trailer has an auto transforming gimmick, he can't move his legs at all. Just his arms and head. You'd think Jetfire's "superpants" mode would be better, give him knees or something, but the way his transformation works, it's just as bad as the trailer. So yeah, I'd agree the Armada figures were "unacceptable". Even for the time they came out in, they were lacking. I can see why fans of Armada get so excited when Hasbro announces new versions, they really needed improved articulation. The difference with new Beast-era figures is that they're taking what was a great figure and making them even better in most cases.

[JediTricks]

It seems to me less like the hunt is coming to a close because of satiety and more because Hasbro seems to have peaked in 2022 with Transformers and with Star Wars. Sculpts are getting worse, designs are getting lazier, paint is getting simpler, prices are going up, they're churning a lot of the same characters over and over again. With Transformers, the focus on a uniform articulation is great, but it's led to stagnating transformations that feel samey; and they seem to be eschewing the alternate modes for cartoon accuracy where they'll just abandon a chest onto the back of a car or something.

[Ursus mellifera]

it's led to stagnating transformations that feel samey; and they seem to be eschewing the alternate modes for cartoon accuracy where they'll just abandon a chest onto the back of a car or something.

This right here.