Repaints and Legends are bringing me down

[JediTricks]

This goes for all the lines, I guess, so I figure I'll just put it in here. The past few months have been a real downer for me as a TF collector, all the news has been relegated to just repaints and Legends, neither of which do much for me.

I don't care who a repaint is an homage to, if I already own the toy it's unlikely to get me fired up to buy it yet again just because it looks like some obscure European figure or something of that nature. Recolors are always part of the Hasbro business model, but it seems like there's been another hole in the product line the past few months that's only filled by these guys and a handful of new figures, and the first half of next year seems to be more of the same.

Similarly, I couldn't care less about the Legends lines. This scale was cute when you could get 3 Minicons for the price of a basic, but now it's $5 for 1 little figure that is a revisit of a larger figure we already have. They're not that much fun for the price, and they're not as inspired as original Minicons were. Yet the bulk of the new sculpts lately has been these Legends figures, and I just can't find any interest in them.

So, what do you guys think, am I missing something essential about the hobby or am I right on the money?

[Misanthrope Prime]

Habsor is in between its important franchises at the moment- RotF is just beginning its hype machine and Animated season 3 isn't out yet. Once either of those get in swing, this will be less of a problem.



Also, I think the focus on legends has to do with the state of the economy, it's hard for a parent to justify buying a $12 toy for their kid if they're hemorrhaging money, a $5 will have to do, so Hasbro is catering to that market.

[JediTricks]

Habsor is in between its important franchises at the moment- RotF is just beginning its hype machine and Animated season 3 isn't out yet. Once either of those get in swing, this will be less of a problem.

It's been at least a month though, you know? I can't even remember the last new mold I picked up.

Also, I think the focus on legends has to do with the state of the economy, it's hard for a parent to justify buying a $12 toy for their kid if they're hemorrhaging money, a $5 will have to do, so Hasbro is catering to that market.

This wouldn't be such an issue if they didn't make such a horrible pricepoint out of the Activators, that line is the one that would really hook kids but at $9 a pop it's stupid. IMO, Legends are a crappy deal and parents are less likely to drop $5 on a tiny toy that looks no fun, and that's how I see them.

[Dominic]

MP is right that the economy is a huge factor. I have cut back hugely in the last few months, despite getting a promotion at work. (It is not just the expense:income ratio now, but the confidence:uncertainty ratio.) And, I agree, Activators are way over-priced. I know one person who bought an Activator (Bumblebee), as it was scaled to his Bulkhead, sort of.


I agree that some people get too wild about homages to obscure characters. Everybody has a favorite character. And, there is nothing wrong with remaking old favorites. And, using old tooling is a good way to satisfy an economic need, and to make fans happy. But, just painting a toy up like some older toy, regardless of name or anything else, is just cheap. On the other hand, judge each recolor by its own merits. I had movie Dropkick, but actually thought Salvage was better, so I got the recolor. On the other hand, I really have no desire to own Deep Desert Brawl or Overcast. But, I could buy some molds, like Armorhide, over and over again and never get bored.

Similarly, I skipped the first Voyager Prime, but got the G1 homage, if only because it was part of a case I ordered.

I disagree about Legends though. There are some real gems in that line. The last few waves have had some nice touches. Legends Brawn is much better than early impressions might lead one to think. Beachcomber is fun as well.

The line originally started in Japan as a way to have cheaper toys on the shelves, and to compliment the Gigalonians in "Cybertron". But, they sold well enough to justify making more.

Dom

[onslaught86]

I personally am one of the suckers who goes nuts for random homages. They have to be of a particular flavour, like the upcoming Universe redeco of Cybertron Scourge as RID Bruticus. That works for me because I have a lot of love for RID in general, especially Bruticus, and discussed this very idea as a redeco option when Scourge first appeared. The colours are good, the mould is average, but the concept has me really excited. So did BotCon Weirdwolf.

All the same, the seemingly random redecos in Universe ala Overload, Blades, Heavy Load, Vector Prime, Leo Prime and others, all bore me stiff. I'm just not feeling it, many seem uninspired filler.

Legends are a different basket. JT, considering how often you've mentioned the virtues of straightforward vehicle-robot TFs, I'm honestly surprised. When they're cheap and tacky, yes, Legends suck. Universe has mostly remedied this, though they need more paint apps. I really like G2 Megatron and Hound, they're dinky pieces of work. Sure, they make me want larger ones, but they're perfect for desk display and nicely scaled to some larger figures as-is. Hound is pretty close to 1/55 for display with Masterscream, I like that. The old MiniBots were keen, and these are a fitting replacement.

I think it's just a down period since Hasbro's gearing up for ROTF, I had the same problem at this time last year.

[andersonh1]

Legends are a mixed bag, and certainly overpriced for what they are. It used to be you could get a basic or scout for a little more than what Legends cost now. Some of them are decent for the price, and I find that I really like the re-made mini-bots, since they're so close to the original size. But some of the figures they've made into Legends just don't translate well into that size.

As for repaints, it depends on who the repaint is. I'm looking forward to Universe Smokescreen for example, who's a straight repaint. Not so interested in the upcoming Silverbolt repaint figure, or some of the other Voyager sized figures we've seen. A character I'm interested in will sell me, otherwise I tend to skip them.

[Dominic]

I can see the utilitarian value of homages. (They help retain copy-rights.) But, the endless homages to obscure characters really needst to stop. I am getting to the point where I buy new characters on principle. (Dropshot and Heavyload come to mind here. They use old names, but are new characters.)

I can see JT's point on this. Who cares if the toy kind-of-sort-of looks like some obscure bozo from....whatever series. Is it a good toy unto itself? Is the character referenced really worth referencing? (Frankly, I good give a rat''s patootie about Big Daddy. The character contributed next to nothing in ~20 years.) Is the profile well written, and actualy referencing the character?

Dom

[onslaught86]

Okay, example. Universe Stormcloud vs. Universe Darkwing/wind.

I have no desire for Stormcloud, outside of the standard completion factor (I'd buy it cheap, loose, and secondhand, but not new). Stormcloud does nothing for me. He's an homage to an obscure Micromaster, but not one I will ever care about. Yet Universe Powerglide is a very good mould, and probably worth owning multiples of. Darkwing, on the other hand, is a character that's had lots of supporting media, has a great bio, and goes with the existing BotCon Dreadwind, whom I do not own. He's repainted from Universe Silverbolt, a toy I'm really pretty iffy on, as it doesn't justify the price point. I will buy Darkwing, and will have to import him. I will not buy Stormcloud, despite him likely showing up locally. They are very thematically similar redecos, both being dark recolours of light-coloured jets as G1 Decepticons, yet it's the character that makes the difference.

Shame on you, Dom, Big Daddy got good coverage in Dreamwave's Micromasters. Plus, he has the camp factor, and is a good redeco of a decent mould.

[Dominic]

I actually like Stormcloud and the Air Patrol for the fact they appeared early in Furman's US run, and were a nicely disfunctional group. They have at least as much supporting context as Dreadwing/wind. (Something about the mold thought...it just does nothing for me.)

You are right that Big Daddy made a good showing in the DW "MicroMasters" series. But, as the whole point of that story was "mobbed up TFs", I tend to not favor specific characters. Camp-factor has little appeal as so much of the content of late tends to have stupid-value, (often not intentional). I do agree, it was a good recolor of a good mold.

The problem with homages is that they hold the franchise back. "Beast Wars" is generally credited with salvaging the francise, yet is was mostly *new* characters and ideas. I like to think the franchise has enough life in it to be able to move forward, rather than always looking back.

Dom

[onslaught86]

This is a big year for looking back we have coming up. The Movie certainly expanded the franchise via an entirely new design aesthetic that took an awful lot of getting used to, for one. The exercise was then repeated with Animated. Transformers is riding high on nostalgia right now, and nostalgia equals sales, so I'm relatively happy to have two vastly different looks for the robots coupled with the traditional fair offered by the Universe/25th Anniversary line.