I'm losing interest big time. None of the fiction is worth a fuck anymore and in retrospect, even Animated wasn't that great.

 

If Hasbro would commission some actually decent writers who understand character development and meaningful dialogue it might be different. But they don't. Because:

 

A. Good writing costs more.

 

B. No one thinks kids can or even want to understand good writing, which is bullshit.

 

So, yeah, I have to say, not being the target demographic sucks.

 

 

Now, the toys, I'm still interested in them... Except my OCD's been going through a spike the past couple of months and I keep noticing little stability flaws that ruin otherwise good figures for me.

I never realy cared about the provided fiction, so if thats circling the drain, so be it.

 

I was always in this for the toys. I was really looking forard to the TF2 figures, but Hasbro realy dropped the ball making the line virtualy unintresting after wave 3. Sure there's still some jems to come, but...

 

As for loosing intrest in Transformers because of something like that, I have to say no. These things have happened before. So maybe I'm put off to general retail right now, but the thing about Transformers is that it's so diverse and aged that even if retail is a bust, there is still so much more to look into...

 

That right there is why even if I'm annoyed with Hasbro, I'll never loose intrest in Transformers. Other properties have come and gone for me, but this is the one thats hanging on :)

I'm losing interest big time. None of the fiction is worth a fuck anymore and in retrospect, even Animated wasn't that great.

 

If Hasbro would commission some actually decent writers who understand character development and meaningful dialogue it might be different. But they don't. Because:

 

A. Good writing costs more.

 

It's not that good writing cost more, it's that staff writers get lazy. I'm willing to bet a number of talented people right here would be willing to contribute just to see their names in the credits. Staff writers and professional help are normaly pulled between projects and just pump out whatever.

 

 

B. No one thinks kids can or even want to understand good writing, which is bullshit.

 

 

Don't blame the kids. I forget the guys name, but the voice actor of G1 Tracks and Cosmos said it best in one of the Rhino DVD interviews. "kids aren't given as much credit as they deserve now a days. The writing is padded and sugar coated because god forbid they get exposed to anything" He went on to say that it wasn't the kids, but the entire industry that should be blamed for that.

 

This is very true. When I was a kid, bike pads where called scabs. Kids today are protected from to much, and look at the uproar that happens when they arent.

 

The sad truth is in that, kids today are weaker, not as sharp, and sadly bored...

 

All this though, is why I simply take the current fictions as just shows. The last decent series that apealed on all levels sadly was Beast Wars, with Animated being the pinical of the sugar coated show mentality.

 

 

Sucks, but I have my own imagination, so whatever...

^ It sort of makes me curious about shows like Code Geass and Eureka seveN. They dealt with some hard core shit, especially Code Geass. Were they meant for Japanese kids like Animated was meant for American kids? Or were they meant for people ages 16 and up who're expected to start appreciating such things?

It's less strict in Japan, they can get away with alot more.

You can tell though that their shows are made age and gender apropriate

 

They do the same thing here, things are just more generalized now. Gotta be PC and all. Then you have your Adult Swim type stuff, but most of that is either a joke or imported...

 

Transformers has to much money to make to try and be edgy in a series anymore, can't even risk offending the consumer.

I've lost some interest...for now. Like someone mentioned, it's just downtime, but I actually welcome it. Its a good chance to save up for when the momentum comes back again and to enjoy what I have.

Like most of the posts can't say I've really lost interest, but I'm defiantly disappointed with how Hasbro has handled the franchise of recent. But with the downtime I've been able to support Hasbro with the movie GI Joe line which has been fantastic. Kinda makes me wonder why Hasbro drops the ball with one franchise and not the other, in regards of keeping the wave releases steady.

In my time I have lost, gained, lost again, changed focus, lost focus and gotten out of the hobby altogether.

 

Considering my general distaste for the movie Universe, you would think this would be a down time for me but if I can make through Armada, I can make it through anything.

 

I think Animated really recharged my interest. With all the added focus on Transformers by Hasbro and the public at large, Hasbro has lots of money to throw at the property. We can thank Transformers (2007) for TF: Animated. I am excited as to what the future holds.

Like most posters have said, it's not Transformers as such that I'm losing interest in, it's just the current state of a franchise which I'm sure will be around for a long time yet.

 

But honestly, for a 25th Anniversary year it's frankly disappointing. Yeah, there's wall to wall ROTF movie stuff, but for those of us who aren't movie fanatics things look bleak.

 

Masterpiece Grimlock has been the one truly exciting figure for me all year. Not that I've stopped buying TFs; lately I've been catching up on stuff which never materialised at retail here in the UK (Universe Inferno, Animated Wreck-Gar, Encore figs etc etc).

The 2007 movie re-ignited my interest in Transformers (although nostalgia led to me snagging a Takara Prime before then) and Animated was great fun, but the second film. Dear lord it was so many shades of bad with tiny glimmers of what could have been something excellent. Granted the old cartoons weren't exactly masterpieces of plot and writing, and I'm not expecting overly deep and meaningful films from Michael Bay (hell, I love The Rock, gloriously daft as it is), but it's not the 80s any more and I was expecting a tad more quality and less racist caricatures, pointless extra characters, and leg humping.

 

I'm hoping the third film will be an improvement, but if it keeps sliding down the quality scale it's likely my interest in the franchise will probably slip back to a background childhood thing, especially without any more episodes of Animated coming out. IDW's All Hail Megatron is about the only Transformers thing I'm spending money on at the moment and I'm not 100% if I'll continue to buy the ongoing after it if the writing quality drops.

 

There's nothing wrong with the toys (although I'm a little baffled by the massive amounts of repaints of what's essentially the same toy), but I generally buy what I like the look of (like the Takara Grimlock) opposed to everything available.