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Leader sized TF toys,Is hasbro catering them towards adults fans?


Shadowpanther

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For anyone to claim that the leader toys were being aimed at adult fans/collectors,

 

It's worth a mention that Takara themselves created a movie verse masterpiece toy line that consisted of 2 to 5 leader sized movie verse figures. So if takara themselves called certain movie verse leader toys as masterpieces this is good enough for me & I consider this canon.

Those were not the normal retail versions. They were upgraded with better paint and some chrome. In my opinion, they were just cash grabs from Takara and not worthy of the "Masterpiece" title. Back to your original topic. Like people stated earlier, there wouldn't be the goofy electronic sounds and lights if the Leader Class figures were targeted for adults. I think a majority of the adult collectors don't care about that stuff. They would be a lot more complex (I do agree that Sentinel Prime was complex unlike what some people claim to think) and have a more "premium" feel to them. AKA the REAL Masterpiece line. Which are totally designed to be display pieces only.

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i just wanna go on record saying that i hate electronics in my toys...battery removal is one of the first things i do when i buy a toy with electronics...

and as for the Takara calling Movies Leaders Masterpeices....HFTD Leader Starscream is no Masterpeice....Dont get me wrong, hes a great toy...But he is to flawed to be a Masterpeice...

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For anyone to claim that the leader toys were being aimed at adult fans/collectors,

 

It's worth a mention that Takara themselves created a movie verse masterpiece toy line that consisted of 2 to 5 leader sized movie verse figures. So if takara themselves called certain movie verse leader toys as masterpieces this is good enough for me & I consider this canon.

 

To be perfectly honest, what Takara is calling (or REPURPOSING) figures already released in the United States (that are aimed at kids, BTW) is irrelevant to me, and here are a couple of reasons why. 1) I've got MP Starscream and the Bayverse leader version of the character in front of me right now. The one is clearly of a different ilk than the other. The MP figure is, for all intents and purposes, a transforming dual model kit. It is fragile and clearly not designed or constructed for the rigors and stresses of daily play. The Bayverse toy, on the other side of the rainbow, has features that would ordinarily appeal only to children and can take the rigors and stresses of daily play with a child of at least marginal attentiveness. This leads me to 2): just because Takara wants to go down the slippery slope of watering down the MP line (which has already been watered down due to the unrelenting re-use of existing molds) by including leader class figures from other TF lines doesn't mean I have to go down the rabbit hole with them. There is no possible way I could or would take as canon a company essentially taking ROTF deluxe (or HA, for that matter) Mudflap, repainting it extensively and calling it a Masterpiece figure. It is simple profiteering. Nothing else.

 

Example: A true "Movie Masterpiece" would have culminated in new molds for whatever Bayverse characters made the cut in which the final robot mode was as close as possible to the CGI, the vehicle modes would have rubber tires, there would be die-cast, etc., etc., etc.

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For anyone to claim that the leader toys were being aimed at adult fans/collectors,

 

It's worth a mention that Takara themselves created a movie verse masterpiece toy line that consisted of 2 to 5 leader sized movie verse figures. So if takara themselves called certain movie verse leader toys as masterpieces this is good enough for me & I consider this canon.

 

To be perfectly honest, what Takara is calling (or REPURPOSING) figures already released in the United States (that are aimed at kids, BTW) is irrelevant to me, and here are a couple of reasons why. 1) I've got MP Starscream and the Bayverse leader version of the character in front of me right now. The one is clearly of a different ilk than the other. The MP figure is, for all intents and purposes, a transforming dual model kit. It is fragile and clearly not designed or constructed for the rigors and stresses of daily play. The Bayverse toy, on the other side of the rainbow, has features that would ordinarily appeal only to children and can take the rigors and stresses of daily play with a child of at least marginal attentiveness. This leads me to 2): just because Takara wants to go down the slippery slope of watering down the MP line (which has already been watered down due to the unrelenting re-use of existing molds) by including leader class figures from other TF lines doesn't mean I have to go down the rabbit hole with them. There is no possible way I could or would take as canon a company essentially taking ROTF deluxe (or HA, for that matter) Mudflap, repainting it extensively and calling it a Masterpiece figure. It is simple profiteering. Nothing else.

 

Example: A true "Movie Masterpiece" would have culminated in new molds for whatever Bayverse characters made the cut in which the final robot mode was as close as possible to the CGI, the vehicle modes would have rubber tires, there would be die-cast, etc., etc., etc.

 

Takara is clearly the one creating all these masterpiece TF toys not Hasbro. So if Takara calls some movie verse leader toys as MP movie verse leader sized toys,then I consider it official & canon.

 

The biggest complaint TF fans have with the masterpiece TF toys is that most of them are extremly fragile. MP Grimlock gets the most praise for being the least fragile MP TF toy of the lot.

 

This is the first time via your reply,that I've ever seen any on-line internet TF fan praise the fragile nature of the MP TF toys. I guess different strokes for different folks.

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See, that's fascinating. Because I never praised the fragile nature of the MP figures, and neither would anyone else. It is simply a statement of fact.

 

As far as Takara is concerned: let's say that for the sake of saying so that the Bayverse leaders that Takara has redecoed are Takara Masterpieces and that this is TAKARA'S canon. It's still irrelevant to me. Takara can do as they please. What you are talking about is marketing. I bought my Bayverse leaders stateside and HASBRO is not marketing them to adults. At all. Of course Takara made the toys, but: there is not one concession I see conclusively from Hasbro that would lend to that assertion that Hasbro is catering them toward adult fans. They are toys. They are not referred to as collectibles or fine figurines, and they never have been. They are referred to as toys. To be marketed to children. The adult collector can feel free to buy as many of them as they want, but they are still toys and Hasbro is marketing them to children. I have no problem with that and can't imagine anyone else having a problem with that, either.

 

 

As far as the fragility of the MP figures, to be perfectly honest: Grimlock frightens me as much as Megatron, Rodimus Prime and Starscream. The most durable offering from MP by far is Optimus Prime, who has the bonus of functioning like a melee weapon.

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  • 5 weeks later...

to me the only Leader sized toy under the Hasbro label that was more gear toward adults was Leader Starscream with out question!!!

 

Other leader toys seemed to be to simple and just bricks filled with electronics to make lights and sounds for the kiddies.

 

The only other adult friendly line was the Human Alliance main line and some of the classics.

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It doesn't matter what size the electronics package is inside the TF toy. nor does it matter how tasteful,un-tasteful or what the electronics do. what matters is both the MP TF Toys & regular TF leader sized toys have electronics in them. so either their both catered towards kids or their both not or both can go either way.

 

FWIW,Having electronics & lights+sounds in a TF toy doesn't classify it as being aimed at kids. THIS STATEMENT MAKES NO SENSE,For the sheer fact most adult males love to buy loud,annoying & overly huge electronics to put in their house or car via a gigantic huge TV,HUGE home stero stystem,giagntic radio,speakers,woofers,equalizers inside their car they drive in. In addition most adult males buy those teddy bears/stuff animals/whatever & other similar devices with those annoying speeech & light up electronics for their girl griends or wives. most wives/girlfriends are adults & don't consider this stuff only catered towards kids. most adult males love to buy those hand held electronics with super annoying noises,sound effects & light up stuff via iphones,androids,hand held video games,tiny radio/whatever with ear phones to listen to music.

 

It does matter, and I'll tell you why. LED gimmicks take up very little space - all you need is a small battery compartment, wires and a small LED bulb. That's it. Sound gimmicks on the other hand need to house a speaker. As a result, EVERY toy that has a sound gimmick has this electronic-sound gimmick block that cannot be "broken up." In other words, toy designers have to engineer a toy around that inflexible block. Look at toys like G2 Laser Rods, Micron Legend Hot Rod, MP Grimlock etc.; the gimmicks are "spread" throughout different parts of the toy without seriously inhibiting engineering in a detrimental way.

 

This simply isn't the case with sound gimmicks. Most sound gimmicked TFs have the electronics located somewhere in the body/torso, and as a result that torso block is exactly that - a block. It cannot become incorporated in the transformation (you can only have other parts of the Transformer shift around it at best) and thus inherently inhibits/limits toy engineering/design. So many TF toys could be better designed if they didn't have sound gimmicks inside them. :(

 

IMO most Leader Class toys are NOT worth their hefty price point. The only Leaders I reckon come anywhere close to actually being WORTH paying full RRP for would be Animated Megatron, movie Optimus Prime & ROTF Optimus Prime. That's it. Every other Leader I've gotten I either think, "Man that wasn't worth paying full RRP," or "Gee I'm glad I got that on sale!" Seriously... how often has anyone here actually paid FULL retail price for a Leader toy and thought, "Yep... that was totally worth every cent!"? I almost never think this after buying a Leader. Heck, I rarely think this after buying most boxed TFs. (-_-) And some Leader Class toys are absolute POS -- TF Movie and ROTF Megatron would have to be the worst. Just really, really CRAPHOUSE toys! Expensive craphouse toys! Both of those toys transform from ugly robots to folded up ugly robots. Note: a folded up robot is NOT a vehicle mode! It's like the freakin' 1988 Pretenders all over again...

 

If the movie Leaders seem complex, it's because they're based on very complex movie models that have been greatly simplified. Whereas Masterpieces are greatly sophisticated versions of G1 toys ('cept Grimlock who's only moderately sophisticated). I wouldn't consider any of the Animated Leaders to be anywhere near as complex as a Masterpiece toy -- doesn't make them bad, as I said, I think Animated Megatron's one of the better Leader Class toys they've made; but I wouldn't compare him with a Masterpiece.

 

You know a real easy way to tell if a toy is targeted at adults? The minimum age requirement. A lot of Takara's "high end" adult collector-centric figures are explicitly marketed toward "Ages 15 and Up." That's why their reissues are able to have unlengthened missiles with super-powerful launchers that would violate choking hazard standards if the toys were marketed at children. Hasbro on the other hand marketed their G1 reissues at Ages 8+, and consequently had to do things like lengthen missiles, disable launchers etc.

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It doesn't matter what size the electronics package is inside the TF toy. nor does it matter how tasteful,un-tasteful or what the electronics do. what matters is both the MP TF Toys & regular TF leader sized toys have electronics in them. so either their both catered towards kids or their both not or both can go either way.

 

FWIW,Having electronics & lights+sounds in a TF toy doesn't classify it as being aimed at kids. THIS STATEMENT MAKES NO SENSE,For the sheer fact most adult males love to buy loud,annoying & overly huge electronics to put in their house or car via a gigantic huge TV,HUGE home stero stystem,giagntic radio,speakers,woofers,equalizers inside their car they drive in. In addition most adult males buy those teddy bears/stuff animals/whatever & other similar devices with those annoying speeech & light up electronics for their girl griends or wives. most wives/girlfriends are adults & don't consider this stuff only catered towards kids. most adult males love to buy those hand held electronics with super annoying noises,sound effects & light up stuff via iphones,androids,hand held video games,tiny radio/whatever with ear phones to listen to music.

 

It does matter, and I'll tell you why. LED gimmicks take up very little space - all you need is a small battery compartment, wires and a small LED bulb. That's it. Sound gimmicks on the other hand need to house a speaker. As a result, EVERY toy that has a sound gimmick has this electronic-sound gimmick block that cannot be "broken up." In other words, toy designers have to engineer a toy around that inflexible block. Look at toys like G2 Laser Rods, Micron Legend Hot Rod, MP Grimlock etc.; the gimmicks are "spread" throughout different parts of the toy without seriously inhibiting engineering in a detrimental way.

 

This simply isn't the case with sound gimmicks. Most sound gimmicked TFs have the electronics located somewhere in the body/torso, and as a result that torso block is exactly that - a block. It cannot become incorporated in the transformation (you can only have other parts of the Transformer shift around it at best) and thus inherently inhibits/limits toy engineering/design. So many TF toys could be better designed if they didn't have sound gimmicks inside them. :(

 

IMO most Leader Class toys are NOT worth their hefty price point. The only Leaders I reckon come anywhere close to actually being WORTH paying full RRP for would be Animated Megatron, movie Optimus Prime & ROTF Optimus Prime. That's it. Every other Leader I've gotten I either think, "Man that wasn't worth paying full RRP," or "Gee I'm glad I got that on sale!" Seriously... how often has anyone here actually paid FULL retail price for a Leader toy and thought, "Yep... that was totally worth every cent!"? I almost never think this after buying a Leader. Heck, I rarely think this after buying most boxed TFs. (-_-) And some Leader Class toys are absolute POS -- TF Movie and ROTF Megatron would have to be the worst. Just really, really CRAPHOUSE toys! Expensive craphouse toys! Both of those toys transform from ugly robots to folded up ugly robots. Note: a folded up robot is NOT a vehicle mode! It's like the freakin' 1988 Pretenders all over again...

 

If the movie Leaders seem complex, it's because they're based on very complex movie models that have been greatly simplified. Whereas Masterpieces are greatly sophisticated versions of G1 toys ('cept Grimlock who's only moderately sophisticated). I wouldn't consider any of the Animated Leaders to be anywhere near as complex as a Masterpiece toy -- doesn't make them bad, as I said, I think Animated Megatron's one of the better Leader Class toys they've made; but I wouldn't compare him with a Masterpiece.

 

You know a real easy way to tell if a toy is targeted at adults? The minimum age requirement. A lot of Takara's "high end" adult collector-centric figures are explicitly marketed toward "Ages 15 and Up." That's why their reissues are able to have unlengthened missiles with super-powerful launchers that would violate choking hazard standards if the toys were marketed at children. Hasbro on the other hand marketed their G1 reissues at Ages 8+, and consequently had to do things like lengthen missiles, disable launchers etc.

 

You make very good points as concerns the value vs. cost ratio of leader-class figures. Every leader from the first TF movie is just plain garbage, with the sole redeeeming factor being Brawl, who is subpar at best, IMHO (too many parts that can be lost; offset feet and legs that have limited practical articulation and a transformation that truly sucks). I paid full retail for all of them and I'm still irked by this to this very day. It got better during ROTF: the Optimus leader is very good; Megs is passable in bot mode and Jetfire is pure garbage in about as many ways as a toy can be considered to be garbage. DOTM was a huge step back, as Sentinel Prime is good but is lacking in far too many details that the smaller voyager toy actually has (And neither mold even begins to get his arms or hips right at all). Bumblebee is a special and redundant type of shitty and Ironhide is so uninspiring...I see this toy every time I walk into my local TRU and I don't think twice about passing him by every time...but I might pick him up if he were on clearance. The only Bayverse leader I own that was truly worth the money was the all-but flawless Starscream leader. Animated (as always) shows the way with an excellent Megatron leader whose only flaw is its knock-knees, a stellar Ultra Magnus and an average at best Bulkhead. I've never thought twice about paying full retail for Ultra Mags and Megs...but Bulkhead?

 

At least I didn't spend my money on that one...that toy was bought for me.

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