Let me tell you guys what I really think killed off G1.........greed. Pure and simple. Just plain greed. Hasbro had been making so much money$$$$ with the Transformers toy line. Transformers outsold everything, G.I. Joe, Barbie, Cabbage Patch Kids, etc. Anyway, with that being said, I think by the time Transformers, The Movie rolled around Hasbro was rolling in dough$$$$. Seriously, rolling in some cash here. TF:TM didn't do too well at the box office granted, but I'd be willing to bet the farm that Hasbro didn't lose anything compared to all the profit that rolled in at this point.

 

I figure they had gotten pretty greedy by this point and decided that people would eat up the cartoon regardless of the quality. Thus enters Akom and there piss poor animation. They did a few crap episodes for Season 2 but did the majority of Season 3. This compared with the killing-off of key players caused interest to wane. Thus led to the eventual sell off to Japan for the Japanese series.

 

The Japanese series had a pretty good storyline. It was much better than the majority of Season 3. If they had done the Japanese series in America with the American voice actors, I beleive it would have kept Transformers more than alive for the next couple of years. I figure Hasbro had made so much money off the line that by this time they didn't really care.

 

Do any of you have any thoughts on this?

Totally. The Jap eps rocked, and with the right voicings, it could have been sweet. But isn't there some sort of rumor that the Headmaster series where meant for the rest of the world but due to some kind of goof-up the idea got scrapped and Rebirth was done instead?

Totally. The Jap eps rocked, and with the right voicings, it could have been sweet. But isn't there some sort of rumor that the Headmaster series where meant for the rest of the world but due to some kind of goof-up the idea got scrapped and Rebirth was done instead?

I'm not sure. It would be interesting to find out though.

I think that crazy gimmicks killed G1... i mean where the smurf were the disguise altmodes by season 3?

 

 

oh and........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,500 post :clap :yay :humps

it was toy marketing strategy that killed G1, they used the cartoon as a sales tool which is fair enough but if they used it properly but they attempted to foist unbpopular characters upon us which were not desired. In the UK when g1 first appeared you couldnt find any of the cool stuff, you never saw megatron, soundwave or prime anywhere, i ended up with ratchet as my first TF (grrr) they could have sold the popular stuff for years after they stopped them.

 

I knew the death knell was sounding as soon as I saw the headmasters and pretenders, gimmicks to prop up an dying line

Well, the G1 cartoon was killed off due to lack of ratings. The toys continued to sell fairly well though waning for 2 more years and the comic continued as long as well, ultimately it was the lack of sales that killed it then, but was remade in G2 a year after the last G1 figure was sold in the US.

Well, the G1 cartoon was killed off due to lack of ratings.

Ah ratings, the bane of anything not understood by morons

 

Futurama was canned cos it wasnt getting the ratings they wanted despite it selling massively in international markets, in terms of airtime and dvd sales, imbeciles.

Yes, I agree... 5 years ago, my brother purchased 8 VHS tapes with every transformer episode recorded onto them. Some of the episode qualtiy was poor, but when you are a fan you tend to ignore that. Rewatching the first two seasons was a magically treat, but when we arrived to Season 3... it seemed to turn into a chore to watch... just like watching Armada. I was never aware of the greed from Hasbro which you have stated, but the quality the cartoon was bad. The best episodes from Season 3 has to be when they brought back Optimus Prime. I believe at that time, I remember the toys became boring and more blocky... and Ninja Turtles came out so every 10 year old boy my age was into that. I remember selling all my transformers and he-mans to get money to buy Ninja Turtles.

When I was talking about greed I meant that G.I. Joe and some of the other shows done by Sunbow weren't subjected to the Akom animation. I'm not sure about that though. But it seems that Hasbro had made so much money off the Transformers previously, that they figured it would sell regardless of the quality.

When I was talking about greed I meant that G.I. Joe and some of the other shows done by Sunbow weren't subjected to the Akom animation. I'm not sure about that though. But it seems that Hasbro had made so much money off the Transformers previously, that they figured it would sell regardless of the quality.

exactly, no investment followed and the fans left in droves, a great pity but we wont shore up a company which abuses fans with such crappy merchandise and weak marketing ploys (right we wanna shift this new rodimus prime toy, its a one move transformation and has no articulation, kill Optimus prime then the kids will have to buy him ;))