heck i remember watching that stuff when i was in elementary school. every day. I was also a fan back in those days, but i was also a TF fan too. TF's are definitly better though.

I think Bandai or whoever just knows their market and is much more aggressive about targeting it than Hasbro is. When I go to a TRU or wherever, I look at all the various toys and think "yeah that's kinda cool" but when I get to Power Rangers I just have absolutely no interest at all. It does nothing for me. But my boys are nuts for it. I think a BIG part of it is the fact that the show combines giant transforming robots with superheroes (which is essentially what the Power Rangers are), all in a LIVE-ACTION format (which I think is key). So it has the best of all worlds.

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:pfx

 

PR is better than TF in virtually every respect: Advertising, show quality, price point, convienient show times, new characters annually, ect.

 

Sure, most TF figures are well articulated, but articulation doesn't mean much if the toy has no personality.  That's why a lot of people on this board prefer G1 Superion to E. Superion. (that, and the whole "no hands" thing.)

Look ma, no handz

 

Well if you use the two planes that have the guns for their weapons as the arms, it sorta looks like he has hands...sorta :redface

 

But yeah, one big thing is the excessive repainting obsession HasTak has. I mean, sure...if it's a good mold, great...but don't just slap on new paint apps and call it a new character (though most people seem to agree that E-Dreadwing was a vast improvement over E-Mirage's color scheme). Yeah, forty bucks for leader-class characters is an awful lot...and only recently did they cut it down to a two-pack of both leaders from Energon that can be had for less than fifty bucks. Of course Energon is going on clearance in a lot of places, as I'm sure they're getting ready for Cybertron to hit within the next few months. Notice that you can easily find leftover Energon toys -- but it was impossible to find Armada leftovers. Those toys sold like mad crazy, but Energon, not so much. I mean, Armada had a semi-decent timeslot when it began -- Saturday evenings on CN. But Energon's 6 AM time slot hurts it more than anything. Great toys, terrible show...unfortunately, PR has decent toys (at least in the kids' minds) and an entertaining show, so it wins on both counts. That and it's actually on at a decent hour.

Repainting toys is probably Hastak's way of making easy money off collectors. :tftongue

 

Take a look at Yu-Gi-Oh!, that is the worst crap ever but it still sells due to agressive markething. Cannot say the show and its characters are even remotely interesting.

 

The Power Rangers do have cool characters though. I loved the Ninja Storm series and I can understand why the kids did too. When I look back on it, Cam was a cool character, being tech guy and the most skilled martial arts fighter. Then he became the Green Ranger.

 

I am imagine the Cyclone Morpher toys literally flying off the shelves.  :tflaugh  Just simply because cam is so cool.

 

The same went for G1, Optimus Prime was so cool everyone wanted one. The same went for Jazz, Soundwave, Starscream or the Dinobots. Some of them were fragile and lacked posability but the cool characters would make you want them.

 

Same went for Beast Wars Rattrap. As a toy he was average at best but the character caused him to be a highly desired toy. He is barely on eBay nowadays.  :tftongue

Collectors -- funny thing is, the TF lines are mostly collector-supported. Despite all of us now being old geezers (:tftongue), we still love TFs. When I think of the Energon toys, I usually assign the G1 characters' personalities to them. But kids today aren't aware of G1 as much, and with the crummy personalities they gave the Armada and Energon crew, what's there for the kids? Alternators is blatantly made for adult collectors (are you really going to let a 10-year-old have something that's so complex to transform and has a lot of parts that easily detach?), and it seems to still be selling well despite the lack of advertising. But Energon suffered a lot...the gimmick (Powerlinking Autobots) never took off like Minicons did. I mean sure, we got a line with a lot of articulation and some great character designs, but it was less gimmicky, so therefore less appealing. Half the reason G1 diehards liked it was because the majority of the line had some great throwbacks to the originals. But PR has new characters and molds each year, and a new TV show that's on fifty cable networks. TF has one main line (Energon) and one collector's line (Alternators) and an entire repaint line (Universe). Energon is over with, and people are convinced that Universe will die soon, and that Alternators is almost over because it was so successful that it exceeded what was supposed to be a limited run of characters by leaps and bounds. But PR has 3 or 4 different series' Mega Zords available right now and they sell like hot cakes. I think Hasbro needs to reevaluate how to focus their efforts -- sure, Alternators is what Geewunners have long wanted in their Transformers and by far outdo the majority of what Bandai has, but they aren't intended for the kiddy crowd. Energon, though, is the main thrust for TFs, but it sold mostly to collectors as well -- I should know as I have a lot of the line myself. Unfortunately, Hasbro really needs to think of how to market to kids while pushing to the collectors as well -- unlike PR, the leading US toy company has TWO target audiences when it comes to their best-known brand.

I skipped a lot of the long responses.... sorry :redface

 

One thing too is that it's really easy for kids to get all the good guy characters. You can buy all five or six Power Ranger guys for less than 40 bucks. Compare that to Transformers. You've got characters going for 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 bucks (and more) a pop. That's just insane. Sure, the megazords are more expensive, but there are only ever a few of those per series.

 

Bandai has multiple versions of each character at different price points and with different play features. That's cool for kids.

 

P.S. Okay I did read some of MG's last post..... let me just say this: Hasbro could make money off the TF line by catering to adult collectors to the same extent that Dreamworks could make money off the TF movie by catering to fans. Which is to say, "not at all".

One thing too is that it's really easy for kids to get all the good guy characters. You can buy all five or six Power Ranger guys for less than 40 bucks. Compare that to Transformers. You've got characters going for 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 bucks (and more) a pop. That's just insane. Sure, the megazords are more expensive, but there are only ever a few of those per series.

 

Bandai has multiple versions of each character at different price points and with different play features. That's cool for kids.

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but i consider that technique "selling out". rather than trying to get creative with the toyline, Bandai just hides behind its strong characters and abandons the others to rot. what's the point of buying all these varients of the rangers if (a) only the male characters get varients and (b) they don't even have anyone to fight?

One thing too is that it's really easy for kids to get all the good guy characters. You can buy all five or six Power Ranger guys for less than 40 bucks. Compare that to Transformers. You've got characters going for 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 bucks (and more) a pop. That's just insane. Sure, the megazords are more expensive, but there are only ever a few of those per series.

 

Bandai has multiple versions of each character at different price points and with different play features. That's cool for kids.

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but i consider that technique "selling out". rather than trying to get creative with the toyline, Bandai just hides behind its strong characters and abandons the others to rot. what's the point of buying all these varients of the rangers if (a) only the male characters get varients and (b) they don't even have anyone to fight?

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What are we discussing here? Are we talking about which toy line is more successful, or are we just bitching about which one we like better?

 

The fact is that Bandai has a killer formula in place that is working really well for them. Small cast, multiple versions of characters at different price points, same basic premise so the kids always know what's going on, reboot it every year or so to keep it fresh, and TARGET THE KIDS.

 

That doesn't mean I like Power Rangers. Why should I -- I'm an adult.

I skipped a lot of the long responses.... sorry :redface

 

One thing too is that it's really easy for kids to get all the good guy characters. You can buy all five or six Power Ranger guys for less than 40 bucks. Compare that to Transformers. You've got characters going for 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 bucks (and more) a pop. That's just insane. Sure, the megazords are more expensive, but there are only ever a few of those per series.

 

Bandai has multiple versions of each character at different price points and with different play features. That's cool for kids.

 

P.S. Okay I did read some of MG's last post..... let me just say this: Hasbro could make money off the TF line by catering to adult collectors to the same extent that Dreamworks could make money off the TF movie by catering to fans. Which is to say, "not at all".

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I was hinting at this one page 1, and I am starting to think that the number of price points in Transformers is NOT good for the line as a whole.  I can see 1 figure at $50, as long as it's done very well in the show and kids WANT IT. Otherwise the max price should be $30 for a figure.  Get rid of Prime and Megs at $40, I think it's doing more harm than good.

Varying price points always makes it shaky. The bigger toys are 30 bucks each in the line (Shockblast, Scorponok, Landmine) But those are cool characters, unfortunately the price is painful. I mean I love the toy line and all but it's ridiculous how much you have to pay per figure. Even 7 bucks for a Basic seems painful. Deluxes at 10 each I can live with, but why not make Ultras 20 and Leaders 25-ish instead of forty or fifty? Again, though, PR sells the Zords for super low prices (then again, the toys are made with chintzier plastic and are less poseable). MH, I know what you mean -- I realize that we aren't the key market except when it comes to the Alt. line. Adult TF fans number in the thousands, but compare that to tens of thousands kids that are into Power Rangers and other stuff like that. I know as well as anyone that even though adult collectors are serious about stuff like TFs, the prices hurt the wallets. My mother still groans somewhat when I ask her to get me one of the ones I absolutely want (yes, my mother still buys TFs for me -- what, I'm in college, I don't even have a job yet. Go figure). Alternators are very consistent -- 20 bucks a figure. While that seems like a bit much, they're very well-made, articulated, and cool-looking 20 dollar figures. They're more for posing than playing with, though, and kids want toys they can ram into each other or have them smack each other around constantly, not toys that strike nice poses and fire missiles. Sure, that's fine for most of us, but kids want something that's simple but cool and exciting for them.