Right, but comparing Smurfs with Transformers is about as fair as comparing Smurfs with Spider-Man.

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The Smurfs have been around longer than Transformers.

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... They've also been around longer than Sin City.

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Sin City isn't for children.

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Smurfs have been around longer than Disney's Recess and Rugrats.

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okay, I'm really not seeing the point of this.

S'what happens when posts are too short.

 

The point being, your comparison (and argument) doesn't make sense.  I don't know what your purpose is in bringing up that Smurfs have been around longer.

My point was that Transformers are more equivalent to Smurfs than to Spider-Man. The brand name has only been around for 22 years, and the G1 cartoon only lasted for three years. It stopped airing new episodes 19 years ago.

 

Point is, if Transformers were as big or bigger than Spider-Man or X-Men, the movie would have been made at the same time or earlier than Spider-Man or X-Men. It's not that big. Transformers are a niche market without the broad appeal of your typical comic-book franchise. It just doesn't have the cultural history to support it.

Look, I hate to end as productive a discussion as these couple days have been but I need to get around to doing other things.

 

I understand what you're saying, as best as I can.  Your observation is that TFs are niche and its corresponding fanbase thus small and not a major player to appeal to in movie project of this size.  I suppose it depends on how you'd respond if I asked whether you thought He-Man was as small a property.  I think as a billion dollar business during its short '80s run, He-Man was actually pretty big and TFs is similar.  Not as big as baseball and apple pie obviously, but not so insignificant as to disappear compared to Spider-Man.  I think you're giving TFs just a tad too little credit.

I'm not sure on the whole He-Man made a billion dollars in revenue thing...where'd you get that number?

I'm not sure on the whole He-Man made a billion dollars in revenue thing...where'd you get that number?

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He's the most powerful man in the universe, duh.

It's not that big. Transformers are a niche market without the broad appeal of your typical comic-book franchise. It just doesn't have the cultural history to support it.

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I'll also add these thoughts, based on being in high school during G1 and actually working at a toy store, from my experience there I'd rate the Transformers about fifth in popularity with boys at the time.

 

Star Wars was probably the most popular in 1984, as RoJ was still fresh in everyone's mind (although it did start to fade towards the end of my tenure at the toy store).

 

GI Joe was huge, kids loved them - I'd say it replaced Star Wars as the most popular boy's line in 1985.

 

Third was Masters of the Universe - don't forget it actually got a live action movie back in 1987.

 

Fourth was the Go-Bots - they were considerably more popular than the TFs in 1984.  (I think that the resurrection of Transformers with Beast Wars has caused people to combine their popularity with that of the Go-Bots as a childhood memory - overestimating the level that actually existed in '84-'85.)

 

Fifth was the Transformers.  Personally, I always liked the TFs better than the Go-Bots, but at the time they were relatively expensive compared to the other toys (a regular Autobot car was about triple the price of a Go-Bot or He-Man figure and four times that of a GI Joe or Star Wars figure).  However, even without considering pricing as an issue, kids rarely begged their parents for Transformers toys to the same extent they did the other lines.  I remember that the deluxe Autobots sold way better when they were up by the registers, Dad's seemed to like them more than the kids.

I'm not sure on the whole He-Man made a billion dollars in revenue thing...where'd you get that number?

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He's the most powerful man in the universe, duh.

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I thought that was Condoleeza Rice?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi-Yo!

Mastering the Universe: The Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea

 

It's a rather provincial view that just because it's a toy property, nobody outside of fandom has heard of it.  If you were talking about something like Sky Commanders, I'd believe you.  But there are a few cartoon properties that are quite well-known outside of "people who watch cartoons all time and still collect the toys."  And TFs is one of them, along with He-Man, GI Joe, Barbie, and TMNT.  It DOES have cultural recognition.

Mastering the Universe: The Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea

 

It's a rather provincial view that just because it's a toy property, nobody outside of fandom has heard of it.  If you were talking about something like Sky Commanders, I'd believe you.  But there are a few cartoon properties that are quite well-known outside of "people who watch cartoons all time and still collect the toys."  And TFs is one of them, along with He-Man, GI Joe, Barbie, and TMNT.  It DOES have cultural recognition.

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Yes, but what adult is asking to see a live-action version of any of those properties?