Jump to content

The Big Question


Bizzmoff

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 62
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I've been saying all along that the Classic line has something to please (almost) everyone. This is how I'd like to see the future of TF's go:

 

G1 Reissues - Keep 'em coming!

Alts - Any excuse for a 1/24 scale car is fine by me.

Classics - Nice "bridge" between old & new. Great for non-purists like me.

Titaniums - Meh... I don't care for them.

Movie stuff - Gonna be cheesy, but hopefully bring new fans.

The next "main" line - Do a BW! Go all out. Sod homages, make it all new & fresh.

 

Here's (me) hoping!

 

And BTW...

tfanschart01qc2.png

...I think that's where I am!?! :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know that you thirty something year olds tend to avoid the "main lines" and go for the Alts, Robot Masters, BTs, Beast Wars Reissues, T1Ts, and Classics. Those are all remakes and remolds of toys and characters that are ten to twenty years old! (except for Decepticharge)

In other words, it's the difference between the mainline market and the collectors' market. I think Hasbro has been becoming more and more aware of this over the years, and has been making concerted attempts to cater to the collector demographic for a while now.

If Hasbro had done Beast Wars AND a small vehicle line to keep those narrow minded fans then it may have gone more than 3 seasons.

MACHINE WARS'D

 

P.S. if I had no G1 loyalty at all, I would still think Classics Prime was pretty cool. Astrotrain would hold no interest for me, and neither would Megatron. Starscream would be kinda cool because he was a real jet, though a bit simplistic. Hot Rod and Bumblebee would be yet more generic deluxe cars (like there aren't enough of them).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in the grey area, near the green.

 

I like the old G1 stuff. But I'm not opposed to new ideas...most of the time. Kiss, Titaniums, SWTFs get varying negative reactions from me.

 

But in the end I can't believe how serious business people get over these pieces of plastic. OMG DIECAST DOOD plASStic SUX.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In other words, it's the difference between the mainline market and the collectors' market. I think Hasbro has been becoming more and more aware of this over the years, and has been making concerted attempts to cater to the collector demographic for a while now.

Yeah, I see that. The Reissues were the first step. Also, I've been noticing the "Transformers Collectors' Club" ads on the boxes. It's not like the parents of a 5 year old are going to pay $40 USD for a bi monthly comic and a recolored basic. Hasbro knows we're out there and it's only going to get scarier after the movie.

 

If Hasbro had done Beast Wars AND a small vehicle line to keep those narrow minded fans then it may have gone more than 3 seasons.

MACHINE WARS'D

I never knew Machine Wars existed until after I bought the quick-change bots from RiD. I have since bought every small figure (mosc), Sandstorm and Soundwave. I would like to think that if the line had been sold in a major retailer then it would have done better.

 

P.S. if I had no G1 loyalty at all, I would still think Classics Prime was pretty cool. Astrotrain would hold no interest for me, and neither would Megatron. Starscream would be kinda cool because he was a real jet, though a bit simplistic. Hot Rod and Bumblebee would be yet more generic deluxe cars (like there aren't enough of them).

I wish I could turn off my nostalgia that easily and be a fair judge but I can't. Look at Bumblebee! He's got horns!!1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MACHINE WARS'D

I never knew Machine Wars existed until after I bought the quick-change bots from RiD. I have since bought every small figure (mosc), Sandstorm and Soundwave. I would like to think that if the line had been sold in a major retailer then it would have done better.

I knew Machine wars existed back in 1996 cuz I went to a Kay-Bee and saw them and stuff. I probably knew more about them at the time than I did Beast Wars. (who knew they actually made a show out of that)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's pretty amazing considering that Machine Wars came out in 1997.

 

Look, Minicons (one of the best TF marketing gimmicks) were just Micromasters with holes.

Mini-Cons were an advancement on that toy concept as they were a lot better engineered than Micromasters, particularly with some of the rather interesting transformations that some of them had -- in the context of their dimunitive size some of them had more interesting transformations than their larger Autobot/Decepticon counterparts.

 

Energon had combiners and G1 character names, Cybertron has an awesome WheelJack and Smokescreen toy.

Are you referring to Downshift and that repaint of Crosswise?

 

Beast Wars pushed the Transformers brand in a great new direction but it took RiD to get those Truk not Munky fans to take a second look. If Hasbro had done Beast Wars AND a small vehicle line to keep those narrow minded fans then it may have gone more than 3 seasons.

Note: Beast Wars was not canned at Season 3 because the toy line was failing - the show was canned because Hasbro wanted to take the toy line in a new direction. Some fans will argue that it was the residual popularity of Beast Wars that sustained Transfandom during the Beast Machines era, since the BM show and toys were rather unpopular at the time. As one wise fan said to me once, BM was riding on the coat-tails of BW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're missing a fourth circle - the "I'll buy anything with the name ______ attached to it" category, namely, Optimus Prime worshippers, Hot Rod fans, or Starscream die hards. These are the people that may not buy any other TFs except for their fetish. At first, I thought they fall within the intersecting area of all the categories, but when I thought about it even further, these are people who don't really collect TFs per se, but rather, get as much as they can on a certain character that would satisfy their fetishism for that one character (i.e. one would buy repaints of a current line that supposedly represents a G1 character or a BW character), where as all the other category is more pertainent to the approach or interpretation of the TF franchise itself.

 

For what it's worth, I'm one of those people that buys something because it:

 

1. Well designed, both in function and form.

2. Insanely complex to transform - the more so the better.

3. Affordability.

 

I suppose this would fall into another circle/category in its own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
  • Create New...
Sign Up For The TNI Newsletter And Have The News Delivered To You!


Entertainment News International (ENI) is the #1 popular culture network for adult fans all around the world.
Get the scoop on all the popular comics, games, movies, toys, and more every day!

Contact and Support

Advertising | Submit News | Contact ENI | Privacy Policy

©Entertainment News International - All images, trademarks, logos, video, brands and images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies and owners. All Rights Reserved. Data has been shared for news reporting purposes only. All content sourced by fans, online websites, and or other fan community sources. Entertainment News International is not responsible for reporting errors, inaccuracies, omissions, and or other liablities related to news shared here. We do our best to keep tabs on infringements. If some of your content was shared by accident. Contact us about any infringements right away - CLICK HERE