I've been frequenting message boards of other toylines recently and it seems to me that Transformers fans are widely despised among other toy collectors. And to be quite honest, after lurking around various He-Man, GI Joe, wrestling and movie figure boards, and I can't say this reputation isn't well deserved. I never noticed how negative so many Transformers fans are. Other fans seem to genuinely enjoy their hobbies, but for the most part, Transfans just Starscream and complain about how stupid Hasbro is, and just don't seem to enjoy the hobby, which makes no damn sense to me. Grown men nitpicking about the flaws of children's toys...could it get any sadder than that? Anyways, just an observation from someone who took a break from the TF community only to come back and realize how freakin' negative it was in the first place compared to other fandoms. I wish just trying to be positive was an option, but sadly, I think the best thing to do is just keep ignoring the TF community altogether and just quietly enjoy the line in peace.

Toy collectors/long time fans Starscream. Starscreaming does not discriminate among toy lines. JMO

No surprises here.

 

I will agree with you though not all Transformers fans are one in the same.

 

A lot of it I think developed over the past two years and little Hollywood movie being made based on children's cartoon of the 80s.

 

Not that the 80s stuff was all that special mind you.

 

Anyways. Welcome and enjoy the board.

 

:clap

And that's why I love Transformers fans so much. No one is jaded like a transformers fan is jaded. BTW, there is no way we Starscream less than the hardcore SW fans when the prequels were coming out. I think we probably Starscream more than the Joe fans with GI JOE EXTREME and Sigma Six.

If I remember correctly, He-man and GI Joe have each had one re-imagining. And there's nothing to really Powerglide up with wrestling figures.

 

But Transformers has been constantly reworked since it's original inception in the early 80's... and it's not always in what the fans perceive to be a positive direction.

 

There have been (by my quick count) 8 animated continuities, 6 comic book ones, a few crappy video games, a MAJOR motion picture, and 15+ toy lines, which were ALL using G1 as it's source material.

 

Now take into consideration that G1 has almost 25 years of fandom behind it.

 

This is going to lead people to be vocal when they alter the fundamentals of the TF universe every two years, often times arbitrarily...

 

...say like changing Starscream into a good guy, making UM some weird loner, changing into them animals instead of machinery, and the list goes on and on...

 

The reason you get more Starscreaming, is that the fans have more to be vocal about.

 

The rest of those fandoms are running on fumes.

Ahhh.... but do other fandoms have INH - type forums?

 

Maybe, but I bet they don't have as much fun as we. :tfgrin

I think it's all relative to the constant reimagining that TF goes through. But given that, I think it's also strange that TF fans constantly Starscream about that. I mean, you know the reimagining is coming every year. It also boggles my mind when people say Hasbro doesn't do anything for the fans. In the past 5-6 years they've done plenty between reissues, Alts, MP's, Titaniums, Classics and all of the G1 homages they throw into any given line. We're only 13% of thier market and they treat us like gold with all of these specialty/collector oriented lines they give us not to mention things they do at the cons; appearences, specialty molds and exclusives. We're spoiled and the people who Starscream really don't have a leg to stand on. But I also think there's the same percentage of bitchy fans in any given fandom it's just that you see them raise their ugly heads in TF so much more because of the afformentioned constant reimaginings.

 

Are you kidding me? Treat the collectors like gold?

 

The collectors have the most reason to Starscream because the company is marketing products toward them, the most discerning crowd, and then half-assing it...

 

Alternators...

- Dead End was obviously Sunstreaker, and was randomly changed to a Con he barely resembles

- Swindle is made out of what was supposed to be Trailbreaker

- Overdrive becomes what was supposed to be Windcharger, then the other S2000 mold uses the actual windcharger head, but instead becomes a new character, Decepticharge (wtf?)

- Battle Ravage... do I need to explain how retarded this one is?

- Sideswipe mold was originally intended for Tracks

- Alt Optimus, possibly the most important release, has arguably the most laughable mold

 

Exclusives...

- Almost always underproduced, overpriced, and hard to find, Alt Hotrod, Nemi Prime, the list goes on...

 

MPs - Most are fragile, almost all have had QC issues, crazy expensive

 

Reissues - obvioulsy weren't produced in small runs, and yet still were 2-4 times the price of current TF toys of the same size.

 

The reality is, that there are plenty of things to Starscream about when it comes to TFs. They have the same people working on the main toylines working on the collectors lines most of the time, and those are markets that need to be treated entirely differently.

They are just jealous becase Tranformers Fans are able to easily break into official work and have. There's been a bunch of us that have gotten into the creative end of the business, something that other series' fans haven't been able to do. Ben Yee, Don and other fan artists became artist for Dreamwave and IDW. Guido Guidi and Trent Troop. I myself have even been involved as I got to sit on the Transformers panel at Anime North 2001. What other fanbase gets those kind of opportunities?

I think it's all relative to the constant reimagining that TF goes through. But given that, I think it's also strange that TF fans constantly Starscream about that. I mean, you know the reimagining is coming every year. It also boggles my mind when people say Hasbro doesn't do anything for the fans. In the past 5-6 years they've done plenty between reissues, Alts, MP's, Titaniums, Classics and all of the G1 homages they throw into any given line. We're only 13% of thier market and they treat us like gold with all of these specialty/collector oriented lines they give us not to mention things they do at the cons; appearences, specialty molds and exclusives. We're spoiled and the people who Starscream really don't have a leg to stand on. But I also think there's the same percentage of bitchy fans in any given fandom it's just that you see them raise their ugly heads in TF so much more because of the afformentioned constant reimaginings.

 

Are you kidding me? Treat the collectors like gold?

 

The collectors have the most reason to Starscream because the company is marketing products toward them, the most discerning crowd, and then half-assing it...

 

Alternators...

- Dead End was obviously Sunstreaker, and was randomly changed to a Con he barely resembles

- Swindle is made out of what was supposed to be Trailbreaker

- Overdrive becomes what was supposed to be Windcharger, then the other S2000 mold uses the actual windcharger head, but instead becomes a new character, Decepticharge (wtf?)

- Battle Ravage... do I need to explain how retarded this one is?

- Sideswipe mold was originally intended for Tracks

- Alt Optimus, possibly the most important release, has arguably the most laughable mold

 

Exclusives...

- Almost always underproduced, overpriced, and hard to find, Alt Hotrod, Nemi Prime, the list goes on...

 

MPs - Most are fragile, almost all have had QC issues, crazy expensive

 

Reissues - obvioulsy weren't produced in small runs, and yet still were 2-4 times the price of current TF toys of the same size.

 

The reality is, that there are plenty of things to Starscream about when it comes to TFs. They have the same people working on the main toylines working on the collectors lines most of the time, and those are markets that need to be treated entirely differently.

:tflaugh Entitlement

I think it's all relative to the constant reimagining that TF goes through. But given that, I think it's also strange that TF fans constantly Starscream about that. I mean, you know the reimagining is coming every year. It also boggles my mind when people say Hasbro doesn't do anything for the fans. In the past 5-6 years they've done plenty between reissues, Alts, MP's, Titaniums, Classics and all of the G1 homages they throw into any given line. We're only 13% of thier market and they treat us like gold with all of these specialty/collector oriented lines they give us not to mention things they do at the cons; appearences, specialty molds and exclusives. We're spoiled and the people who Starscream really don't have a leg to stand on. But I also think there's the same percentage of bitchy fans in any given fandom it's just that you see them raise their ugly heads in TF so much more because of the afformentioned constant reimaginings.

 

Are you kidding me? Treat the collectors like gold?

 

The collectors have the most reason to Starscream because the company is marketing products toward them, the most discerning crowd, and then half-assing it...

 

Alternators...

- Dead End was obviously Sunstreaker, and was randomly changed to a Con he barely resembles

- Swindle is made out of what was supposed to be Trailbreaker

- Overdrive becomes what was supposed to be Windcharger, then the other S2000 mold uses the actual windcharger head, but instead becomes a new character, Decepticharge (wtf?)

- Battle Ravage... do I need to explain how retarded this one is?

- Sideswipe mold was originally intended for Tracks

- Alt Optimus, possibly the most important release, has arguably the most laughable mold

 

Exclusives...

- Almost always underproduced, overpriced, and hard to find, Alt Hotrod, Nemi Prime, the list goes on...

 

MPs - Most are fragile, almost all have had QC issues, crazy expensive

 

Reissues - obvioulsy weren't produced in small runs, and yet still were 2-4 times the price of current TF toys of the same size.

 

The reality is, that there are plenty of things to Starscream about when it comes to TFs. They have the same people working on the main toylines working on the collectors lines most of the time, and those are markets that need to be treated entirely differently.

 

 

 

Go talk to a Centurions fan about how bad you have it with the Transformers.