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Lack of films has gotta be a big factor. Plus price hikes, these are expensive toys! I guess the 80s ranges are part of an avid but dying breed. I mean, there aren’t more people from the 80s. I also think the new ranges like the 13 Primes just aren’t hitting the spot. Not nostalgic, not cool realism like the movies. Not really appealing to kids. In recent years Transformers Animated had a really strong visual style that also resulted in strong toys. The Bayverse bots were realistic and cool - which does appeal to kids and adults. As much as us retro collectors like G1, I’m really not bothered about the 13 Primes. I am interested in Overgear as I’m ready for some more realistic and grown up looking toys myself. New characters and new stories.

It's the fans.

Prices are way to high for what we are getting. I think they are putting out to much garbage from the cyberworld, little kid, evergreen stuff that is overly simple like the finger puppets and the swapticons that nobody other than extremly young (under 4) would want to play with. They have stopped officially engaging with their fanbase by dropping the fan club affiliation. Hascon and Pulse con is a flop. People are fans of lines not toy companies. Lacking a cartoon that speaks to both kids age 8 through adults is problematic. They should be able to do a good mix with story plots. The bayverse movie fans are not the same fans who love the cartoon looks, so toy sales for the live action movies is not going to be strong. I thought One was great, but people did not go to see it for some reason.

I'd say it's a combination things. First is bad movies with ugly designs, which results in adults who don't feel nostalgia for the Transformers they grew up with. Second is Transformers that are so complicated, they take two or three minutes to convert.

I think it's a combination of factors; first is definitely the price. Rising prices are never fun, but when the increase is so disproportionate between classes, and the figures in some cases are getting smaller, that makes the pill harder to swallow. We keep getting told the engineering is advanced, but outside of the few Hasbro surrogates pushing the message, nobody sees it. Another factor is that interest in brands ebb and flow, it's just a natural part of commerce. Maybe if Hasbro pushed the Transformers as the flagship brand like they used to, it could sustain like Barbie does for Mattel.