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Transformers Super Thread 9


eriku

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Except, frankly---his alt mode sucks. Yeah, I know, I know, most people buy MPs for the robot mode--but I don't! Due to the simple transformation you could probably engineer the legs and arms to make better treads than the G1 toy, but it still looks like some weird tripod-thing.

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He's a sci-fi artillery piece. Super articulated robot and the cannon mode for "realism" while IIRC the G1 toy could also be used as as a sort of scifi pistol. They could make that work a bit better, as well. I always thought Megatron would have made more sense as a modern M198 style artillery piece than a huge TF-sized handgun or tank, etc.

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I no longer have one! :)

I no longer have about one fourth of my collection...I am slowly becoming free! Free of Transformers after 26 years!

Now I can finally binge on Yoko pillow cushions, Death Note RAH figures, FCLC manga, and zillions of other far more interesting things.

I wonder...will a pang of nostalgia open up in my heart? Or have I forever turned cold upon the Robots in Disguise?

The only thing that came to my mind was that maybe sometime in the future I should get the Movie Transformers... but then I remembered what they looked like :)

Muahahah :)

err...sorry...kind of flying of the handle here :)

Pete

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i just got a Universe Powerglide!

it's pretty friggin' cool, but i think i got a bad instructions sheet...

post-2535-1256750198_thumb.jpg

:lol:

Geez.

EVEN the Chunky Munky VF-1 from the 1980s looks better than a modern Transformer. It's just THAT GOOD a design!

Pete

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Geez.

EVEN the Chunky Munky VF-1 from the 1980s looks better than a modern Transformer. It's just THAT GOOD a design!

Pete

The problem I've always had with this criticizm is that the VF-1 is/was not ever made to look like an actual jet.

It's an homage to the era of design the F-14/F-15 were part of. The Chunky Munky and thereby Jetfire look

damned good because the design is both simple (with swingbars) and yet elegant. I applaud His Froatiness

on his robot skills, but The old Valk is pretty unique critter in and of itself.

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FYI, TF RoTF Legends Class Devastator coming in 2010 in package pics. Looks cool!!!

Seriously looking forward to this one. Havent picked up any Devastators because this is the only one I think will be worthwhile. Love the Legends class.

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Wow ! That's awesome! I'm getting 10 of them!

Oh wait.

That was me from 5 years ago talking, when I didn't even know Soul of Chogokin existed and I had never built a Gundam model...

I think that the only reason these ugly things sell is because millions of people world wide have yet to build a Gundam or transform a Yamato SV-51.

Pete

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Looks good from above… :blink:

Good God, the voyager jet mode is a freaking lot better than that thing!!

The high awesome meter mark robot mode scored just got watered down a lot.

Edited by Twoducks
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It's because they stuffed in that stupid lights/sounds/"gear alive" crap. Cut out useless appeal to 4 years olds crap and there would be a lot more room to hide the bot parts.

Stinking "lights&sounds" wins again...

I know these things are for kids but when I was one, the whole L&S things gimmicks did very little for me. And really, the Leader figures just blink and spit a vehicle sound and what could be an introduction to an AA speech. Weak.

Take the gimmick away, put it in a special holding base or in another thing (like the back packs the G2 toys had) and give it lots of sounds and voice clips. THEN you would have room to make a better engineered toy, give better kiddie gimmicks and have an excuse to charge 10 box more.

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The statement with lights and sound is true - but we must keep in mind two things:

a) The target audience is between 3 and 10. People between 3 and 10 have no grasp of the beauty of detailed, accurate design frames, and are satisfied with a kibble crap jet form that goes pow! pow! pow! bang! boom! ha! hah! ha! And it's not just because they are "kids" - but more likely because they are kids who don't build models. Model builders - even simple models - have an appreciations for delicacy, design parameters and finer quality.

b) The target is also composed of really really fikly kids - not Transformers fans - but kids who will want it and then want something completely different next month. These people need the lights and sounds so that they have one more reason to be excited in the toy store.

What am I getting at?

The sad fact is that Transformers are designed and produced with the EXPLICIT intention of being thrown in the closet, or the basement - and left there to rot for 10 years until somebody does a garage sale.

Pete

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I mean - are Transformers such a passing fad and is the Transformers fandom composed of people with such a horribly short attention span that every year you need to "re-boot" the comics and cartoons?

That's annoying. It doesn't happen with other series. Why does it happen with TFs?

....

Nowadays, it seems that 12 months is the upper limit of people's attention spans - then you need to "re-boot" everything to make it "fresh."

....

But no - nowadays Transformers is just about Optimus Prime battling Megatron on Earth for SOMETHING (energon, minicons, the Cube, the All Spark, kicks and giggles) - and the story arc always revolves around introducing us to the concept of Transformers, to Cybertron and to some core cast of characters that we (who have been with Transformers for 25 years now) KNOW already.

The problem is you are assuming that the fandom, and people our age are the target market for Transformers. For the most part, we're not. Hasbro has admitted that they market TF mainlines the way they do because children abandon toys at younger ages now than they did when we were children (due to the more attractive allure of things such as video games), so they constantly refresh lines to target new groups of children who have entered the age group that will most likely have interest in Transformers. It's not the most desirable practice for those who desire a more coherent fictional universe, but thus far, it has worked for the past decade, and anybody who sticks around and becomes a fan beyond Hasbro's expectations for a line to last in terms of audience/market and retailer interest is not really on their radar.

Adult fans are appreciated as a small segment of their market, large enough to be listened to, but hardly enough to base strategies upon. And you'd better bloody hope they never have to depend on adult fans for the line's viability, because a children's franchise losing the support of children would be a critical blow, as seen in Japan.

Edited by Fit For Natalie
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a children's franchise losing the support of children would be a critical blow, as seen in Japan.

Actually - could you please elaborate on that? I'm not familiar with exactly what you're talking about - but I am very interested in hearing it. I can "guess" - but I'd rather you spelled it out please :)

Pete

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Not Fit For Natalie also posts elsewhere - I think...or maybe not. Either way - I work for Mattel, and I'm being paid to post here to undermine Hasbro.

First I was supposed to come in as a "TF fan" with a my own "collection" Then I was supposed to become progressively more dissillusioned with TFs. Then sell them off...

you've all seen this.

And in the end, I was supposed to start posting about my new Barbie collection.

And I would have done that too, had Mattel not pulled the rug out from under me. They failed to send me my Barbies.

Hm..

ok - I guess that story was a failed attempt at humor.

Never mind...

We now return to your regularly scheduled program.

Pete

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And I would have done that too, had Mattel not pulled the rug out from under me. They failed to send me my Barbies.

Typical Mattel foolishness - forgetting to pay/bribe ones contractors is bad for business....

I'll have to join the chorus of folk who are deeply unimpressed with Leader Starscream. I suspect it will be reasonably popular with the target market - it is a big toy with lights and sounds, which is the kind of thing that parents like to buy for their children. (Before they realise that lights and sounds mean it will be making noises incessantly for several days until their childs attention wanders or the battery runs flat). However, as I am outside the target market I evaluate it by different criteria, and sixty quid for what appears to be a collection of kibble with with wings attached is far from value for money.

The movie line aircraft tend to be suffering from a syndrome where they seem to be designed to be viewed from only a narrow cone of angles in their alt-modes - anywhere of that axis and their kibble starts to show quite badly.

Karl

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As much as I HATE the Movie designs for Transformers, the leader class OP was a pretty kick @ss toy.

The Takara/Tomy version looks even better, except for that God Awful mouth. God I hate Micheal Bay.

And can someone tell my cousin to STOP calling my Valkyries "TRANSFORMERS?" Kids.

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