The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, Scyla said:

I think the biggest flaw is that Hasbro/Takara (and this is an assumption on my part) are using the same manufacturing resources for their collector lines (MP/MPG/Haslab) and their $4.99 soap bottle toys. 

If they design a toy that requires some sort of finesse in production (tight tolerance, crisp paint application, sensible material choices ) their manufacturing resources have trouble building them properly and implement proper QC processes.

I have experienced many toy lines from different manufacturers and Takara products have the shoddiest quality of them all. They have many of the issues mass produced toys for the retail market have. Which is not that big of an issue when it is a $20 toy for a young child that will break it eventually but a big deal if you spend $300 on an end all be all collector piece.

What is the saving grace is that their engineers are able to design a transformation that is fun, engaging and rock solid. Something that Bandai and Sentinel fail at more often than not.

I'm not familiar with the manufacturing processes short of the need for molds and folks to assemble the toys from them. I haven't bought a Masterpiece toy since the release of MP Skids a few years ago, so I can't speak to the current quality of said toys. I predominantly focus on the main line stuff while buying the odd Earthspark toy that tickles my fancy. Having bought hundreds of Transformers toys at this point, I've seen quality go down since the early two-thousands, around 2007, when Classics, the first Bayformers, Animated, and Prime were all coming out, a time I characterize as a golden era of Transformers toys- priced well, with generally more complexity and parts count per size class, far fewer gaps and waffles, and more paint apps make those toys stand out still as some of their highest quality output on the whole. The only real advancement we've seen since is the inclusion of ankle rockers on most toys, not a very substantial step up relative to other current toys and models. Today's toys seem far more constrained by budgets thus the toys have become smaller with more effort to reduce plastic content, both parts counts and complexity have waned, as well as the amount of paint and tampo used. I still think the majority of mainline toys are decent, but any further cuts are going to have detrimental effects, methinks. One area we both agree on is Takara's ability to craft fun, engaging, and solid transformations about 99% of the time. There are a few clunkers, especially their jetformers, but overall, especially compared to most third-party offerings at any scale, Takara succeeds well in making fun and satisfying transforming toys. In that they are still the masters of the genre they helped to invent.

Edited 21 hours ago by M'Kyuun

[26662]

19 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

"I've seen quality go down since the early two-thousands, around 2007, when Classics, the first Bayformers, Animated, and Prime were all coming out, a time I characterize as a golden era of Transformers toys- priced well, with generally more complexity and parts count per size class, far fewer gaps and waffles, and more paint apps make those toys stand out still as some of their highest quality output on the whole."

A.M.E.N.  There was a golden window during which we had no idea just how good we had it and just how sideways things could get.

[M'Kyuun]

16 hours ago, 26662 said:

A.M.E.N.  There was a golden window during which we had no idea just how good we had it and just how sideways things could get.

I think there's a caveat to observe, however, regarding the higher prices and declining quality of toys: demand. I don't know about any of you guys, but I can't remember the last time I saw a kid in the action figure isle looking at, well, anything. Today's kids are largely fixated on electronics and social media and not so much on little plastic figures. I think the market is absolutely dependent primarily on people in their forties and up, with a contingent of younger folks buying toys, but not to the level we were invested in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Toys were our method of escapism, acting out imaginary scenarios, telling stories, or just having physical manifestations of those things we saw and liked on the big and little screens at the time. Video games were rudimentary when we were kids- there was no realism, no Horizon: Zero Dawns with gorgeous realistic landscapes and fluid movement to realistic looking humans and creatures. Cartoons filled that role to a lesser extent, and to that end, kids for the past three or four decades have no idea about the splendor of spending a Saturday morning glued to the tube for four hours straight watching back to back cartoons, making the hard choices when two shows you like are on simultaneously and there's no DVR to simply record one. Of course, we had VCRs, but if you forgot to set it or the tape was bad quality, or someone inadvertently taped over your show, such was life. I'm digressing. The point I want to make is that while we older fans and collectors bemoan the declining quality of our precious playthings, from Hasbro's POV (I'm not sure how the toy situation is in Japan, but it seems to be booming in China), I think the decline in interest, and thus sales, from what is ostensibly their target market, i.e. kids around 8-14, has fallen off significantly thus their reluctance to pour more resources into their production and seek other avenues, like video games or movies, to keep them relevant and profitable. I think they're fully aware that it's the older adult fanbase keeping the line going, but we are getting older and eventually 20, 30, 40 years down the line most of us will be one with the Matrix, so, while I wish far more resources were being thrown at Transformers, they have a responsibility to themselves and their shareholders to invest in things that will be profitable in the future, and sadly, I don't think that will be plastic figures, even super-cool ones that can turn into other things with a few twists, turns, and flips. With that bit of reality in mind, I try to be thankful for what we do have, and for the commitment we see from the designers who share their passions for these things. I'm glad Hasbro made the smart move to put them on these streaming events, as it creates a personal connection to the toys and it lets us see that there's true creativity and desire to make good toys in spite of constraints. It's easier to forgive some of the flaws knowing that their hands are often tied by budgets and other factors. Finally, I say it often, but it bears repeating: we're most fortunate that Transformers not only still exists as a living property, but one that's to all intents thriving when so many other 80s toylines are as extinct as the dinosaurs. I'm grateful.