Is that shit on shelves yet? No? Then until it hits shelves, all I can say is what I see in stores. And there's barely anything RID.

At least I'm contributing to discussion, unlike you and the fact you're doing nothing but taking potshots at me as usual.

 

No reinvention is necessary to keep me in the fold. I am a G1 fan, and will stay that way. I enjoy the modern updates, and the new cartoons, but nothing pulls me in like G1. It's always possible that a reinvention could help the brand achieve wider appeal among new fans, but I don't think a reinvention is necessary to keep the die-hard core collector base on board.

 

Just do Transtech.

Everything can be better with Transtech.

The future is safe with Transtech.

 

For the Classics line? No. It's fine where it is, even with "forced gimmicks". I'm content with the Headmaster-y of Titans Return (with a few exceptions) and Power of the Primes is looking good as well.

But for the movies and cartoons? I think so. RID is a stale show with as much forced merchandising promotion as the G1 movie. The "monster-of-the-week" scenario doesn't work for Transformers and I wish they'd go back to more overarching plots during seasons and more individual character episodes ala Animated.

Movies, as everyone has mentioned, need a complete and total reboot. They're sinking fast and I think the Bumblebee movie might be the nail in the coffin.

 

I don't understand generations as a whole to be honest. Who is the demographic? How did it become such a hit without anything really pushing it. What made them take the chance to expand the line with thrilling 30 and again with combiner wars? I would love to know what Hasbro and the retailers know.

To answer the question of the thread, I don't think there needs to be an a whole sale reinvention of transformers. It's such an unnecessary risk. The underlying concept and main characters obviously resonate with people. So many other franchises have survived for so long primarily sticking close to the core concept. TMNT, Looney Tunes, Disney (Mickey and company), Batman, Superman, Mario, James Bond, Scooby-Doo and hell the Lone Ranger had a long run as a big thing. I could keep going but I think you get my point.

I also think Hasbro should be constantly looking to improve. Leave the stuff that is doing really well alone. Take a more active role in what isn't. The movies are showing they need a fresh direction and narrative voice. Same with the comics. The cartoons, while I can't speak on RID's quality, need better accessibility and promotion. I think they should continue to try to produce media that reaches more demographics. You need to reach the adult demographic better and not just rely on nostalgia. This is the stuff that drives merchandise purchases.

Hasbro doesn't need to swerve to not hit the wall, but plot a course that reduces the chances of coming to a wall.

 

Huh... This thread has been super interesting to read not going to lie. It baffles me almost constantly how people can say they are tiered of gimmicks in their Transformers, knowing such things will be temporary any way, when the truth is that Transformers are in and of themselves a gimmick. I don't think many of us stand around the "water cooler" and wonder when the heck Hasbro is going to get over this whole transforming robot thing with the Transformers franchise. Though an Action Master reboot would be a personal fantasy of mine.

That being said I wont jump on the idea if you don't like the gimmicks you should start stifling yourselves. It's important to have open discussions and help to realize problems. Combining is a great gimmick, but it certainly caused some major issues in the 2012 Bruticus figures and the Hand/Foot Guns are justifiable criticisms too.

Is the franchise in need of a reboot though? Well first off I think it's unfair to say that the last time it had a major reboot was Beast Wars. A strong argument could be made for The Films doing that. Also Animated was a major departure from the established formula. A younger Optimus that was not the leader of his people, but little more than a construction supervisor in a post war era of Cybertron. Heck for the first season most of the enemies were not Decepticons. I'd call that a major reboot for sure. Heck the Unicron Trilogy may not have seemed as drastic, but allowing Japan to take the reigns entirely (as opposed to JP only television) and coming up with a wholly original continuity with not ties to prior Transformers media was a big step and to help that line along they used gimmicks to both horrifying and great effect. You could argue RID did that, but technically that was a follow up to G1 continuity you get the idea. Rescue Bots decided that it was going to completely forgo the idea of fighting Decepticons at all to the point they are never mentioned. That's pretty freakin huge and lead that show to be the longest lasting Transformers show to this date. I also think that show isn't really in need of ending because it ages it's characters and appears to consistently move forward. It might falter in the future though.

Does the franchise need a revamp? Oh yea constantly because it's constantly doing so. Maybe we aren't noticing it, but a show purely taking place on Cybertron with a limited number of episodes was just such a revamp. It was God awful but it certainly tried something new. The comics have tried new things with varied amounts of success including this bizarre shared universe we have now... the good and bad that comes with that... RID2015 may be in the same continuity as Prime, but it's an utterly different beast with constant original characters being poured into it. I love the animal theme the Decepticons have personally and Thunderhoof needs to be a new mainstay from here on out. Putting Bumblebee in charge and having no Megatron in sight is a serious shake up of established TV show formula for us. Is the show great? Uh... well... I don't know, but then again I'm not the target demographic. However at least Hasbro is trying to sim for me with stuff like the Combiner Wars series. It was shit, but it was shit aimed at me lol.

So to answer the question... Yes, but not how you are thinking. It needs to change as it always has and how it constantly has. I don't see this stagnation except in a few areas that I'm more than open to addressing. And with a new show in development, a new direction for the Titans Return series (we'll see how well that goes), and the Prime Wars toy line entering the final chapter it's poised to do a lot of that. Take heart in the fact you do in fact get to be right for being wrong and while this may seem to be a Golden Age for collecting there are still many peaks to come again even if we enter another valley.

 

I think this is where this thread went wrong, as the question was never really about what it'd take to keep us happy, it was more a general observation of whether or not the franchise is headed in a direction in where a drastic reinvention is needed, whether we like it or not.

 

Hmmm I think I may stick with my original statement. It still works here.