Well?

It seems like at first any "repaints" we extensively remolded, now we are getting straight repaints.

It's starting to feel like alts are getting less attention, and the repaints are becoming less inspired, for example "limited black Prime" repaint instead of a new character.

I for one would rather see the line canceled than filled with tons of unappealing figures, what do you think?

 

hey. give it a chance. gives opportunities for kitbashing.

 

I had thought that the black prime repaint was named "Nemesis Prime"

 

Even if so, it's probably a straight repaint.

I could forgive Sunstreaker because Dead-end was Sunstreaker in black, and fans screamed for Sunstreaker (I was one of them). But then we get Rollbar and Ricochet, two of the biggest "WTF?????" figures ever (at least to me).

I just wish they had been more along the lines of earlier repaints - Swerve at least got his G1 head, Ravage had a re-molded car mode, new rims, and a new head, Decepticahrge had a new Head and additional spoiler, but Rollbar and Ricochet are 100% STRAIGHT repaints, and uninspired at that.

The least they could have done was throw a Meister head on Ricochet, or a hound head on Rollbar, you know mix things up a bit.

Hell the perfect Ricochet would have been the Shockblast mold in black with Meister's head and white arms and legs.

I know down the line we have a few awesome toys like Mirage and Rumble coming out, but it seems like we have seen the end of the remolded "repaints" that we had earlier in the line, it's a shame really, Alternators is still my favorite line of all time, I just hate to see them mess it up with crap like Ricochet and Rollbar.

 

If repaints keep the line alive, and guarantee we'll get new molds, then I don't see the problem. I've bought every Alt I have found and plan on buying every one of them. I have no problems what-so-ever with straight repaints.

 

I think this is mostly just frustration at the latest two repaints. They just suck, so it adds to the frustration. We've got 3 new molds coming up, 2 of them pretty soon, and by the time Mirage and Rumble are on shelves this repaint stuff will be forgotten for a while and we'll all be drooling over the new molds.

Though I do wish they'd do some kind of remolding or something whenever they reuse a mold, especially when it's a solid colored vehicle. I still haven't opened my Rollbar because of that.

 

It's not necessarily that they suck, it's that we've got enough Jeeps and WRXs (it's not even the new one!).

It seems like they just needed more time to get the new molds ready, and they had to put out something, so here we are.

 

Eh... straight repaints aren't such a bad thing... it helps keep the line alive, which garuntees new figures for us later.

Also, I don't really understand why this has been such a big deal lately. I mean, Ricochet and Rollbar seem highly uninspired to me, but I got them and they look better in person. I still would have liked some differences on them. Maybe a Meister head on Ricochet and a Hound head on Rollbar as you suggested, but that would have left Hasbro with a bunch of headless Meister and Hounds. What than? Hasbro pop the Swindle head on the Hound and the Silverstreak head on the Meister bodies? Who the heck would those even be?

Look, Hasbro and Takara repaint figures in every TF line... every toy line they do too. And no one seems to complain as much as they have with Alternators after only recieving three straight repaints... and only four with Nemesis Prime... all that being considered I would say that Hasbro has done well so far by us. The only people I feel sorry for are all the ones that are also collecting all the Binaltech variants like Red Meister, Blue Prowl and Yellow Tracks... if you've been doing that than I guess I can understand why you would be frustrated, but otherwise I say just wait for the really cool stuff that we know are coming. Mirage and Rumble and the rumored Cadillac and Jaguar. If we get that stuff and only a few straight repaints... I say what the hell!

 

Instead of straight repaints, why aren't they dropping Red Alert on us instead of Rollbar? I'm not objecting to Rollbar and Ricochet, and I'll be getting them as Alternators has been the only line I've been collecting everything in lately, but why those two? Why not a black or dark version of the Jeep and give us Trailbreaker? The new repaints do seem a bit uninspired, but I want them just the same.

 

It remains to be seen if that toy will actually be limited.

As for the other bit... it's cost saving. With Takara bailing out of Binaltech (it seems) it's something we're probably going to have to get used to.

 

After getting Rollie and Rico I have to say that I am more impressed with at least Ricochet. In person he is cool. I do wish they would have used the Alert WRX Sti mold for him instead of the old wrx mold. Rollbar I am still Unimpressed with...the missing black paint all over makes him look like the least realistic in atl mode.

That being said....I figured this would happen with Takara seemingly bailing on BTs. I think they were the only ones keep hasbro from going repaint crazy. I think Takara wanted this line to end sooner then later before becoming not as good as it was in the beginning. Maybe why they ended theirs? They dont bother me as much....but why didnt they reused the RX8 mold or the Mustang mold....any of the molds would have been better then the over used and under popular jeep mold and wrx mold.

 

Yup. If it continues down the current path, it won't be worth it anymore. It makes being an Alternator completionist really frustrating. I can justify $7 or $10 for the odd kiddie line repaint I like, but Alts are way too explensive for me to waste my money on for the number on the box

 

Yeah its a nice remold. heads the same though but at least its a more current model of the car.

Id love to see Skids as Ironhide and Ratchet. Two classic characters who had lousy G1 toys...would be nice to see them updated in the skids mold.  

 

This is what I don't get about the completionist mentality. As a non-completionist, I can buy what I like and ignore the rest, figuring it's got to appeal to someone else. But then we have completionists, who only have themselves to blame for buying everything, saying, "I don't like being forced to buy things I don't like, they should cancel the whole line so -nobody- can have it!"

Back on topic, I think there's plenty of life left in Alternators. If we need to take a few straight repaints to fund the new figures, that's fine by me.

 

Yeah, it does stink to see 2nd rate characters in the line but the good thing is you don't have to buy them.

 

I don't see how repaints keep the line alive... oh wait yeah I do... sorta. Granted its cheaper for Hasbro to make a repaint than a remold, but for a line like Alternators, it seems like a cop out.

 

To be honest, I've yet to see these two guys out so I'm kinda on the fence. I want to 'Collect Them All!' but at the same time I wanna save up for Neo G1 really really badly!