what do you think the best box desogns in transfprmers are, as far as mainline i'd say armada pr beast wars
I'd say Masterpiece MP10 is the best box design. It's got shiny letters and has a picture of Optimus Prime in a cool pose on the front side.
Individually, I'd say 2010 Unicron and Primus are my favorites. But, as a LINE, I'd have to say it's a tossup between Armada and Cybertron for me.
I always default to G1, as I've always been captivated by the design. Also, when I was in undergrad graphic design, G1 boxes were used a classroom examples and in text books as the same. I'm not a fan of the later years of G1 where the gold packages were used, though. Aside from that, I think there are several other examples that I really like. I really like the first Alternators boxes. I like the Alt "bubble" boxes for retail display, but I would have liked them more if they were more reusable and functional. I also feel that after 2 movies, Dark of the Moon toys got the packaging right. Those deluxes look VERY nice on the shelf, and I really like the overall design. The Reveal the Shield deluxes look very nice as well, with the yellow and blue contrasting in ways that are different from the norm (and surprisingly due to the over-usage of that particular color scheme contrast). As mentioned, the TakaraTomy Masterpiece packages are great as well.
I've long adored the "second series" of Alternator packaging, just the right mix of G1, modern, and they really gave the line a "premium product" appearance. As far as mainline? 84-87 G1 (pre gold box). Even to this day, they remain visually impressive and the only other toyline I can think that really used the packaging as a selling vehicle would be Dino-Riders (which had AMAZING packaging as well)
Cybertron, followed very closely by G1, Binaltech, Takara Masterpiece and the TFC collection. Superlink was pretty cool too.
Love the G1 boxes, especially the Euro G1 and the gold Classics. I also miss the nice square Beast Era boxes too.
g1 had original art work for each figure, tec specs on the back, and a big fancy battle scene on each package/box! even the little ones had one shrunk! however, cybertron had the neat autobot/decepticon logo shaped boxes/packages, making it really EASY to find the cons in the middle of the autobots. something that is normally very difficult. especially with today's DOTM just has an autobot or a decepticon logo printed on the front. ROTF did a great job of doing what cybertron did too, with their cards being a totally different shape/cut for the autobots and decepticons. beast wars had some pretty neat packaging as well. they had unique artwork for each figure on the front, tech specs on the back. something that they kept through out the years of beast wars. even when beast wars evolved into new packaging designs, like transmetals 1 and 2. but! then they through this all out for the beast machines line. and now a days it's not art work, it's just a photoshopped photo of the toy in the other mode. the packaging these days are not nearly as interesting as they used to be. except of course! for transformers animated, in japan! while they don't have the individual art work, like the g1, and beast wars had, they just have this very epic look to it, that makes you WANT to look at the package. how ever, the tfa's american version did have original artwork *or maybe it is just artwork stolen from the show? idk* either way it did a nice job with that too, however, it is just not as interesting as the japanese packages. something the japanese continued to do with the united series. the japanese just seem to have away of making the boxes look more interesting then the american ones.
There's something to be said about the lost art of package illustration. I also really like the grid and the photo of the toy's Transforming process on the top. It's funny to think about how there was a time when a package needed to clearly explain that the toy inside could transform from one thing to another.
I always love me some G1, but I love the fishbowl Alternator boxes. Still havent finished off my Alternators collection, but I am really pondering trying to collect another MISB set for display. I also love the Commemorative boxes and Takara MPs. Though I am still on the fence with Transformers Prime, the NYCC makes a nice display piece. Other items I bought just for possible MISB display in my display (mainly movie): Target DS Starscream Target Burning Fallen Target Tubes Best Buy Megs and Ratchet Costco Bumblebee 25th Optimus (would like to eventually get a 20th MP Optimus MISB for display as well) Random Movie scenes
