I personally love the combiners myself. I think they are some of the very best we have gotten from HasTak in a very long time (at least since RID Rail Racer). I know they are not without their problems though. Some of the voyager torso molds could have been better with the hip issues of Hot Spot/Inferno and I do hate those stickers Hasbro is using as of late myself. That being said, I think Combiner Wars combiners is a better execution of a gestault than FoC Bruticus was. FoC Bruticus as a combiner was ok, but the individual combaticons really were bad, IMO.

However, I do believe that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing too. I don't like a whole line to be focused on simply combiners either or any one gimmick for that matter. I'd rather see a mix of combiners, headmasters, and other types of gimmick figures across all the size classes too just for a bit of variety.

 

And yet they did when Takara did the same thing for their Arms Microns line.
Lack of paint in favor of shiny stickers.
But of course Takara gets a pass because they can do no wrong.

 

That's not what the OP said. The topic was whether either Hasbro quality is decreasing or just combining toys suffer aesthetically. I think Hasbro has been declining in quality since classics. I don't buy them. Played with a loose superion, defensor and Bruticus. The best I can say is they're ok...I guess. I still buy toys for my kids (and me), but they like the Animated, G1 & MP best.

 

I hate sacrificing toy looks for the sake of being able to combine in some wiggly combiner abomination!

 

Whatever haters. Combiners are sick. I won't pretend they are not without some issues, but overall the prime trilogy has been delivering on these and the 3p add-ons have been making them even better. I would agree with the op if we were talking about powercore combiners, but meh, those are probably cool for kids so I just don't buy them. No triggered rants/posts necessary. Now if you'll excuse me there is a battle waiting to be had with devy, bruticus, superion, and sky reign.

 

windblade, get off the forums!

 

god FUCKING damn it why didn't i check the first page

 

I think that one of my biggest issues with POTP is that they made everyone a combiner again. I was cool with that during Combiner Wars because they had to keep reusing the molds to keep the line profitable. Also if I'm being completely honest once I had all four season 2 combiners, especially my favorite combiner Bruticus I was good with combiners.
I still think that POTP should have been a two gimmick line. Where some of the figures are combiners but the figures that aren't combiners have matrix chambers in there chests that and the prime masters can go in.

So I'm kind of over combiners but that's more because I am happy with the four that I have and I am not nearly as enraged by this as bman is.

Man I said combiner a lot in that post.

 

I don't. I LIKE Hun-grr but it's clear that there are those who dont like it based soley on the fact that the beast mode arms have combiner ports in them and therefore look bloated compared to his legs. That's what I mean. In a vehicle alt mode those ports go away into the bulk of the vehicle.

That being said 3P combiner systems aren't exactly hard either. They're just pegs and holes with locking systems or a lot of friction. Nothing super complex there.

 

I'm all for the combiners, but even I think that Hun-Grrr is one of the worst looking figures I have seen in years. He's the epitome of certain-modes-suffering-for-the-sake-of-the-gimmick. Giant fists to cover up even bigger combining ports, massive obviously-hiding-combiner-port knees on teeny legs...this dude is a proportional mess. I rarely say this, but I think the G1 figure looks better. Yes, I'm aware that 1) this character has always been a combiner torso, and 2) I understand that these are promotional images. But 1) this figure helps to prove the OP's point of the look of the figure being sacrificed to make it work (or maybe Hasbro's desire to remold Silverbolt instead of coming up with something entirely new?), and 2) if these are the images that Hasbro put out to PROMOTE the figure, I can only imagine what it'll look like in person.

Look at this poor thing. I like the monster heads, but aside from that...hard pass.



That said, I really do like the combining gimmick, for its playability. I loved the Power Rangers Megazords as a kid, and this really adds to that. And the ability to mix and match characters, and have them be arms or legs? Takes the playability to a whole new level.
But I cannot deny that certain modes (or all modes) suffer for the sake of adding the combining gimmick. (Compare RTS Jazz to POTP Jazz and tell me otherwise).

 

Regardless of your opinion of Combiners, they have helped this franchise a great deal. Combiner Wars(followed by Titans Return) introduced a new level of playability into the Generations line that none of the other current lines can compete with. Theres a reason movie
(those things that make nearly a billion dollars) lines only have 3-4 waves now and Generations still gets 5-6, and theres a reason we get as much as we do. And it’s only made possible by the success of those two lines. Does Hasbro need to step up their QC deparment? Absolutely. But the figures themselves are exactly what they should and need to be. If your wanting Masterpeice, collect Masterpiece.

Generations is a line that is meant to satisfy older children and the ever expanding collector market. We get a nice new G1 update and little Timmy gets a fun toy. However, that fun isn’t just limited to children. If both targeted markets enjoy the playability of said figure, it is a huge success, and the Prime Wars Trilogy has been just that.
It’s true that sometimes things are sacrificed for the sake of a gimmick, but just because something isn’t what it could have been doesn’t mean the wrong choice was made.

 

You know HasTak fucked up when a legion toy manages to do a better Hun-gurr.

 

I hate 'em too. Only one I've seen that I would consider buying is TFC's Poseidon because he looks insane. Who the hell needs any gimmick other than a robot that transforms into something else?

 

Simply put no combiners don't need to die. It has brought us so many awesome generations figures.

 

Comdieners.















 

 

With me.







 

 

@Chillyn Do you wanna build a gestalt?