I'm going to need to actually see pictures of some of the ROTF toys, besides the blurry Soundwave shots we've gotten so far, before drawing any over-arching conclusions about the entire line. That said, the TFTM07 line has been my favorite TF line since Beast Wars. I love the Movie aesthetic, as it's such a nice change from the G1 rehashes that are stagnating the franchise, and I really enjoy the engineering and complexity of many of the transformations (especially Leader Prime and Brawl). If ROTF continues that level of quality, I'll definitely pick up most, if not all, of the figures.

I'll add a cavaet that the Premium Series thing in the first line has made me somewhat reluctant about rushing out and getting the initial releases of ROTF toys right away, just in case the same thing happens for the sequel. Hopefully, the success of the first Movie line will allow them to do Premium-style decos for the initial releases.

With the exception of Payload and Blackout, I don't recall hearing widespread reports of this for any of the Movie figures. Personally, I was a completist for this line and, other than the aforementioned Payload/Blackout, none of the figures I bought fell apart or had any parts that came close to breaking during transformation...and I lent a couple of them to a friend who doesn't collect TFs and he was able to transform them with no problems, without instructions.

 

The movie toys that I did have are almost already gone, with the exception of Leader Desert Brawl, Wreckage and Landmine. After filtering through them, these are gonna stay. With the ROTF line, I'm gonna be extremely picky about what I get, so I don't waste my money like before.

 

So not true.

 

I personally had problems with pieces falling off of '08 Bumblebee AND Cliffjumper due to the way it transformed. I also had problems with the Transformation of Voyager Ironhide and Barricade. Pieces would fall of of Barricade due to the complexity of the transformation. I also saw widespread reports of '08 Bumblebee's automorph feature jumping gears. The Automorph feature was also an unneeded engineering design.

 

See this quote by ME:

 

It really depends, so far I'm definately passing on soundwave. As for any others, it's a strong possibility that I'll pass on most of them (minus devastator) unless they really wow me. Recently I've actually debated on selling all my original 07 movie collection. Just like the movie, they were built up and sustained by hype. Now that they hype is gone, most of the lot are fairly unimpressive.

 

Barricade is complex? We must not be talking about the same toy.   I have the entire run of Movie figures and all of them are fine.

 

Barricades knee joints are a pain to get in the right positioning when transforming from robot to car I find, also, his "punch" gimmick is so frustrating and often triggers during transformation.

As for the line itself, it was full of little issues that together became a BIG problem (much like the early figures in the Animated line that have thankfully been fixed). Blackouts shoulder "pegs," and automorph head is always an issue, deluxe brawls arm pegs, Classic Camero BB's automorph gimmick (mine broke and I NEVER break any of my TFs), Leader Megs leg transformation causing stress marks on the plastic, 2008 Camero BB's shoulder pads falling off, Premium BB's arms popping off, Ironhides UNREASONABLY tight waist transformation, ect, ect. Not to mention estetic issues such as Scorpinoks extremely lame robot mode, Scale issues with Blackout, Leader Prime's missassembled arms, Jazz's lack of solid arms, and an overall lack of character to the robot features that makes them just plain bland and unentertaining to look at.

 

I agree with EVERYTHING you said here. I got obsessed with the line last year (hunting nearly everyday) and most of that had to do with me starting to collect again. I bought most of the movie toys, took most of them back, sold some on ebay and have about 8 or so that are still in my collection, most of which are repaints like big daddy or new non movie figures like landmine.

I will be insanely picky with rotf line and hopefully will only be buying a few from it..

 

I'm definitely skipping ROTF Movie toyline. Didn't get any from the 1st movie (except for the '74 Camaro Bumblebee) and sure as hell not going to start with the 2nd movie.

 

I was immensely happy with the Concept Camero Bumblebee. I own three (one for each head, and one for my desk at work). I think that's about as awesome as a deluxe toy can get. I liked both Prime figures. I would be in love with Ironhide, but his chest plate is sucky. Ratchet and leader Brawl are pretty good. Jazz and Barricade would be really awesome if I wasn't so bothered by both of those bot's arms. I like Blackout, but my alt-mode doesn't hold together perfectly.

I hated every Megatron figure and Scorponok is poo. Not a huge fan of Starscream or Bonecrusher either.

The line wasn't terrible at all. In fact, it brought many people into/back to the hobby. I just can't imagine all that much from the sequel that I'd be inspired to purchase. I mentioned Soundwave and Constructicons. I'll probably get the new Autobot cars as well. Jetfire and a new Optimus will have to be something epic for me to spring for. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

 

Now that you mention it, I remember widespread reports of vintage Bumblebee's automorph gimmick not working correctly and I did have a problem with the initial release of that figure (Hasbro made a running change that fixed it); forgot about it in my original post, so I'll grant you that one. No problems on my end with the '08 Camaro mold, Ironhide or Barricade though.

Even if we take all those figures, though (Ironhide, Blackout, Bumblebee old, Bumblebee new, Barricade, Payload), that's not a majority of the Movie line by any stretch.

 

The toy was perfectly fine; people were just trying to transform it without pushing on the button, therefore breaking the mecanism. It was like trying to transform a Powermaster toy without using the little Powermaster partner.

 

I'm probably going to be passing on them. I'm just tired of seeing movie figures, released, then re-released, then re re re re re released, then in the end, you've bought like 7 of the same to try and get the better one.

 

Classics is the line I collect the most. Along with Alt/Binal. I collected all of the characters from the last movie. Leader Prime, Leader Brawl, and the rest of the Autobots, I consider pretty badass figures. Leader Megs, and the rest of the Decepticons I was pretty disappointed in ESP. when only getting a Voyager Starscream and a DELUXE Bonecrusher. I thought the Voyager Screamer had too little of movement, and the no hands thing really pissed me off. The missle launchers were so sencitive that it's a pain to display them locked and loaded along with the figure. I also thought Bonecrusher not getting a leader class figure was a big mistake, and the deluxe figure sucks.

I plan on staying away from the majority of the ROTF figures for this reason. There will be a few exceptions, like if they make a better Bumblebee, and the Prime that combines with Skyfire has a movie accurate Transformation..and looks better than my Leader class Prime, which I consider probably my favorite movie figure of the whole line. I'm not a huge fan of the movie asthetic. I prefer the classic asthetic of G1...but still some of the figures
I consider pretty cool looking. I'm hoping that the new Autobots get pretty descent figures because I will be glad to pick them up. I also hope to get a Leader class Starscream this time. Hopefully they will do the G1/Thundercracker repaints again, and I will surely buy the mold if so.

 

For me, ubercomplexity almost always equals a better Transformer, a sentiment not shared by everyone (understandably). However, having purchased every movie toy (both Hasbro and Takara versions when different) and duplicates of most, I've run into no breakage, QC issues, or parts that pop off unexpectedly.

Isn't it safe to say that when we don't like something, we tend to go to lengths to find a lot of fault with it? I mean, I could list a dozen things I don't like about Animated, but I'm already so biased against it, half of those things would probably be either unreasonable or only partially true.

 

I pushed the button every time I transformed it and then one day it just wouldn't work anymore. I can't have him in vehicle mode because the front of the car won't stay in place and keeps snapping forward. The botton isn't stuck either, the damn thing just gave up the will to live.

 

I agree that complexity makes a transformer fun, however, back when I still liked the movie toys I was upset with their flaws. This has nothing to do with not liking the line (at least not for me), but rather a general concern on quality control. Hell, I LOVE the animated line but I'm still pissed at the lack of QC on the early figures. We can love something and still be critical of it, just as you can not like something and still respect it's good points.

 

I'll be passing on the new movie line, and if they do a third flick I'll pass on those too.

I collect for nostalgia and I get plenty of that out of Universe, Animated, Encore and vintage collecting. In fact, a handful more G1 toys to go and I'm pretty much done with big-ticket toy collecting. Just need a TM Scourge, a Fort Max, Hosehead and a few Pretenders.

The only exceptions are stuff like Masterpiece Grimlock, and if they get going in any new Masterforce or Victory reissues in Encore. We'll see.

 

I might pick up Devie, and possibly Jetfire and The Fallen, but only if they really impress me. I to was one of the ones who saw the inital designs, didn't really care for them, got caught up in the movie and collector hype, and now regret a lot of the purchases i made.

I bought quite a few just to "have" them, and won't be making the same mistake again. Going to put all the resourses that i'd use on the new movie toys toward Botcon, and pick up the last G1's and Masterpieces i need.

Some movie toys i did enjoy, and others that i'd enjoy more were brought down a notch or two by that damn allspark blue crap. Hopefully that's a mistake that won't be repeated. But all in all definatly going to stay away from the inital waves, and be keeping an eye out for deals if something does interest me.