I had posted this piece in another thread, but rather than derail that one with a new discussion, I figured this would do better on it's own, considering where it could lead to, so without further ado...

From the Scourge Botcon preview thread:

I realize I'm taking a negative look at everything, but it's a fair question to pose considering so many folks seem to be rather disenchanted with most of the news so far.

I've never seen a year quite like this one before, so many people have negative reactions to the Botcon set, ROTF lineup, etc.

And that's alright, if something doesn't please me, I'm not going to sugarcoat it and pretend. I also don't go with a trend unless it's really won me over, so I'm not some pushover who just liked such and such figure for the sake of doing so. So why should anyone else?

I realize there are folks who are on the pro side of the news we've received this year so far, but the amount of negative postings has floored me.

Is it just me, or are we seeing a legitimate number of negative responses to what's been shown so far?

Is 2009 the year of fail?

 

I'd argue so, but not from a Transformers standpoint. Just almost everything else.

 

2009 year of Fail?   If your'e speaking of just botcon stuff by chance, ignore this post, for I have not a clue.

I'm looking forward to MP Grimlock, Bruticus and the G1 cassettes.
It's the beginning of March for Maximus sake! We've got practically 9 full mths to look forward to for MP and Encore goodness.

Well, unless Animated was your thing, failure was the only option from the beginning  

 

Meh.
It's not 2008.
From a non-Transformers persepective, that was the year of fail; Nearly no good movies, lots of people died, I did shit in school (which affects EVERYBODY!) and the economy collapsed. Oh, and Dr Who was fairly shite.

This year? We got a shitload of new movie toys, that, despite your claims, a lot of people are interested in. Though not much Dr Who. But that could be a good thing.

I wish I could go back to 2007. That was the year of win.

 

I agree almost totaly. With the exception of MP Grimlock (Which isnt Hasbro). Other than that I think Hasbro may take a loss this year if Movie is what they are counting on to pull them through.

 

"2009: Year of Fail", probably not. "2009: Year of far more fail than we're used to", definitely.

• Last season of Animated? Definite fail
• Raising the price on the toys without an equal raise in quality? Fail
• 25th Anniversary toys? Fail
• 2009 Toy Fair? Fail
• New movie toys? may not have been fail if it werent for the big turds they laid in the muppet head twins and D.I.N.O.

There is somewhat of a balance, I guess.

• New Movie
• Some good new movie toys
• Some good new Animated figs before they draw the curtain
• New Botcon figs that, personally speaking, rock

Not much on the positive side I know. I guess we won't be the only ones lamenting the failures this year though. From what I've read from other fanboards, the only line Hasbro didn't completely destroy was the Joes. My wife and her friends also are suffering through the god awful changes that Hasbro has made to other lines like the MLP line for girls, so we aren't alone.

 

New movie toys are coming out! Good news for me!

 

If you're referring solely to toy offerings: a) you posted it in the wrong forum, and b) it depends on your personal opinion.

If you're referring to Transformers and fandom in general, no.

1. There's still product on the horizon for the majority of collectors to be happy about... and not just toys, but movie product in general. However, with rising toy prices and fewer product releases, we won't see near the volume of new toys released in 2009 as we have in just the last few years... although I don't know that this exactly qualifies as "fail". It's more just disappointing.

2. Whether or not TFA will be greenlit for a fourth season remains to be seen. (I won't believe anything until there's an official announcement from Hasbro and/or Cartoon Network.) But considering the epic S2 finale, I'm looking forward to what could potentially be the most exciting season TF fans have ever witnessed in a TF series.

3. In a word: BOTCON. Sure, fans are complaining about the exclusives, but when have fans *not* complained about them? But will the overall Botcon experience as a whole = fail? Not bloody likely. I don't give a crap about exclusives, but I would give just about anything to be able to afford to be there. It's the #1 most anticipated TF fan event of the year, and Botcon has a helluvalot more going for it than some repainted toys.

4. TF:ROTF has a high probability of "fail" in the eyes of hardcore geewuners, some who have sight-unseen already predetermined it as "fail". Granted, I had complaints with the 2007 movie, but overall I still thought it was an entertaining action flick. If Bay truly delivers on his promise to one-up the previous film in every way possible, it could be a freaking awesome action flick.

And considering the hype surrounding the film and the enormous box office success of the 2007 movie, I just don't see how TF2 could fail as a box office success... unless the economy gets so bad that people simply don't go to see it. Or that somehow Bay and the cast and crew completely screw it up and it just sucks in the ways that Battlefield: Earth and Waterworld sucked.

 

You relaize the guy who posted this is called Animated Fan?  

Wouldn't be surprised. It happened in 07.

I don't think this classifies as a year of fail. Then again, i dunno if it classifies as a year at all, considering 08 stuff is new round here. I'd say Botcon is Fail in terms of it's exclusives, and the thing going on about animated is fail, but as long as universe comes back, it might not be total fail.

 

For me, no. Ok, the Movie is going to suck, but it will generate interest and new fans that keep Transformers going. Yes, the Botcon set looks like ass so far, but I wasn't going to buy it so yay! Animated seems to be ending, but there's still stuff coming out for it, and all good things come to an end. There's still some Universe stuff to come that I'm very excited about (although there are a couple of Beast Wars figures adding a little fail).

Frankly, as someone who's been in this since the beginning, I can't see this as "a year of fail." Try being around after G2 died, or during the Beast Era but having no interest in the shows, toys or comics. THOSE were years of fail for me.

 

+

I should've clarified. I wasn't speaking of just the toys, but the whole thing, presented to us this year so far. What's on our plates and ahead of us.

Also, I meant the Hasbro end of things, I was not involving Takara (at least not at this time)

I apologize, I should've been a tad clearer on that.

And no offense Spoon, but I was speaking strictly of TFs, not Doctor Who, etc.

+

Alright, now this is more of what I was talking about. I do fear that Hasbro is banking solely on ROTF and I can tell that has the potential to be a BAD idea.

People who liked the first movie, but just not "enough", won't see the second one. Strike one.

Toys that have polarized every fan in the fandom. You either like 'em (not too sure there are any (aside from Optimus, and even then I've seen negative posts about him) that any are to be considered loved) or hate 'em. Devastator and the twins are perfect examples of this. Neither one were really accepted as being love worthy. Heavily liked, or absolutely HATED, sure.
Strike two.

The economy is down, people aren't going out and doing as many things as they used to, so a lot of people might find a single ticket (not to mention multiples as well) to be a frivolous pursuit. Even GM backed out of advertising a film that could be a boost to their business. Not a good sign at all, and it's also strike three.

This is the part where you say "And you're out!" but I'm not done, so I'll just continue throwing strikes on as we go along.

Let's shift from ROTF to Animated.

The show, then the toys, kinda mixed it up a bit. You had your lovers, likers, and haters. And the extremes were (and still are) in effect. So it made for a bit of contention. They finally got the ball rolling (six months later...) and people were starting to be won over by the figures, even if they didn't want to admit it. (Yes, I realize there are folks who remain opposed to anything Animated, I haven't forgotten that.) it could've been a year of fail for Animated, but by a miracle, it really found it's way and picked up speed. Now, they're killing the show, and delaying the toys, while canceling others.

It's pretty bad when your fellow fandomites can say "Look, I hate Animated, but I understand your feelings, man. Sorry that it's happening to you. Hell, I want that Arcee for my collection. Arcee = car!" or something to that effect. When we can put aside our differences and show enough civility to see both sides of the issue, then that means Animated was doing something right, and something we never expected...yet it's being killed. (We knew it was coming, just not so soon. Most lines run an average of 18 months, Animated hasn't even hit a year yet.) Strike four.

Now, let's shift to Universe.

We knew it was being placed on hiatus for a while to make way for ROTF and Animated. Problem is, the ROTF offerings really weren't worth the back burner treatment, and canceling and moving around figures in Animated after they were to take Universe's place, is just a slap in the face.

Strike five.

Now, the positives.

Animated will be having new figures coming out shortly.
ROTF does have a few designs that are buy worthy.
ROTF looks to be a fun experience, whether or not it does as well, or surpasses it's predecessor at the box office.
Universe Hot Shot and Ratchet are due anytime now.

So it's not entirely a wash, but then you go over the Botcon offerings and you're back to striking out.

Kup? Not impressed. (And shockingly, quite a few shared my opinion on that. I did not see that cominb, not one bit.)
Scourge? Not impressed. (He seems to have won over more folks than I first counted, but still an impressive number of negatives.)
Starscream repaint x2 (These were about the only ones that received any positive feedback that hit high numbers. But two figures aren't enough to save the set. As evidenced by the multiple posts saying "Hah! Yes, my wallet is saved this year!"
Plus Botcon is in Cali this year, which will make it really difficult, if not impossible for some folks to attend (in all fairness, the west coasters had the same problem coming east for the previous 'cons.) Strike six.

Positives:
A new Kup figure. (Sure it's ugly and makes no sense, but it's Kup.)
This Botcon will have nice balmy weather and plenty to do this year. (premiering the movie again? I'm asking, I don't know.)

See when Hasbro doesn't quite make the grade with us (and we're a picky lot, I know that.) we rely on Fun Publications to wow us with their normally dazzling sets.

...we don't have that this year. Botcon's offerings are generally considered abysmal, ROTF has forced Hasbro to focus on one line that isn't for everyone, and they alienated everyone else.

It's a bit hard to find a great deal of positives in any of that, really.

Do I want to have high hopes for TFs and their future? Sure I do.

I don't know what will happen with this year, but so far...it's a huge letdown.

And then if you must add Takara in the mix, outside of Masterpiece Grimlock (which isn't an absolute must buy....) Mickey Mouse, and a few other things, their offerings aren't great for folks like me (or other Animated fans, or at least the majority of them) just ain't cuttin' the mustard.

And this is why I say it feels as though 2009 will be a failure.

But...I'd much rather be a blow hard idiot who made these statements and end up looking briefly stupid, than a cynic who ended up being right and emptyhanded.

 

Alright, transition works here too. Problem is, the transition we're making doesn't seem to be worth it, or warranted right now. Sure a great deal of us are excited to see ROTF and buy a few toys, but that's not enough (I think) to make this transition worth it. All I'm saying on that is, I sure hope Hasbro doesn't bank entirely on ROTF, it could very well blow up in their faces and we're left picking up the pieces.

And I agree about 2010...that's going to be pure shit. Then, there's 2011 when Bay's taking a break. That's gonna be hardcore suck. I should've also stated this thread as "2009, could it be a year for failure?"

 

Putting Universe (a celebration of 25 years of TF history) on hiatus during the 25th Anniversary year is probably the most failtastic thing about this year.

 

Yeesh, what is it with these threads popping up because Animated is ending? Beast Wars lasted three seasons too.

2009 is the year Animated goes out with a bang, we have another great trip to the Movieverse and our first behind-the-scenes book about the film series. Plus I'm buying the new Starscream toy.

 

This!

I could handle Animated being cancelled and another live action film coming out with robots looking like crumpled car crashes and urinating better, if at least, the Universe line would still be going on.

But, alas...

 

To be fair, I don't think Beast Wars was handled as poorly toy wise (ie: 6 month delays from when the show aired.)

Just my two cents.

 

I'm still amazed that there still can be so much debate ... about toys !

 

It's gonna be a pretty bad year for me as anything movie related doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm just going to use my money to focus on some other toys I've been neglecting.

I've been collecting Mezco's Cinema of Fear line (well, just the Jason figures) and other random horror figures. I just went and got the first 2 series of the new Madballs, so I'm all caught up on those. Let's see what I have to look forward to this year.

Masterpiece Grimock
Henkei Thrust and Dirge
Still need Henkei Thundercracker
Still need Masterpiece Thundercracker
Encore Bruticus
Encore Big Mission sets 1 and 2.
Henkei Red Alert
Universe Darkwing (if it makes it out this year)
Amok Elvira figure
Amok Return of the living Dead Tarman figure
Amok Day of the Dead Dr. Tongue figure
Cinema of Fear Series 4 Jason
Cinema of Fear Previews Remake Jason
Cinema of Fear 12" Remake Jason
NECA 19" Jason figure
Dexter figure
TMNT 25th Reissue line
TMNT NECA Series 1 second release and Series 2
Madballs Series 3

I also have the following sitting in my Pile of Loot at BBTS.

Henkei Cyclonus
Universe Ratchet
Universe Legends Wave 5
Encore E-Hobby Sunstorm
Cinema of Fear Jason figure
TMNT 25th wave 1

and theres more older stuff I need to get a hold of as well. So yeah, if you collect anything besides Transformers, I just suggest focusing your attention on that. I'm actually kind of glad that I get a year off domestic Transformers to allow me to play catch-up with my other collections.

 

To be fair, you DID join a forum about toys.