Not sure if this is the right forum to put this...I will make it clear that unless I'm outright stating it, I'm NOT ranting, and want actual opinions\discussion on this.

I've been a tad more active the past few months\year than I was the year before, mainly because of military service and not much free time. However, as time passed, I noticed various new trends in these forums.

Ever since the great FE story and subsequent first release of RID figures about a week earlier in the UK, I've noticed the "great schism" between opinions and ideas for the toyline and who should get which figures first. Needless to say, it added lots of people in my ignore list from both sides. Thankfully this whole ordeal has died down besides a few small sparks here and there.

Another trend I've noticed is that we [as a forum, not necessarily as a fandom] have gained many new members the past five months. What's surprising is that people that joined two months ago have got FIVE times the post I and many others that joined back in 06-07 have. WOW. Is it mostly spam talk? Needless replies? Visitor messages which have become a trend count towards post count? Did we really have that much less to talk about before TFTM07?

Thankfully we've got younger members as well. The internet is a great place for TF fans nowadays, almost everything you need\want is available for download\purchase. Back when I officially joined the fandom at tfarchive.com, I had to search for days for a copy of the '86 movie, and scout the web for low quality, random order armada episodes. No comics whatsoever. A "sad" by-product of this, of course, are younger fans with avatars\sigs with pictures of Prime's Arcee. I've stopped counting or even trying to differentiate them, but there's a healthy group of dudes who feverishly defend Arcee and PRIME no MATTER what. LOL, take it easy dudes...

The biggest change is, for me at least, the level of self-entitlement fans have all over the world. With the past four or so years of toylines, everybody has some favourite that HAS to be released and hasbro is a demon's offspring for not having it out yet or it's not available on their continent. I have memories of Energon Galvatron and the three Gestalts being favoured as god's gift back when they were first released. Those guys were the ultimate G1 hybrid releases\updates at the time.

Now, of course, they are reduced to garbage and nobody's ever really happy. Fans are unhappy when figures are omitted from the line, figures become available in another continent, fans are unhappy because they can't get them for cheap locally. This is the BW Neo Unicron thing taken to an entirely different, evolved level.

Fans clamored for cybertronian designs back during War Within, we got a very select few of them. Now we have the entire first half of an entire line dedicated to G1-looking, cybertronian figures. And fans are unhappy because there aren't any new G1 updates.

Any opinions on the matter, from both older and younger fans? Do older fans view ourselves\themselves as an elite that went through transformers before they became a mainstream event? Do younger fans feel smothered from the amount of merchandise and releases they're faced with? Is the older generation of fans whiny? I'd like to read about your views.

 

Oddly enough, the four problems you allude to are related.

 

I really, really don't want to come across as a douche right now, because you seem like a really nice guy and this is a well thought out post... and I've even bought a couple great Henkei figures from you if I recall correctly.

But I have to say, your signature kind of bothers me every time I see it, and it's kind of ironic to see it when you also post something like what I quoted above.

Please don't block me. I'm just sayin'.  

 

1). I have no idea, I don't venture into the toys section very often.

2). I'm one of those new guys sadly, so I'm not very scientifically unattached. I try to make my posts matter, but I'm home a lot and bored so I come here more often. The fact that we have Movie and Prime separate forums might count for something as well as games that are updated on a basis and people posting 'This' or ' ' as posts.

3). There have always been people obsessed with characters. While I've joined this sight last month, the internet is filled with *shudder* very wierd Starscream pictures. The younger fans probably come from those introduced through movies. Not to say all movie fans are young, but there seem to be more than few of young movie fans who don't know much of the source material.
4). I'm part of the 'self-entitlement' generation by birth records, but not by mindset. I don't get it. When I walk into the store, I see a transformer I want, get it, and usually like it. Then I discover this place where what toy's the best is broken down to a science and some of my favorites have 'horrible articulation' or 'neon colors'. I didn't see any of those things, I just saw a robot who turned into a cool car.On the same track, I watch a show because it's fun. If I don't find it fun, I don't watch it. Sure, I have minor complaints and questions afterwards, but I don't get saying a show is horrible and watching it every week.


Bonus # 5). I don't see a correlation between generation and whininess. There as many whiny veterans as new guys. I've been a Transformer fan since Beast Wars, and I think there is a hipster like rift between those who were here before the movies and those who were introduced by the movies. It's almost like a civil war between two generations, and I just do my best to stay in the middle.

 

My sig is mostly poking fun, it was written on purpose by me. It's almost direct quotes from those FE threads back in February, but I didn't want to make any member a "target" so I just wrote it down myself instead of quoting. Remember, I'm neither Canadian nor American. Just a European who found the whole ordeal entertaining.

Part of my open-mindedness on this subject is that ever since I bought the few Armada toys that were on the shelves in 2003 or 2004, I found out that I had to import the rest via US or JPN residents. Same thing happened for Binaltechs. Same thing happened for EVERY Masterpiece. Galaxy Force. Cybertron. Movie lines. A nearly complete Animated collection. So I'm really used to other people getting all the figures I want first, and having to wait for the mail to get it from them. And I'm okay with it. Yet there happens to be a great deal of people who can't deal with that...

I draw a very thin line, thus far, between generations of fans and "whining", in that older fans whine for collectibles while younger fans do their damned best to defend any perceived fault, true or not, of their favourite show.

Let it be made clear that by "generations" and "older" and "younger" I mean fans and not actual age. You can be 16 and be part of the fandom since the days your were a kid and was watching Armada just as easily as you can be thirty and just joined the fray.

 

As someone newer to these boards but still over a year vet I'll explain my post count thusly. I try to add to the conversation. I rarely ever reply with single word replies. I'm just talkative in certain subjects. I always tend to have a message board that I constantly am on. Currently that's TFW.

I try not to be self entitled. But if another country gets stuff I want, of course I'm jealous. I try not to be negative, or at least completely, so I'll try to say something positive.

As for whining, again I try not to even attempt coming off that way. I suspect I succeed but every now and then someone calls me out on whining or something of that nature. I retreat to collect myself and attempt to stop this behavior.

My opinion of the movies has degenerated quite a lot over the past year but I do make an effort to keep my opinion to myself. I want to let those who enjoy it do so.

I hope some of that rambling added to the conversation.

 

Ah, cool. Yeah, I knew you were from Europe, but was a bit confused about the sig. Sometimes sarcasm is difficult to understand online.  

 

I think putting it in quotation marks would help.

 

My post count exploded when I got a desk job. TFW saves me from slow days at work.

As for your other concerns .... personally, I think it's the movies that have brought in a completely new demographic and this forum is still trying to figure out how to coexist. Obviously this is going to come across as bashing, apologies before hand, but there's a reason why there are so many running jokes with the movie forum. Sadly, the Prime forum is slowly starting to creep that way too. It's just how it is and you have to roll with it.

 

The reason i post so much is
1. I rarely am without internet
2. I love this community (bar certain people who tick me off constantly with their constant whining: get over it, its not the 80's anymore. Deal with it)
3. I like the thrill of reaching a certain benchmark on my post count
4. I rarely have nothing to say and am ready to back up those who share my opinions and ready to disprove those who say "everything not 84/85 is a rip-off"

 

I'm kinda relieved to confirm that your title and sig weren't serious. I assumed it, but you can never be sure.

 

Methinks you need a hobby. Something sports-related.

 

It's possible the explosion in post counts may have something to do with the proliferation of internet-ready smartphones. I know if I got a phone, I'd be monitoring TFW2005 contantly. As little as 2 years ago, while you could come to this website on a mobile device, it likely wasn't as easy as it is now.

 

I've been active in the fandom since 2003, and the only reason my post count is currently skyrocketing is my leg injury means I have nothing to do all day.

It would be interesting to see if the number of active fans on TFW has increased greatly since 2007, and if so by how much.

 

I'm sure a mod can show us those numbers. It'd be interesting to see. I know I hopped on TFW in 2009 after my first BotCon trip, but I'd have to imagine the movies brought in a ton of traffic.

 

My sport-hating attitude stops that  

 

There's one more guy you pissed off. I could name him, but but I'll say that he's definitely not Phil and that he does not have vintage trading cards and did piss off Phil.

 

I've been a fan since 2003, but joined the site in late 2006.

 

The 'self entitlement' has been growing for years now. The more we've got- the more we want. It's truly amazing how much information Hasbro is spoon feeding us currently.
It's bitten them on the arse when it comes to disclosure of products still in development, though.

As many TF discussions are rather cyclical, many have been nutted out ad nauseum by the old timers.
Combine this with a generation brought up in the height of social media, where it is somewhat acceptable to broadcast to the world via a tweet or facebook post every time you scratch yourself, you're bound to get a high post count of quick remarks.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to talk Transformers, you had to download 500 emails from a newsgroup first. So you had to decide whether or not your comment was worth posting.
Then we had to eat coal... If we were lucky.  

 

You 'ad coal? Luxury!