I think the CHUG argument comes up for MTMTE/Lost Light collections (and it literally always does with each new announcement) is because pretty much almost everyone who started one did so in CHUG scale, which meant the average height characters fit best to deluxes - the smaller releases like Swerve and Tailgate (that one even came with upgrade for deluxe scale Cyclonus) scale at that size as does Hasbro's Ultra Magnus who is a really good looking bot even if he doesn't hold his weapons well and is lacking decent ankles... That's without even saying about Skids or Trailbreaker (or the previously mentioned Cyclonus) at deluxe scale, even really at a push MMC's Megatron isn't out of place with it because of how big he appears at times. The current Rodimus figures are really badly pushing it at this size and a Nautica would be well out.
Until more recently I think the only figure which fit to this more voyager focused scale was Brainstorm, he was the only one, and we got a deluxe scaled Brainstorm who works ok enough more recently too (and while not entirely accurate totally has a better transformation anyway).

I know buying replacement figures or placeholders and upgrading when something "better" comes out is common in third party collecting, but some of us don't want to and can't afford to do that... So this current aversion to deluxe/CHUG scale, which is quite a recent thing really from the third parties, is quite frustrating to those of us who have these previous figures because we already have all of them and really can't replace a full crew at third party costs, potential questionable quality/accuracy or all over the place release dates.
My Lost Light crew is definitely remaining CHUG scale, I have Hot Flame because he's a leader, so standing out a bit more I can just about accept, anyone else out of scale is a definite no sale for me.

 

I think we all understand the argument that a lot of Chug collectors have a pile of Hasbro stuff they use as an IDW display. But honestly? Most of us don't care  (sorry couldn't resist)
MMC and now SXS have done enough IDW figures to make a solid foundation for a real IDW collection that is properly in scale and has great accuracy.
To be frank, before I got into MMC stuff I read a lot of threads and posts trying to create a list of the best IDW versions. And the vast majority of these Chug IDW collections are less than stellar . You get maybe 5 or 10 figures that kind of look like their IDW versions and the rest are just 'close enough" efforts that if you squint from about 12feet away they kind of look okay.
Apart from a few standouts (which have already been mentioned previously) the Hasbro IDW stuff just isn't that good. With MMC/SXS/MT etc, when they do IDW right, they do it really right (not you Boreas - no-one thinks Boreas is right for anything except the scrap heap)
I know that "the heart wants what the heart wants" and all that, but expecting 3P companies to stop producing in the Voyager scale they've already committed to is just not gonna happen. You either need to resign yourself to only getting the odd Hasbro piece they dribble out, or start thinking about rescaling your collection. Not meant to be mean or agro with the above its just the unfortunate reality. If nothing else we know that 3P's make a lot more profit off larger figures as manufacturing costs aren't that much more but retail price is. Deluxes don't reap that much profit. Its one of the main reasons behind the trend towards MP. I'm just glad these companies are still doing Voyager stuff and not everything has gone MP size.

 

"I already have most of my deluxes from hasbro I only need one or two to complete my set" is the exact reason third parties moved away from deluxe when you get right down to it.

 

Looks very nice.

 

I know, for me, I am totally ready to replace my Hasbro stuff with BETTER options. That could include upscaled Hasbro KOs with improvements or full on 3P offerings. Hasbro's offerings fall far short of an ideal, or just decent, offering for a lot of characters.

 

I still hear nautica and picture a blue bot.

 

Fixed that for ya.

 

She's had two shades of purple in the comics, one very reddish, one much more blue. Hasbro's has the more red tone but I'm pretty sure most people prefer her bluer shade.

Klejpull had the right idea with his custom here imo, I much prefer seeing her with a darker bluer purple.

 

Hey   I noticed your MMC support email on your post - are they good about getting back to people and replacing/supplying missing parts from a MISB figure?

 

I've never had to use it so I wouldn't know personally but people seem to always be able to get whatever bits they need. When I've needed mmc parts I've just gone through psx and they sorted me out just fine.

 

They moved away from the size class, not from the relative scale. 3P haven't released a ton of Ultra sized minibots, and while there are a dozen different Dinobots, there's only one oversized cassette series. If CHUG were as irrelevant as Starganderfish's imaginary census implies, then the 3P figures wouldn't be so unevenly distributed towards characters that ARE larger in the fiction, and ARE omitted or poorly represented in the official lines. Crossover appeal has commercial value, and ginormous iterations of small characters reduces that crossover appeal, which in turn inevitably must reduce sales.

 

I never really understood the whole 'CHUG is dead cause 3P doesn't make them anymore" line. I mean, MP carbots fit into the voyager scale near perfect, most of 3P now makes voyager sized/appropriate characters in the same scale. So, yeah, it seems like 3P are still making CHUG crossover characters still. Shit, if anything, it feels like Hasbro isn't making CHUG stuff anymore but more of a "Legends" scaled stuff. Skullcruncher is too small as a deluxe, so is Hardhead and Rook is amazing when he's oversized, etc. But all those characters "feel right" with most of their Legends sized stuff as well as the short height of their combiner figures.

 

yes

 

Thanks   I got Anubis at TCP's black Friday sale, and he came with two chain saw attachments, but no pulse rifle. (just to be clear, it was on MMC's end)

 

Who said that?
You know it's not a quote if nobody ever said it, right?

 

I think third parties are overly cautious when it comes to chug.
Most of the people who used to buy 3p chug did so out of dissatisfaction with official chug.
And there is still alot to be dissatisfied about.

 

I think it’s a “joke” more or less, because you hear quite a few people across the boards mentioning something of that effect.

Sure we are. Which is why we want more voyagers  

 

I thought the joke was that it's actually a rather rare occurrence
to read that kind of thing.
Well, I want voyagers too. Headmaster voyagers, Powermaster voyagers, Dinobot voyagers, Pretender voyagers.
Lots of voyagers.
Still want deluxes too. Deluxe Constructicons, Deluxe Predacons.
Lots of deluxes.

 

So how long does it usually take this company to put out prototype pics after revealing what their next figure is?

 

A lot of former CHUG collectors switched to MP, sadly, secondary market CHUG prices plumetted and the current quality of official CHUG is shit (except for Legends). 3rd parties are not likely to invest money in something that doesn't sell, and so they switched to two different niches - MP-scale and Legends-scale. I say MP-scale because A LOT of stuff currently being released has zero actual MP aesthetic (a lot of combiners in particular) but it's scaled to fit with MPs, not CHUG.

MMC is in the middle because a lot of their stuff scales nicely with older CHUG figures, and some of it scales with the current trends. I'm sure someone will be right along to say that MMC has always had their own scale but no, that's not really the case - Feral Rex and Hexatron were stated to have been intended to go with CHUG. So was Azalea, and so on.