Sorry to just pop in on this.. amazing conversation... But you, rightfully so, haven't been paying attention to a lot of the movie threads then. HELL, this thread 3 pages in has all kind of "maybe they'll boot bay, make G1 for movies, and cater to me me ME MEEEE." Not saying your wrong for not wanting anything to do with the movies, but there really are some on here that are, as you say, simple. Now, what I'm hoping this whole Allspark Productions brand ends up meaning is that they'll finally start doing direct to video movies for their brands.

 

Or maybe you have no idea what kids actually want? My son loves his Titan Prime as well as a few of his friends. Sorry not every kids toy can be made for adults  

 

Exclusively? Or just cartoon movies a la Scooby Doo? Because there's no way in hell that Hasbro or Paramount is going to let go of their billion dollar golden goose.

 

well that post hammered the nail through the damn board.

at least you get it.

 

I'm assuming, as was brought up before, that the direct-to-DVD/BluRay movies would be more in the vein of DC's Animated films than any kind of 'exclusivity.' Stuff like Justice League: Doom, Assault on Arkham, etc.

 

Well nice to know Transformers is still going strong.

 

with the right production team it could be some very good movies put out that way. i really can't think of many dc movies i dont like. the only thing is if they're going the dc route and taking self contained stories it's just a wonder of what they would pick.

i'd think features along the lines of megatron: origin, stormbringer, last stand of the wreckers, and maybe shadowplay (minus the lost light stuff) could be a good start.

id even watch a movie adaptation of the DJD and scavengers stuff.

 

Well darn. I hoped the AoE toyline with is terribly simplified one-step changers will be an utter failure. Now we can expect more of these ugly things that us collectors will not care about.

 

Sounds like what is next for TransFormers films might not be a direct continuation which could be good news. Though I'm not sure getting more involved is the right approach - whenever they got more involved in the past, it was never good. Leave movie making to quality people who know how to do it. Of course, they need to be in search for those people as we speak since they've never bothered to hire any outside of ILM.

It seems US TF performance is still lagging, as is easily observable online and in the toy aisle. Much like the box office. I wonder what happens when Chinese kids lose interest? They better hope it doesn't happen anytime soon, especially if they are going to be selling out there. Dangerous strategy because that market is not yet well defined and will soon stagnate. Hard to predict the future there. It should be noted performing in line with DOTM still means a significant dropoff from the success the first two movies had - in other words, ROTF had a major negative effect and DOTM did not reverse the trend.

Also, much as I suspected they are riding higher profits off of raising prices while cutting costs. The quality of the product has suffered though, and usually a strategy as such is not a viable long term strategy because you set negative trends against your own brand.

 

Just finished reading the many pages of this thread and ....... well it was entertaining. I actually had more to say but i think everyone else covered it already.

As for Allspark Pictures, interesting name but not sure how Hasbro is going to tackle that exactly. I mean making toys and building a brand is one thing but film making is entirely different. But i do have bigger hopes for their other lesser known brands like Visionaries for example.

 

Last I checked, the classics line isn't cancelled.

You should be happy - simple figures draw in younger fans, who get attached to the brand, and will eventually be collectors themselves. Transformers is a diverse brand; not everything needs to be aimed at "us collectors."

 

I think they're trying to follow the Marvel Studios template by looking at the big picture. So far, all the Transformers sequels have been written as sort of picking up where the previous ones left off. Actually, following the success of Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, I think every production studio (down to the smallest indie documentary maker) is trying to emulate Marvel studios.

ETA: Skimming through this thread, it seems that some people have a misunderstanding of how "studios" work. Most studios aren't like the Paramount, Warner Bros, or Universal lots you see on television or in the movies. Studios may hire directors, production crews and contract post production to effects companies on a picture by picture basis but they're not going to go out and hiring their own gaffers, cameramen, etc. In fact, some "studios" don't do this at all and exist only to only license products. (Marvel started out as one of those "studios" with a small office in Hollywood.)

 

It's not the simplicity, it's the ugliness of the sculpts. I love the GoBots toys, most of which are relatively simple. The difference is that they're not oversculpted and chintzy looking.

 

well no shit.....those things are aimed at kids not collectors. younger kids just being introduced to the brand. collectors have generations, masterpiece, and third party kids have titans, one steps, and whatever other gimmicky toys are out there.

that's the problem you collectors think it should all be about you and you forget it's also a toy line aimed at kids.

 

This. I may not like the live action movies, but I am so thankful for them, for this reason. I don't like a solid 80% of the movie or simple toys, but kids do, and that revenue and increased interest in the brand let us have things like the Classics and MP lines.

 

And yet, here you are, caring about them.  

Seriously, though, why are you hung up on the lines that aren't aimed at collectors? We've got Generations, which is not only amping up for a large 'themed' line this year, but is also giving us at least three Leader-class figures. Hasbro is just hitting as many demographics as it can, and what's wrong with that?

 

I'm talking Direct to DVD movies, not taking the movie franchise away from Paramount. Maybe things that could even add to Paramount's Movie-verse. they COULD even finally continue/remake the G1 series. Give the older fans who are, no offence meant, to rigid to accept that the movies (or anything else) exist. Hell, they could make a new full on universe all it's own this way. The possibilities with their creating a new production branch are endless for all of their brands.

 

Given you grew up with very simple Transformers (i.e. G1) you have zero idea of what it's like to be a seven year old trying to transform something with 15-30 steps just to play with it. Remember these are action figures, where is the "action" in a puzzle.

Collectors and adult fans have Masterpiece and Classisc/Generations, but apparently that is not enough for you, you want all Transformers to be for adults, but what happens when the number of fans drop off and there isn't enough of new fans to sustain the line? Then we have what we did in the early 90's which was Transformers almost completely disappearing.

Also there are many collectors/fans who have purchased the one step changers and are perfectly happy with them so when you make these statements you realize you do not speak for the Transformers fandom you only speak for yourself.

 

ditto

.......................WHEN AOE WAVE 2 IS COMING HERE

 

Everyone point to the kid who didn't get Jazz!