Oh you know,
He's Camerabooty!
The Autobot that turns into a camera and shoots spiderman jizz from his eye!

How could you forget him? He's been around since the beginning!

 

Keep in mind that a big part of the Licensing shows is to drum up not other toy makers or collectibles, but things like the people who make underdogs and bed sheets and stuff. T shirts. Children's clothing. Optimus Prime plushies. Etc.

 

You mean you didn't have an Autobot Creepshot figure growing up? I thought everybody had one of those?

 

Uh. You already did. In the 80s. Those are nostalgia merch for old nerds that remember the old thing/like retro novelty. Why would a modern cartoon made to sell toys to young kids use design sensibilities and market limitations of the 80s instead of something suited for modern taste?

 

omnimedia is definitely an interesting way to put it.

 

I detest this argument see:
Spiderman
Batman
Punisher
Captain America
Ironman
Black panther
....
It is fair to expect Transformers to respect it's roots, if not you get stuff like:
Gi-joe EXTREME

 

There are good and bad ways of respecting one routes and I'm sorry to say but sometimes staying too much into the roots can end up doing more harm then good. There's nothing wrong with going outside the box every now and then otherwise the TF brand wouldn't have evolved the way it did. As for those points you've brought up? Even they went through different evolutions and did some drastic changes in their own right in some manner.

 

Yup.

Hasbro and Takara-Tomy currently are standing on the shoulders of past giants (while paying no royalties, nor giving credit to) and crying foul when the work done by those previous creators is utilized by third party companies.


Who the hell is that Autobot Scope-Head Greenie?!?

 

Exactly. This is the exact place to say "Hey everyone, license our IP and your stuff will sell!"

And beyond that, it's the right thing to say in general. Toys as a whole, particularly with kids, is a bit of a shrinking market. Investors will want to hear that you are diversifying outside of just that field into growing markets like video games, etc.

None of this is meant to say "we don't care about kids and collectors buying toys any more". We're getting loads of toys these days, it's not like they are stopping the toys to make other stuff instead.

 

There were no drastic changes to those characters. Their colors, personalities, appearances were unchanged for decades yet have achieved great success. Their fans aren't called G1ers for the sake of downplaying the complaints of fans who've followed the hobby for 20+ years.

If the movies were good, maybe older fans would be okay with it. But to see everything about Transformers warped and twisted into nonsense is too much; so yes we complain. I'll spare you the full diatribe, but yes long time fans, continue to be insulted by the changes and the awful direction that Bay takes the franchise. Imagine if Marvel made Spiderman grow two more pairs of limbs and wear a green costume... and a whole new generation of kids only knows Spiderman as green with six limbs. It is unsettling.

 

Hasbro, like any of the big studios, doesnt see new inquiries at licensing expo. It's simply an avenue to see all existing licensees at one time. They aren't there to drum up new business.

 

damn, I need me that Hot Rod skateboard... so dope

also wish whoever drew this mural could draw the comics, then maybe I'd read them  
can't stand any of the idw artists, personally. except for Tom Scioli and Guido Guidi, of course.

 

Alex Milne not to your tastes?

 

Did you not notice the bit where the original incarnation of Transformers proved completely untenable as a toyline any more and died? The only reason the brand still exists today for Michael Bay to make movies of is because Transformers was willing to change nearly everything about itself and be reborn as Beast Wars.

Transformers should never ever aspire to keep things the same forever because that's how you turn into a dead franchise like G.I. Joe or He-Man.

 

"“Hasbro isn’t really a toy company anymore… They really are a content developer."

my experiences with "indie" game devs makes me hear that "content developer" remark and parse "con men". not sure how hasblo can manage that out of what they do. but mistaking their own field of business is a foolish thing regaldless of how they want to word it.

"transformers" wasn't willing to change things, kenner was willing to throw out everything except the "robots that turn into stuff" part to make beast wars and "save" the franchise.
as someone who hated the beastwars stuff even then, I'll forever question just how necessary the direction they took was.

also, you're probably about to have hordes of angry GIJOE and he-man fans pounding at your door. tch

 

You can thank cynical fans for that.

  

Scioli?! But... dude... he's awful. Perhaps you meant Casey Coller? Dan Khanna?

G.I. Joe live action movies changed stuff as much as Bayformers did (prior to that, Extreme and even DIC cartoon made drastic changes as well). As for He-Man, Mattel is just simply incompetent when it comes to everything that isn't Barbie. Anyway, bottom line is that changing stuff drastically doesn't mean success will be achieved.

 

Damn them and those skateboards.

 

Just be thankful that we got the TF Devastation videogame.

 

Yea I love that game!