I struggle to want to buy Inferno - he's just the wrong side of cartoony for me - the lack of tail lights just annoys me.

I don't mind the Animation colour Red Alert (I actually prefer it) Ratchet and Ironhide I can tolerate - though they are rather plain.

But yeah they do over do it a bit sometime on the animation look - which is why I don't much like Fans Toys Headmasters as much as I otherwise might have done.

 

It is okay that some people want it to look just like the toon. I don't agree, but I get it.

We usually have options so I am not too disappointed, but I do like what Shogo said. This is my preference as well.

 

Look, I understand you like the Hasui style MP figures.

But why are you so convinced it’s the voice of “shouty cartoon fans” that changed the design direction of a Japanese company (TT)? Where are you getting that from, honestly?

 

You answered your own question in your first sentence.

For some, cartoon accurate is the best aesthetic.

 

If they were basing their decisions off what people on TFW were saying, Hasui would still be the guy in charge as he was spoken of like a hero for a good long while there. It's not like the masses started changing their tune here and THEN TT made a change.

 

Even Gundams are always supposed to be realistic mecha, Robot Spirit line is putting out anime styled figure version of them, I think somehow this trend is spreading throughout the market for collectors in Japan.

I am not a fan of that.

 

I love cartoon accuracy. The fact that the Takara Unite Warriors and Legends had a more or less cartoon accurate look got me into collecting.

And now because of XTB's cartoon accurate CrackUp I started collecting MP scaled stuff too.
I love the MP+ releases. Just got Sideswipe and looking forward to Prowl. So the cartoon accuracy thing works perfectly for me. No complaints at all. I may quit collecting generations since Takara Legends is over and focus on the MP+ releases instead.

 

Toon accuracy is not something I have any interest in; largely because many of the cartoon design changes were born out of the need to make the toys easier to animate, or in some cases, errors. I much prefer a blend of the purposeful toon design choices, like giving Tracks a mouth or Ironhide a head, blended with the design of the toy (ideally including a "toon" head AND a "toy" head for guys like Tracks)

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the modern Blandformers MPs either. The moment I saw mpp10, I needed to have it. MPP36? Nope, he's just much too plain for me. Same goes for Ft Headmasters.

Cya
Raziel-chan

 

No, I don't think toon accuracy is ruining the hobby. I think there are enough fans and enough groups of fans that there's room for everyone to get at least a taste of what they want.

Let's face it, a lot of us grew up watching the cartoon and didn't have the comics. All we knew is that's what the characters were supposed to look and sound like, we didn't know about red Rumble/blue Frenzy and what the names of certain characters were in the comics, etc. For a majority of us (especially in the '80s when everyone was pretty much broke), the free and over the air cartoon was the defacto end all, be all of Transformers for the audience that consumed the media.

So, when MP wants to go toon accurate in robot mode, but still pull off an amazing real world alt mode, that's something to be applauded, not sneered at. Seriously. I think it's even more impressive that WFC:S has these ridiculous alt modes and yet they pull off a toonish accurate robot mode thus making them a sort of MP lite at mass retail pricing.

Do you want total toy accuracy? I surely hope not. Those faces and designs were so far from the material that it hurts. They have their charms, sure, but I wouldn't want to collect an entire line of figures that are slavishly toy accurate, because I could do that with a G1 collection. What's the point?

 

Not for me personally. I don’t like the G1 toon design. I much prefer the classicverse gundam inspired treatment.

 

technically its the cartoon designs that were far from the source material, though i get your sentiment

 

I think what your forgetting is every Masterpiece has tried to emulate the cartoon appearance. The only difference now is they are also going for a more cartoon paint scheme instead of realistic paint scheme. As such, we’ll see more toy and cartoon asthetic repaints to please everyone.

Also, the original toy designs didn’t really look good at all. The cartoon asthetic gave the characters more heroic appearances. You can’t tell me you would want a more G1 toy accurate Ironhide, do you.

 

Yes, yes it is. Toon accuracy is a joke. The MP line was doing great from MP-10 up until tracks and now its trash again. MP inferno, ugh. give me MMC's versions anyday.

The melding of toy and toon is what I like most. What the MP line is now can go eff its self off a cliff.

FT MMC and MT (in that order) have my money when it comes to MP figures.

I got MP shockwave and it sits in perpetual gun mode because my ancient FT shockwave shockwaves so much better that it does.
I got the new MP megatron and I'm not going to lie, Im impressed by it, but my MT megatron is right next to it on the shelf. Theres just something about them both that demands shelf space.

 

I'm glad you got it, but that's specifically why I didn't say the source. The toons never were but a lot of kids didn't know that until years later, if at all. Even the comics weren't entirely accurate to the toys or the toon, so honestly, "source material" is kind of up in the air for this franchise. It's honestly a mess, thus even more surprising anyone can make heads or tails of it all at the toy level.​

 

I don't mind it honestly, I love my MP36 being a huge Megatron fan he is exactly what my 7 year old self wanted in 1984. With that said don't expect me to buy back plus repaints of MPs I already own.

 

Well, that's just personal preferences and all.
I sure as hell don't need jet another gigantic Optimus or Starscream, but it's about time my gigantic Mindwipe arrived at my doorstep.

 

agreed, cartoon designs are definitely the most prevalent, for me personally i love new designs though.


cartoon accurate designs definitely have their place, but new designs shouldnt be done away with either. without new designs we wouldnt have gotten things like powermaster optimus prime, the beast wars transmetals or laser optimus prime etc etc

emphasized the bolded part, but that wasnt necessarilly the intent of masterpiece prior to mp-10, mp-01 tried to blend toy, cartoon and real world into a true masterpiece composite design, the original mp starscream also didnt try to really replicate the cartoon again going for a more composite type design

 

IS THE PHRASE “TOON ACCURATE” SPOILING THIS HOBBY?

This phrase alone shows the issues that this fandom has in general and kind of gives us an idea of the mindset of some collectors.

This isn't a rub on @the oaf, who is a fine person. However, the very fact that this is a question that can be posed with so many substantive answers bears some consideration.

First off, what is "toon accurate"?

If this was Gundam, with hyper-technical designs and slavishly (and lovingly) refined appearances that get submitted with absolute reverence for decades, then it'd be easy to say what toon accurate was. Instead, we "fight" over this BS:





It's an error filled schlockfest, with hyper simplified drawings meant to evoke what we got with the toys while providing overworked sweatshop artists the ability to pop out truly insane numbers of episodes. The level of production that we got with G1 (up to 49 episodes in Season 2) is almost dizzying compared to the practically arthouse 13 episode seasons we get into today's cartoons.

Again, not saying it's wrong to want your toys to look like what you saw (or thought you saw) on TV, but let's not kid ourselves - for those that are slavishly dedicated to wanting screen accuracy, you effectively WANT toys that look like animation models developed to produce episodes on the cheap, really fast. The other side isn't immune from silly either. Ironhide and Ratchet have seats for faces. Full stop.

Second, "spoiling" is a really strong word that kind of has two components. First, there have to be people behaving crappily, and second you have to have people that care that there are people behaving crappily. Takes two to tango when you're talking about a fandom being "spoiled".

I've been a TF fan since 84. That's 34 years of fandom. While a lot of it was in a vacuum, I can tell you that we, as a fandom, have behaved crappily since the internet appeared and ATT popped up in 1993. There is literally no moment in the history of Transformers since that year that I am aware of where there hasn't been a screeching pile of insanity, and just over that a bunch of cantankerous fans that while not insane, hate whatever the latest thing is like it was a bodily function necessary for life. There's a reason we, as a fandom, coined the phrase "ruined forever". So to this end, is "toon accuracy" in any capacity ruining the fandom? No more so than Beast Wars, Beast Machines, RID, The Unicron Triology, Animated, Prime, as well as gimmicks, lack of gimmicks, cheap plastic, "hollowness", etc. etc. You get the picture.

The one silver lining seems to be that the majority of us don't seem to care that someone is stamping his or her feet and whining like a baby that we're getting a new 35th Anniversary Prime or that [3P Company] isn't producing Blast Off with the color error because THAT'S HOW IT LOOKED LIKE ON THE TV zOMG. So to that end, those people aren't letting a few crazies and grumps "spoil" the hobby. So I think whether or not the hobby is being spoiled is that of individual choice. If you choose to let a pedantic "superfan" crying ruin your collecting, that is 100% your choice and for you, it is definitely spoiled.

In the meantime, the rest of the people will be able to appreciate toys no matter what they look like or even if we're buying them.

Unless it's Xovergen Trailerforce. That thing is terrible.

 

This is one of the reasons I LOVE MP Sunstreaker. The ability to have an OG looking alt mode, with the gigantic blowers is cool. But being able to flip it, and have a great and accurate representation of a countach is awesome. I love having that option. The added headlight gimmick and swappable tail lights is also great. I really enjoy alt modes like that.

I also 100% agree about the fisher price aesthetic. They've removed a bit too MUCH color, accent, and technical detail for my tastes. Sunstreaker is incredible, but I find Ironhide, Inferno, and Grapple are really plain looking. I prefer the more detailed looks.