I also agree that the Generations line would benefit from a more diversified character roster. The versatility of Transformers as a concept is one of my favorite aspects of the franchise, moreover, there are so many characters and concepts that are ripe for revival. However, I don't agree with the notion that the Geewunners have this stranglehold on the market; rather, I think the matter is more complex than that.

First off, I think it's worth making a distinction between Geewunners and G1 fans. To my understanding, "Geewunner" refers to the kind of fans who refuse to accept any non-G1 iterations of TF as valid. This is different in kind from fans who accept other iterations of TF, but simply like G1 and/or prefer it to subsequent reinventions. Of late, I've seen the latter kind of fans around, but very few, if any, of the former. Although I hesitate to use my own experience as a measure of the whole, it seems that, for the most part, we are long past the days of 1996, when radical reinventions of the franchise were new and cries of "Trukk not Munky" abounded in the fandom.

If I had to guess, I'd say the abundance of G1 we've been seeing lately is caused not so much by the purchasing power of militant Geewunners, but by a combination of factors, which includes the wallets of nostalgic 80's kids, but is not primarily driven by it.

A cursory glance at the numbers from the last decade show that the biggest years in terms of profit for Hasbro from the TF franchise have been during movie years. The influence of the Bayverse has changed both the way TF is perceived by the common audience and by Hasbro in terms of marketing. But as time has shown, simply releasing a new TF movie isn't guaranteed to generate the kind of revenue seen in 2007 and 2009. Moreover, Hasbro's grand endeavor, the ill-fated Aligned Continuity proved to be less successful than anticipated (to say the least). It's understandable then, that Hasbro would be rather timorous in investing resources into reinventing TF.

Meanwhile, other franchises have seen massive success by capitalizing not simply on their concepts and stories, but primarily on their characters. We're living in an age where D-list comic book characters are household names and brightly colored, cartoon accurate character designs are more widely accepted. This has not escaped Hasbro's glance, hence their focus on promoting individual characters (e.g. Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, etc.) and focusing in on the classic aspects of the characters' designs. (I would be willing to bet that the whole "brand unification" scheme they've been running is, at least, in art, a result of this as well.)

All that goes to say that Hasbro isn't at the mercy of the Geewunners. But, in the wake of the Bayverse's decline, the death of the Aligned Continuity, and the advent of primarily character-driven franchises (including, but not limited to the MCU) Hasbro is going through a transition period with TF, trying to decide what the franchise will be for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, it makes sense for them to capitalize on G1, both because its profitability is more than likely assured and because it doesn't require the vast amount of resources that a dramatic reinvention of the brand would take.

 

Ahh, I totally agree. But there are some points I was trying to make.

1. Nostalgia is powerful. Look at all of the people who decided to watch the Michael Bay Transformers movies due to nostalgia.
2. I was not saying that ALL Bayverse fans are toxic. I have seen Bayverse fans who weren't toxic. In fact, I grew up in the era of the Michael Bay movies though thankfully never watched them to allow for me to be more receptive of Transformers. It's just there is that vocal minorities and those people are the ones that we hear about.
3. There are those people who say that "Studio Series shouldn't have G1. That's the main Generations Toyline's role." Purists, Trukk not munky believers, and other kinds of people who believe that Transformers should be exactly what they want.
4. I was thinking that they would do a Kingdom-styled toyline with G1 Characters thrust into different continuities. The idea is that in this way, for those people buying these toys for G1 nostalgia sakes, that Hasbro still has what they want.

These were just my ideas. And that thing about sometimes GEEWUNNERS being more toxic than Bayverse fans was a bit of a joke.

And side-note: Transformers Slag Podcast said that Ractonite reminded him of Killer Punch.

 

Megatron is a get, I can see them retooling ER voyager Megs with the same gimmick of G1 pistol as tank canon.

Starscream is a probably, he looks like a fun one to fiddle with. Bring on Thundercracker.

Inferno looks fine, not super exciting but I will pick him up. They really should've got him out in Earthrise though (he could've been the "missing" ER 28 or whichever number was skipped).

Huffer looks great, can't wait to see Pipes, Tracks, and Galvatron.

+-MWG-+

 

Why does the tiny Megatron have the proper torso paint apps that my large Megatron is lacking? What's going on here?

Without the red on the sides, Megatron looks very boring. Here's hoping they do an Earthrise redeco that knocks it out the park the way Seige got.

 

Huffer looks awesome, Inferno looks great and Ractonite is pretty neat! The core class Megs and Screamer turned out pretty well but I have no use for mini versions of characters I already have.

 

huffer looks the best. but no brawn or gears? what's up with that??? lol

 

I have no use for mini versions of characters I already have...

...until Unicron arrives!

 

Huffer and Inferno? Instant buy!

 

We just got a good Brawn in Titans Return. Gears was planned for core class but got cancelled, but youre right that he needs an update. Maybe 2022?

 

Looks great.

 

Yeah, definitely hoping to see Gears (and Swerve) in deluxe size in the near future! Having Rattrap and Vertebreak in hand, core class wouldn't do Gears justice!

 

YES to G1 Inferno. Bring on Artfire and Hauler in the Generations Selects line.

 

Looks great, LET'S GOOOOOOOOO!

 

Looking forward to the eventual Pipes remold from Huffer. I am also very happy to see Huffer can attach to Prime's trailer so we can recreate that one scene that happened that one time. I say that in jest, but it was something I mentioned I was hoping for way back when Huffer was first leaked.

I might pick up Inferno. He and Ractonite are the wildcards of this wave for me. I definitely will not be getting Starscream or Megatron.

I’m also just a little bit annoyed that we aren’t really getting any classic Predacon’s this wave. I guess all the Fossilizers are Preds and they’re releasing Dinobot as a Predacon, but we all know he’s a Maximal. Actually, it’s kind of funny that the only two classic Predacons they’ve unveiled so far besides Megatron both switched sides.

 

I'm still happy with Thrilling 30 Gears. He just needed a little bit of red Sharpie love.

 

Damn I want them all, damn I gotta make room, damn I gotta sell some Transformers

 

Agreed. I'll be passing on the rest of these reveals.

 

At this point they HAVE to know that there's fan-demand for him.

Hopefully going forward, they'll start including non-G1 characters in every line. At this point, where most of G1 already has pretty faithful reimaginings, it'd be foolish not to branch out into other eras more regularly.
(Especially when Generations has cemented itself as collector-focused). I'm confident Kingdom will sell well, and that will prove to Hasbro that non-G1 isn't the huge risk it was a decade ago.

 

Loving the look of these. Fossilizers aren’t for me, but like others have said, I welcome Hasbro trying out new things. They look cool, and dinosaurs sell.

These will be the first Huffer and Inferno I own. Glad I passed on the previous versions, as these look killer as hell. Two more holes in my collection filled.

 

Okay come on, now we’re just being silly.