It is for me and I am fine with it. I'm grateful for what I have but nothing excites too much any more with 3P. Especially when it takes 2-3 years sometimes to receive something you pre ordered.

 

Once I get an MP Superion, Menasor (Almost there, come on Bandit!), Predaking, and Bruticus I will be done apart from a few Autobots. I might also switch out my TW Devastator if FT comes out with something good. The combiners are the core of the remainder of my MP need list. MP is all I need for G1 Transformers.

 

There are options for almost everything you said.

 

I may agree on 3P.

I definitely agree that the current mainline revisit of G1 is one of the strongest and consistent revisits it’s had. Obviously certain figures are slightly lacking, but over all the current run really is something special.

 

Is it dying? No, I don't think so. At least not yet, but I have some points to why the game is changing.

1- Same characters over and over. Updating is cool, but every company has a Prime for example, and who's going to buy a mook like Skids more than once, you know?

2- Overly complicated engineering. The fun part of transformers is switching modes every once in a while, but with nightmare transformations and paint chipping. It's gotten to the point where transforming a figure is damaging to it. I can transform my MMC Brawl 5 times a day for the hell of it, but If I look at my FT Spoiler the wrong way? the roof chips some paint.

3- The cost. In order to get in all the bells and whistles the figures prices are inflating at an unsettling rate. My FT Roadking was at 1 point the most expensive single character figure I owned at 168usd brand new from showZ. I'm slowly but surely being priced out of the hobby.

4- The Legends. The technology for these little guys is getting so good that they're just mini MPs with none of the flaws like chipping and high cost. The face sculpts need work but at that size, it doesn't need to be perfect. This happened in the Gundam fandom too. The smaller HG and RG lines have a bigger cast of characters, looks really good, and costs less than MG kits.

5- The cast. This one is more of a personal thing than anything. I knew where I wanted to stop when I picked up my MP10 that I would stop when I got a full season 1, 2, and movie characters list. Sure I made some odd side character or alternate universe purchases. (I have a Microblaze Military titans for god's sake) but I know where I'll stop collecting, and odds are, except for big name bots or super impresive updates, I won't be collecting anymore once I finish the G1 cast, and I suspect I'm not the only one who's taking this approach.

 

A: Nope.

3rd parties tend to mainly focus on supplementing one line primarily. Yesteryear it was Classics/Generations. Companies started grinding and battling out for each character to the point nearly everything had been done. Then comes the reset with Masterpiece. Mid stream, we start seeing "Legends" scale rise. Eventually, both lines will run out of characters. If this pattern is also something to predict, we're getting due for another reset within a few years.

 

You're right, the emergence of Fans Hobby, Lemontree, Transform Element, New Age, Magic Square, Cang Toys and several others are a sign that a market is dying. As that's what you do when you see a failing market and fandom. You join that market place.

 

If you're not going for strictly G1 like I am, than it is fine. There's more companies than FT and XTB.

Nowhere near dead yet.

 

They've been saying this for years. All i can say is we havent had a g1 mp predacons, protectobots, technobots, sky lynx yet. There's no way 3p is dead. Just look at fanstoys charging 300 bucks for an astrotrain. No way they could do that if there was no demand.

 

No, Not once a much better version releases they become obsolete.

The legends game is still doing okay, but I'd wager the "Golden Age" is over for them as well. Fans Hobby and Lemon tree are both niche market players. They've got neither the fanbase nor the swagger of XTB, Fanstoys, MMC. TE seems like a solid company, but they are what 2 figures in? Hardly a juggernaut.

Fact is the market is drying up. I'm sorry that upsets you, but it's a reality. More and more TF collectors are done replacing figures at ever increasing prices. Just flip through eBay and compare how older 3P is holding value vs older mainline.

The mainline represents a healthy collectors market. People trading in for the updated and improved. The value retention of older 3P MP shows that less and less collectors are dumping the old figures for the latest versions. When prices soar on older toys it isn't the sign of a healthy future.

 

I think it's slowed down a bit but I think that's more to the pandemic than anything.

Me Personally? I don't really have much else, all I need is Gears and Huffer to complete my S1 Autobots which thanks to the Badcube reissues I think I can finish. After that I still gotta finish my FT Stunticons and Aerialbots. Once I have those completed I can focus on the last two characters I really want, Ultra Magnus and Devastator.
Once that's all over I'll consider my collection complete. If I get anything else, it's likely because I wanna focus on a Movie-line or it's an update to a character I already have but looks improved

 

It does seem like they're focusing on stuff I don't have any interest in.

I never liked the hyperstylized stuff. City Commander was OK because we had absolutely no other options on the horizon at the time. I didn't even finish TFC's Devastator and practically had to give away their Aerialbots when I was selling this stuff. There wasn't a single combiner I was interested in until FT and MMC started their sets because every single combiner up until then was hyperstylized. Studio Ox is about the edge of how much stylization I'll tolerate and they seem to be shooting for Studio Ox to the Nth power.

I had also bailed out of MPs when Takara went off the deep end. FT seemed to be keeping with the style I liked but it's hard to tell now because of their constant availability problems. Will not jump through hoops for many of the characters they're doing/redoing. If their Jazz is a modern Takara mess (when it's released in 2024 or 2025), count me out.

Legends...I don't know. I like them but I don't like the MP prices they're carrying now. They're also starting to show some of the dumb design choices the official stuff has been plagued with. You know the drill - parts are expensive, but we need panels to cover panels to cover faux parts, so let's cast this part that rubs in the wrong color and paint it so it can be an eyesore to save parts. Originally what I liked about them was fitting in with my GoBots, filling the same niche of small, playable toys. If they're going to go that route of $70+ figures that turn inside out and are a mess in alternate mode, no thanks.

Part of that is eBay losing its relevance. There are tons of figures I couldn't give away on eBay but sold just fine in person. Many people aren't even looking at eBay and those that are have been balking at paying a minimum of $40 for a $20 figure just to cover shipping, taxes, and fees. And then there's the exodus of sellers (who used to be buyers too) over the Mangled Payments fiasco...

 

I think retailers and the companies are probably getting smarter in their production runs as well. I am definitely seeing less "overstock" sales with figures sitting on the virtual shelves before the previously inevitable discount. These days its preorder or miss it. Better for them although I do miss the previous days of waiting for the discount and then the ebay flash sales. I managed to get a bunch of figures for great prices with those. This possibly more efficient production model probably also leads to higher prices since the companies are making less units and may need to start higher to turn a profit.

At the moment, I feel that Hastak has done such a good job with mainline that Im using 3p to fill niche holes like Masterforce or Victory that Hastak is less likely to get to or random fun stuff like the TFC Rolling Thunder and upcoming Dominator.

 

Swing and a miss although I do love a good bit of fear mongering. Firstly for "niche" companies, Fans Hobby sold out of *every* Power master mould so much so a second round got issued. For an item you consider "niche", an expensive one at that. TE had three releases not two, both g1 releases got decent praise bar qc issues on their first run Mirage and some qc issues on their weird robo kitty Bumblebee, and again both the Prime and Mirage got multiple runs. Lemontree are literally experimenting with scale on their movie line and doing well with it while their Shockwave design came out of left field and again, you see it sold out fairly well and their actually willing to try unusual designs despite a supposedly "dying" market. Kang Toys have gone all out on their coked up insanely cool looking MP scale Predaking which *again* would be a dumb idea in a dying market yet they already did a re-release of their initial figure.

I also like your idea that "higher prices aren't a sign of a healthy market" as even when Fansproject was chugging along well their shit was in such demand that scalpers were king and KOs took off quickly. By this line of thought Hasbro had best pack up shop and keep churning out terrible comic cross overs instead, clearly the official masterpiece line is at an end what with its abysmally slow development and appalling qc issues for overpriced aftermarket items.

You also gloss over initial availability of figures completely when discussing price. Shattered Glass Powermaster Prime was limited to five hundred and came out what, a year or two ago? But as it was limited its stupidly expensive, extreme example sure but undeniably true as that goes for countless releases be they niche or not. I mean shit, Cybertron Scourge and g2 Laser Prime from Fans Hobby sold out quickly and now after market is a pain especially for Scourge meaning rolling dice on ebay to see if you can get one at a reasonable price. Freaking Fans Toys Astrotrain is less than a year old and you can expect to drop half a grand on that bastard at least, hell Gigapower, the deadest of dead companies, the slowest of releases, whose figures were near the price of Fans Toys on the after market have their rerun figures arriving at ShowZ next month or so. Guess what though? In five years those after market price hikes will still be there, as they are now. As its a *collectors* market.

The markets not the problem, what you *expect* from the market is the problem, what you think the mainline should be is where your issue is at. Markets fluctuate and a niche market like 3rd party robots will always be hugely in flux, sure there will always be space for Masterpiece and Legends but you'll never get them being churned out to the levels people want as it's not something with huge mass appeal, they're collectors pieces usually made by smaller companies or fans.

The race to see who'll announce their releases is done as the market has now matured. Its no longer a race to the finish to get a figure out before another company, its about who can *grab* the audience in what way. There'll be new comers, new competition, new ideas but it's not the race that counts now but the item itself. Will we get a full roster of bots, eventually I think but only when someone has a good design and materials for it.

 

There is still money in it so it's not dying, it's just that money seems to now only go to the same companies. So long as MMC, fanstoys, XTB, Zeta and now badcube (yay!) Keep selling our they'll keep cashing in and make more.

 

I'd probably agree if it weren't for the fact that the companies like FH and TE that, may have fewer figures made, all have had several runs of said characters that kept selling out.

Like Armada Optimus, Powermaster Prime and Overlord are just printing Fans Hobby money, and MMC's female Tarn was already sold out only 3 days after it was reveled.

Just because ultra-toon G1 MP's are slowing down doesn't mean it's dying, it's simply changing like it always does and always will.

 

A lot of company are now waiting until the product is ready for the factory before announcing them. Because when they announce them to early and only had concept art for the product, many other competitors would start working on similar project in hope to release their verison first, saturating the market with similar characters. Some companies even had to shelf/ drop/ or cancel their verison because they couldn't release it fast enough and no company wants the character out at the same time as 3,4,5 other companies.

Lets say If I made a MP Shockwave, or legend BW Depthcharge, or even CHUG idw Nautica and no one else had one at that time in the market, I would make more money than if there was 4 or 5 other companies releasing MP Shockwave, Legend bw depthcharge, CHUG idw nautica around the same time.

 

I’m kind of glad it’s slowing down. Would like to spend less money on plastic crack. My G1 collection all I would really care to pick up are the combiners that FT needs to produce, and a takara MP rattrap and rhinox, and I’ll be done with what I really want for my MP collection.

I’ll probably continue to support MMC as they trickle releases out so king as they continue to innovate with reasonable prices. Kinda not happy with the design choices and price increases that We’ve been seeing with IF.

But I’d say we are still in the golden age of toy collecting, but with so much coming out I’d say it was only a matter of time before things fizzle out.

 

Ya, that’s what I meant. As far as G1, is almost dead. FT and XTB are the only ones producing stuff.

 

I think these thoughts are usually spurred by individuals who have lost interest themselves, or aren't interested in the current offerings. This gives the impression that there are less offerings, when the reality is they just aren't seeing them because they don't have interest.