For me and my wants, no. I got a cool Rumble, Frenzy and a new UM are in the way (it's difficult for me to say no to a G1 UM). We're also getting Brawn, which more importantly means I'll be getting a new Outback; presumably we'll get a new Windcharger, which means I'll get a new Tailgate eventually. As they they seem to be doing everyone in the movie, there's a good chance we will get Steeljaw and Ramhorn.

So I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm benefitting from SS86!

 

That's how they roll. People just have to remember that if SS86 wasn't working, they wouldn't be making more SS86.

 

Only Blurr and Ironhide were with those heads.

 

No

 

You also have to take into account how many retailers each poster is going to. One post doesn’t mean they’re going to 1 store and that’s that. For example, I have 5 Targets and double that amount of Walmarts just within a 30 minute radius. Before I went to “online preorders only”, I could and did routinely hit up different ones, so when I reported that Legacy Bulkhead was shelf-warming “everywhere”, it was really worth 10-12 anecdotes. I’m not sure that everyone is equally blessed with access such as this, but we can’t assume they’re limiting their observations to a single location either.

 

Mistake? God no, it's been very successful. It's a thorn in the side of people who don't like G1 and/or dig Bayverse. And that's a totally fine opinion, or people who are happy with what already existed.

For me, beyond getting really definitive versions of Hot Rod, Dinobots, Kup etc. I do like the little backdrops, cartoon accuracy, packaging etc. I'm really hopeful for SS'86 Megatron, Sunstreaker, Optimus, etc. in 2024. Then the line's ending isn't it? We're getting a lot of options in SS at the moment.

 

The line ending thing is just people speculating, there’s nothing real about that at all

 

I don't know. That one guy's best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw a rumor about it online. I guess it's pretty serious.

 

I think it's kind of annoying, considering that Studio Series was the only line selling movie figures. Sure, the ROTB mainline is a thing now, but I don't think that's the exact same thing, though it's still cool. But then half of Studio Series turned into yet another venue to release G1 content, which I personally don't find as exciting.

 

It's an interesting read. But as long as I get what I want from the line (G1) then I don't care how Hasbro does their releases

 

I'm not going to take a stance but I want to note a few things in regards to SS86 and a lot of the complaints I see.

TL;DR: It's okay for background characters to be included in SS, and SS86 is nowhere near as huge as it used to be

Studio Series is open to doing any characters that appeared in their respective movies; The primary cast for TFTM may be largely finished, and I do see a lot of pushback against the background characters getting SS86 figures, but this is equally open to the Live-Action movies and was never exclusive to '86. Background characters from the Bay films have always been on the table, some have already been dome (KSI Sentry, KSI Boss, etc. Mostly repaints), and are on the table for the future; Bumblebee has also went ahead and done majority of the Cybertron cameos for this same reason.
Now, doing background characters from one movie whilst not doing primary characters from another is a bit of an issue, so I can agree with the other side. I feel as if characters such as Que, Hound, and TLK Megatron should've already been done, but I also don't think putting the blame on the background cast of '86 is entirely fair either. Both universe can have their background characters.

Another thing I want to point out is that SS86 has slowed down it's releases drastically since it's debut year. 2021 was majority '86, but 2022 and 2023 have been majority Live-Action. SS86 isn't eating up as many "slots" as people feel like it is; This is probably because the line started out so strongly, so I don't think there is any blame for those who think that, but I did want to go over how the 22/23 releases are. This will be disregarding Core Class (it's selection of characters is very sporadic, comprising of two different scale and isn't part of the numbering system, so I'm going to set it aside for now).

- 2021 had 10 SS86 figures in comparison to 8 Live-Action ones, out of the 18 Mainline figures released. Boiling down to who were entirely new molds (since that's what really matters), 9/10 of those '86 figures were all-new, whereas only 3/8 of the LA figures were all-new (Dino, Jolt and Starscream). That's a clean 75% of new figures that year being SS86.
- 2022 is different; Last year saw only 6 SS86 figures in comparison to 13 Live-Action figures (for a total of 19) so the tables very much turned. (N.E.S.T. Bumblebee isn't included in this count despite having a number, just to let y'all know). As for the characters that were all-new molds that year, only 3/6 SS86 figures were new, as the other 3 were retools with new parts. 10/13 LA figures that year were new, which is a lot more. '86 jumped down to being 23.08% of all-new figures that year.
- Finally is 2023, which is a lot more LA heavy due to RotB, but also introduced the Gamer Edition line. This time I'll be including the leaked Wave 4 listings just to give a good outlook of the whole year in comparison to the previous two, so this will add RotB Mirage, Nightbird and Primal, and '86 Ratchet and Magnus, and assuming that everyone besides Ratchet is newly molded (which they likely are). Also, since RotB Wheeljack has seemingly disappeared, he won't be counted.
Thusly: 9 figures are Live-Action figures, 5 are WFC figures, and 4 are SS86. Focusing on new molds only, that cuts out only 2 figures, so the percentages are: 18.75% for '86, 25% for GE and 56.25% for LA.

So, to put it all into perspective:
75.00% of Studio Series was dedicated to SS86 in 2021 (New Molds only)
23.08% of Studio Series was dedicated to SS86 in 2022 (New Molds only)
18.75% of Studio Series was dedicated to SS86 in 2023 (New Molds only)
I excluded repaints and retools from that final percentage because those don't eat into the budget of Studio Series like new molds do, the latter of which dictates which characters get priority and which don't.
2022 had a lot of SS86 Cores to make up for less new molds in the numbered line, but 2023 doesn't have any SS86 Cores aside from two repaints (Ironhide and Frenzy) or last year's cores. But, disregarding them, this should give the most objective perspective of how Studio Series is prioritizing itself in regards to G1, and what I said holds true: SS86 has slowed down drastically in comparison to it's debut year, with less molds becoming dedicated to it overtime.

I want to address that this isn't meant to say "G1 is being shafted and should get more figures", or that all fans are suddenly equally represented, this is just to lay all the facts out. And I'm doing this because I think it's important to say that SS86's presence is no longer as big as it used to be.
And, in turn, that is important to point out, because I want to say in the most assured way possible that SS86 is not currently overshadowing the Live-Action designs and that those designs are still the clear SS focus. '86 still sells, obviously, and its figures tend to be the most popular, but it's not taking as many slices of pie as it is perceived to be.

Obviously, the most neglected group across all of this is the Bayverse crowd, which got no new dedicated figures in 2023, and has seen a large decrease since SS86 showed up. In 2021, this was apparent, but I think 2022 found a really good balance between the '86 and Bay crowds between how many figures each got. That's something that could've been carried over into 2023, but wasn't, because the current SS priorities are Rise of the Beasts and War For Cybertron. And this isn't to say those two are the "real enemies" of the Bayverse crowd, just that '86 is nowhere near the sole reason Bayverse is getting that neglect.

Again, this isn't indicative of my stance on this, I just wanted to put down some hard facts so people can look at this and keep them in mind when thinking about the full context, as I definitely feel this puts a very unbiased perspective on things. To some, SS86 may still be too much, or it may be too little, or perhaps the perfect balance has been struck, or they're indifferent entirely.

Spoiler: More Math

Just wanted to do variations that included core figures and repaints (no exclusives).

2021:
New Molds - 75% G1, 25% Bayverse (9 to 3)
All Figures - 55.5% G1, 44.4% Bayverse (10 to 8)

2022 [Core Included]:
New Molds - 35% G1, 35% Reboot*, 30% Bayverse (7 to 7 to 6)
All Figures - 38.5% G1, 34.6% Reboot, 26.9% Bayverse (10 to 9 to 7)

2023 [Core Included]:
New Molds - 15% G1, 65% Reboot, 20% High Moon (3 to 13** to 4)
All Figures - 24% G1, 52% Reboot, 4% Bayverse, 20% High Moon (6 to 13 to 1 to 5)
Waves 1-3 + Mirage Only
New Molds - 13.3% G1, 60% Reboot, 26.7% High Moon (2 to 9 to 4)
All Figures - 16.7% G1, 50% Reboot, 5.6% Bayverse, 27.8% High Moon (3 to 9 to 1 to 5)

*(Reboot is both Bumblebee and RotB).
**(Counting both Hydra and Delta 2 as new molds. Risky prediction and could possibly change).
Obviously, RotB Optimus is excluded from these calculations due to being exclusive.

 

I thought they slowed down SS live action figures for the same reason that they space out everything else: while people are waiting for what they want, they will start looking at and then buying figures from the other lines.

 

Videogame studios are still studios.

They wanted to remold Wreck-Gar into someone else, and he wasn’t the only Junkion in the movie.

 

This is a great analysis. Thanks for taking this so seriously!

Reviewing the data, you're correct- while it has had a consistent presence since being introduced, the only time 86 truly 'took over' Studio Series was its debut year of 2021. Seems to me that there is a rotating 'focus' element each year since. 2021 being 86 (for the exact 35th anniversary), 2022 being the Bumblebee Cybertronian cast (being done basically all in one go, which is a rarity for Studio Series), and 2023 being ROTB as well as Gamer Edition. It is just unfortunate that the consistent back-seater to account for these rotating focuses is the Bayverse end of the line. In 2022 it was a pretty decent balance between Knightverse, 86, and Bay, with the latter seeing a return to the spotlight towards the end of the year.

Will be interesting to see how the balance continues in 2024, given that the majority of the Knightverse cast will be done (but not all, and we already know of figures like ROTB Scorponok coming), but also knowing that Reactivate and Transformers: One are in the wings.

 

I'm not assuming anything, the amount of anecdotes one has is kind of meaningless because as I said there's nothing about personal anecdotes provided here that are systematic where they can be corroborated and goes back to what I said of it assumes a lot of good faith and would still ultimately need more than just the folks who post regularly on this site who also go out and buy Transformers in stores.

 

There's a difference, though, as "who/what did you vote for?" has a definitive answer, while a statement such as "I see a lot of G1 on shelves not selling" is a far bit more general and lacking nuance and context, and therefore far more difficult to make any conclusions.

It would be the same if I told you "movie figures aren't selling well at all at my local Walmart", which while is technically true, there's only so much you can infer from that statement since I didn't tell which movie I meant let alone specifically which figures are the ones I see clogging the pegs.

 

I don't know about push back to background characters but realistically Hasbro won't put out a wave without someone to headline it. That's the problem with them running out of the top tier characters from BayVerse that they can do. Either they are going to have to redo or reissue some of the main characters or tap other lines.

 

Delete this shit. Ss86 is peek.

 

Who would you personally consider headliners, though? I feel like there's going to be subjectivity there, too. Obviously Optimus / Bumblebee / Megatron always will be in just about any form - and it just so happens that there are a handful of those left for Bayverse. Certainly Wave 1 of SS86 had Hot Rod and Grimlock (alongside a pretty good Jazz who is never a bad choice)... would the other Dinobots (G1 or AOE) be considered headliners? Who was the headliner in some of the 2022 SS waves? For 2023, certainly the debut wave of WFC in SS can be considered that, as can a main villain of a movie like Scourge.