Agreed completely. Bring on more vehicles that would actually suggest robots in an effective disguise.
The only thing that really bothers me in the Alt line is the recent trend towards straight repaints. unstreaker was okay, of course, because it was just a case of that particular mold getting the paintjob it was supposed to ahve tos tart with. Ricochet and Rollbar, however, just come across as attempts to coax a bit more money out of the fans (and not very good attempts, either. Redo the WRX? The single biggest shelfwarmer in the history of the Alt line? Who honestly thought that was a good idea?). And Nemesis Prime seems to be more of the same. Now we're gettign the straight repaint before we even get a remold. I'm really not liking where this trend seems to be leading. Bad enough that after Silverstreak and Dead End we didn't get any more extensive remolding on Alts, just a new head, new hubcaps, and maybe a new bumper or a convertible instead of a hardtop. Now with the straight repaints it looks like a lot of the effort to make reuses of the molds really different. The only other complaint I have with the line is Decepticharge. Seriously, Decepticharge? What, did you run out of names for Decepticon cars after using Dead End, Hasbro?
I think stores around me overestimate the amount they will sell...they order way to much of one wave...like the 1st bubble wave which is warming shelves at almost everystore around me, then they get discouraged and order less so we get screwed out of the new ones in the next waves.
WHEELS..... I'm with you. completely agree. I'll wait until all autobots have been exhausted before decepticons start showing up. To the rest I say patients. Military will show up at some point. It's an envitable economical outcome. Do not waste the good Decepticons on cars. :--p
Lack of decepticons followed by poor character choices. I don't want new characters for this line, I want G1 bots in realistic modes. The size is perfect; it's the size all TFs should be.
I agree with the rant on people WHO MUST HAVE DECEPTICONS! Why? Ravage and Shockblast look silly as cars. A cat head on a robot body transforming into a car? FUGLY! I agree that this line could have been done a lot better, but I think the people clamoring for Decepticons ruined it by having them FORCE Decepticons to be cars. Keep that up and Reflector will be the remold of the Acura with Laserbeak as the third Dodge Ram. I don't see too many people saying this but I think a lot of the bots have poor transformations or robot modes. Some just look plain ugly for a $20 toy. Spikes on Optimus, poor articulated arms on Hound, bad legs on Prowl, weirdly positioned "wings" on Sideswipe/Sunstreaker. I think Hasbro needs to remake their design team or give the design work completely to a company that actually knows good design. Even some of those knockoff Alternators look better than some of the ALTs. The remolds and repaints are horribly done. I have yet to buy a remold or repaint. Grimlock was a dinosaur. Shockwave was a gun. Ravage was a cat. I have no clue who Rollbar, Ricochet, and Decepticharge are supposed to be. Dead end does not have a Sunstreaker head (thanks for that one all you must have more decepticons people).
Bad distribution. Or, to put it another way. next to NO distribution. I wouldn't be susprised if Alt Prime never see the light of day in the UK at all; most of the rest of the line hasn't. And as for Alt nemesis Prime... yeah, right.
The main thing for me is selection of characters, but that's specific to me - a lot of the G1 Autobot cars aren't memorable characters to me, so I tend not to care about most of them. Meister, yes, because Jazz sticks out a lot in my mind from memories of G1/G2. Smokescreen, not so much. It's Decepticons I remember better, and since "OMFG I HAET SEEKERS AS CARRS!" is the prevalent opinion, and most of the cars we do have are too obvious as repaints to really count, like Dead End or Swindle. Only Shockblast (and maybe Ravage) is familiar enough to seem unique as a Decepticon from the figures released thus far, but Rumble is appealing. Second, the figures themselves - I ended up totally turned off from Grimlock, one of my fave characters, not because he was made a car but because I've never seen his Mustang mode since I tore him out the box! I obviously don't hate every Alt, but the transformations are hit-and-miss out of those I know. Distribution isn't a big deal to me since I have online options. Remolds are nice, and I have no complaints over those. Repaints have the potential to not suck; Ricochet just suffers from a comparatively poor mold choice. Price does annoy me a bit, because I can't spend too much on toys at a time. One Alt means three less Scouts, two less Deluxes, or no Voyager or bigger.
So far the poll I posted has surprised me in the fact that bad distribution and not enough Decepticons were voted most... I was thinking people would put repaints over not enough Decepticons... Interesting...
Turned off? Er, no. I don't like Prime but Mirage is killer & Rumble look like it's going to be good as well. I have every other unique mould figure, bar Skids who I haven't quite got around to purchasing just yet. I just ignore any revamps I don't like, which is to say most of them. Slow release schedule is annoying but understandable, demise of diecast versions is likewise dissapointing but not the end of the world
I voted repaints. I find it rather appalling they expect us to buy two(or more) of each toy just for having a different color, at $20 each. I understand it from a production point of view. But from a collecting point of view, there is no logic or reason to it. I will buy Optimus, or Nemesis, but not both.
a mix of all the reasons, but mainly too many repaints. I can't stand repaints. Oh and my other complaint. They haven't made HotRod yet. Out
I would have picked half of the options, if allowed, but I picked more Decepticons. I don't mind having repaints/remolds, so long as it is an appropriate one, not just random ones (Rollbar/Ricochet)
I've lost interest in this line due to the lack of transformation variety along with the repaints. Aside from the tons of repaints that we get, almost every Alt transforms in a very similar manner where the front becomes the chest. To me they might as well be the same mold. It got boring for me. The last new mold that I was sort of excited about was Skids but the flames killed it for me.
i think some peoples assumptions that there will be like Ultra Cool super big military type alts as decepticons is a little presumptuous. Especially people who think it is the "obvious"next choice....I fail to see the that as a fact at all. I really dont see the alt line lasting indefinatly. It will end sometime, probably sooner then later and I really do no see military type vehicles coming out anytime soon.
That's one of the major problems I can see with this line... There is no cartoon or storyline attached to it so that when the cartoon/storyline ends, this line ends... There's no telltale sign of when or if this line will end... Hell, even with Takara right now we don't know if they're going to continue with the BT line... So at what point does Hasbro say "Okay, that's it... We're out of ideas..." Because by putting out repaints, they're using up a lot more characters and at a quicker pace as well... Sooner or later they will either have to make up weird names a la Decepticharge, attach characters to figures that make no sense at all, or stop the line... Another small point I wanted to bring up that I missed initially: What the heck happened to the ratcheting hip joints that was on Meister/Shockblast??? I thought it was a wonderful idea but no other ALT has had them since...
I'm in total agreement with you there. The line will end at some point... hell, we know that the line was only going to be a year long to begin with. I believe six original moulds and six remoulds from the original. The problem now, as Razerwire pointed out, is with no comic or TV show (hell even a direct to DVD OVA would help) when does Hasbro decide to call it quits? Sooner or later they will and I figure most fans won't be happy... even with all the bitching. As for military vehicles... it seems that Hasbro wants to do it, but I don't see it as being feesible price wise and they wouldn't do them in the 1:24 scale... they'd be way to big. I don't see this a a viable option or being the "next step". Motorcycles would be nice, but they'd just be hiped up versions of RID Sideways and Axer... To be completely honest I like the line and will continue to buy all the figures that are released through it. However, I'm thinking that this year will be the last year we see anything from Alternators. I don't think they'll continue the line during or after the movie line is out. And yes, I would like the line to end soon, because I can only handle the "WTF" figure out of left field every-so-often and they're starting to happen more frequently now. Looking at you Ricochet and Rollbar. Nemesis Prime was, honestly, expected as soon as an Optimus Prime Alt was announced.
