More specifically, is the dumbing down of the movie franchise (was already dumb to begin with) contributing to dumbing down of the toy line?

I know, oil prices and cost control, yes, but still, we have been seeing some really substandard toys lately (generations notwithstanding). The toys for the first movie were realy spectacular compared to this most recent movie I think (leader Brawl comes to mind).

 

Being a completist, I collected almost every figure of all characters that appeared in the films, from the TF1, RoTF and DoTM toylines.

But am skipping the AoE line this time around. Both the packaging, and quality of the toys, feels very substandard to me. Compared to previous lines' packaging, which felt sophisticated, the AoE ones looked overly kid-ish.

The figures itself, feel overly simplified and cheaply made. I picked up some of them at my local Toys R Us, and they gave me a Chinese knock-off vibe.

 

No. The toys are effecting the toy line. That and Hasbro's usual weak ass distribution methodology.

 

If they hadn't made DOTM and AOE Leader Bumblebee and the new giant non transforming Grimlock and Optimus, we would have bigger and better quality transformers.

 

ya, there sucking all the plastic into the cheap ones, give generations the love it needs.

 

I like the Dinobots, but I do wish the Deluxe ones were bigger and I'm not too thrilled about the rubber. I've decided to get Voyager Grimlock as the leader of Team Dinobot. If I get the Leader version, it'll be displayed as a standalone.


I'm not too delighted about the 'shell backpacks', either (though I'll accept Crosshairs having his 'trenchcoat'), but after ROTF Leader Optimus, AOE Leader Prime is a bit of a step down. Still, there is the the Voyager Prime, which I really like.

I'm also hoping that they do come out with a Leader Hound, eventually.

 

No if there weren't any movies we wouldn't have movie toys or Generations.

 

I think Hasbro's toy division is pretty well separated from the movie part. From what I've seen around here the crappy 1 step/no step toys are shelf warming while the deluxes are getting sparse (save Crosshairs, the new Bumblebee  ).

The movies might be getting dumber, but we have no one to blame but Hasbro's simplification mentality for the toys. Here's hoping the lack of movement on the simple toys proves that the market needs the more advanced figures to keep the consumer, young and old, happy.

 

I'd say the movies aren't affecting the toys, exactly, but the frequency of them is. TFTM and ROTF toys got eaten up in no time flat. DOTM toys sold, but to a noticeable degree less. Now many of the stores I visit are packed with AOE toys-even though many have less shelf space for movie toys this time around. That being said, they're selling better than Star Wars or Marvel toys, but not to the degree I think retailers would expect from a movie toy line.

I think people are just getting kind of bored of the movie toys, and it's not too much to do with the complexity (although I'm sure it may be a factor). There definitely should have been a bit more of a break between movies.

 

yes, that's exactly it. Hasbro looks at the movies and goes "Wow, this one poster on a fan site thinks these movies are dumb so let's make the toys dumb too!" Then someone points out that the toys are for children ages 5-9 and that making levels of difficulty makes sense and the head again goes "NO! We dumb down the toys!"

And we all know that if the movies ended together we'd go back to g1 and everything would be amazing and we could retell the dramatic, highly thought out stories from those cartoons, like Seaspray wanting to bang a mermaid or Wheeljack deciding to play god and create life or having the transformers shrink down and be shot out of a rocket by an alien boy and his cat.

*is dragged away screaming about this fandom*

 

The answer is yes. Why is Generations Galvatron such a crappy figure? It's not Hasbro's fault. It's the movie's fault. In the movie they cheat so much, Galvatron just exploding into particles and coming back as a robot. you can't exactly do that with a toy. That's also the reason we didn't see as many transformations in AOE. Because the designs are terrible. And the designs are terrible because old people kept complaining about the robots and how complicated they were, which led to the need to please the masses, which lead to the simplification of the new robot designs, which lead to difficult transformation processes, which lead to crappy toys.

 

Which lead to anger, which lead to hate, which lead to suffering, which lead to the dark side, right?

 

I actually just opened up ol' Galvy at work today. His robot mode is a very solid robot, good articulation, very detailed mold, bit light on the paint apps. The transform is very shell-former but ends up as a solid cabover semi, a nice "Nemesis-Prime" nod. I have not seen the movie, don't plan on it till the Redbox release. I have grabbed a few of the movie generations figures and really haven't been too disappointed. I think that Galvatron would have been much worse if he'd gotten too back-packy, but i folds pretty flat. It's possible that not being oblivious to the cut-cornor approach to the transformer in the movie I might not be as pleased but as a toy he's a little bland but worth the $20 I dropped on him.

Now the giant Shampoo Bottle "transformers" that are warming the shelves, those are just an embarrassment.

 

Yes. Quality wise and they are also clogging the pegs.

 

Seems like the deluxes and voyagers are selling but the gimmicky lines are clogging the shelves at least here.

 

I feel like if they had that same level of engineering of the 07 toys and the ROTF we could acutally get decent AOE movie looking toys. I think really the only ones that would strike me has to come by in toy form would be Crosshairs due to his trench coat, and Hound.

 

I think maybe fatigue is setting in for the movie designs. There are still toys from DOTM in my local Toys r us yet now the shelves are filled with AOE figures. None of the decent ones mind you, only the cheap looking deluxe ones that look like shell formers with no paint apps. I skipped the DOTM toys as they seemed so much smaller and poorer in quality. Now these new ones are even worse!

 

I went to a Toys R Us the other day, and saw some disappointed looking parents putting Power Battlers back on the shelf. Just picked them up, immediately lost interest and put them straight back.

I did consider mentioning that there were a few deluxes amongst them, but I had to look closely myself to make sure.

 

I had to convince a family that their money is better spent buying the Deluxe Drift and not the one step flip change POS one.

 

This thread is dumbed down.

Have you people forgotten 2008-2009, when the movies were at their dumbest, TFs were in a golden age of toy design?

Because before the movies we were treated to a single, limited assortement of TF toys based on the current cartoon and a failing, difficult to find collectors line. Hell, Classics was 2006, well after the decision to make a TF movie was in place (and the movie itself was deep in developement) so if it weren't for the movies we wouldn't have the multiple lines running parallel we are so used to today.

Yes. I'm sure they were mentally comparing toy design quality to years ago and that's why they put them back, instead of maybe some other reason.