Seriously though, I can't see why you would get so mad over his comment.

 

No, beast wars and Unicron trilogy were hospice care for a dying brand. Bayverse reversed the death spiral and brought transformers to a popularity never before achieved. Transformers today is bigger than it was in 1984. You’ve got several toy lines, collectibles, wearables, movies, several animation series, comics, games, and more. It’s a saturation unlike anything except Barbie.

 

Being able to make feature films was a symptom of success, not a cause.

 

...Okay, I'll bite. I really disliked Armada, and retrospectively, A/E/C in general. However, to say that Transformers was a dying franchise in the 00's before Bay came along is an absolute falsehood. It was doing well; You had multiple lines - Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Classics, Alternators, Universe, Reissues, Masterpiece/20th Anniversary Prime, Beast Wars Reissues - none of that really indicates a failing franchise. Some lines were admittedly doing better than others (Universe V1 didn't do great, and Alternators started strong but turned into a distribution nightmare), but Hasbro was making money, not losing money overall on the franchise. Sure, the success of TF2007 enhanced the profile of the franchise and brought it more into the mainstream, but you could hardly say that the franchise was halfway in the ground prior to TF2007. Back in the 90's it was almost dead prior to BW, and nearly dead again prior to Armada.

Agreed. As some have already said, it would be a huge financial mistake to do a big budget movie with the sole intention of "saving" a "dying" franchise. And on top of that, Hasbro had it in their budget to produce Animated as a fallback/alternative if the movie bombed - that doesn't sound like the behavior of a company that has burnt out its financial resources and is ready to call it quits.

 

Well, for the record. I'm far more of a Rodimus Prime fan than I've ever been a Skylynx one. But this "Commander class" Rodimus set in that picture still doesn't have sh*t on this:

But if it's okay for you to reward HasTak when they diminish the budget, quality, scale and engineering on Commander class figures compared to last year's.... Oh well.

 

I'd argue it wasn't even nearly dead prior to Armada. The franchise transitioned pretty seamlessly from BM to Rid01 after Transtech got shuttered, Rid01 was so popular they had to dust off unreleased molds from BM as well as G1 and G2 molds to greatly expand the line which eventually evolved into the Universe line. Sure it took a hit with BM and then Transtech getting canned, but it didn't take any time off and Rid01 was immensly popular

 

That's a good point, I stand corrected. I think it would be fairer to say that RID was when the franchise had the lowest 2000's visibility.

 

Yea, when rid01 started it was definitely at a low point but definitely got an up swing prior to armada

 

I'm being 100% honest here, but the two Commanders seem pretty on par to me.

 

Yeah, Armada did a lot for the franchise. And my god I hated that show  

 

You forgot TF Animated.

-A.S.

 

No, it's there - in the first section I was only speaking to lines that predated the release of TF07. It's also my favorite TF series after BW, followed by G1 and Beast Machines.

 

I LOVED TFAnimated

-A.S.

 

I just don't even get the logic anyway. Why would film studios invest millions into a movie for a brand that's seen as dying?

 

I think it's a good figure and I am glad it is proper CHUG scale. Yes, $80 is lot for a Voyager scaled figure, but everything else about it is beyond a Voyager.

Still not a fan of the cab, but appreciate that it can be it's own independent vehicle, and looks cool on it's own. Power Station Wagon.

 

This is hilariously wrong.

The UT was a smash-hit and the reason the live-action films were even considered. Back then you didn't automatically get the go-ahead to fund a big budget remake of a kids brand, you had to prove it had legs. TF did and more with Armada and its sequels. Armada famously had to pad out its tail-end with redecoes to meet product demands, and Universe was hastily concocted as yet another supply line, which only ever happened once later with the 07 movie line itself.

Beast Wars itself was an adrenaline shot to a dead brand. Not a dying brand, a dead brand. It rejuvenated Transformers in a way its never experienced since because it set the formula for reinvention and redesign that has kept it healthy ever since.

 

Yup. I remember Hasbro making a big deal about how Armada was actually more successful than G1.

 

All of you are wrong.

It wasn’t Beast Wars, the Unicron Trilogy, or the Bayverse that saved the franchise.

It was me. I saved Transformers.

You’re welcome.

 

Reading through the thread:

 

LIES! This man is a false messiah. It is I who saved the Transformers. Single Handedly.