Just my opinion but Hasbro is pumping out innumerable Transformers lines while thinning the plastic dramatically. Why not run an animated series where the characters look more G1 or less stylish so they don't have to have separate lines for kids and collectors. Strike a balance between G1 and Stylish and make fewer lines by appealing to both audiences at once.

 

Id be all for an IDW inspired series of animated show/movies. The Origin of Megatron would be a great place to start. Anything is better than the shit movies theyve been pumping out

 

Hasbro's not the only one thinning and changing its plastic. For his birthday, my son recently picked up some new Imaginext - the deep sea collection - and I noticed the plastic on some of the pieces was so much similar to the recent Transformers. It was lighter, thinner, but the price point stayed the same.

I will say that for toys he got, at the price was paid, and the plastic used, I would have had to pay through my nose to get equal parts and weight in plastic for Transformers.

Also, problem is - G1, at its time, was new and marketed towards kids. They didn't have to market to several different age points, but now G1 is nostalgia and people are looking for their old favorites in new ways. I guess you could blame it on Classics, which started it all. Before that, everyone had only one option - get their favorite character updated in the current show - Armada, Energon, or Cybertron. All of which gave some pretty great updates to fan favorites.

 

The quality and style of plastic has NOTHING to do with the quality/quantity of product Hasbro produces for the Transformers brand.

Also remember that if Hasbro were to pull itself back to a singular product line, stuff with cartoons and movie are first priority, not G1/Classics.

 

Why isn't Hasbro only making the stuff I want?

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Hasbro exists to make as much profit as it can for its shareholders. A diverse lineup targeting multiple demographics while reducing costs is their current approach to mitigating the fact that fewer toys* are sold overall each year.

Kids are getting fewer toys each year.

Profits have to go up or the executives are fired.

(* toys based on hit media like Avengers, Star Wars, etc are doing well. Everything else is losing ground. Badly.)

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All this said, I weighed a whole pile of deluxes a few months ago on a scale accurate to .1 of an ounce, and found that the supposed "cheap thin hollow" CW deluxes weigh pretty much the same as older deluxes such as CHUG, Prime, Animated, etc. So a lot of it is appearance, not actual materials reduced dramatically.

Edit: dug it up...

Originally Posted by Goaliebot View Post
I was curious so got out the digital scale and the figures:

CHUG starscream = 98 grams = 3.5 oz. Without nullrays he's 88 grams / 3.1 oz
CHUG Thundercracker weighs the same, unsurprisingly.
CHUG Astrotrain (with gun)= 119 grams = 4.2 oz
CW Offroad = 98 grams = 3.5 oz. Without the foot/hand/gun and his pipe/axe he's 84 grams/ 3.0 oz
CW DragStrip is 94 grams / 3.3 oz with foot/hand and sword.
CHUG Kup: 3.6 oz
CHUG Scourge: 3.4 oz
ROTF Battle Blades Bumblebee: 3.9 oz
HFTD Sidearm Sideswipe: 3.0 oz
RiD (original) Car Bros X-Brawn: 3.7 oz
CHUG Mirage: 2.3 oz
CHUG Jazz: 3.2 oz
AOE Crosshairs: 3.1 oz
Movie 1 Bonecrusher: 4.6 oz
AOE Scorn: 2.8 oz
ROTF Arcee: 3.1 oz
CW Alpha Bravo: 3.0 oz
CW Skydive: 3.4 oz
CW Air Raid: 3.4 oz
CW Firefly: 2.9 oz
Animated Jazz: 3.0 oz
TFPrime First Edition Cliffjumper: 2.5 oz
Animated Sentinel Prime: 4.3 oz
Fansproject Smartrobin: 3.1 oz
Animated Lockdown: 4.0 oz
CW Dead End: 3.7 oz
WFC/FOC Jazz: 2.0 oz
WFC Optimus: 4.2 oz
RID (original) Car Bros Sideswipe: 3.7 oz
Armada "bendy" Prime: 4.8 oz
Armada Wheeljack: 5.7 oz
Energon Slugslinger: 3.4 oz
Cybertron Sideways: 3.5 oz

I tried to grab a random sampling from my various shelves. There are certainly outliers (Armada Wheeljack at 5.7 oz vs FOC Jazz at 2.0 oz), but a lot of the weights fall into the 3-4 oz range, from CW today all the way back to the original RiD's Car Bros.

Surprising find: AOE Crosshairs and Fansproject Smartrobin weigh the same.

 

I would say that the opposite is true. They've cut back (at least from what I've seen) on the stuff that doesn't sell, like the titan heroes and dino sparkers and stuff like that, and focused the lines on stuff that actually transforms. One line for kids, one line for collectors, both made up of transforming robots. Doesn't seem too stretched to me.

 

Hasbro has 2 lines RID and Generations. Transformers have always had different sublines. Even if they cut the number of toys, I don't think it would change the amount of plastic used.

Personally, I like the style of RID. The toys have so much personality. If it was just G1, Transformers would become stale. We have CHUG and MP for our G1 homages. I like that the designers and writers break away from G1. If we don't like an interpretation of a character, we still have the original.

I'll pick a random character...hmm how about Bumblebee.
He's been.

The little brother type in G1
A smart ass in Animated
The war veteran in the movies
The hot shot in Prime
The insecure leader

I've really enjoyed each version of the character.

It's not fair to compare TF toys to other toy line. TFs have a lot more design work, more individual pieces, more testing, since there is so many moving parts.

Great post.

 

I remember this EXACT thread back when people were worried about the Titans/Kre-O/Construct-Bots/One-Steps/Dino Sparkers/blind bags/etc.

...and they haven't gone under, have they?
...and we're still getting great figures, aren't we?

 

Yeah, I've heard this before, but a lot of the price is brand recognition. It is completely fair to compare them. I've been collecting toys for a long time, and that has been passed down to my kids. I've seen licensed toys made of lesser quality, zero articulation and with lesser parts than Transformers and with a higher price - Minions are one example - $8 for a 1 1/2" figure. I've also seen the opposite - Vtech's Switch and Go Dino. Great, filled in, not hollow plastic and design. Tons of parts, electronics, including voice activation and commands, gears, spring loaded missiles. Transformed from robotic T Rex to wrecking crane. This was on a $65-$75 toy. Equivalent to Metroplex in size and complexity, but maybe half the cost. The toy is over 3 years old and still is trucking along with nary a crack or scratch. Amazon.com: VTech Switch & Go Dinos - Jagger The T-Rex Dinosaur: Toys & Games

I'm a Hasbro Transformers fan boy through and through. I refuse to buy third party or even bump up to Takara (with exception of UW Computron).

 

Where do you get off posting facts, data and figures to support your argument you got some nerve. Transformers has been in a downward spiral Of quality and the sky is falling  .

With respect to the original poster, I feel the opposite for me the TF lines have never been better, especially Generations. Aside from special occasions I have pretty much stopped buying masterpieces as a result of the Generations figure's awesomeness.

 

That's the second Canadian I've seen weigh TFs.  

I remember someone here Xrayed some of them. That too was awesome!

 

The bureau of standards and measurements is the oldest and most revered Canadian government institution.

 

Ah... I have been wondering about the numerous sub-lines as well. I will not go in to Rescue Bots because they are their own thing altogether but why do we need One-Step Changers?

I understand that the 2007 Transformers movie has increased the complexity of main-line Transformers toys to the point that they needed sub-lines that catered for younger kids. Looking back, I think the Fast Action Battlers were actually decent toys. But One-Step Changers? Really?

I recall the simpler times pre-2007. Most show character get a toy based on the current cartoon and lucky characters get a Legend Class toy. There was the Commerative series Reissue sub-line, the Universe sub-line that consisted of repaints from older toy lines, and an Alternators sub-line and the rare Masterpiece release for adults.

We all grew up fine during those times. Why do children nowadays need specific dumb down toys? Is that not the point of Legends class? I also believe that the toys have already went back to pre-2007 complexity by the time Dark of the Moon hit the screen. There is really no need for them to specifically cater for children in their main-lines now.

Transformers aside, what about Marvel and Star Wars? Have you guys seen the 2.5 inch Marvel movie toys? And the new Star Wars toys went back to 5 points of articulation. What is up with those? Then they released all the toys with standard articulation to their "adult" sub-lines. Is this way of making more money?

And LEGO is doing the same thing with their Juniors sub-line. Is that not the point of DUPLO? We never had problem building System when we were younger!

Looking at the Power Rangers and the Ninja Turtle shelves, I think they stuck pretty well to the traditional way of selling toys, and do not feel as cluttered as Hasbro's shelves.

 

Initially I thought the One-Steps were dumb, since it takes a lot of the "transforming" out of the Transformers. That's why I never bought any of the Beast Wars basics, because of that spring-loaded automorph gimmick. I wanted to transform the things myself, and I wanted to be able to play with them without them springing into their alt mode.

However, I have learned that these things are, engineering wise, pretty incredible. I would even argue that some of the engineering on these One-Steps are more advanced than some of the deluxes. I can understand the price point on these.

I think that's a pretty good way to get as much of the entire cast as possible, at a low(er) price point, that takes up less space. It's also easier to make playsets for that size.

 

Well the consequences of hasbro going more and more towards KO transformers is simple for me: I stopped buying them.

Design wize i like the combiner wars/upcomming titan wars figures alot better then say the overcartoonish and exceptionaly simple current MP line, but the quality is becomming horrible. Holowness is the new KO.
Some might not agree with this, but then they just have to take a figure from 15 years ago and compare. It's an eyeopener.

Now Hasbro can make what they want, it's not me they will listen too, but i'm tired of the ever repeating same transformers figures that are getting made all over again in 50 different forms with none being perfect. There is always something wrong with it. I got tired of waiting so i stopped and sold most of my collection ( i once owned 750 TF's) and look at other figure makers and lines.

 

Actually Classics is the mainline and has been since AOE bombed. It also is the only TF line to sell out consistently since 2007 despite the increase in product and prominence. DOTM and AOE did not perform well (AOE still available!), Prime didn't do great either, and RiD 2 was scaled significantly back and still hasn't been emptying shelves. Kids like things that adults like. The theory that you have to dumb things down is false, but Hasbro still ascribes to it like a Republican clinging to 1850. But the evidence has been overwhelming and so slowly we have seen actual change in the mix (while still seeing plenty of bad product).

I agree that the product definitely suffers when they try to produce things just to produce things, which they clearly do a lot of right now. There is still too much product. The brand doesn't have much cohesion at all and really has no idea at this point what it wants to be other than robots that turn into things, which is not sustainable because it is one-dimensional and not well differentiated. I don't think the plastic suffers because of the amount of product. The quality (plastic, paint, complexity) suffers because when sales are down but profits need to be up, the only way is to cut costs. Of course that in turn tends to cut future sales if it is not done very carefully. That is why we have been slowly going down the mountain since 2011. TF5 is probably not going to help when it slaps them in the face with a dead movie franchise like TASM 2. They will desperately need insane record results in China but the economy alone probably will not allow it. I guarantee you that when that economy turned south Brian Goldner pissed his pants, because he's in trouble. They only have one wholly-owned viable media franchise right now, and it is teetering on the brink. They could soon find themselves at the complete mercy of Disney, which may not be a bad thing.

 

I'm still buying and liking the generations line so whatever. My only comment would be paint apps compared to Takara.

 

Well if they put G1-styled characters in a new show people would refuse to put said toys in their CHUG collections, like so many swear off mixing FOC or any other line into Classics.

The way they're working now is fine. Great toys, multiple lines.

 

Haha, what? Hasbro themselves said that Generations makes up 30% of Transformers sales in their most recent investor presentation.

Generations has certainly been expanding and getting more media support in the past few years, but to suggest that it's the main line, over the current film or TV tie-in, is completely nonsensical.

 

The last movie line was considered part of the generations line. At least the leader, voyager, and deluxes sizes.