As I am adding Skids and Streaker to my growing army of Alts I am looking at Swerve and I ask myself, "Why the fuck did I buy him?"

I mean really he's the 3rd Corvette and nothing but a repaint of Tracks with a new head. Now if there were a Character I actually gave a shit about this wouldn't be an issue, but SWERVE????

Then I look at the upcoming Alts and I see Rollbar and Rico(Don't call me Stepper)chet......

See where this is heading?

So I came to a conclusion. Hasbro has finally hit the point that breaks me with every bloody TF line since Armada. (OK it did start with the "Super Car Brothers in RID, but they were cool). REPAINT, THE REPAINTS!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!


Ok yes I do have 3 Vipers, however those are Characters I give a damn about (Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Dead End who needs a new head) I could have been OK with another Impreza if it was a Character I gave a damn about (BTA Red Alert anyone?) They could have given us Trailbreaker as originally planned for Swindle, but no we get a bloody Throttlebot that next to nobody gives a damn about.

We have to suffer through this crap when over in Japan they get Blaster in BTA, the Scion mold is a damn good mold despite what some might think of the car (I Love it) and despite the crappy paint apps (I am sure Toyota/Scion of America insisted on it) Skids is a damn good toy.

Then Hasbro decides to wizen up their case assortments by putting one fig per case. While I applaud this decision it could not come at a worse time. the next case is: Optimus Prime - Dodge Ram SRT-10, Rollbar - Jeep Wrangler, Ricochet - Subaru Impreza, Skids - Scion Xb.

Now let’s ponder this one for a moment.... Yep you guessed it Prime is the next Tracks Skids will be picked up and Rollbar and Ricochet are the new shelf warmers.

In closing I would like to thank Hasbro for saving me money, there are less Alts for me to buy, 1 per case is not bad, as apposed to the 4 they could have suckered me out of.  

 

I think alot of folks are coming to the same conclusion of Repaints are starting to kill the line actually let me rephrase that Repaints that make no sense are killing the line of Alts

 

you can give swerve to ME.

 

I've come to similar conclusions myself. I have Swerve, but I'm not getting Rollbar or Stepper/Ricochet. I may even pass on Dodge Ram OP (since I have MP Op) and see who they repaint him as first. But Skids, Sunstreaker, and Mirage are musts for any Alt collection. Who is supposed to be next btw? What's the current situation with Alert and Broadblast? Is Broadblast supposed to be Blaster?

Oh, and visit the other thread on favorite posibilities for Alt repaints. It might cheer you up to see all the potential repaint posibilites still in the line. Or it might make you more depressed knowing that Hasbro has no plans to do any of them and we're just dreaming. Your call.

 

I'm on the fence about Ricochet & Rollbar.....
I agree, the Alt's started as "G1 Revisited" now it's just a "let's repaint everything 100 times" line

 

I totally agree with you man...Honestly I know myself and that I'm weak and will break down and get Optimus Rollbar and Ricochet like I did Ravage, but I really wish they'd actually use characters that people actually WANT released. Ilove the Alt Prowl mold, but if they were going to do another Subaru mold it was just a no-brainer to finish off the G1 Datsun triplets...and they made Sunstreaker why not Trailbreaker?

I really try not to complain much anymore since I'm thankful that we even still have Transformers 22 years after they first burst onto the scene, but it's really making it difficult to keep spirits up. I can only hope it's just a lull and we get an incredible slew of great characters we know and love in the vein of Mirage.

 

I gave up being a completionist when Swerve came out. I like the Corvette, but I saw no reason to get a third one when I already have two that look better. Besides, at this point I am just sick of remolds in the Alt line. Last year I bought seven Alternators. Three of them were new molds, one of which was actually from '04 (Tracks). Of the other two, I got Windcharger around February, and Prowl in November. Everything else was a remold of something I had. By the time Swerve and Decepticharge came out, I had decided that I wasn't buying another Alternator until it was a new mold.

Of the new Alternators we know are coming out, the only repaint I'm getting is Sunstreaker. I love this line, but enough of the old molds already.

 

I wasnt going to get swerve until I found him at target. I figured "he's rare, what the hell", so I got him. after transforming him, I was amazed. he looks DAMN good. tied with tracks for best use of the mold. the red and gold on him looks great in-person. pictures don't do the guy justice.

I have almost every figure in the line (just missing sunstreaker, skids, and a replacement tracks for my broken one), and I've been cautious about getting a lot of them. somehow, I'm always impressed. so I'll probably still get rollbar and ricochet, as they'll likely surprise me the same way swerve did.

 

I got burnt out on Alternators several months ago for a similar but slightly different reason. The way I saw it, if you're going to be a completist on the line, that means buying the color variations that Takara releases too. This was bad enough when Takara put out a yellow Tracks and a Red Meister, but the straw that broke the camels back was when things REALLY started going in different directions in each country a few months ago. Takara was releasing color schemes that Hasbro wasn't (Alert, Broadblast, blue Prowl, the somewhat different Sunstreaker and fairly different police Prowl, the eventually cancelled Black Widow and Black Convoy) and Hasbro was putting out colors Takara wasn't (Swerve, our police Prowl, Decepticharge). It got to the point that I COMPLETELY gave up the line because I was sick of not only repaints, but DIFFERENT repaints in each country. It's too much for this man's budget to handle. Probably didn't help that I hadn't been knocked out by a mold since Meister way back in fall of 2004 either.

 

I'm trying to stick with new mold BTs only, but you try and find a reasonably priced BT Prowl... I hate to say it, but I am out too.

 

I'm also sick of repaints, and the two new ones mentioned (Rollbar and Ricochet) may be the first I don't buy.




Who the hell am I kidding, I'm Hasbro's little bitch. I'll buy them and love it.

 

I agree with this. I gave up on alts very early on (maybe stopped with Hound) to focus on bts. But, when I saw Swerve in the store, I liked him enough to pick him up.

Otherwise, I'm pretty burned out on bts, too. I thought it was going to be a cool line for being a completist, but I'm not really enjoying buying them anymore for most of the reasons that have been cited. It's good TT's slowed down the rate at which they're releasing new ones, though.

 

Well just be glad you've seen any Alternators. I haven't seen a new one since March when I got Ravage and Windcharger. Never saw Wheeljack or Shockblast. Haven't seen Swerve, Prowl, Decepticharge or any of the other ones after that.

 

I was buying the remolds too but the strait repaints are indeed ridiculous. I'm only getting one incarnation per mold now.

 

Some of the repaints I like, like with the Decepticons. But when there are continual repaints, such as Swerve (who I got because I love the Corvette mold), Rollbar (milldly interested in), Ricochet (NOT interested in) and so forth it really frosts my cookie.

What happened to originality, or intuitive designs? The Binaltech/Alternators line is turning into a 1:24 scale line of Transformers: Universe! If they (both Takara and Hasbro) took the time to tweak the molds a bit, I might not be so dissapointed. Also, if Rollbar was ANY other color then the orange he is (lighter green or white) I might be a bit more receptive to him. Have you seen the orange in question ON the actual vehicle? I have, and it looks like Coast Guard safety orange. In fact, that might not be such a bad redeco for Rollbar.

Ricochet, well, I'm not as big of a fan of the Subaru mold as some are. Plus, he is in the same boat as Alternators Skids when it comes to gaudy and attrocious flames and paint applications. He has a white nose, a WHITE NOSE!! Come on, Hasbro, does his face sunburn easily? Is he wearing Noxema to cover an embarassing blackhead on his nose he is trying to cover up?

Optimus Prime/Ironhide/Trailbreaker I'm actually looking forward too. For one, he is a new mold. For another, he looks to have pretty good leg articulation since his knees are ABOVE the bed of the pickup and can bend back into the bed area some. I'm a bid upset he doesn't have a tonneau cover like the real Dodge Ram SRT-10 pickup has, but I can get over that. His truck mode seats are also on his forearms, but at least he doesn't have them for his feet like Grimlock does.

The one mold I'm looking forward too, and I suspect many others are as well, is the Ford GT/Mirage mold. I wish we had more photos or information about him since he looks to be as cool as Jazz/Meister. He apparently has a very unique transformation, and is one I can't wait to get my hands on.

I keep hoping that more vehicles will be announced and used in the line, but I have a sinking suspicion that the Ford GT (if it is released) will be the last original vehicle in the line.

 

Well, I will probably buy Ricochet since I skipped Silverstreak. Unless of course I find myself a really reasonable priced Silverstreak then i'll skip Rico. I bought both Hound and Swindle thus I will not be purchasing Rollbar. For starters, the red on the mold isn't all that attractive to him if it has been more of borgundy like on TRU 2 Pack Starscream then I might have bought it because it was pretty. However, as Rollbar is currently and the fact my Alternator Autobots vastly outnumber my AlterCons I will be skipping him. I need to get Windcharger, and Decepticharger still. I have seen hide nor hair of Prowl, Sunstreaker, or Swerve; with Swerve I might consider purchasing him since he seems semi appealing.

 

Here's a great use for Swerve...
...buy another Tracks....
...swap out the head and other bits....
.... presto-change-o you've got yourself a Red Tracks.

 

what red?

 

This is one of the reasons I stopped collecting and got rid of my Alternators altogether.

I was sick of remolds, repaints, repacks...it got ridiculous. Then you throw on the distribution issues, and it just turned me off completely.

Good luck to those who wish to continue, and to those who felt like me, just know our numbers are increasing. Great idea, bad execution...on both ends of the pond.

 

there really isnt any other way for hasbro and takara to do the line, that having all these repaints and remolds. the alternators/binaltechs are the most complex toys on the market. they're expensive to license the alt modes for, they're expensive to design, and they're expensive to manufacture. they have to fill out the line with fairly cheap repaints and minor remolds to get the money to produce more original molds and keep the line going.