I think this year is not half bad for transformers,we got two toys r us masterpeice tfs back to back,I think both are great
I'm discovering the tf prime line,prid rumble with a DVD is my most recent purchase ,I'm a sucker for gimmicks like DVDs included,and I think the show is fantastic (if a little dark)
And I'm probably going to end up buying fall of cybertron shortwave ...er shockwave at some point
But my new interest is hunting down different tf prime figures (preferably with the DVD )
Oh and I almost forgot,over in Japan tf masterpeice coronation Starscream and sideswipe are available
So 2012 may not be much on quantity,but I give it high marks for quality.

 

Outside of MP announcements and third party I thought it was kinda crappy. No wave 2/3/4 in Canada for PRID, MP Optimus getting discontinued in Canada, announcements about Breakdown not getting a toy, FOC being uninteresting and lower quality, and so on.

 

officially, for mps it was tremendous, for anything else, lackluster

unofficially, great

 

Well I'm a novice to tf prime (but hope to learn more,what a great show) so I can't comment,but I was kind of thinking along those lines for awhile about FOC ,but that shockwave does look cool,and as for mp I really like thundercracker and prime (I only passed on sideswipe cause of plastic tires but ill get over that too)

 

2012 has been a great year for Transformers, imo, very happy with what I have gotten from TFP, Bot Shots, etc.

 

And am I the only one who thinks prid rumble is sweet,I did not even hesitate to buy him when I saw him the other day (12.99)

 

While I'm very annoyed about the rising pricing and the extreme lackluster distribution we've been having, no to mention so much paint missing on many of the figures, its been alright for me. So far I've enjoyed all the Prime releases (Airachnid can piss off that bitch) and while I've only obtained FOC Shockwave from the new Generations line I'm liking the upcoming releases especially that FOC Starscream and Kickback.  

 

My thoughts exactly.

MPTC, US MP Prime, MP Sideswipe, and... well, up until a couple weeks ago, MP Soundwave.

But we do have the entirety of the Prime mainline which was... okay. A few standouts but nothing terribly impressive, to be honest.

The aforementioned "Shortwave" is pretty killer, since we've been wanting a decent Classics Shockwave roughly... forever. Closest thing we've had to it was freaking Energon Shockblast.

 

Yes I was going to pass on FOC Starscream until i saw a review of him and more up close pics,now I am looking forward to him
Oh and speaking of Starscream ,I'm probably going to buy that seeker 3 pack whenever that comes out too (was on the fence about it,but I like that blue on the Starscream )

 

this year was just like any other year for Transformers IMO.

I bet the next TF show will revolve around Prime and BB while the bad guys are Megatron and Starscream until eventually it's just BB vs himself.  

I predict that in 2015 the only Transformer thing that will exist is Bumblebee. Bumblebee is like the Cockroach of Transformers.

and like Bebe's Kids, He'll never die he'll just multiply.

 

Kind of a down year for me.
An up year for my wallet.

 

2012
- You know those FEs you guys are clamoring for? Ending early in the USA!
- And the DotM line? Yep, ending early, too!
- And the new, full Prime toyline is even smaller and MechTech managed to get even WORSE!
- And of course Bumblebee's got to be in every wave!
- Airachnid.
- And we're going to be cutting even more corners!
- Meanwhile, Takara's using stickers in place of paint and adding hideous ports all over!
- Breakdown's a Takara exclusive!
- Whup, price hike!
- Whoa, wait up, retailers. Don't need to jump prices that high.
- Coming soon: spiky retools of shelfwarmers and DRAGONS!

On the plus side,
+ Shockwave, Dead End, Rumble, and a few others (that I didn't get) are really cool
+ Hasbro's actually trying out a goddamn proper combiner! The result is pretty wonky, but no spring-loaded drones, repaints within the same team, extra parts, etc..
+ Plus, he comes in G2!
+ And that Voyager Soundwave is at least catching the spirit of the original toy, plus he's got all his important minions. And Blaster, too.
+ Kre-O and Bot Shots
+ FEs getting another shot at TRUs
+ GDOs are getting released, too
+ MPs, while not my bag, are definitely getting a lot more cool stuff

As often as it may seem to be like one bad thing after another, there have been quite a few really shining moments. I mean, a cancelled subline getting re-released or a proper combiner were unheard of before. Impossible, as many have said. And yet, both actually happened. By no means does that make everything better, but I can't be completely dissatisfied when Hasbro's been doing the seemingly impossible.

 

Mixed bag for me. I wasn't collecting DOTM and am not collecting Prime toys either, so it's not that big a loss for me.

Generally speaking I was a little bit disapointed that classic style G1 generations didn't continue, I thought we were getting 40 releases this year, but I must have read that wrong.

I think the highlights for me this year was stepper, runabout & runamuck - at least I think they came this year - not to mention Hegemon & Photron. Also didn't they re-issue soundblaster and twincast this year?

Yeah, it's not much - and litterally everything I got from Has/Tak was a repaint so it's no wonder that what excited me the most this year was third party releases.

 

Since I consider 3P products "Transformers," it has been a very good year for me. I only started getting into 3Ps this year, and what an awesome experience it has been. Can't wait for what 3P companies have to offer next year.

As an Optimus Prime collector, it's a mixed bag. FE Optimus is an AWESOME toy, anyone who does not have it yet should get one (or two). The Hasbro MP Optimus was a great release too. Then I bought AM Battle Shield Optimus and Arms Master Optimus, both of whom had loose joints out of the box, so they often do splits and can't even support their own weapons/accessories. What a fucking waste of money those two were; I thought that since I was paying a premium for Takara products, quality would be better. LESSON LEARNED.

Oh yeah, and don't even get me started with FOC Optimus...

 

For me, the hits were big hits, but as a whole, there were way too many misses for me to consider it good. Started the Prime series out of since I was bored, and though it is ok, it just isn't that great for me. Not touching FOC. The MP love from both Hasbro and Takara as well as Hasbro bringing over the GDOs and finding a way to release the FEs were a good bone to throw the collecting community, but had I not started collecting Prime (which I somewhat regret), it would have been a pretty sparse year at retail for me.

Cancelling the last of the movie figures at the beginning of the year was also a bit of a miss for me. I like the onscreen movie figures since they got me back into collecting in 2007, and I am just glad that I put Deluxe Leadfoot on preorder with BBTS. Tracked down the other three that I wanted, but I don't know how many times I went to the store in January and February looking for something new before the announcement of their cancellation.

 

There was enough plastic crack for me to buy. Good year of ramen and PB&J for me

 

Every year is a good year for Transformers. Even if the mainline is not of your liking there's always something coming out that should interest you, whether it's Masterpiece, reissues, store exclusives...

doesn't stop half of the fandom from blaming Hasbro for everything, and that the next movieline will surely be the end of Generations.  

 

If you're in a position to buy 3rd party, Takara imports of toys Hasbro skipped, and pay over retail for poorly distributed toys, then it's been quite a good year.

If you're stuck with local retail, and what Hasbro decided to ship to retailers, it's been a lackluster to frustrating one.

You can criticise what Hasbro are doing without it necessarily amounting to 'Oh my gawd Hasbro is the worst thing that ever happened to Transformers'.

Hasbro made some significant mistakes this year, and what's worse failed to learn from them, and kept repeating them.

The fact that the first wave of BH contains a significant amount of heavy retools of toys that were stagnating months ago, makes me think they still haven't learned, and that 2013 isn't going to be much different from 2012.

 

This was a sub-par one for me. Six months of nothing but Prime Wave 1 does not a good year make. I've brought less than half the number of toys in 2012 than I did by this point in 2011.

 

I've bought far less Transformers than I originally thought I would when I moved back to the UK. It's been a combination of having other economic priorities, enjoying other toylines (MLP, Star Wars and Power Rangers) and there not really being that much available at UK retail that I've gotten excited about.

On the other hand, I've got FOC Dudicus for Christmas and put half down on an Encore Fortress Maximus so this year has been pretty good on that front.