I originally planned to collect most Movie figures*... but seeing how hasbro keep milking the cow again and again and again . I have my last pack of 8 movie deluxe figures ready to be shipped from BBTS now... here after I'm freaking done with repaints and premiums, for f*ck's sake just make the toys good from he very start instead and success is guaranteed... I feel kinda screwed having all the original "crappy releases" now when all the premiums are coming, I'd rather have those but no f*cking way I'll leave more cash to hasbro.
Yea I'm grumpy about the Movie line.

As for Encore and reissues...no problems with that.


*only collecting Deluxe,Voyager,Leader class.

 

I'm not extremely happy about the "premium" movie line, but I've vented my frustrations in another post and feel at peace with the fact that I still have some very cool toys in my collection. I'll just continue to buy the toys I want and leave the others on the pegs for someone else to purchase...

 

Just because we can, we should all buy the premium figs, put the originals in the box and return them.*

*It is illegal, but it would be "stickin it to the man"

My opinion: I'm just mad I can't find what I'm looking for. You know it's bad when Legends are sold out everywhere.

 

I skip a lot of things now with this movie line, the Legends class, the FABs, the Cyber Slammers. And I am skipping most of the Premiums and repaints too. It's burnout, you get over 1000 toys and you just kinda want to be done.

Will I feel betrayed if Anime Astrotrain, or Beast Wars Metals Ravage is released? Nah. More toys is better for the fandom.

 

I've skipped all of the repaints and all of the non-movie figures. I think a lot of people that have been collecting for 10 years-plus have started to feel the weight of there being too much to out there to really care about.

 

I don't think I saw anybody mention it...but, on the topic of Encore 'devaluing' the E-hobby '1,000 club'..um, didn't TRU already do that with several of them? (Sideswipe, Red Alert, Hoist, Skywarp, TC and Dirge off the top of my head..sissified weapons notwithstanding)

I am a little fuzzy on E-hobby details though..I was under the impression that the straight-up G1 reissues by E-hobby were technically some sort of Japanese con exclusive item (though some were sold after the fact) while the E-hobby repaints, like Anime Astrotrain and Sunstorm, while produced in similar numbers, were more 'exclusive.'

Maybe I'm just making shit up on that point...but regardless, further rereleases of "E-hobby exclusive" bots in their original G1 schemes, where that exclusivity is already highly dubious, don't warrant complaints.
A second, wider release of Sunstorm for example would probably bring out the on the order of rereleasing the Botcon seekers.

 

A couple points to ponder about the Premium line:

1) Often a company releases the best thing thing they can at the time as the first version (the "1.0"). This is based on timelines, people, money, available supplies and equipment, etc.
Later, they realize that they have the further means and development done to release a better version at the same price point, or even cheaper. If they do this then people can buy a better product for the money, though owners of the "1.0" may feel slighted.
This is normal in the electronics and computer industries, and happens a lot in Video Gaming as well (DS -> DS Lite, etc).
So 3 months after the toys were released, they see that the better painting units are now installed at the plant - do they use these better units to produce better painted toys or do they paint em the same old way?
I'm not saying this definitely happened, but industries change and move and sometimes the best you could do in Aug 2007 is superceeded by the best you can do in January 2008.
So maybe Hasbro isn't out to milk us dry, but rather are simply leveraging better processes or equipment or suppliers or whatever to sell a better product? Just an alternate theory, hell I don't know the real deal.

2) The Premium line will only be available via the SDS (Scalper Distribution System) anyway, so these figures will cost a lot more. [/evil laugh]

 

The original TFM toys were meant for the general public, including all sorts of people who were interested in the toys. The premium series is meant for collectors and people who like shiny things and are willing to pay more. If a parent wanted to buy a toy for their kid, wouldn't they rather pay less for the same thing?
In addition, the most popular figures are out of stock in most places. One can argue that the premium series can be for people who missed the earlier releases.

 

Actually I think this is the case. With the xmas rush out of the way, and the movie already on dvd, I think it will be easier for those who missed out originally, to purchase these. I don't see any reason why these would be scalped in the masses, when most collectors who already have the the first releases are mad these are coming out. It is dissapointing that we did not have a battle mask Bumblebee, metallic paint on Prime and Megatron, and Prime with a sword to begin with, but the battle mask and sword may have been developed for the movie and too late to implement on launch date for the toy line. As far as the metallic paint, I still think those could have been applied from the beginning.

 

Well they're maiing Omega Supreme. (^^)

 

yeah, i feel the same bitterness with all this reissue, new stuff, and clone KO business. the market is just way too saturated.

i used to be really into vintage takatoku and bandai macross until yamato, banpresto, bandai, toynami, etc... started to horribly saturate the market. theres just not enough room and money to buy everything that comes out no matter how cool it is. i'm beginning to feel the same way again with transformers.

 

I've been a TF fan/collector since the first wave of seekers hit in 84. I'm bitter for different reasons:

1. FP & Botcon Exclusives. I want the old robot points way of getting exclusives back. Enough with greedy-ass Botcon! They screwed me out of Classics Thundercracker, Dirge & Thrust.

2. Letting Cartoon Network anywhere near this franchise.

3. All these fricken bootleg/KO's.

4. Stores can't stock properly.

5. Bandwagon fans / scalpers

6. TOO MANY DAMN EXCLUSIVES!!!!!

 

I am glad for the Encores since I personally was brought back to Transformers because of Classics. I will finally own an Omega Supreme which I NEVER had as a kid. As soon as I get it I am opening it so I am very happy about the Encores! I understand frustration for devaluing past toys in which a lot of money was paid for but it does bring back older and makes newer fans so that is a good thing. Plus I am hoping for more Encores that will be varied. What I REALLY want is an Encore Stunticons set! That would be amazing.

 

I agree, many toy lines do this to us just for an extra buck (but then again if they were not making more money, they might not have the funds for more research and development) and I do think its why my TF/robot collection is so spread out. I only buy what I like, I never buy replica's, and I wont ever buy repaints unless its two different characters.
The only thing I might buy multiples of today are diecast Ferrari's to add to my Ferrari collection but even then its just one or two of the same.

I really do wish more thought was put into new Transformers though and not 15 versions of the same toy. I love G1's but not enough to buy re-issues or repaints of them.

Oh yeah, and yes I do see your post as a question/opinion not as something you just said to piss anyone off...

 

Eh, I don't really like this message, so I deleted it.

 

totally disagree with that.
as i collected BTAS figures, i saw so many repaints or figure variations that i needed to print out a faq list to carry with me to the stores.
same figures with a different paint, same figures with different paint, and then had another character's accessories....it was awful. all that just to have a basic set of the main figures. hasbro was milking the cow to the bone on that.

fortunately, TFs are a lot harder to get away with crap like that.


And thank god for Encores. i may have to put in few days of honest work, but i will have a MISB (with that new toy smell) Omega Supreme for 1/3 of what the ebayers "demand" from me.

so, um what is there to lose from all this?
you bought a movie prime already and aren't as devoted as DJ Soundwave, then don't buy a premium. i didn't.