I don't normally consider myself hip enough to be a hipster, but one of things that I liked about Transformers was that it was still not particularly cool. But now, it's like I can't escape Transformers. EVERYBODY seems to have Transformers stuff. A cashier at the sandwich shop: sporting a Transformer sticker on his name tag. A high school kid I had to interview at work: Rodimus Prime on her t-shirt. And now there's Under Armor with Transformers logos? Under Armor--for people who actually go outside and exercise. People with real lives. That being said, the cashier gave me a blank stare when I identified the character on his name tag. When I said to the high school kid: "Cool Rodimus Prime shirt!" She said, "No, this is a Transformers shirt." I can't decide if I should be disappointed that they don't know what they are wearing, or if it's a relief. Either way it was embarrassing for me to think I was talking to a fellow fan, only to find out I wasn't...sort of like giving the big wave to your friend across the street, only to find out they are a complete stranger. All of which is to say that I'm starting to feel a bit like this Portlandia sketch (which satirizes precisely what I'm feeling). So as Transformers becomes as main stream as, say Star Wars, is anyone else starting to feel like "it's over?"
Haha, that Portlandia skit was great, I really need to get around to checking out that show properly. I'm all right with Transformers being a little more mainstream, "normal" folks appropriating things they don't know anything about is hardly new anyway. Stuff like classic band and superhero T-shirts and merch being sold by trendy clothing stores and whatnot. As far as I'm concerned it's OK, it doesn't take anything away from us "real" fans. And hey, if I can tell someone I collect Transformers and read comics and their reaction be a genuine "oh that's pretty cool" then so be it.
It's just a cycle - people forget that from 1984 or 1985 through 1994, Star Wars wasn't really cool to people other than Star Wars geeks. I remember reading the Timothy Zahn novels in the early 90s and everything I knew thought it was weird I was reading a Star Wars novel. Transformers is the same - it has periods where it hits huge highs (1984, early 2000s, now), and then can settle into some low lows (1988-1996). Right now, the movies have reached audiences in numbers greater than at any time in the franchise history. There will be a time when it settles back down. As long as they keep new generations coming in, it will never go away or be over.
There's huge amounts of people who are entirely clueless yet worship the brand around where I am. Heck, a guy came in the other day with a giant Decepticon logo on his shirt and I commented that I liked the 'Cons too. Guy was like "the whats?" It boggles the mind. Why buy a shirt or support a product when you can't even identify one of the two binary factions in it that are almost household names?
Waht. *reads* Yup. You know what makes me feel like Transformers is over? All the people I've seen who've spent their life with Transformers, and aribitrarily decide when it's "over" or "gone bad" simply because they personally lose interest. When they feel like too many people like it, when there's too many people who share their interests, that they can no longer enjoy it. And that's fucking sad. That's the saddest you can be as a Transformers fan, or anything fan, when your ability to enjoy it is dependant on you feeling somewhat alone with it. That you somehow feel, I dunno, not as special? That now that everyone likes it, what you considered as a defining aspect of your personality is not exclusive to yourself. It's sad, really sad, when you give up on- no, worse, denounce your hobby and decide yourself that "it's over" just because you lost joy in it. Joy that was apparently supported not by the hobby itself, but by what you thought of yourself as. Me? I like Transformers for Transformers. I don't use it as a moniker, I don't get upset when it's successful, I feel proud. I don't think a swell in popularity is a bad thing. I don't judge my ability to like something on public opinion. I judge it based on wether or not it appeals to me.
Oh man, I totally know how that feels. Saw a girl with a Bumblebee shirt (G1) at school, so I said "Hey, nice Bumblebee shirt." And she gave me the most annoyed look and said "This isn't Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a Camaro!"
Now this is just a muse I had, but me personally, I think that when people act as if a franchise is over, per se, it's less of the fact that the franchise as a whole is being absorbed into the mainstream, but more of the fact that newer incarnation of the franchise are slowly rooting out the older incarnations as the 'general standard', shall we say. Like this peep's comment below; The girl recognised Movie Bumblebee as the definitive Bumblebee, evidently with him being the Bumblebee she's had the most exposure to and experience with, unaware of the fact the character has been around for much longer. I think this might be the point Tresob could be making; that rather than a franchise being accepted overall, maybe it's a new version being accepted over the old version, the newer aspect becoming the 'face' of the franchise over the older aspect. That their Bumblebee, their Megatron, whatever, is not someone else's Bumblebee, not someone else's Megatron. That's my assumption anyway.
Where I work I'm starting to see more of the "general public" with TF related items - be it shirts, toys, the plushies that kids are bringing with them, hats etc because its the "cool" thing right now. Most of the people couldn't tell Starscream apart from Leader1. A few weeks ago however, my car battery died and I had to call AAA for service. The tech saw the con emblems on the side of my silver avenger and flat out told me in serious tone and voice... " I only work on Autobots" Made my day.
I think it's cool Transformers are popular. It just means there are now a lot more people out there willing to share your interest.
... The apocalypse is upon us, I find myself agreeing with SPLIT over something. I'd like to add a caveat to this, I don't like how the hipster fans have inflated the secondary market. It used to be reasonably affordable to collect vintage, now I have to consider my YEARLY budget to figure out whether chasing down a couple combiners is worth it. I miss the good old days of never paying over $100 for a US G1.
Anyone wearing a Character shirt and they don't know who the character is - is going to look rather foolish if someone else who does mentions it. It would be like you saying "Nice Decepticon logo" and them saying ; "It's not a Decepticon logo it's a Transformers logo".. they'd just look like a fool. If you want to identify yourself as a Transformers fan and be ironic at the same time get a Shirt with a Beast Machines faction Logo on it or a big ass screen shot of Savage or Botanica on it. As for being "Over" IDW and Hasbro front lining under 8's toys make me feel like that more than the movies themselves ever did. But I feeling a little sad that this movie's merchandise consists of a Bazillion Optimus and Bumblebees and not a whiff of an Off camera Character yet.
I'm happy enough being a fan of something that gained mainstream popularity. I can sorta understand the mindset though, which applies to all sorts of 'geek culture' stuff beyond Transformers. One is the 'hipstery' deal, where being a Transformers (or other fannish thing) fan is considered part of your identity, what makes you unique or special or separate from the 'mundane' folk. Popularity and mainstream acceptance and 'normal' people liking what you like takes that away, resulting in the 'It's OVER!' declaration and going to find some new obscure thing to build an identity around ("I'm all about ZOIDS now!") Another seems to be the old vs. new thing, where the 'old guard' fans, the ones who were fans back when no one else were, the ones who may even have been persecuted for daring to care about something different, find a new mainstream acceptance and an influx of new fans brought in by the new movies/cartoons/whatever. The older fans who "put in the work" might look down on the new guys, feeling them to be just trend followers or fair-weather fans, like a sports fan who says "I was a fan fan back when my team was losing!" . Of course to keep a franchise going, a steady stream of new material and new fans are needed, otherwise it eventually stagnates and dies out. I mostly just like Transformers for Transformers' sake, though I'd be lying if I said I never had twinges of the feelings written about here. I always get a bit grumpy whenever someone, person or media writer, talks about Transformers as if they dropped off the face off the Earth between 1987 and 2007, for example. Call me when Amiga computers become mainstream again (or at all).
I can see a situation where sometimes the old geezers might like something newer more than the original thing, Such as preferring Beast Wars to G1. Though it does raise the question do Armada fans therefore look down on Movie Fans - 'Chuckle'
I was at a TJ Maxx a few years ago. This was when the Voyager Grapple was being found at secondary retail. The cashier was a very nice looking girl and she said "oh wow Grapple". I was rather taken about by that. I asked her if she was Transformers fan and I vaguely remembered she told she was.
I've always hated the uninformed when it comes to fandom. I know I shouldn't but I do. I've also never made being a fan a part of my identity. It doesn't matter to me one bit how many people like something. If it's popular, all the better..... that leads to more products. But that ignorance thing... gets under my skin. It goes all the way back to the 80's when everyone use to call Transformers.... Gobots or Voltron.
The fandom has been infected by hipster mentality for years now, it's why everyone hates Bumblebee. "I hate Bumblebee!" "Okay, which one?" "All of them!" "But nearly every single incarnation is radically different, are you sure you have a reason to hate them all?" "Yeah, because they are called Bumblebee!"
