You failed to mention Amazing toys.

 

Interesting opinion Kickback, while I don't feel that Transformers died after RiD, I think it did change radically & go in a different direction. Aside from Animated, every main line that was offered after RiD has had some line-wide gimmick which seems to work with the kids, or at least that's what Hasbro's Marketing team thinks. Because of these gimmicks the designers & engineers have more restrictions on how they can engineer the toys. I recently finished the RiD series a few weeks ago & loved it, & when I go to Botcon this year I'll most likely be hunting down most of the main cast (on a side note, you said Prime & Magnus' molds were overused, I never heard this & they only had 2 repaints).

 

My opinion is different from yours. But that's fine, right?

I can't wait for Generations Drift. =3 I'm actually hoping for more "G1" newbie characters.

 

Wait, are you drawing a comparison to friendships and romantic endeavors to a shelf full of plastic backed up by CGI and animation?

I can give my Transformers a break to see if things are better in a year or however long I think it should take. They aren't going anywhere. They aren't going to sleep with a few dozen people. They aren't going to talk shit about you to people you know. They aren't going to forgot what 'we had'. A friendship or romantic relationship that's died or nearly died does not have that same luxury.

 

It's pretty much always been about the mythos, cartoons, and comics for me. I used to casually get some of the toys, when I was a kid. But, I never really tried to build a collection. The stories and characters have always been what attracted me to Transformers. The toys, at this point, I could really care less about.

So, while RiD may have some great toys, the cartoon was a smoldering pile of poopie...

 

Question for Kickback:

WHat would it take to make you happy again?
What would it take to bring the magic back?

 

I completely agree with this statement.

 

I don't think it died in terms of transformation. What I loved about the evolution of these figures is how a vast majority strive for more show accurate transformations and looks.

In terms of those qualities G1 and G2 were very poor (However, the figures were made long before the cartoons I know).

Beast Wars was mostly meh but still fun to play with and some great gimmicks (Dinobots sword still stands as the best ever). Not to mention a few gems (Optimal Optimus and Depth Charge especially).

Beast Machines kinda sucked from that stand point but there were a couple exceptions.

RiD... very mixed. Complexity is one thing but on all other levels I don't see where this was the high point. Some figures were glorious (Megatron/Galvatron, X-Brawn) Optimus and Ultra Magnus failed on multiple levels. Especially poseability. Optimus' ladder always got in the way and I think that super mode or whatever was atrocious looking.

Armada like any other was mixed with a few gems but nothing spectacular.

Energons deluxes are what mostly stood out to me.

Contrary to a lot of hate for Cybertron I feel these really stand out as some of the best figures we've seen in show accuracy and poseability. Optimus, Starscream (Love that crown) are two of the best. A few failures but nothing that can go down as the worst possible mold. The only thing that really sucked were the tacked on cyberkey gimmick.

Alternators/Binaltech were absolutely breathtaking (A couple bad eggs of course). That was the line I had waited a long time for.

Classics were all well and good but nothing really stood out except Optimus and Jetfire.

Then we got the first movie and they felt like a step down (Many at least). Not terrible but certainly not the best. Poseability was pretty decent at least. And no Leader or Voyager Bonecrusher just sucked ass.

Animated, I feel, really stood out much like Cybertron except without a shitty tacked on gimmick. In fact, no gimmicks. They just sold themselves. Only real flaw were the scale issues, but molds were otherwise very satisfying.

Universe/Classics 2.0 were a few gems (Onslaught, Prowl, Sunstreaker), some moderates (Powerglide, Cyclonus, etc), and craptastic (Cheetor, Galvatron). At least there were finally able to give Dinobot a better head design even if the tail weapon failed.

Masterpieces I can't complain about though I still have to collect Grimlock, and probably will never own Megs (Not that I don't want to).

Finally we have movie 2 and these are for the most part better than the first, HA especially, but not really amazing in any terms. The complex CGI designs really hurt the accuracy for both movies. Again poseability was not sacrificed (Leader Megs an exception). I will say that hands down so far my favorite is Voyager Bludgeon and I can't even figure out why.

This is just my two cents. I think all lines have had their shining points and no line has been perfect. Especially not RiD. I just can't agree with Kickback. As for the future, whose to say. WFC Bumblebee is sexy so far, but nothing else really shining that I've seen. Here's to hoping for the future and some better figs.

 

Kickback, I respect your opinion and appreciate so much what you have done for the fandom. And I agree with everything you said about RiD. I missed getting RiD toys when they were released because I was on the road during that time. I just started trying to catch up my collection with them last year.

But I must respectfully point out that you contradicted yourself twice. If Transformers truly "died" after RiD for you, then why do you say you "loved Animated" and that Classics 1.0 was "awesome"?

I can understand your dwindling passion for collecting following RiD because I have felt the same way to some degree. I've become much more selective about what I buy, but there has been no shortage of releases that have piqued my interest.

Nitpicky contradiction aside, I agree on that point, although both RiD and Alternators were that for me. And I felt the Cybertron line ranks just below RiD and Alternators in terms of quality toy engineering. (Alternators just lacked variety and more Decepticon releases.) Classics was indeed awesome and too short-lived for me. I also loved and hated the TRU reissues at the same time - loved them on account that I could finally own them without having to pay jacked prices to own the originals. But I also hated them because TRU jacked the prices on them so fans were paying more for the "commemorative packaging", and scalpers bought up all the more popular reissues as soon as they came out and caused a shortage which in turn jacked the prices on the secondary market.

I loved the simplicity of the Animated toys. Finally, toys that actually LOOKED AND TRANSFORMED like they did on the cartoon. What a novel concept! And it took Hasbro 25 years to finally deliver that.

The Masterpiece line has been another favorite, although I hate the outrageously jacked prices (the US releases aren't imports, for crying out), and they've had their share of QC issues.

The movie toys have been hit and miss for me, but mostly miss.

 

Not into collecting the toys, but Armada is a quality cartoon, which was accompanied by an equally quality comic series.

 

Nope. Not dead at all. Your feelings have changed, but the franchise is actually going through a golden age right now. Masterpiece and Alternity prove this. Animated proves this... I remember seeing the designs and thinking, the toys WON'T look like the show, yet the show accuracy is amazing. You want complex? Rotf Optimus is a complex as they get. During RID that's all you could collect was RID. In this upcoming year, we'll once again have 3 lines on the shelf at once. Who knows if Human Alliance will cross into other lines? If Hasbro stumbled, groups like Fansproject would rise up and give us new jewels to collect. The diversity and quantity makes this a golden age? When else were there 3 distinct lines to collect?

I respect your opinion, but there is no factual proof to support it. I do however salute what you've done here... stimulate intelligent conversation which may avoid turning into a flame war.

 

I have to agree with Kickback on the fact that Transformers Died after RID because the toys and cartoon in the Unicron trilogy where utter crap. They looked liked oversize go bots.
Perfect example is Cybertron Optimus Prime-Very Grand figure in packaging. When you start to TF him, it takes like 5 steps. What happened to the good ole days where the transformations actually took some time.

 

Just when I thought that I was the only one who considered RID as the last decent TF line, my good old bro Kickback brought this light.

RID was in fact a great and awesome line. The transfomations were very complex and incredible, some of then as cool as the Alternators line.

Armada was a complete deception for me. I still don't like how they could make so simple toys. I have to admit that they are fun to play, mi son still loves his Armada Hot Shot, but I wanted this line to be something more.

Energon, the Con's were the only ones I collected too, awesome molds. ONe of the best looking teams on my collection.

Cybertron, I have to admit that the toys were good, but I didn't feel like collecting anyone.

Movie toy were awesome for me. Anothe great point of view, and great realistic toys, but I think the first movie collection was more atractive to me thatn the ROTF line.

RID FOREVER!



.info


PS: Of course I remember Jux! Is he still around?

Animated, I simply disliked this line almost as Armada. I never likes that designs. They were simple G1 wannabes that never were something new or a real homeage to the old G1.

I hope this is not an alarm that we are running out of ideas. I hope the next TF's lines will we succesfull so we will continue getting more lines.


How I missed this kind of post! This remembers me the old time in the forums!

 

Yeah, whatever happened to complex transformations like G1 Bumblebee or the Spychangers?

 

What happened to Fort-Max transformations where you got pipes just from getting him into base mode.

 

Well, we're off topic at this point, but I'd have to disagree. I'll grant you, Armada was an enormous step down from RiD in design & engineering... but the Energon and Cybertron lines have some VERY complex and interesting transformations, particularly in the voyager/ultra/mega classes.

 

Hmm.

Yup.

Page 14 and "Transformers died" still sounds like the dumbest damn phrase ever. Especially since I'm reading it on a Transformers fan website...in 2010...

To all of you that feel the inclination to use such a phrase, I say it again; Transformers never died. Ever. You gave up on it.

 

....Wow so the whole G1 line was filled with things on Fort-Max level?

 

Animated Ultra Magnus, Lugnut, Blackout, Black Arachnia, Waspinator, Prowl, Bulkhead, Sentinel Prime, Jetfire, Jetstorm and Lockdown would like to have a word with you

 

Brilliant first post. I'm being honest here. Welcome to the boards.