Pretend for a moment that HASBRO/TAKARA quit making Transformers.

Lets say Mattell picks up the license. Do you keep buying the figures or do you call it quits?

Suppose no toy manufacturer picks up the license. Do you call it quits, or buy 3rd Party and KO's?

 

Wouldnt happen. But if so, 3rd party and retro G1 figures will always keep this hobby alive.

 

Not a single fuck would be given.

 

I've stopped being a collector but still buy things occasionally. I don't think my loyalties lie with Hasbro but more with Transformers so regardless of who makes it, if I like something I'll pick it up.

Is Mattel bad in any way for you to use them as an example? They're pretty good beyond some quality issues, mostly with paint.

 

If Mattel: Insta-quit. Well, not instant. I'd laugh for about an hour first. Then quit.

If anyone else: I'd really have to see. I can't imagien Bandai US would be any good at all. Bandai Japan would be awesome. I can't really think of anyone who'd pick up the transforming toy license except for those smaller brand names I can never remember.

Mattycollector.

I mean, you really must not know them well. I mean yeah their stuff is okay... if and when it's ever released. They botched the giant Voltron by making the lions gimmicky bricks and making the joints for Voltron too weak. (plus there were issues galore with the subscription service. The whole thing was just an unfun experience) DCUC and Masters Of the Universe gets abused more often than not, and they're overall just not the best toy company. They could never give Transformers the attention it deserves.

 

I wouldn't care. Takara would still be doing the design and engenearing.

 

If Mattel took over Transformers it'd be run into the ground within a year. Their business model relies on shared parts and reuse of molds. And I'm not talking about the original figure and a repaint, I mean dozens of the same mold. Their flagship properties are Hot Wheels and Barbie because they use so many of the same parts over and over and over again.

I'm not even going into their incompetence with Mattycollector.com and Digital River. This is just retail.

 

I would be okay with it.  

 

If someone else took over?

Um, no.

 

No TAKARA either.

 

I can't say I know them well. I suppose perspective-wise I'm just looking at Mattel through a toilet paper roll. Just saying that what I've very selectively bought from them is done well enough besides me sitting there comparing each copy of a toy for mispaints or anything wrong before buying. Although I do that for any toy I want... It's just that I've read about lots of problems with Hasbro's recent lines here. I'll take your word on Mattel though.

I would still buy Transformers regardless of company if they give me enough of a reason to buy something.

 

I'm already going mostly for Takara Transformers. So I don't care.

 

The only thing I like from Mattel are the WWE Elite figures. I've bought DUCU, DCIH, and Batman Legacy and MM and have not been impressed at all. I'm not saying I'd quit cold turkey buying TF made by them. I'd give them a fair shot but I know I'd eventually lose interest.

 

...you mean to say that you could actually complete the registration for a membership without having to fax them, access the member specific content after completing the registration, order something that iconic from a main line - with the membership discount...and all this without having your credit card details stolen?

Oh my god, it's everything I've allways wanted from TFCC!!!

To answer Mr Bells original question:

I haven't gotten into any of the main lines the last 6 years, If you add Takara into the mix then I have really only bought classics, MPs & Reissues - third parties would fill the gaps of classics, MPs...meh - not that big a loss, too few characters for me to feel committed to the line and reissues...well, they're really just a cheaper, fresher alternative to G1, which can be picked up off of ebay, so I can't say that it'd affect my collecting that much at all.

If anything, a new company might actually be what it takes for me to get back into collecting mainline stuff.

 

this. I support T.tomy stuff anyways. That way, at least I know I'm STILL collecting official TF's.

 

Since Hasbro owns Transformers, it's not a simple matter of some other company picking up the license. If Hasbro did stop making Transformers, one of two things would happen:

1. Hasbro would offer a Transformers license to another company but would retain ownership, and likely a "you-can-do-this-but-not-that" level of control over the property.

2. Hasbro would sell the Transformers IP.

Neither scenario would affect Takara, but then you stipulated that Takara would also stop. So it would have to be Mattel, because they're surely the only company with pockets deep enough to afford to buy Transformers or a Transformers license.

As for whether or not I would buy Mattel-produced Transformers, I don't know, it would depend on the quality. But I would always be a fan of the Hasbro stuff.

 

Hasbro getting rid of Transformers would be like George Lucas selling off Star Wars to someone else...

 

 

Mattel: yeah sure, why not.

Third Party/KOs: I'd buy what I can afford, which wouldn't be too much.

 

I would probably call it quits, it would seem like a good place to step off the wagon as it were. I mean, I'm fairly close as it is.

Off topic its probably more likely Disney would gobble up Hasbro in a few years...