"Perfect is the enemy of good."

Kingdom's scale isn't perfect, but it's a damned sight better than the alternatives, short of potentially getting more MP BW characters.

 

It's namely the horrible QC that people have with him. PLus he's pretty inaccurate, even to a real scorpion. He may be good in some cases, but he's just undercooked. There's good ideas, but it felt rushed.

 

A potentially super-unpopular opinion?

I like the engineering of a toy far more than I like anything to do with the media depiction or the character. Always have.

I don't care if a toy is incredibly screen-inaccurate. I don't care if the character never appeared in official media (I'm actually more inclined towards those which didn't). I'm more interested if a toy can manage a transformation between two or more good-looking modes with a minimum of separate pieces, more than whether it can manage a perfect representation of onscreen modes at the expense of having triple the number of pieces and using engineering 'cheats' like partsforming or what are effectively chains or long rods of plastic in order to keep chunks of the toy ostensibly connected.

----

Another, only slightly-less unpopular one: I'd prefer to see completely new designs over retreads of old characters. Perhaps surprisingly, I don't mind if a completely new design is retroactively designated to be an old character (or a version of an old character), it just annoys me when a toy is a slightly tweaked variation on the exact same look that a character had 30+ years ago, which in itself only existed due to the limitations of plastic or connectors at the time (or because of cost-cutting). Or some goofy design compromise or gimmick of the old toy is rigidly carried through to a new toy even though it was disliked and annoying back then too, or in the rarer case where it simply doesn't fit modern settings (Soundwave as a microcassette recorder, Megatron as a realistic handgun).

That said, and at the expense of sounding hypocritical, I don't mind seeing completely reimagined updates of old gimmicks which didn't really work all that well the first time around. I'd like to see Pretender shells (particularly the MegaPretender concept) done with modern design. Or Targetmasters which became hardpoint-mounted weapons instead of handguns. (Good examples include updating Battletrap to a full combiner, for example.) Adding additional play value is also usually good - Earthrise Sky Lynx getting a launch platform mode springs to mind. At least something new is being attempted, even if it's mostly a retake on previous designs.

 

I feel like many post Energon toys do not need remakes, and Hasbro could just pull a Studio Series Arcee and make some adjustments to their original moulds. Given that there would be Pricing Problems like they might have to push some Toy Classes up a notch because of inflation, but they could just throw in a couple of Accessories to make up for it, and it is not like we are dealing with Masterpiece pricing right here...

Like if we look at Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime, and Laser Optimus Prime, they look just underwhelming compared to the originals. With Laser Optimus Prime, Hasbro could remove its Electronics, give it a new Head, Arms, and Legs, and sell it as a Commander Class toy.

 

Laser Prime is a G2 toy.  

But uh, if the do a rerelease of all versions of that mold, I’d buy a G2 laser Magnus like instantly. That things colors are so garish, its amazing looking.

And while I’d love to see Cybertron toys get a rerelease, I honestly dk if they’ll do any of the lines post BW. While I really want them to do RID01, Idk. I think the OG BW toys are kind of a flop, in my area they are shelf warming really hard. Compared to the G1 reissues that were like impossible to find.

 

In my area it is the opposite. None of the BW stuff stays on the shelves while there is still the G1 reisssues and “retro” headmasters on all the shelves. It’s not really fair to judge BW based on just your area.

 

Huh?

 

The upcoming Studio Series 86 Deluxe Class Arcee is a remould of the Generations Thrilling 30 toy.

 

fair counterpoint. My area probably isn’t the best demographic to base things on, and i’ll admit that. I moreso posted that to see if it was true everywhere, but certainly could and should have clarified that, rather than wording it like the objective truth.

 

I don’t understand the appeal of translucent versions of figures. These don’t look good to me at all, revealing the inner joints, hinges, seams, screws, and pins that I would prefer be hidden. What’s the lure with these?

Also, I don’t really understand the disdain for 3P figures. I can respect the fact that some people have chosen to only collect official product, but I don’t get the underlying rationale behind such a stance.

 

I see your point on the translucent figures. While some of them look nice, (the Prime RID ones for example.) Others are just doo doo. Energon Starscream comes to mind, the whole figure basically risks being shattered every time you transform it. Granted my understanding is the subsequent Takara release where he’s in his “super energon” updated color scheme and its made of regular plastic doesn’t explode when you transform it. So the issue really is with the translucent plastic. Sometimes its cool, but more often than not its a bad time.

3rd party stuff for me is hit or miss, so I just get what seems cool to me. I wish more of them would stop with the stick measuring “who can make the better G1 MP figures” they’re constantly having with Hastak. But eh. I dont collect MP anyways, so its more of a “can you guys make stuff I personally want plz?” which probably isn’t profitable for them, so I get it. You make what the market is selling, so G1 MPs it is I guess? again, eh.

 

I don’t mean folks who just don’t find the offerings from 3P interesting or desirable. I mean the people who outright refuse to consider a 3P product— however excellent it may be— simply because it’s not stamped with Hasbro or Takara’s brand.

I grew up in a rural area where people were divided by their chosen brand of pickup truck. Loyalty was typically to either GM, Ford, or Dodge, and no one would even acknowledge the positives of other trucks because of this artificial association. I never understood it. It seemed completely irrational to me. Why wouldn’t I just want what was good, regardless of the badge it was wearing?

 

The usual argument I've found from people who don't buy 3p is the legality of it. They're in a weird gray area of IP infringement and some people aren't okay with that.

 

I don’t doubt there are a few people that legitimately feel that way. However, I’ve seen many fall back to that argument only when pressed, after making many unrelated half-assed justifications.

Honestly, people can choose what they want, I don’t really care. “Just because that’s what I want to do” is a completely valid reason in my book. I’m just curious about what motivates people to make the choices they make, because brand loyalty is a concept that (by itself) has never been a factor for me at all.

 

I agree. But I do also see the “grey area” argument too. people just dont all operate on the same logic.

 

Is it really heading in that direction? Seems pretty civil and open-minded at this point, with no hints at getting heated.

 

Fair enough.

And regarding SS, I agree.

 

Typically I only buy 3rd Party figures that I’m fairly sure will never be made by Hasbro.
So for example:
Legend scale combiners- check
Voyager scale Scorpanok- check
Deluxe scale Skyfire- check
18in movie accurate Unicron- check
Leader scale citybots- check

As such I’m not taking money from Hasbro’s pockets being that they don’t even offer what I’m interested in. I think a number of people who collect 3P do the same, especially all those Masterpiece folks.