Be it the toyline, the cartoon, comic books or overall concept.

Newcomers don’t like G1 Megatron was a handheld gun and that he should have been a tank or jet or something.

When in actual fact, the 1984 toys were all reused from existing toylines and that the Decepticon leader was chosen to be the gun toy from those they had available to them as it was a villainous looking alternate mode that would be of a similar size to Optimus Prime. Being a different toy would have completely changed Megatron’s iconic appearance and likely his name. And thinking about it, there wasn’t really a substitute they could have used instead.

Starscream is too small, Shockwave is too large and Soundwave doesn’t look at all threatening. Megatron is just right.

 

I don't know if they are mostly newcomers, but a lot of people don't like the idea of mass shifting and want bots' size to match more closely that of their alternate modes.

 

That’s something I would prefer as well, unless the alternate mode is very small or very big. Silverbolt alone would tower over Menasor if the robot modes and combiner components stayed at a 1:1 scale to their real life vehicle mode counterparts.

On the subject of scale, G1 Motormaster’s toy cab is the same size as the Optimus Prime toy below. Would people like the robot modes to stay in scale with each other? It does make sense for a cab + trailer robot to be larger than a cab robot - but as a character, Motormaster would be way too big.

 

Holy crap! I never realized just how big Shockwave was compared to Megatron!  

 

That there is more to the franchise than just g1 and the movies.

 

It's more, why can't people let some stuff go and stop trying to convince other to see things "their" way?

I was collecting BEFORE Transformers was even a glitter in Hasbro's eye so I'm beyond both "newcomers" and "old"

I had Diaclone that most Autobots are ripped from, and Micronauts (microman) that most Decepticons were ripped from (aside the seekers which were also Diaclones).

I had Shogun Warriors (Chogokins), UFO Super 7, Star Wars originals, even some Machine Robo that became Go-bots, and many others all which I still have today, Heck I even have the Liberator from Blake 7 before I even got to watch the show, the saucer from the Invaders and Jame Bond's Lotus Esprit that transform into the submarine car..



So you want "old school", you'll have trouble to top me.



Megatron as a gun was a novelty then, cool looking but still, as a toy, he was cool as the gun, but crappy as heck in robot mode, fairly fragile, and it was the cartoon that made him "bad-ass". He was chosen as the leader for reasons of looking the part at the time, though he wasn't the first choice, Hasbro settled on him.

I accepted that Megatron worked better as a vehicle, and a tank works fine for the fusion cannon thing, and I've enjoyed the planes, spaceships, choppers, etc. and it never bothered me whatsoever to see him be anything but a gun.. to me, the mass shifting thing is overdone/used, to the point of being a cartoon/comic plot device that just ends up being silly as heck.

I'll accept it to an extent, but I would enjoy it if they would reboot TFs once and for all and do a "perfect" scale line.

I think that having the cars as legend size, while the jets (and others) towering over them as leader size figures would create a completely new dynamic.

I would understand that some figures would be off the charts but that would make some amazing concepts happen. Imagine a commander or titan sized Astrotrain...

 

We accept that the whole thing is going to be upended and rebooted every couple of years.

 

Whether we like it or not. The best thing ever, or the worst thing ever will both come to an end and move on to something else.

 

Personally I base my entire collection on vehicle scale. I have no problem with the Seekers or Motormaster towering over the Autobot cars.

It makes the early Decepticon cast seem less outnumbered and only adds to the heroism of the Autobots when you see them fighting giant opponents.

It was one thing I liked about the Baymovies and Animated.

I'd imagine a lot of newcomers can feel overwhelmed with the amount of different versions due to the regular reboots.

Plus a lot of the movies and cartoons can seem silly or childish. Studio executives think they have to baby things down for younger audiences but at ten years old, I preferred the more intelligent writing of the UK comic to the G1 cartoon.

The 1990 Ninja Turtles movie was very close to the original comics. Though most of us only knew the cheesy cartoon, the movie was a huge success. At the time it was the most successful independent movie of all time costing only $7million to make.

It's the intelligent writing of such franchises as the Bale Batman movies and Marvel Cinematic Universe that wins over old and new fans. A series doesn't have to be dark and gritty or try too hard to be funny if the story is well written and treats the audience with intelligence. That's why Simon Furman's UK comics still read as good sci fi 30 years on.

 

Honestly, it's something that I've come to really appreciate about the franchise. Sure, not every continuity is going to be my cup of tea but I like that we get so many different continuities with their own take on the story and the characters.

It's also a relief to know that, whenever there's a continuity that you don't like, it's not going to last forever and become the new status quo. At the same time, if you did like that continuity or just some of its elements, there's a probable chance that they'll resurface later in another installment of the franchise.

 

New fans don't understand they have a chance to become more open-minded and accepting about the franchise before us opinionated old-timers hand them the consensus of what's "okay" to like.

 

Newcomers don't understand the joys of wider life yet if they've decided to get involved with a fandom like this

Took me 13 years

 

It can be easy for a newcomer to... well, I’m sure this applies to any franchise so it’s not a Transformers-exclusive thing, but they’ll likely not want to look deeper into the lore and see all the other incarnations besides what they joined up with. They might think it’s too much so they’ll stick with what they discovered first. Which is fine. But a lot of newcomers don’t realize how much bigger the franchise is than just the movies or just G1. And hell a lot of longtime fans don’t realize there’s more than just G1 and the movies. When I joined, I felt it was awesome to see there was so much more out there. It’s literally like a library. Try something new, if you don’t like it, put it back, there’s way more out there.

I have to agree with the point of non-G1 fans and G1 Megatron’s alt mode. Obviously I won’t deny it happened, but I see no reason why we should continue the practice. It’s a Gun to be wielded by someone else. Since then he’s been a massive cannon (G1 Galvatron), an attack helicopter, jets, a flying tank, a non-flying tank. They all serve the same function, and a giant weapon fits Megatron perfectly. But I certainly don’t want him back as a handheld gun because it seems silly compared to other, more efficient alt modes that get the point across.

 

Probably just how fractal and divided up the franchise can be. That it's all canon... and none of it is canon. That it can be a real mind-screw, the various continuities, lines, sub-divisions and whatnot.

Oh, and the crossovers. All those crossovers!

 

Characters from different continuity with the same name does not have the same personality or even allegiance

 

Yes, this bothers me too when people think that they should.

I’m okay with Armada Wheeljack because he is not G1 Wheeljack. I’m also okay with Energon Downshift because he isn’t G1 Wheeljack either.

 

people who don't understand that they aren't just robots, who are like "why are they mad or sad" or "why are they acting like they're in pain, they don't feel, they're just machines"

god, the close mindedness kills me

 

Ever since the Bay movies the fandom exploded. Used to be a small world before that. We were getting tickled over little oddities or even finding a TF tshirt. Now the fandom is old enough to be made from multiple generations. Something fo everyone.

When I was a kid adult toy collectors were extremely rare. Only knew one that collected trains. He died a lonely dude. Its different now, when we are in our 70s there will be plenty of other geesers our age into into TFs and video games.

 

That Transformers is, when you really take a step back and evaluate it honestly, kinda shitty as a mythology.

Like, as a story concept it’s pretty... I dunno, empty? Like so much of Transformers is either spent explaining or ignoring just how nonsensical it is, and so much of the core elements have to be totally reimagined or back-breakingly justified just to not ruin the story. Think of any of the (shockingly few) decent Transformers stories out there and how either inconsequential the Transformers aspect is to the narrative, or how handicapped the story is by it. We kinda just accept how almost shamelessly brainless it is just to peddle product, and how embarrassingly desperate it can get just to try and not suck. (Especially in a lot of IDW’s comics)

As a toy concept though, unbeatable. In fact I think it speaks to the strength of the toys that Transformers is as big as it is.

 

Funny thing is.. I do consider them as just robots... but I can understand why all those things, but my reasons are probably not what you'd want to hear.