Yeah, he is doing the same thing anibabies do when people attack TFA. No biggie, goes on enough on this board. All people's opinion's are facts so saying TFA is better then G1 is a fact and thusly can't be argued and vice versa...duh.

People can keep posting thier opinions and theories but the plain truth is it failed because it wasn't a success.

period
it is finished
fatlady she be singing
kaput

 

You mean this thread has de-evolved into a smear campaign against G1 fans? And they get all snotty when G1 fans take offense to it?

Shocking...

 

Okay, if they cared enough back when it was being developed and when fans were complaining to say "Hey, let's just end this show at three seasons since the fandom doesn't care and/or hates it.", now they would care enough to say "Hey, the fandom loves it now! Let's carry it on!"

Seriously, Hasbro would obviously take notice of us starting to love the series, and if they were smart they'd carry this on alongside the movie, but since a big blockbuster movie costs a lot of money, Animated is getting axed. It's not because we hate it (most of us love it!), or because Hasbro hates it, it's because the movie costs money, money which Hasbro cannot continue to spend on Animated.

 

I think it's a mix of things. I think it's the bitching fans, the lack of a toyline for months, the terrible distribution of said toyline (I gave more business to eBay and BBTS this year than I have retail. Because they didn't stock the damn things beyond much of the first and second waves.) and CN's absolutely craptacular work behind the scenes.

Derek Wyatt was born with only so much awesome in him, he can't carry the whole thing by himself, but I'm damn sure he would've if he could've. So we can't blame the writers, designers, etc.

The bitchy fans, distribution, lack of support all around.

 

GGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 111111111111111111111111!


The toys were cool but what killed it was that 75% of the episodes were crappy at best.

 

About as shocking as it is when it's the other way round, I suppose.

I approve of the amount of sense in this post, and agree with every word in it.

 

That doesn't make it any less silly. Blame can be given to BOTH sides... I'm not exempt... AND NEITHER ARE YOU.

 

Curse the chin criticizers!

 

I never said otherwise. Both sides frequently need to shut the fuck up, and don't.

 

Just goes to show you: troll a GeeWhiner and you succeed!

 

True dat... now I'm gonna STFU and get back to Midnight Club LA before someone uses me as an excuse to throw ANOTHER insult out there...
... damn, too late again...

 

g1 poeple love g1 because to be honest it was awsome back them and to this day still considerd awsome by many I ask any body down the street and they can sing almost the whole g1 theme song.

and yes animated is the closet we have to g1 in years though the unicron trilogey seemed to made up of alot of characters from g1 and the japanes versons take a close look not many characters wernt taken from those old epesodes

okay now to the nity grity Animated is failing because hasbro over stocked poeple on the first 2 waves they kept makeing those crapy versons and didnt just stick to the main line.

e.g actavators optimusprime voyager optimusprime mum and dad go out and by products they will pick the actavators cause its cheaper.

This is Hasbros fault and a little of ours cause we where cry babies when they design first came out

 

Yeah, this is pretty much what I think.

 

It was fun waking up this morning and seeing the mischief the staff had caused.  

 

So... can we close the Animated discussion forum if the show ends?

 

I would leave it open for a month and a bit just in case they decide after the movie they want to breath life back into it

 

Huh. This derailed quickly.

Animated Fan, Incepticon and a couple others have made some good points. Here are some other things to consider:

Lest we forget, Hasbro is moving it's shows to it's own network. After a long working relationship with CN, Hasbro has decided they can move into an 'entertainment property' business as opposed to just a toy company. The CEO believes that and said nearly exactly that in a recent interview with USA Today. The partnership with CN is in direct opposition to that belief. Animated just happens to have the distinction of being the TF show that falls in the middle of the switch-over.

This point is worth repeating: CN does not have a good history keeping popular shows going. Animated got awful time slots. People (self-included) could not find it on air, or only saw sub-par episodes.

Don't forget the Wal-mart/ shareholder factor. Movie toys sold like crazy, beating internal Hasbro projections by a wide margin. We don't have the numbers because we don't sit on the board, but they admitted as much. Walmart must have loved it, because at the end of the day, Walmart cares more about retail sales than Hasbro does. Did Walmart force Hasbro to refill orders on movie toys when Animated figs were waiting in the production queue? Did the B.O.D. order the plants to stop all production on other lines to focus solely on movie figs? Did it cause kids who would have bought Animated figs to collect something else out of frustration or boredom?

International corporate level sales handled by a multi-billion dollar company is far more complicated than "Ani figs sits on the shelf at mah store. None buy them." Hasbro has to meet contractual demands with the Wal-mart and Target to keep product in place. After the success of the movie, WHATEVER Transformer line that followed would not be as successful. The nature of a cyclical market demands ups and downs. What we don't know (and probably won't unless someone at Botcon asks the reps pointblank) is what Hasbro had projected in terms of Animated sales, and if they fell short, fell WAY short, or broke even.

We know (if you've read a hasbro financial report in the last 5 years) is that TF is not a bread-winner line for Hasbro, movie '07 excluded. Star Wars is. The board game division is surprisingly profitable. TF has always been very popular with the kids, but the sales, for at least fifteen years, have been steady but unremarkable. Remember as bad as some shows or figures sucked, only Beast Machines was canceled and they still got two seasons. The movie succeeded because it was cool, different, and focused the eye of the world on the property. Interest, like most things, waxes and wanes.

There was a tepid response from the fandom after the movie. Some of it was 'afterglow'; the fans who loved the movie wanted more movie, and Animated wasn't it. Some fans (*points at self*) did NOT want movie, and Animated didn't look like it would be any better. Hasbro took a real risk, and should be applauded for taking such a risk, but it was a shock to a lot of people and it it took a long time for people to adapt.

Season 3 of Animated rocks, but also remember that Hasbro went to CN and said 'we're gonna order Season 3, but cut this human shit out.' Given an ultimatum, the writers and crew delivered. There's a reason that 'Third times a charm' has been a human saying for thousands of years.

SO:
Unexpected movie success
Hasbro starting it's own network based on movie success
CN mishandling promotion and time slot
(Probable) pressure from retailers to repeat movie success
Natural and expected decline in TF sales
Radically different aesthetic took some getting used to
Writers given too long a leash initially leading to slow development
Tepid initial fan response
And, of course, a vocal minority of the fanbase that still hates Animated (just like there are those that hate the movie, Beast Wars, G1, Kiss players, whatever)

I guess if we get geewunners, anibabies, Walmart execs, CN execs, Hasbro reps, the hasbro toy design team and the animated production team all in a room together, then we can all point fingers and say "You're fault!!!!" Oh, and bring Michael Bay, just cause.  

 

Ok, so I've been reading this thread. I wasn't able to make a full post and explanation this morning when I first posted cause I had like 5 mins before I had to leave for work. Anyway, in catching up I've noticed a few things.

1. Transformers: Animated on the whole. Animated is a decent show. I say this, and yes I'm a huge fan of G1, to me it will always be the best. I'll explain this here as well. G1 was the original, it started everything. Without it we have nothing. I'm not into the whole Beast Wars/Beast Machines thing. I don't go for the animals, but I've watched both shows in near entirety and I loved Beast Wars at the time. I took it because G1/G2 were gone and it was Transformers and in continuity with everything else. Beast Machines was ok, but a little too religious, if I can use that term, and/or preachy. Robots In Disguise was a nice throw back to robots but it was lacking in aspects for me I can't describe. Armada was a retelling of G1 and I was ok with it until the G1 DVDs. After that I saw like 3 episodes of Energon and nothing of Cybertron. Then along came Animated. I saw the design and was turned off. I didn't like it. I gave it a fair shot though and watched the movie. I didn't like it. So I let it go. I started listening to the podcast which then lead me to start watching episodes on youtube. I found them ok to swallow but they were'nt huge. Season 1 and 2 finales were great. Then season 3 came and I've loved it I've only got one complaint on season 3 but I'm not going into that here. Really they've done a great job with the show and the toys. I have a few rules when I buy Transformers, especially if a new line is starting up that doesn't have my complete attention at first. I select buy, at least one Prime, usually Voyager, unless the line is huge like Classic, then nothing bigger. Any Starscream or Seekers, any Hound or Omega Supreme and then after that it's whatever tickles my fancy about the toys. G1 repaints and look-a-likes are my love. So yea I wasn't a huge fan of Animated when it started, I am now, but I've not been vocal either about it. I've done my part, bought the Starscreams and Skywarp and Sunstorm and both versions of Shockwave and voyager Prime and all the Dinobots. I even sprung for Leader Megatron because I really like the character in the show.

For a lot of people it's what I call "Shallow Hal" syndrome. Nothing matters as long as it looks good. Let's face it animated doesn't look stunning. It's too kiddish in it's aesthetic. For me, that doesn't matter, its the content. How is it written? How do the characters act? Are they generic or do they have depth? Animated's characters their interactions and personalities were done awesomely. Even though they can't pull an NCIS, because the show is for kids, it's still done well. And I admit I love the little references to all the other shows.

2. Cartoon Network has gone downhill. They've been on a slippery slope, I think, since Naruto. I'm no fan of that "anime" and never will be. They first reduced Toonami, once a staple that was aired twice on weekdays, once on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays, to a once a week 2 hour time slot that was taken up by the same show airing two episodes at a time. Then they canceled Toonami and pulled its shows and started airing live action movies. This combined with their favoritism to their own "purebred" shows and lack of advertisement was severely detrimental to everything on the station, including Transformers Animated.

3. The movies hurt. I'm sure a few of you know, Kickback more so than anyone, that I hate the movies. I'm no going into all my reasons here either, I'll do that in the movie forum later. Point is, unless you're a movie purist and only like Transformers because and for the movie, then you're going to see it affect other things you like. Animated did sort of ride the movie lightning to a point, but after the hype died down it stood on its own. The problem is, that the shows timing was smack in the middle of both movies. Ones going out and people are hugely interested in Transformers again, the new one is coming in and everyone who's a store chain owner or Hasbro is greedy for money. They say, screw the other lines we want movie and only movie and Hasbro replies with ok, there'll be too much inter-brand competition anyway, we'll sweep these other lines out of the way for the serious cash.

4. Timing. Animated as great as it is has bad timing. It hit it's peak of interest during down times. People have less money to spend. So collectors and hardcore completionists are springing for it when they can, the demographic that Hasbro went after is more leery. The parents aren't willing to spend as much and will go for the cheaper of the stuff or the off brand or even the knock off. If Big Lots has the Chinese KO for $10 and Walmart has the same for $35, parents on a budget will for the Big Lots. We're all feeling the economic losses and with the prices being upped on Transformers it drives another nail in the coffin.

5 Hasbro and the Fandom. Ok here's where the lines of black and white go gray. Some people say Hasbro does listen to the fans and takes their words into consideration, others say they don't at all and still others say they do depending on what's being said about what. This is all probably true. This is what Kickback is getting at. If Hasbro was listening at the wrong time and they heard the thousands of gallons of hatorade being poured on Animated then yes it might be our fault. Then again they might not have listened at all and might have played the numbers game. Really if we did cause the fall of animated, so be it, we can't change it. I've seen the argument, "well if we got them to cancel it we can get them to bring it back". It doesn't work like that, unfortunately. Most of the time, if something doesn't work with a company, it's dropped. No matter what you say, what you do, who you are, weather or not you work for them, if it's done it's done. Period. If we did get them to cancel it, unfortunately I don't believe we'll be able to revive it. On the opposite side of it, if we're very vocal about something we like, such as Classics, which was the success that Hasbro didn't expect, they'll throw us a bone and do more. Companies will milk something popular until they can't and it's no longer popular but unpopular. This might have been reversed with Animated, unpopular kicking off but largely popular now, however the new found love for it might be too little too late to make a difference to the company.

Wow I really went on on this one. Anyway those are my thoughts on things after reading the thread this morning and now.

 

To be clear, my comment is made tongue firmly planted in cheek. If the fans are the only source of blame, then the fans should be able to get it back. Since the fans are not the only guilty party...

I don't mind. It makes my epic look less lonely.  

 

The statements I bolded, I agree with you and I was about to say the same stuff.