At least Inferno had charm when he fanboyed over the royalty

 

Legit thought this meant shipping costs, and I was like "well shipping is quite irritating and expensive and depending on the service your item can get held up somewhere along the chain, plus shit like Amazon sending out some of those exclusives (with the nice artwork!) with the shipping label just slapped on the toy box is pretty wild, but I guess people whinging about the inconveniences of shipping enough over time can get annoying, so okay, go off" and then it dawned on me -- "oh, shipping characters."

Lmao

Anyway, yeah, someone brought up the idea that Transformers is trying to super super serious, and I tend to agree. I wouldn't want it to try to be too intentionally funny either because, well... as an example, much as I like the 2005 IDW series, both Roberts and Barber kinda got ridiculous with characters asiding and quipping during moments that perhaps, with the extra two pages exorcised that IDW comics used to have from 2005-2015, could have been replaced with something more tonally appropriate, given how sprint-to-finish the end of the run was. Transformers can be funny like any non-comedic franchise can be, but it's mostly down to character interactions and scenarios, and you can't push that kinda thing. So, I suppose, I don't like when it attempts to lean too much into any particular aspect of itself if it comes at the expense of the others.

 

Watching other kids’ properties surpass Transformers in terms of television presence & production values.

I guess the Netflix show has been popular by virtue of being on Netflix if nothing else. But it sure felt cheap.

Feels like the last time Hasbro really invested in the media side of TF cartoons, it was TFP 10 years ago. And Bumblebee aside- the movies became such a bad joke, that Paramount had to halt their plans and rethink their strategy.

It’s just sad, because there is so much good material to work with, yet Hasbro doesn’t seem to think the media part of TFs- the part that basically acts as the 1/2 hour commercial for their toys- is worth splurging on.

 

The live movies are definitely what I like least about Transformers. However, I can't hate them. They have definitely played a role in keeping the brand relevant. And more importantly, without them one of my favorite cartoons (Prime) might never have come to be.

 

Honestly?

The fact that it was born out of the same government advertising deregulations that allowed toy corporations to market directly to children in television programming that birthed G.I. Joe, He-Man, M.A.S.K., Dino-Riders, all those 80's toylines.

On the one hand, it's kind of original sin, isn't it? I mean, trying to directly reach children as consumers just feels insidious and shitty, especially since the end goal is just to sap as much money from them and their families as they can using the kid as an intermediary. What's worse is that it sorta kickstarted all this nerd nostalgia shit that's not based in anything too substantive and is instead rehashes and remakes of toys and shows and movies designed to sell those toys, very rarely ever challenging the viewer in any way that matters even slightly but thriving specifically because people don't want to consume anything new and have decided to make that the entire worlds problem. THAT'S what those deregulations birthed, and Transformers is a direct result of that. It was made with the intent to hook kids as consumers for life. I recognize that. I recognize that I am one of those kids that have been hooked. Sometimes it makes me question whether or not I actually even like Transformers. Like, I want to enjoy it and I want to hope and believe that maybe one day they'll make something amazing from it, and then I remember that it literally only exists to soak profit from parents and the adult manchildren of those parents and since media doesn't have to be good when the real money is in the toys, what incentive is there for them to try? What incentive is there for me to like this? What incentive is there for me to like ANY of the nerd shit I like?

On the other hand, some of that nerd shit looks pretty cool.

I mean, I do think I ultimately like Transformers despite that unfortunate little tidbit (well honestly it's kind of a fundamental aspect of the entire franchises purpose so not really "little tidbit"), as well as most of the other kinda shit like this I like because - well, it's cool. It's REALLY cool. But it's part of it's nature and I can't just ignore it. I know it's there and I just try not to think about it.

 

Factions,

It leads to a lack of lead villains that aren’t Megatron because he is the big bad Decepticon. Plus it leads to stories of Megatron is bad because he likes doing bad stuff and no real motive beyond that. We don’t have a villain who truly believes they are the hero of their own story unless you count WFC Optimus Prime.

The IDW comics are more diverse in morals.

 

So, all of them?

 

You won't believe it, but there are indeed "moderate" (dovish?) shippers out there. Admittedly not too many, but they exist. ; )

 

That in this fanbase there are shippers and the fact in what appears to be every version of the g1 universe at the end cybertron is becomes techno-organic completely ruining the whole point of cybertron being a planet entirely of metal. All hasbro needs to right the wrong of the stinking shit that is the beast machines ending by retconning it (I.e Cheetor ate some rancid out of date energon cheesecake and had a bad dream or the children of the robotic antichrist- the beast machines maximals- and the understanderbly pissed of beast machines megatron and vehicons were on a different planet all this time)

 

I hate that there's no attempt at a lasting continuity and that Hasbro has the reboot button on speed-dial. Just once I'd love for Hasbro to really dig in and stick to one continuity and really reach into their extensive cast. I don't care if they rename the series a la Batman: Animated series/Batman and Superman Adventures/JL/JL Unlimited/Batman Beyond etc but just keep going. They kinda did this with Prime/RiD15 but even then both series lived in fear of being cut short for most of it's existence.

 

Even for someone who likes the Bay movies, I hate how they made so many of the robots background characters that despite the fact most people have seen the movies, they can only name you Optimus, Bee, Starscream, Megatron and mayyybe Ironhide, Ratchet or Sideswipe. A franchise that has so many hundreds of characters and yet only a few ever get recognition.

 

That if media stuck to the Marvel/Tech Specs bio for the 84/85 cast, they would be some of the most intriguing characters in the franchise, but they never do.

 

The original continuity lasted from 1984-2000 across several shows. Albeit… with some pretty big gaps depending on which country you lived in. But still. I don’t think we’ll see anything quite that long-lived again.

G1
G2
Headmasters
Masterforce
Victory
Zone
Beast Wars
Beast Wars 2
Beast Wars Neo
Beast Machines

 

Hard to do when the series keeps getting redone and starting over from scratch instead of continuing a long story like Star Wars. The best way to get what you are asking for to keep the brand strong would be in a spin off that is still tied to the main story, but in a small way like the Mandalorian did. I would totally love that. But to do that you have to have a good main story to branch off of, which Transformers doesn't have many of. Skipping steps makes things worse, and does not automatically equal success.

 

Well this is less of a TF problem, and more of a Hasbro and store problem, but uneven toy distribution.

 

I like the modern designs, love that they re-released so many of the G1 bots from the series, but hate how flimsy and cheap Hasbro went with the materials on modern bots like WFC. Quality control just isn't there. I also really hate how overly complex some of the transforms are. Especially with lines like Masterpiece. Call me crazy, but I don't think you should need to watch a Youtube tutorial just to figure out how to transform a bot made to look like a G1.

 

The fandom. But thats my answer for every series im into. More more specifically the uptight collectors who try to dictate what you should do with your collection. And people who won't shut up about the slag/slug thing and go around like thier all mighty cause they use whatever name.

 

Based rodimus

 

Fans, who believe that they are holier than the Pope (but that applies not only to Transformers).

 

Every time Optimus Prime starts speaking with “I am Optimus Prime”