For a number of years there has been some dipping of the toe into the Movie Universe when it comes to third parties & Knock Offs - but it seems to me with the release of Commander by Wei Jiang maybe they might get out of their masterpiece obsession a bit and explore the huge untapped market potential (especially in china) of things like an MP grade Blackout, 1970's Bumblebee, Bonecrusher, Overload, Devcon, Scavenger, Grindor, and so on. not to mention ROTF Megatron.

Now I keep hearing all these rumours of such things - but when is it actually going to happen - or are they so shy of the Movie Universe.

To me it seem to be to be sensible to be the only company to make a foot tall Premium Blackout toy than it does to be the upteenth company to make another Devastator, Menasor, Defensor or Bruticus.

I bet Wei Jiang or KBB is rubbing it hands in glee at the potential of rejigging the new Voyager Movie Prime.
As it stands it seems the KO makers have Movie fans backs way more than any third party than isn't / wasn't UFO.

There is Black Apple's DOTM Megatron to look forward too for example.

So anyway what are your thoughts on the apprent shyness of Movie Universe Third Party offerings and the curious trend for the KO makers to be the ones taking up on that market potential with things like premium versions of Hound or even the forth-coming oversize Battle Blades Bumblebee.

 

Fix the ugly faces, and I might be willing to dip into the Movie universe.

 

The point is that there are a whole host of people who showed up since 2007 - like the chinese market who just don't hold the Movie Universe in the same contempt that some 30/40 something western collectors do - as they lack the history to be offended by the changes - and there is indeed some of that in the west too.

I can see a market potential there for those people - oh and I forgot some other obvious one to make : Human Alliance scale Topspin, Leader Class Springer, The missing Deluxe Arcee sister. Even a decent larger Ratchet.

 

This is just a thought, but maybe it's because the people who are into the movie type transformers aren't a financially viable target market.
It's a good question and I'm certain that market research has been done in regards to this at some point.
From my own vantage point- by comparison I see movie toys warm shelf space for a long time even at 20 bucks a pop, whereas you can hardly get your hands on a yellow Lamborghini. I can only imagine how it would be at 200 and up

 

totally agree. Big market, new people etc.

I hate like 99% of the movie toys. Didn't like the movie bots, and the super detailed angular faces didn't translate well at all into simple toys. some of the toys are really nice, the alt modes are awesome, but those faces just ruin them for me. there are some I do like here and there.

I'm keen to see what develops down the track, as it seems inevitable we will see more of this sort of thing.
The only ones I am tempted to buy is the first movie leader prime and the later movie WeiJiang MP style movie-verse Prime.

 

There could be a preliminary question here, like why hasn't there really been a third party attempt at taking the movie niche?

 

A Bonecrusher, ROTF Megs, DOTM Megs and Shockwave are all coming down the pipeline.

 

I can only imagine how complex a 3p movie transformer would be to make. So many intricacies and small parts to achieve the detail. If any company does, they have their work cut out for them

 

I feel at this stage there are companies with the experience to attempt it.

But there is not reason why someone couldn't start small with something like a Mobile Phone Frenzy, Dispensor, Oreo-bot, Xbox-Bot, or the "Kitchen Crew" in scout size.

 

If there was a market, they'd find a way. But if it hasn't happened after 5 movies...
Btw, if you're the first, it's not really a bandwagon is it?

 

TF Dream Factory Bonecrusher Leader Class

 

Theirs a movie bandwagon to jump on? And here I thought the majority consensus of the tf community was that the movies are all terrible and the vast majority of the character designs are terrible and the further away from them we all are the better. I don't even think of the bayverse as part of the general tf universe myself, to me its an external bastardization of the thing I love specifically marketing to an entirely different audience I have no association to.

I certainly have no desire whatsoever to see anything from the movies be homaged in expensive figure form. If we -must- get such trash I at least hope its new companies doing it and not the companies I actually care about and want figures from. Oh I don't even attempt to not be completely shitty about it either, because the films are all dogshit, bay literally hates the franchise and the sooner it all dies and goes away some day the happier I'll be. But as an actual person who draws and designs for a living I get especially upset about the appallingly bad sense of design the films have for the bots.

I would be extremely disappointed to see the likes of MMC or Maketoys wasting their time and money on the bayverse when they could be more smartly spending it on actual things that matter and are cool that the majority of the fanbase wants to see - G1, Japanese G1, G2, Unicron Trilogy, Animated, Cyb verse, IDW, Beast Wars. The list of worthwhile things to reference that are great is very long and varied. Hell these days we're getting "movie like" designs that are a million times superior to what is actually showcased in the films themselves.

I'd much rather see the "hyper realistic super detailed" approach be applied better to original designs if that's the kind of figure people want to see more of. Just stay away from the film accurate stuff specifically and we're all good.

No need to ask 3p's to dip their arms in to buckets of shit in the mean time. So here's hoping they continue to do so as little as possible.

 

One thing I see is that scale would be a huge conundrum for a 3p company to choose. Would they go MP scale, OS, or the smaller scale? Development is probably relatively close for cost either way, but production may be a bit more based on size. Again, are there enough movieverse fans out there willing to pay 200 bucks a pop for MP scale? Would they be in for 140 per unit on smaller scale? It's a rabbit hole.
And the movies being so recent- would Hasbro be more inclined to fight the intellectual property thing? I mean the Bayformers are very specific and newly patented

 

It took a long time for 3P to manage sculpts and detail as good as Hastak were doing on the non movie stuff, and the non movie stuff tends to be much simpler shapes and somewhat easier sculpts than the Bayverse stuff.

The KO people until very recently were just taking Hastak stuff and reproducing it in more reasonable sizes, occasionally with better paint.

3P was always going to do Bayverse when they got good enough and that's starting to happen now. I'm sure as we get into the movie a year run we'll see a lot more of it. Last time there was a movie in theaters 3P had only just begun to execute stuff that passed for MP quality.

Certainly part of it also is less love in the hardcore fandome for Bayverse, but Takara, 4Ever, 3A and Prime 1 have all produced Bayverse product with pricetags that would not fly at all if there wasn't some high end collector interest. Also for the first few movies talented customizers made crazy amounts of money on certain desirable well painted (and sometimes modded) bayverse toys. Some of the really desirable ones went for over a thousand dollars (of course they were one of a kind pieces).

 

That's kinda funny cuz I feel the same way about G2, Diaclone, Japanese and much of the IDW stuff. I basically only like G1, Beast Wars and Movie.

The difference is that I'm fine with those companies "wasting" their resources on stuff that some people want even if I don't. If I get something i want eventually or at some point then I'm all good.

 

Did G2 even have any original molds, or was it ALL repaints? (I honestly don't know) If it was pretty much all repaints then G2 will happen, it's nothing to worry about. Even the 3P see the value in repaints.

 

I am 34 and I would buy masterpiece 3P movie transformers   I like the G1 cartoon and I like cool looking robots too...("Bayformers" look good, a mechanical engineering marvel, except the lazy desing for "Galvatron" and all those "transformers made by man" from AoE)

I don't mind the faces... they are like less than the 5% of the robot (Yes, some faces are weird)... I find quite curious that some people give so much importance to something that small when the rest of the figure is very detailed and well made...(Maybe the nostalgia towards the character? Who knows....)

I know that nostalgia is something that can't be argue with, so maybe is not the time for those toys to be made by 3P and have profit from them... but I can wait  

 

Mostly the G1 only fans... But YES the movies are pretty much SHIT but the effort put on the robots per se are outstanding.

 

There were at least some new molds. Optimus and Megatron got new figures and there were some new characters like Leadfoot.

 

Well, the modern movies are crap in my opinion, but there are a number of 3rd party companies doing figures from the 1986 movie.