A combination of factors. Price, obviously, but there's also the issue of slipping quality control and, personally, most of these things look like absolute nightmares to transform. I don't mind a transformation scheme that's challenging, but watching someone transform these things rapidly turns into a mess of parts moving and I have no idea what the hell's going on anymore come step 35. It just seems like the devotion to accuracy does more harm than good most of the time, turning the figure into a needlessly fiddly mess. On that note, if I can be perfectly honest, I really don't care for slavish screen accuracy and can deal with some creative liberties here and there. I still think the old Classics 2.0 Hound is a great figure and representation of the character, for instance.

 

I slowed down starting after 2017. Cost shot up dramatically since then and so did issues. I know it’s been said some of this is due to unforeseen manufacturing qualms that are inevitable but given that, how come there were less issues before? Prices are up and that gets passed to us, source out a factory that can make these things right. And if the KO factories do a better job, then hire them to buy out your competition and get better product on the market. Not a good feeling learning that the KO of a recent MP you just bought is made substantially better yet costs a lot less.

 

Soul of Chogokin are actually low for the type and quality of figures that they are. Not saying that they are cheap, but that they are mostly metal, very well defined and detailed, and also very sturdy (and you CAN play with them) which sets them aside from most "collectible/masterpiece" type figures. They aren't even in the same league as the Masterpieces are.

You should look at a lot of other series instead that are closer to the TF Masterpieces, such as Macross and several other lines/series that are insanely priced, uber fragile and plastic only too, very complex to transform and so on.

The blame is 100% on collectors/fans that the companies have learned that they can milk charge just about anything and they WILL sell.

Just on this forum, I have argued over and over with other members to stop saying "I'm happy to pay more for improved figures" when Hasbro should be doing better for the prices that figures are already at.

But since anyone with disposable money can jump into any "collector" bandwagon to be part of something to belong an be "hip", it has created this mentality that has driven prices up and up, over and over, where a cheap figure from an older line that should have dropped in price once upon a time, is now twice, triple or even more what it should be at, it's a serious imbalance. I remember when eBay started and you could easily get figures as proper price according to condition such as used or new in box, etc. and now, even figures that were liquidation shelf-warmers from a few years ago are now put at 3-4 times their value.

Just look at Unicron.. instead of people going with "let's NOT feed Hasbro" and let the fundme fail so that Hasbro returns with a lower price, we had enough that just had to have it... and now that it's "wrong", instead of going back to Hasbro and cancelling or ask for a proper change/fix, a lot are simply going with "hope that a 3rd party does the fixes" which means that on top of the 600-1,000$, the same people are set to go and spend another 50-100$ and maybe more for this. Just the fact that scalpers are selling them already at double/triple the price and are actually getting sales is a show of what's wrong with all this.

In time, it's a given that the fandom is being it's own worst enemy and I see more and more people dropping out of "the game", and it's just getting worst. The Masterpiece line are already part of this, and the comments here as a show of that. Once Hasbro sees that too many have dropped and they aren't selling as well, they will probably chop this golden goose down and move on to the next cash cow as to go and reduce the prices will devalue those already sold.

 

Frankly I think you're at the far end of this debate spectrum from me.

For CHUG, I'm emphatically on the side of "I'd pay more for improved figures". I think Studio Series 86 Hot Rod is an excellent example of this. For $30 we got probably the best engineered and interesting and accurate deluxe-scale figure in years, with all his accessories, and an engineering superior to the Masterpiece Hot Rod. What would a $20 or $22 Hot Rod have been? Probably much more compromised. We've seen this repeatedly in the WFC line, with the Cliffjumper mold, with Shockwave and ER Optimus Prime of the benefit of releasing a tier lower scaled figure, at a higher price point, with improved figures and accessories. In fact, I'd say ER Optimus Prime is an example of the deficiency of the existing pricing structure. We got a "it gets the point across" trailer for $50. At $60 we probably would have gotten an properly scaled trailer with the kind of internals Nonnef added. At $70 we probably would have gotten that, with more parts, the energy axe and the gun that came with the Centurion set.

But not every figure needs to a $30 deluxe. I don't think a $30 Deluxe++ Smokescreen is needed.

At this point in CHUG collecting, I don't see a real compelling argument against it. Have you noticed what Hasbro has done across all its lines the past three or four years? The bring back classic GI Joe characters at 6 inch scale. They do the X-Men in their most iconic early 1990s "Jim Lee" designs from the animated series. They do the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers long before other teams. And as far as Transformers goes, they basically recreated all of G1 from 1984-1986, minus combiners in more or less their final "ultimate" CHUG form. We ever going to seriously see another Commander class-comparable Skylynx or Jetfire? Or F-15 Starscream?

No. In all cases, this is more or less it.

Hasbro knows that even G1 fans who were on the younger end of G1 (who got into it in 1988->G2 period) are in their late 30s, folks who grew up with the Jim Lee X-Men, Gi Joe and MMPR are in their mid-30s. Kids are entering our lives. Soon retirement planning will be an important thing. Their first splurge with G1 reborn, contemporaneously with early Marvel Legends, 15 years ago, was when folks of the generation of people I'm talking about started to have some spending money of their own. This is the other bookend of it. This is nearing an end of a way of doing business and targeting a certain demographic. The next stop for the 1992 X-Men is a $50 super engineered premium figure. You'll get Wolverine out of that, but you won't find them doing Pyro or Multiple Man.

The WFC Trilogy, in particular is very much "Transformers Legends". Same market, same target demographic, similar price point. Hell it even has it's own $30 price point now (they call them "Deluxe").

In short, as principally a CHUG collector, I see effectively no argument against paying a premium. I'm not replacing many of these figures ever. Does that mean I'm going to be done collecting? No. Because I think the way forward post WFC Trilogy is we'll see the kind of stuff we've seen in the X-Over series with Maverick - new designs, new spins on old characters and not just "hey look, here's another Optimus Prime as a flat faced truck".

You're mistaken if you think that not buying means it will change Hasbro's behavior. There is no evidence of that. They'll just change their market approach. You know, with another line, that kind of happened in a sense to them in the past 10 years. Twice.

The first time is when the floor fell out from under them in the 3.75 inch Star Wars vintage collection. I'm not sure if you know the history of that line, but when it started in the late 1990s it was a 5 point articulation line, and over the next 15 years it gained more articulation (beyond GI Joe), more detail, accuracy, paint and a price tag to go with it. And what happened? Well shelf warming obscure figures and fans dissatisfied with the offerings led to essentially a multi-year shutdown of Vintage. What Hasbro did do though is they created a new 5 point articulation line in a more "action figure" style, at a far lower price point to service kids wanting figures to smash around, and they created "Star Wars Black" at the $20 price point. When The Vintage Collection came back, essentially nothing changed with it. Just new offerings of some classic characters. And it sold very well.

The second time was with Marvel Legends about half a decade ago. This is before Marvel got back the rights to X-Men. Which means Marvel leaned very heavily on Avengers (popular because of the movies), and obscure characters. Guess what: the obscure characters didn't sell. So what was the solution? A hard pivot towards the X-Men, an entire newly approach to engineering, a slightly different scale and a higher price point. If you want to know the dividing line, it's when Marvel Legends went from being carded to boxed. The other tell is the design of the hip join and stomach crunch. Oh and they completely abandoned the 3.75 inch Marvel Unlimited line that was the primary focus for a while. That doesn't exist anymore.

You may think not being a consumer will encourage Hasbro to "try harder" or something. Not at that price point it won't. It'll just encourage them to try and shape the market differently. CHUG, for example, will go from instead of a full featured line of a few dozen figures across a bunch of price points, to being much like the NECA lines for Aliens and TMNT - $30 to $50, premium, targeted exclusively towards adult collectors, and maybe 8 figures a year. That's the next stop for G1 TF. Make no mistake.

Your point about Unicron is even more questionable. Yes, Hasbro screwed up with the color change. But what do you expect us to do? Surround their offices? It's not that important. People hoping for a third party fix, be it a part or simple toyhax stickers (which will probably be enough) are putting the problem in the proper context and in its proper point in their list of life priorities. The legacy of Unicron now includes that miscolored mouth, and that's unfortunate for one of the most ambitious TFs ever and likely the most expensive TF we'll ever see. But besides some Customer Support email, it's simply not worth getting frothy about it.

Personally, I think the whole market for addons is one of the most interesting things in Transformers. For example, finding the best engineering (to my taste) solution for gap filling on ER Sunstreaker was interesting. There are about half a dozen solutions, and finding and installing it was satisfying. Applying Toyhax stickers to Generations Metroplex over the built in ones was IMMENSELY satisfying. It made me appreciate it more, which is the whole point of collecting, is it not?

We have to remember, Transformers Generations serves two masters - kids and collectors. Hasbro's first target, and the backbone of their market, is kids. This is a line for 8-16 year olds. That is why when you go to target, it is sold next to Marvel Legends, across from Star Wars and Super Mario Bros, and near WWE. It's why it is in an entirely different section from the "adult collector" section that typically lines back walls by the movie section, that has the Funko figures, the NECA figures and that kind of stuff. Where do we want Transformers to be? Because having it be these perfect "you get everything but for $20 figures", is economically infeasible for Hasbro, shunts them to $30, and then shunts them to that adult collector aisle. If we want a larger line thats more accessible, then the price of doing business is, yes, we sometimes get some compromised figured and have to rely on 3P "fixes". And that's just fine.

Oh and for the record, in all collecting, all purchasing, it's not just TF fans. It's that market research and analysis has really figured out what people will pay for things. It's why cell phones cost more. It's why Video Games have $100 "deluxe" editions now. It's why "mid tier" computer video cards have $550 MSRPs (five years ago they were $250-$300), it's why consoles cost more, it's why gaming monitors sell for $400, it's even why Coke is about to debut a mid-tier Coke bottle that at 13.2 ounces for $1.59 is a soda-to-money rip off but exists just between the 20 ounce and 8 ounce. Producers have simply (and it's probably computers driving most of this) gotten really good at figuring out what people will pay.

So what you're basically doing is demanding people fundamentally alter their behavior. Plenty of folks won't even do that for serious things, like not catching a virus that could cause them to drown in their own bodily fluids. The chance they do it for something facile like toys? Zero.

 

First and foremost for me is price the cost to much for a display only collector like me .
Second is scale too big for the small space i have i did buy a ko mp 36 but keep it in gun mode never transforming it.
Third is the lack of combiners that scale decently with them without paying a fortune.

 

Hi Hasbro Market Research Division! I don't because of cost, and space. Like when I get some sort of Whirl, Blaster, and Perceptor I'll have all the most modern updates of the Season 1 and two Autobots.. and let me tell you.. that takes space.. a lot of it.. more than I anticipated. Especially since I caved and got the repaint "power dashers" and as many of the lady bots as I could source at a price within reason.

Oh and PS. Please Get Us A Generations Skids That Is Skids And Not A Junk Figure Like The Last One Please! Thank you!

 

I do still buy MPs but in much lower quantiies, I no longer consider myself an MP collector. Reason being aesthetics and poor QC/materials/paint/durability balanced against increasing prices. I'm still in for show cast Beast Wars MPs, although those are not exempt from the above for me the aesthetics are still on point, but past that my MP collecting is probably over.

 

Aesthetics.

I've been collecting MP since MP-01 -- even though I got him in a same shipment with BT Smokescreen, and Smokescreen just blew MP-01 away. I bought almost every MP since, sometimes doubles, and kept on buying right until MP-36 Megatron. That's when I stopped. Actually, I started selling some recents ones: Inferno, Sunstreaker and Megatron (Shockwave, Ironhide and Ratchet are still on the block, but I like these characters too much). I haven't bought a single G1 MP since. Skids might be the first again.

The reason is that they're not what I want anymore.

I started buying MP's because they were the best possible representation of the character. Now they're the best representation of the cartoon -- a cartoon I watched, but that was 25 minutes per week, while the rest of the time I re-read the Marvel comics and played with the toys. Thus my interest in these characters isn't limited to one depiction, one look.

Of all the depictions there are of these characters, was the cartoon animation really the best visual representation? The answer is no. Back in the 80's the box art was without a doubt the best depiction, there have been pictures of these characters since that are even better, and often the original toy had very interesting elements to it.

Current MP's aim for cartoon nostalgia combined with hyper-articulation. And for most collectors the nostalgia is for the animation model. But that doesn't make the animation model the best possible look for the character. And as a result they have achieved a look that I don't care for.

What I want and what MP used to be, was a combination of different influences so they became the best possible version of the character: elements from the cartoon, elements from the real life vehicle, element from the original toy, and even elements from other media or our mental image of the character. As long as they keep on releasing designs heavily influenced by the animation models with hyper articulation, I won't be buying MP's. Because they're not the best possible version of the characters.

I have hopes for Skids and hope that the remainding Autobot cars will be similar.



Oh, and due to the shift in design focus, the figures have become more fiddly, difficult and uninteresting to transform (turning inside out), more fragile and more expensive. So in a way I'm glad they're no longer producing what I want. I'd hate to have bought a MP Hound and have it crumble on the shelf, or get an Arcee with heavy backpack and a chest that appears upside down.

 

They moved over to making a lot of Live Action Movie Characters and the prices got a bit high, then there was several toys in a row that just kept breaking on people and - I thought - nope I don't want to play this lottery.

To be honest I've spent most of the last year chasing those darn brown box exclusives - masterpieces didn't really enter my head. I tend to buy the KO's of them in the larger size when there is an option as I usually like those a lot better.

That said I am pleased they are making skids. It's not that I dislike them - it's more that I just don't think of them.

 

Good post, and it was interesting to see your points and "arguments" via examples. Thing is though, a lot of what you've said actually supports my points.

For example, because Hasbro will never provide with actual costs, I ended up doing a fairly extensive research to obtain an estimates of the actual cost for production of figures, going with production number, costs of development, materials, and distribution, including their financial reports. Note that I've worked at some point with licensing, copyrights, development plans with included the blueprints of certain toys for the molds/plates, and have been working with international trade and statistics and the likes that allows me to see actual pricing for many product.

The results, is that using deluxes as the basis, including what they end up being sold by the larger sellers such as Walmart and such, and the differences in pricing during sales, up to liquidation prices, and the numbers added up to around 3-5 $CAD, and the rest is all profits.

I need to state that I am quite aware that smaller re-sellers that obtain their items from a larger distributing that takes a fairly large chuck, but still, if there wasn't a decent amount of profit to be made, they wouldn't be selling such products, and wouldn't be able to do any sales ever.

In case anyone wants to debate that some "sales" or such ends up at a loss... the answer is no, not a single business will intentionally loose money, shelf space is not the big loser that some want to believe it is.

That is a case by case scenario... we know that if there is enough demand for a product, it WILL be made at some point, but the numbers have to be there, and there is no reason to believe that the opposite isn't possible. but...

... here you are providing examples that the fans and their purchases can and does impact Hasbro or other manufacturer to change their approaches.

Not really... collecting is more about getting a proper and complete figure, that IF you want to customize, that's fine, but it's very different from getting bad quality issues and incomplete toys.

Most of the Unicron buyers, bought it because of the renders and prototype images because that is what they expected. Would you buy a car that the catalogue shows it with dark blue and leather interior and when you go to pick it up it's bright pink with microfiber material for the seats. Would you say "no problem, I'll go spend another 5K to get it repainted and order leather seats"? Because that's what you are promoting here. Just as bad as ordering one figure (Soundwave for example) and getting another (Thundercracker) and saying that you'll slap some stickers or paint and call it Soundwave and just go with it.

And this is where you break your own argument. Kids do not have the buying power that adult collectors have and the lines we have now with the pricing, is 100% targeting the fans. The kids will be the occasional buyers, including their parents and relatives for birthdays and Christmas for the most part as opposed to fans that buy many, most or all of the lines, but even buy multiples of the same figures.

Hasbro knows that the fans are a huge number, and the ever increasing prices are actually very indicative of this... hell, I can't even count to number of times that I'm checking the TFs shelves/isles, seeing a parent with their kid and unless there is a sale, they almost always tell their kids that they are too expensive and "let's go look at other stuff".

And I agree with a lot of this. But fans are not just going with the increasing prices, but are actually believing that Hasbro isn't in it for the money, that Hasbro is riding by the skin of their teeth (when they just bought a 5 BILLION media company, and keep showing massive profits in every quarterly reports).

So telling Hasbro to milk them even more, when, as the biggest example today is Hot Rod, you WILL get your wish of increased prices... but you are only setting everyone up for another price increase, not "special premium versions"... Hot Rod is absolutely not as good as fans keep saying, yes he looks amazing, but he is a deluxe, it's a small figure, the plastic isn't that great, the engineering isn't miracle of science as the shoulder are just a horrible and limited design that could have been easily made much better, and many have stated or shown that the extra accessories aren't even being used with it. The best thing about him is no gaps, but at the same time, he's no better of how we used to have deluxes at some point (and at a much lower price, including inflation calculated in)... but it's new, so people will not consider any of this because "shiny". Hasbro never did go broke or bankrupt when they did such figures once upon a time, but now, just being "new" is enough to have a lot of fans so excited that they don't even care or even see any of this, and that's how Hasbro and every other company is able to keep increasing the prices for anything that has a fandom that makes kids toys into "collectibles".

So yup, I agree with you 100% saying "Producers have simply gotten really good at figuring out what people will pay." Every time something like Hot Rod and Unicron happens, they are testing the field to see if people will buy into it. Give it time and you'll see that deluxes WILL increase in prices again... they have here in Canada as they ARE 30$CAD now, when just a few years ago, they were 12-15$

But "is economically infeasible for Hasbro" is very very wrong... when small parts would cost them pennies, it's all about maximizing profits, nothing more... they wouldn't lose any money, there are simply making more.

Still don't believe it? Then go to your local dollar store and look around... there's a LOT of items that will match the same quality of engineering and production, etc. that are a fraction of what "official (or such) are selling for.

Another example? The KOs and the 3rd party original stuff that matches if not outshine the Hasbro (or such) quality. Another one? Sure... go check on Amazon for certain products, and find the same (the exact same) on Chinese sites, those items will easily be half the price (or less) and yet they are selling the items at a much lower price because they are STILL making profit (otherwise, why bother). Basically, people will sell at whatever prices they can, and NOT what they item is truly worth. And that's why the Masterpieces, the mainlines, etc. keep increasing in price, because they KNOW that they will sell. Hell, with Unicron being resold by scalpers at double, triple the prices... all manufacturers see with that happening is that "heck, we might as well increase the prices and make more money for ourselves".

Sucks.. doesn't it... but those that buy the overpriced stuff are doing it to everyone, but as fans and collector, it's either bite the bullet if you want that figure or skip it. And that's why we shouldn't gush all over any figure and then tell Hasbro to go ahead and milk us even more... we should be saying "better quality, better prices".

And that's why more and more are driven out of collecting... pricing. Still don't believe me? Then look up... the votes are showing it.

 

OMG, is that the truth. I spent days arguing this point in the SS86 Hot Rod review thread. I rated it mediocre - 6/10 - because of the shoulders, the visible cuffs in car mode, and most of all the atrocious back end. And the responses were basically that the flaws in car mode didn't matter because of the show accurate robot mode. I also compared it to older, less expensive Hot Rods which handled those elements better, at 1/3 of the price. And got into an argument about how TR Roddy was "trash" because he isn't "show accurate." Guy totally missed the reason I'd mentioned TR in the first place. There's no denying SS86 does a lot of things well, but for 3 times the price, it should do everything better than the $10 versions that preceded it.

We've kind of traded actual quality for show accuracy, and now people are clamoring to be charged more to get the quality back. It's been that way in MP for a while, and SS86 Hot Rod is the biggest example of that filtering into Generations as well.

But one of the reasons I've stuck with Hasbro, besides supporting the actual owners of the franchise, is that they're less expensive than 3P, even if the 3P stuff is often better for that higher price. As Hasbro's pricing keeps drifting closer to 3P levels, while the quality stays the same or drops, there's less reason for me not to buy 3P over Hasbro. I mean, if I'm going to be paying collector-tier prices for these figures, I might as well get the higher quality stuff. I'm already there with MP - my last two MP purchases were Fans Hobby Archenemy (and trailer) and Power Baser.

 

yup..

He is a nice figure that does some things very well and right, but some things that they screwed up on and should have been better, and so I believe that he is more a deluxe with a few extras, similar to old lines deluxes...

Considering that I just got "SXS Hot Flame" for barely 10$ more and he's simply amazing in quality and just about everything else (thought the transformation is a bit difficult)

And I actually ended up getting a TR version because I am so disappointed with the SS86 one and ended up considering the appeal of the headmaster/cockpit thing. The biggest issue with it, the ball joints (and other articulation) have had to be floor polished and clear coated to death as he is so freaking loose, thanks to the crap plastic they used with most of the "prime" line.

When there is no "real" accuracy that can be perfect, this is just chasing the dragon.. I'd rather have a great figure that looks right but be amazing than try to do something that nobody will even agree on as the moment one is declared "perfect" a new version happens and BAM, it's the new perfect (until the next one)... I just enjoy the figures for what they are.

I only have a few 3rd parties, but I do check the reviews and so on to ensure that they are worth the purchase, but I've also limited myself to those that are without what I consider a proper price range... just ordered the Jinbao Bruticus for a bit over the 100$ CAN mark, and SXS Toy R02 Overclocking for under 60$CAN (and if he's as nice as Hot Flame, I'll be quite happy with it)

 

Funny, that's the figure that will no doubt get me back into MP's. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

Price: so $20 is to much for a figure but 300 for a paper weight is so able? Pass....

playability: one of my favorite things to do with them is play with my niece with them, I rather doubt they would hold up.

character selection: We get it geeWun is a fanboys wet dream but it’s not 1984 there’s more characters out there generic no name seekers have figures while big deal g1 and onward characters have none!

 

I don't really collect MPs any more, although ironically two of the most recent figures I have bought were masterpieces.

To be fair, I'm not sure I ever really did collect them. I have a few*, but it was mainly just the odd one here or there which I could buy relatively cheap. That being said, if they were cheaper, I might have bought more. I'll admit the transformation complexity does put me off a bit too, but I suspect that's just a personal confidence thing as some of the mainstream figure aren't much less complex.

While I think they look great, I didn't think they were quite value for money either. If I'm paying these prices, I expect them to have no issues at all. All the carbots have hollow bits, and MP10's chest wants to pop open at the smallest opportunity, and one of its coolest gimmicks- the gun storage in backpack- turned out to not work properly. I mean it stores, but the pack won't close properly, when the gun is in there. These are tiny issues, sure, (there are a couple of other places the gun can be stored for example) but I don't expect them for the price paid.

And then the next lot were even more expensive. MUCH more expensive. That Sunstreaker and Hound looked awesome, but no way am I paying those prices.

Also, I partly opted for MPs in the first place because I didn't think the mainline G1 style figures looked that great. Then they started producing the WFC lines and now there's the SS86 line, and these figures really DO look good, and they're a smaller (i.e. space friendly) scale and of course much cheaper. These lines have been my main focus lately. I'm not saying I'll never buy another MP (I did get Road Rage just this week, after all, and I'm looking out for a Ratbat to complete my G1 Decepticon cassette-bot sculpts. I want one of each sculpt, hence not really fussed about Frenzy and Buzzsaw) but they're not a priority.

*In case you are interested, the Hasbro/Takara MPs I have are:

Spoiler

Optimus Prime MP10 (Hasbro). - bought before WFC Siege and Earthrise Optimus Prime's arrived. I confess, I probably prefer the smaller figures as I like a Prime in that scale, but I'm in no rush to sell this big boy. He's great and has all the trailer goodies.

Soundwave and Laserbeak (Takara reissue)

Ravage and Rumble pack (Takara)

Sideswipe (Takara. Technically he is 'Lambor' on the pack)

Prowl MP17 ( MP17+.was available but I wasn't keen on the cartoon colours. I did just yesterday order the proper missile launchers however which didn't came with my original. I prefer them to the fold out things, although I think that storage an excellent feature. My most recent MP related purchase, so I'm not quite over the MPs yet.)

Grimlock (MP8)- I might never have bought him if SS86 Grimlock had arrived earlier. I'm glad I did though, as this guy has the BEST T-Rex mode. SS86 holds up really well though. Case in point concerning the new figures.

Megatron (MP-36) - recent purchase. I put this off for years, but couldn't resist the eBay price. Excellent figure, weird bits aside. Yet to transform.

Road Rage. - very recent purchase. (I managed to lose the gun already.... and it's big! So annoying...)

Okay, counting them, that's 10 individual figures, albeit three of them are small. I didn't realise I had that many!   11 if you count the Gigasaur Grassor (Slag). I'm sure that's tiny compared to many of you proper collectors though.
[\Spoiler]

 

Thanks for making this thread! Maybe it signals that I'm alone in wishing for the good experiences with MPs around the mid 2010s.

Make them better quality and put the price back to where they were pre-MP44.

And stop redesigning certain characters before you've released the majority of integral characters from the show. MP 10 should have been a ten year design, IMO.

Just my thoughts, friends. They lost me some time ago and in retrospect it's going to be a lot harder to get me back now than it would have been to string me along...but the QC takes the cake. It's really a bummer to pay, wait and then receive a less than stellar product. Especially not at this price.

 

I’ve always wanted them, but price put me off. I’m now going to try to save for one, actually! Wish they’d reissue Megatron with Frank Welker’s voice in the voice box, though...

 

For me it's a combo of price and timing. I just got back into collecting a couple years ago, so naturally I started with the mainline offerings (PotP at the time). Then I discovered the MP stuff but budget constraints would stop any hope of starting any MP collection. To track down older releases plus the increase of price with newer offerings, plus no interest in most of the selection (or dissatisfaction with what was available) would relegate me to just collecting CHUG.

 

I was buying them... but MP-44 steered things in a direction that I really dislike. I've pre-ordered Reboost, but only because it fits in with the Hasui-like "MP-teens" that I enjoy. The slavish commitment to cartoon accuracy has pushed me almost entirely to 3P. If the aesthetic ever returns to that of the Masterpiece Datsuns (and not the "+" versions), then I'll open my wallet to them again.

If I wanted a spartan 3D plastic interpretation of a half-assed 2D interpretation of an otherwise cool Diaclone toy, I'd just embrace origami.

 

Well, the number one big thing is character selection. It just so happens that my interests lay outside their super narrow focus of G1 Season 1-2. I was born in 83, and I hit proper toy-begging age when the Diaclone guys were a distant memory. So I've always been more into late G1/BW/G2. In other words, right outside their focus. I do applaude their BW MP efforts, I realized a couple of years prior to their release during a rewatch that the animation models.. actually kinda scare me, haha. I am so glad Generations went for more decent animal modes. T.T Also.. every damn one of them has a faker chest. Except Megs, and he's just too expensive.