A Transformers Thread

Nah, that's just due to rising production costs (especially due to shipping) and trying to cut those down (It was at its worst during the peak of the recession. See the FOC figures). Mind you, I don't discount the two might have a shared cause. Simpler transformations often means lower part counts, which means lower production costs due to less tooling and molds needed. But that's all speculation. What I can say is Hasbro did announce 2/3 years ago they wanted to simplify figures transformations, and that's indeed what happened.

Which, again, isn't a bad thing necessarily.

edited 18th May '16 5:25:21 AM by Ghilz

Simple transformations are only a bad thing when it's done wrong (one step changers), when used correctly (Combiner Wars) it can help to make more solid, as in less prone to parts popping out of place, and more enjoyable figures. One thing I loathed about the movie lines (and was a big reason I didn't collect them) was the needless steps it took to move part A to place B. Movie-style transformations were counter-intuitive to both aesthetics (most movie figures had massive back packs) and articulation (having to move a ton of parts to pose a limb).

Sweet, thanks for the link. Yeah FOC was a mixed bag, and people mostly took Bruticus because we thought he'd be the best we could get.

I'll never bother with one-step changers, they ain't for me. And I remember people complaining about Combiner Wars having figures that were too similar, there was a similar transformation scheme shared by most of them. I agree, but I never saw it as a bad thing. Lot's of limbs had to be made to perform very similar functions. As long as the figures looked good (which they did for the most part) I was fine with the practice.

edited 19th May '16 1:47:13 AM by DrPsyche

There's nothing wrong with One Step Changers. They fill a specific purpose, and IMHO they do it very well. Often cleverly. Less you mean you have a better way to have transformers transform in one single step. It's not because something doesn't interest you that there's something wrong with it. When I think bad transformations for being too simple, I think stuff like Beast Wars Retrax who has the worst arms ever designed for the sake of a simple transformation and a gimmick. Or Titan Metroplex who basically doesn't transform, his hands and head plainly visible in every mode so he always looks like a robot sitting down.

It's not so much the shared transformation scheme that gets to people when they complain about similarity in Combiner Wars, it's the sheer number of shared molds and repaints. Several combiners are made entirely of remolds and repaints. And while that lowers costs for production, it does make things a bit more stale. Getting Defensor is a lot less exciting when I know I'm getting another Dead End and another Alpha Bravo and another Offroad. Some of the figures have been re-used so much, it's outright maddening to just see the same toy again and again if you're a completionist or have strong attachment to multiple combiners. Victorion has 2 Alpha Bravos repaints alone.

edited 19th May '16 5:56:49 AM by Ghilz

While yes, the sheer quantity of repaints is CW's biggest issue, however I did run across a number of complaints regarding the shared transformation issue. Hide the head with the backpack, collapse the legs up and put the arms to the side. The limb molds all shared similar transformations, and while sure there was the oddity here and there, it was something people took issue with.

And getting Bruticus is even less exciting when the only new mold your getting (Brawl) has a few flaws in its design. It's the main reason why I'm going for the Unite Warriors counterpart instead (Vortex gets two more blades on the rotor, Blastoff is a whole new mold). Both versions of Computron are completely retools but UW at least looks as if more effort was put to make them look somewhat unique other than a simple repaint.

edited 19th May '16 8:58:19 AM by LLSmoothJ

@Ghilz: The only purpose I can see One Step Changers filling is the half-off rack at Walmart, because (at least around here) that's where they all ended up.

@Dr Psyche: I don't mind the shared transformation of CW, from an engineering standpoint it was required for vehicles as different as a truck and jet to be similar limbs. The shared transformation still allows a lot of articulation. And a lot of articulation is always a plus! If I hade one gripe it would be that I wish they had wrist swivels.

@LL Smooth J: You know what, it's weird, my Brawl dosnt have any of the problems reported by others. His waist tabs in fine, it's not the strongest tab, but he dosnt flop around when you pick him up.

Exactly, and they all had visually distinct robot modes too.

I have several combiners that disagree about the "required" part.

Preferable? Maybe. But not Required.

@Dr Psyche: Exactly, aside from repaints all the individual molds have distinctive robot modes. It's not like Bionicle and its waves of clone sets.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah, but I can forgive it because of Has Tak's cost concerns.

It's also not a endless wall of various bumblebees.

So there's that.

edited 19th May '16 11:44:13 AM by CobraPrime

Totally!

I think that we can all be thankful for that. After the one movie (I don't bother distinguishing them) my stores had Bumblebees which sat around for two whole years! Two years of nothing but a sea of black and yellow when you went to the transformer section.

Well clearly your local store sucks and only buys 1000x of 1 product from your description :-P

That's an understatement, EVERY store in a 15 mile radius of me only gets one or two shipments of figures a month, (aside from the movie figures, they order tons of those things) and scalpers eat up what few figures the stores do get. You can go their Monday and see a decent selection, go back Tuesday and you will see nothing but those small Nu Ri D sets.

"Scalpers eat up all those figures?" where do you even live that scalpers have that much impact on your stores?

I guess you just really need one particularly dedicated scalper...

edited 19th May '16 12:50:17 PM by CobraPrime

A small town in Ohio, on a road that stretches between a couple of cities. Cities who's Walmart's policies are so lax that people have been able to return busted up figures and the employees put them right back on the shelfs.

edited 19th May '16 1:03:15 PM by Troperfrom95

MMC's take on IDW Drift prototype◊..

Can't wait.

So hey, guess who pre-ordered Hasbro's Deluxe!Groove from BigBadToyStore the other day?

(Points to himself)

This guy!

Cool, cool.

I got MMC's Sphinx (Masterpiece Mirage) and MMC's Seraphicus Prominon (Prima/Nova Prime) as well as Masterpiece Tracks waiting for me at the post office

edited 26th May '16 8:01:25 AM by CobraPrime

I got Fracture, he's cool. Hands pop off too easy, but fun transformation and good figure.

My Toys R Us is pricing Combiner Wars Deluxes at $27. Comic Store always priced them at $20 and I thought he was doing that because small business.

I also got Sky Lynx... he's alright

I ordered Onslaught from the HTS, now Bruticus (and my CW collection) can be complete!

Don't know how many of you guys know about this, but...

Hmm, I got mine from BBTS, and they still say it should be coming late May... oh wait, now it says June 2016.

Whatever. Hardly news worthy. It'll come out when it's out.

Hope there won't be anymore delays. That Beelzeboss upgrade for Chromia and Arcee (the one with the poleax) has been delayed for over half a year, it's disappointing.