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many of the DOTM movie toys felt cheap and lame. The cooler leader Optimuses (Striker and Jetwing)were only in Japan as were the Mercedes bots Que/Wheeljack and Soundwave(both deluxe and Ha)As well as Deluxe Leadfoot.The movies i think need 1 more action/driving scenes with screaching tires and ramming like TF1.2 Actual Transformations in those scenes,When did Sideswipe go Stealth force in DOTM Chase?Did the Wreckers Transform in the movie? As far as toys go here's a hint,Combiners! Say the stunticons doing crazy stunts chases like the Bumblebee Barricade chase or Optimus Bonecrusher chase fight. After that awesome combiner like ROTF Devastator but make each piece standalone badass. You buy them all to make the combiner. But unlike the Supreme Devy or the legends Devy Each piece is its own. FOC Bruticus was going in the right direction but Main piece (Onslaught)too Small. Demand is there (see TFC and Maketoys)

I AM glad to see some new characters. And honestly, I can't believe they couldn't even do a color "upgrade" (like in Robots in Disguise series) for all the movie characters. I didn't think people would just keep buying the same stuff for 4 or 5 years. That's a real fundamental problem with the movie game plan.

BUT all that said... No Peter Cullen, I'm not watching it. That was the ONE single thing that had me going to see the movies and buying any of the movie toy line. I want to see Prime front and center for at least half the movie, ala TFTM (animated movie.)

I love how like seven consecutive posts all identify the 'sole reason' why the DOTM toyline 'failed,' yet they are all different reasons.

My post above just said "a" reason. I think the movies had a number of issues. Not even going to open that can of worms. Heh.

So... Hasbro is saying that the failure of the DOTM line was NOT because of the ad infinitum Bumblebee toys or the DECREASED quality of the other toys (save Leader-class Ironhide IMO) but because there were too many RETURNING characters?

I just want to see some sort of Headmaster Tech or like Silas/Breakdown.

So, let's say Optimus and crew are cut from the next film...

Has Hasbro learned nothing? Killing off the cast didn't work in the '80s and it's not going to work here. Rodimus and crew never received the love/attention that Optimus and crew did. Critics, parents and kids alike thought offing everyone was a terrible idea.

It will most likely yield the same results now. Problem is, the audience is much larger and people were swayed by Bumblebee and Optimus. (Even the twins.) When you get regular people to care about the characters, that's saying something. You kill them off/replace them/whatever, you not only lose the fans, but the audience that finally connected, as well.

I think this is a bad decision. Change the character models, but don't change the characters. Add to them, don't get rid of them.

And sales were down for several reasons:

1.) The economy.
2.) No one wants to buy several of the same toys over and over.
3.) Pointless figures that were total wastes.
4.) Letting Takara release figures that were meant for the US and cutting them out completely, here.
5.) Distribution was terrible in some spots.

Hasbro has said they're becoming a multimedia company, not just toys anymore. So...why do toys even matter to them anymore? I would think the films would be their bread and butter. I'd think the toys don't matter much anymore. (I mean, the quality has gone down while the prices have gone up. They're not even trying anymore.)

All of this sounds like bad news to me. Even if they keep Optimus and Bumblebee...the damage will be done.

I think this is one of those times where we as a fandom need to sound off to Hasbro over this. It's better than just complaining about it on an internet board. Trying is better than doing nothing.

As for killing off chars/writting the off to be replaced with new ones. I think it was evident they learned nothing with GI JOE Retaliation (you know what I mean).

I'd agree with all of you... and I think these two points are at the top of the list.

- No one wants the same toys for three movies. (ie. 4-5 years)...
- Killing off Optimus was a terrible idea, and the fans were deeply upset by it

There are lots of ways to shuffle in new characters and repaints :
From protoforms falling to earth … to "super" mode upgrade color changes... or like the seeker jet, different names for different color schemes.

Finally a last point I don't think anyone hit on — the movie design aesthetic (especially on screen) had so many tiny parts, the vehicles got lost in transformation. Everyone looked alike — like a bunch of parts.

When you want kids to RELATE to characters and grow to love them (and buy them), they need to be UNIQUE and appealing. That means recognizable parts (like G1 Jazz's car hood chest) and faces, plus great voice and character development (ie. NOT like movie Jazz's trite, two dimensional, questionably-racist 20 seconds of dialogue … or movie Ironhide's slapped on accent. An accent is not a personality.)

I agree they pushed the envelope on detail and complexity, but the end result robots from the movie were nothing you could remember or "bond" with. Bumblebee's inability to emote with words or facial expression also put up a barrier to relating with him.

Hoping someone will take notice. I think the character connections made in the G1 series are what make so many long-term ongoing fans to this day. I hope some of those design cues and character development can return (as I think we've seen in Animated and Prime and Beast Wars) for some unique and relatable bots in the new movie.

lol. they make too many bbs and then blame us