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Yo Seibtrono's, the "What went wrong with DOTM" thread got me thinking again about the trend of releasing multiple versions of the same character in a short time span. You know what I'm talking about, how some waves will have say three or four Spider-Man varients and one villian, or every wave must have a Wolverine.

I know every kid wants a Batman/Bumblebee/He-Man/etc., and that character should be available in some form, but sometimes it feels like overkill.

Luckily Transformers hasn't gotten to that point yet, but Prime and Bumblebee are getting an awful lot of plastic devoted to them recently.

So the question is, do you like this marketing strategy? Did you seek out another version of a character you already had when you were a kid? Parents, if I may ask, do your children like getting more than one version of a character?

For me personally, I usually only get one version of a character, unless the looks are vastly different or it's in a multi-pack. For example, I have one deluxe live action Bumblebee, the 08 one from the first film(remember the scarcity of the figure? Ironic now), and I'm fine with it. No reason to get any others of that scale.

I do have a Classics Bee, but that's technically a different Universe, and I did get Legends Gold Bumblebee, but that's another scale and can be considered Goldbug.

Going to another end of the spectrum, I have four Arcee's(Energon, ROTF, Animated, PRID), and more than a few Starscreams, but they all look pretty different so I pass them off as seperate characters.

As a kid, if I had a version of a character, I didn't really want another one. I had one Wolverine, one Batman, one Robin, one Venom, a couple Spider-Men(one red and blue, one black suit), you get the idea. If I did get another version of a character from a Yard sale or Fast Food Premium (I did have two of each Turtle), the other version was an evil Robot. I never cared much for super weird costumes or ultra upgrade weapons either.

So that pretty much wraps it up for me. What about you guys? Also, if it's ok with mods, can we keep it to toys in general? Limiting it to just Transformers, which has hardly scratched the subject by comparison just feels so...limiting.

I don't see any problem with discussing non-tf lines in terms of variation collecting... that said, it's not something I indulge in outside of TFs much anyway.

The only times I really tend to care about a variation of a figure/character I already own is if it comes across as being truly better than the previous one... or perhaps the last one I had is not in the best condition. I have Classics, Henkei, and RTS Bumblebee primarily because of the windshield crack issue... which in un-ignorable on my classics bb, and was starting right in the package of my Henkei one... and even then the choice to get another variation to replace the last wasn't entirely my decision.

Variations of a character from different eras or continuities though? I don't see a problem with it, but it is getting to a point where I am getting sick of seeing yet another take on Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Starscream every year. I practically have whole shelves devoted to those f**king characters!

Prime and Megatron i understand because theyre the leaders. And i can understand having one FE and one RID. Bug then it gets overkill.

All the retail by me suffers from bumblebonic plagueand i cant stand it. And thats only the first rid one. I shudder to think what will happen when more bumblebees roll out

I like variety in my characters. I do have a lot of Primes and Megatrons, but can't think of an instance where I've 2 from the same line, or representing the same version of a character. If a particularly popular mold comes along of a major character I already have a good version of, I'll tend to get the repaint that looks most like a different character. I picked up Armada Powerlinx Prime (the blue one) and usually think of him as Thunderclash. Likewise, in my Classicsverse RiD Prime is Optimus Pyre, sort of Pyro/Spark-like character inspired by the real guy. RiD Megatron is a Unicron-empowered super-version of BW Megatron.

I'll sometimes have multiples of the same character to represent different time-periods. Pre-Earth/Cybertron modes of some of the characters are fine to represent War Within or War For Cybertron versions of the characters. I own Classics Bee, as well as Legends (well, EZ Collection) Bumble and thats mainly because I like the Legends scale for the original Minibots, but Bumblebee is such a major character now that I like having a version thats a)poseable and b)doesn't look totally stupid standing next to a normal Deluxe.

Generally I like to buy the best available version of a character to fit my personal idea of what they look like, and have little qualms about upgrading that when a better one comes along. I missed out on Classics/Henkei Prime, only having the one from the 2pack with tank Megatron. When RTS Prime and Battle Tanker came along, that was a worthwhile upgrade for me. Sometimes the newer versions of characters are different enough from the look I have in mind for them that I can get the new toy as a different character - PRiD Cyberverse Cliffjumper stands in the same group as Henkei Cliff, representing a new character "Rockjumper".

xyl360 wrote:their industries will be forced to evolve by doing something novel and new.

Creativity and originality will return once the funds dry up, so the sooner people get bored of the same old crap, the sooner we'll see Has/Tak evolve what they're doing, otherwise they'll just discontinue the franchise.

They were headed down the right path with Animated's storyline...

I hate you Cartoon Network.

There was a thread similar to this a while back called "how many bees"

I try and keep it "realistic" But like some have said, if it's a better version then I'll get it. Example 07 movie star scream vs voyager ROTF starscream. The thing I am tired of is the "lets put this out...and then dup them into another one later"

For example the yellow rampage that most of us bought, only to have a red Rampage show up later!

07 movie Arcee and then what she actually looked like in ROTF. I know, some like the 07 Arcee, but I'd have rather not gotten it for the movie accurate one.

How many of us would have bought the 07 movie voyager prime or leader prime if we would have known how much better ROTF voyager and leader would have been? I didn't buy the DOTM skids and mudflap for this one reason alone. I didn't need the repaints for two characters that were not in the movie.

Going way back, it never bugged me that there were multiple Luke Skywalkers or Han Solos in the original Kenner Star Wars line. They were usually different enough from each other AND based on another appearance from the actual movies, that it didn't seem like overkill to have so many. It's not like they put out SHADOW STEALTH HAN SOLO or crap like that just to sell an extra toy. It all fit into the existing universe, you had Han in his classic vest, Han in his Bespin Jacket, Han frozen in carbonite, etc.

Characters that didn't change appearance in the movie, even if super popular, rarely got more than one figure. There was only one Darth Vader, only one Boba Fett, etc. The only real exceptions were R2 and 3PO, but that was more a case of upgrading the figures (and they didn't keep the old versions around, so they weren't selling regular R2 after sensor scope R2 came out).

I agree with Optimum and the rest of you guys when it comes to numerous variants.

The SW analogy is a good example.

For Luke Skywalker, based on the storyline, you had the Tatooine version, Pilot version, Tawntawn version, Bespin etc. It all fit the universes' story.

In the G1 line we have to admit, there were a slew of repaints(I am not including the AM line)the Datsun guys, the penny racers guys (though for the racers, they had some re-tooling done similar to Smokescreen), the seekers (but the storyline compensated for it) and a bunch of micromasters too were repaints but had added new features like a frickin' huge mobile base(Groundshaker)

Now, we have like a zillion BBs, Optimus' etc. Sure, as a toy company, I want to sell as much as I want but at a risk of diluting the brand and causing a potential TF "fatigue" I fear this might be TF 1992+ in the USA which cause the brand to collapse.(It was different of course in Japan but you get my drift right?)

If I was to advice the Hasbro suits, if you want to milk BB, just release like one version of him. Take the Prime edition, (not mentioning the FE brouhaha) just focus on that particular BB, press out like 100,000 figures and be done with it. Not stealth version, environmental version, politically correct version....... if the storyline warrants a variant, then do so.

Again, iirc, the original BB pennyracer version continued to sell like hotcakes even until 1986 when the other figs already got canned. Just stick to that winning formula and not dilute the brand.

In the G1 line we have to admit, there were a slew of repaints(I am not including the AM line)the Datsun guys, the penny racers guys (though for the racers, they had some re-tooling done similar to Smokescreen), the seekers (but the storyline compensated for it) and a bunch of micromasters too were repaints but had added new features like a frickin' huge mobile base(Groundshaker)

Yeah, they were repaints, but they were also distinctly different characters. Unlike now, where we have twenty different BBs for no apparent reason. I mean, maybe they do sell to a certain extent...but from what I can clearly see when I got to stores, the market is saturated with BBs. While I do concede that kids probably enjoy having a normal version of a character and sometimes an "evil" counterpart, meh. It still seems like WAYY too much.

fenrir72 wrote:Again, iirc, the original BB pennyracer version continued to sell like hotcakes even until 1986 when the other figs already got canned. Just stick to that winning formula and not dilute the brand.

Part of that, I'm sure, has to do with them being small and easy "impluse buys" for parents, as well.