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njb902 wrote:

It Is Him wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Seriously, you guys only seeing the bad kinda scares me and takes part of the fun of the hobby for me as part of it is sharing enthusiasm. While I do acknowledge the problems the toys have, I would never dismiss their good sides.

I stand with JelZe. Things like this need to be said more often.

bingo

Indeed!

No, I am not happy with the current state. And I'll explain why.

-Current toy character focus. We get a massive wave of Optimi and Bumblebees ever since the RoTF line. But what about all the other beloved characters needing decent toy treatment? Combiner teams like the Stunticons and Protectobots haven't gotten a decent full-sized combiner toy since G1. We have to settle for 3rd-party crap for those characters? Ridiculous. And the BEST time to make full sets of Insecticon and Dinobot teams, and Hasbro blows it for a deluge of repaints? Which IMO are all okay, but not at the cost of characters like Sludge, who haven't gotten a full-sized toy in decades.

-Fragile molds and/or bad quality control. As much as I love most of the new figures coming out... the Dark Energon line, FoC Bruticus, the diversity of the TFP line... there have been many complaints of mold fragility and breakage. Not across the board mind you, but enough to instill worry on me, especially aimed at the figures I want the most(FoC Bruticus which SHOULD have the problems fixed by retail release if we're lucky, the Dark Energon line that's made up mostly of clear fragile plastic, etc)

-Continuity. This isn't so much toys as it is fiction, but I'd prefer it if franchises stick to one instead of tossing us a new one every year. It would make toy buying/displaying less of a hassle, IMO. A lot of fans are taking Hasbro's word that Aligned is supposed to be one whole continuity... how I wish I could believe that.

-Scale. Yeah, it was never important in a Transformers toy line, but seeing the MP line cleaning up the scale of it's figures relative to each other kinda makes me yearn for some of that in the normal-sized lines. Maybe it's because figures ARE getting noticeably smaller(foC Optimus is smaller than his WFC counterpart... that ain't right IMO). On that note, the MP line is one of the only things I can't really complain about at the moment. Love the direction it's going.

Meh, I still have hope that it'll get better. Though whether that's being optimistic or just foolish, time will tell...

(my longest non-quoting post yet! Yay!)

It went downhill since TFA. Saving grace would be the Japanese releases(though QC issues on Rodimus has prevented me from getting him)

There are a lot of good things happening, but 1 new game, TF4, and an MP really doesn't cut it.

We have deluxes the size of scouts and voyagers that are almost the size of deluxes. We also have terrible distribution and price hikes out the ying yang.

I want to say I have full confidence in Hasbro, but I really don't. I'll continue buying stuff, but I can no longer say I buy the expecting a quality figure.

Weaponizer Prime was a very nice figure. But the shrinking figures are killing it for me. Deluxe class Onslaught? yeah, really bad idea. No reason why they couldn't just release the limbs as deluxes and made everyone wait for Onslaught to come out with Grimlock. I'm sure a large portion of the fan base would have been okay with that.

I would go back to saying I have full confidence in Hasbro once we get larger figures and better plastic.

At the same time, I'm only a collector that rants on a board that represents a small minority of the fandom and doesn't know much about the economics of toys in production so what do I know besides my own personal preferences?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote: Seriously, you guys only seeing the bad kinda scares me and takes part of the fun of the hobby for me as part of it is sharing enthusiasm. While I do acknowledge the problems the toys have, I would never dismiss their good sides.

I'm an open-minded, positive thinker, and enthusiastic about Transformers as anyone. But there's been so much sugarcoating with what the positives are lately that it's a joke. We shouldn't have to sugarcoat a franchise that we like to enjoy. As a collector in Canada I feel like I've been put on a pedestal only for Hasbro to take it away and make me fall face first into the ground. That takes away part of the fun of the hobby for me.

Not going to say that this is Beast Machines toyline like, but it feels like it is. As an modest middle-class collector who can't fork over cash for everything, I find it nonsensical that I can't even get myself to pick up a new Transformer because they're all Bumblebees, Bot Shots or Kre-O. That takes away part of the fun of the hobby for me.

When I realistically look at this.. I can't be content with the way we're headed - toys are jokingly getting downsized, paint applications are mia, distribution is laughable and main character toy cancellation is uncalled for. Oh sure, the positives are still there. Yeah, the franchise is still alive and we are still getting toys - but there are so many opportunities that have been missed. It's like seeing 2 50's on the ground and picking up one. The game needs to be changed. The game needs to wake up and step up.

and besides making poles what do you do about it? do you still buy the toys? have you ever written Hasbro and expressed your cobcerns? I agree that things aren't perfect, this just doesn't seem to solve any of the problems. perhaps starting a online petition so we could show actual numbers to hasbro, or something. lets be proactive not reactive, this website could be the perfect launching pad for it.

I'm grateful to the third parties honestly. I know that Hasbro pays attention to what they're doing, they have to.

I think that along with all the fan complaints they've been getting will have an impact on the franchise over time.

I also believe that even with all the negatives, Hasbro IS listening to us, even in the forums. The recent MP's and choices for FoC figures came from somewhere, and they're all things we've been asking them for for a very long time. They ARE listening to us, but change takes time. If anything, it will be at least a year or two (or possibly in the next toyline) before Has/Tak responds to the complaints of smaller figures, cheaper plastics and fewer paint apps, but I still believe that they will.

So right now, I think the state of the toys sucks, but I'm optimistic that it will change in the future if Has/Tak hears us, which I believe they will.

njb902 wrote:and besides making poles what do you do about it? do you still buy the toys? have you ever written Hasbro and expressed your cobcerns? I agree that things aren't perfect, this just doesn't seem to solve any of the problems. perhaps starting a online petition so we could show actual numbers to hasbro, or something. lets be proactive not reactive, this website could be the perfect launching pad for it.

If only that were possible, Hasbro that is, listening to us. How do we get them to listen btw?

I know you can never satisfy everybody but this downsizing and the crappy plastics really is a turn off. You know the type of plastic used on TFPrime Soundwave , the one turns into his forearms? I hate it Whatever happened to the smooth glossy type ? Same with MP 10, it has on some parts the similar plastic type.

Btw njb982, that should be "polls"

fenrir72 wrote:

njb902 wrote:and besides making poles what do you do about it? do you still buy the toys? have you ever written Hasbro and expressed your cobcerns? I agree that things aren't perfect, this just doesn't seem to solve any of the problems. perhaps starting a online petition so we could show actual numbers to hasbro, or something. lets be proactive not reactive, this website could be the perfect launching pad for it.

If only that were possible, Hasbro that is, listening to us. How do we get them to listen btw?

I know you can never satisfy everybody but this downsizing and the crappy plastics really is a turn off. You know the type of plastic used on TFPrime Soundwave , the one turns into his forearms? I hate it Whatever happened to the smooth glossy type ? Same with MP 10, it has on some parts the similar plastic type.

Btw njb982, that should be "polls"

haha if I was half as smart as I thought I was id be a genius!!!!!! ill leave it to mock my own ineptitude.

Asides from FOC voyager Grimlock and the upcoming MP releases, the current and upcoming official releases are pretty sad. As others have pointed out, the bean counters at Hasbro may have finally taken over: cheaper plastic, lighter/smaller designs, and higher retail costs. Case in point: FOC Bruticus, a set that will forever remind us of what could have been... and maybe the moment Hasbro "jumped the shark" with the TF brand. It's a far cry from where we were a year or two ago.