The Energon Pub

This is something that's been on my mind for a fair while, and i'm sure there's going to be some people who won't agree with me, and that's fine, but you're not right, and neither am I, it's just how I feel.

While I may be close to completing my G1 collection, i'm still on the lookout so I see a lot of G1 figures fairly often.

And it made me realise something, that being, the vast range that G1 had to offer. There were cars, trucks, planes, tape decks, cassettes, insects, animals, big ones, little ones, ones that combined, ones that hid inside others, and back then, the bulk of them were original characters.

Flash forward to today. This week alone has seen images of upcoming Generations figures. And you know what? They may look good, but where's the innovation? Where's the originality? They're "modern takes" on "classic characters". Sure, they may look good, but quite frankly, i'm not overly impressed, and to be even further frank, i'm tired of seeing characters re-done.

And what about gimmicks? The classic combiner gimmick has grown steadily worse over the years. Mini-cons have gotten uglier. But where are the other ORIGINAL gimmicks?

I know I know, G1 came first and they had nothing but originality. What's that I hear some of you saying? Burn should stop living in the past? I don't think i'm living in the past, in fact I will come out and say it.

I feel that Hasbro have been pretty lazy in the creative department as of late.

There, I said it. Lazy. Crappy gimmicks, old characters updated but still based on old designs.

Agree, disagree, that's up to you. This is just my personal feelings and probably why i've been losing interest as of late.

I think this is kind of interesting considering that, from my perspective, we're getting what we've asked for for so long. The Transformation/design is the gimmick.

TFs in the past year have improved their design and engineering in major leaps and bounds. From complex but clever designs like Leader Starscream, to blocky yet still posable designs like Universe Inferno, I think we're seeing a a lot of innovation in terms of how the TFs work.

On shelves we have a yet unseen combination gimmick. A host of designs we haven't seen in a while...insecticons, hot-rod style cars, Cybertronian designs. We have the culmination of the 3mm weapons plugs (though we need more weapons now).

I think I have more to say on the matter, but I'd like to see your response in the meantime.

Counterpunch wrote:I think this is kind of interesting considering that, from my perspective, we're getting what we've asked for for so long. The Transformation/design is the gimmick.

TFs in the past year have improved their design and engineering in major leaps and bounds. From complex but clever designs like Leader Starscream, to blocky yet still posable designs like Universe Inferno, I think we're seeing a a lot of innovation in terms of how the TFs work.

On shelves we have a yet unseen combination gimmick. A host of designs we haven't seen in a while...insecticons, hot-rod style cars, Cybertronian designs. We have the culmination of the 3mm weapons plugs (though we need more weapons now).

I think I have more to say on the matter, but I'd like to see your response in the meantime.

I'm in total agreement with CP.

The Generations line is what fans have desired before and still desire: A tapping into classic toys/characters. I really don't think that the Generations line is really meant for showing toy innovation primarily, though I do think that is evident in these toys, particularly in the transformation design department.

The transformation design of TF toys is THE gimmick of these toys. I'm a big fan of transformation design and engineering in the toys and I'm seeing innovation in each TF line from G1 to the present. The innovation is there if you look for it. We're seeing elements of Binaltech/Alternators, Masterpiece, and Alternity design in mainline toys. That's an amazing thing in my opinion.

I agree with Burn's assessment of combiner development, though, in that we're seeing a step backwards. The last great step forward in TF combining design, as far as I know, is from Car Robots/RiD. JRX/Rail Racer's super robot styled combination was great for solid combined form and also the aesthetics were nice as it was a coherent combiner design rather than a frankenstein-ish mishmash that is more traditional for TF combiners. Buildking/Landfill's central hub concept for combination is a favourite of mine as it provides a super secure central connection point and I like the idea of the different combined members "rotating" around to switch up the configuration.

I'd love to see a push for further combiner toy development because I think it's an area that could have a lot of potential. Transformation design is without a doubt under constant improvement. Aesthetics are also constantly improving with a greater degree of toy-to-source-material accuracy being seen with each successive toyline.

That's the problem Burn, theres no beating the originals. First was the transformation gimmick. Later the Gestalt,Triple changers,6 changers, Cityformers, power armor(Ultra Magnus,Ginrai and Star saber),Battle chargers,Jumpstarters Headmasters,Targetmasters,Powermasters,Breastmasters,Pretenders((regular,mega,ultra etc),Brainmasters,Poweredmasters,Multi combination of Landcross,Micromasters,Turbomasters,Megavisor gimmicks. Pardon me but have I missed anything else in G1?

It seems that they already thought of everything with the exception of later iterations with powerlinx, minicon and cyber keys interactions which more or less are re imagining of the previous features I already mentioned. And the character/bot designs of the G1 characters are also timeless archetypes.......well we also owe that to Marvel/Sunbows' packaging in media so........yeah, they really have scrapped the bottom of the barrel. Figure articulation is a mixed bag so I doubt you can squeeze anything anymore from the franchise.

Addition: I'd have added the Duocons but more or less they're combiners right?

Counterpunch wrote:I think this is kind of interesting considering that, from my perspective, we're getting what we've asked for for so long. The Transformation/design is the gimmick.

See I overlooked that. They've essentially gone back to the basics with the first and primary gimmick.

And anyone who's read my posts over the years would know i've been pretty critical of a lot of gimmicks and wanted a transformer that simply transformed.

TFs in the past year have improved their design and engineering in major leaps and bounds. From complex but clever designs like Leader Starscream, to blocky yet still posable designs like Universe Inferno, I think we're seeing a a lot of innovation in terms of how the TFs work.

I'll agree there. However, Generations in particular, are to me, just applying modern technology to a pre-existing design seems a little lazy to me.

I guess working for an engineering firm who are all about innovative designs might be rubbing off on me.

fenrir72 wrote:It seems that they already thought of everything with the exception of later iterations with powerlinx, minicon and cyber keys interactions

Which is probably why I liked a lot of the A/E/C figures. Okay, the cyber-key gimmick was a bit sucky and hindered some bots, but Powerlinking allowed for a number of fun, sometimes awkward looking, sometimes awesome looking combinations.

Mini-cons are a great example of my point though. The original lot were well designed, they looked good, they generally had great alt and robot modes (and sometimes a third mode) and worked well with the larger bots.

Now ... they're ugly. They look like crap. I guess it's the PCC curse.

Maybe i'm just getting old and grumpy and because my collection's gotten so large (once I move into my own place in February i'll be showing pics don't worry) that there's not much left for me to chase and it's all become a little ... boring.

@Burn; I'd respectfully disagree.
The Animated line...It had cars, planes, tanks, spaceships, helicopters, dinosaurs, an arachnid, an insect, combiners, a transformable musical instrument, a headmaster, and a triple changer..with a three-face spinning head! And continuing with gimmicks, there were the delightfully cool talking Leader Class figures. There was the automorph thingy, firing rockets, pop-out weapons.

Pretty darn innovative to me in terms of what was available. However, the real innovation to me is in the engineering! I'm an artist myself, and man, I just love to marvel at the workmanship that goes into designing and building a Transformer toy today. I'm not sure how old you are, but I was part of the G1 era, and I spent many an hour just looking at how my TF toys worked, and wondering how or why they couldn't have bendable legs, etc.
In that way, I'd agree with Convotron in that the Transformation is the gimmick. And I'd also agree with Fenrir72's point in that there's no beating the originals. That holds true for many a Star Wars fan, and Masters of the Universe fan.

Back to the Animated line, again the engineering really stood out: characters with cartoony proportions able to pull of Transformations into equally cartoony proportioned vehicles or animals....that to me is some serious innovation.

Thing is, I hated the look of Animated. Absoloutely hated it. But I do see where you're coming from so i'll throw this one at you.

Rodimus the Prime wrote:I'm an artist myself, and man, I just love to marvel at the workmanship that goes into designing and building a Transformer toy today.

As an artist have you not grown bored of the same characters being given different looks?

I ask that from a kitbashing perspective. I've done a few over the years, I don't claim to be great, far from it. And this is another thing that disappoints me, not just for Hasbro, but the fan creations out there, it all seems to be about "updating" pre-existing characters.

As an artist would you like to see some new characters? Something more original?

I personally would love to see more fans create their own characters, complete with bio (provided it's not some uber "I is teh greatest" type character) but the bulk seem to be about their take on a canon character.

And I realise Hasbro can't give us new characters ALL the time, they have to stick with their core group, but would it hurt for a couple of new characters and a different direction on the same basic story that seems to be told every series?

P.S. I'm 33, nearly 34 so I was there for G1.

I generally find myself in agreement with Burn, and this time is no different, but with some differences, I guess. I agree that the G1 line up seems that much more innovative because it was the first one and it did have such a scope and range of designs.
Nothing compares to an original. Before people get all "Kidz roole!!! new designs bettar!!!!!441!!!!", take it easy, ok? Yeah yeah, fine, the newer lines of figures are lightyears ahead of G1, but it you actually think sensibly for a minute, most of the G1s were designed in the late 70s as Diaclones. Sure todays' designs are better designs, but if you are old enough to remember G1 when it was new, then you remember it being something new and different.
Like, if there was a new Reflector or Percepter or new Insecticons, or whenever there's a new combiner, if you were there when G1 was new, you've seen those designs, so it's not as innovative to you as it is to someone whose first TF exposure is to the movies, or RID or AEC or whatever. Animal formers aren't innovative to people whose first show was Beast Wars, because theyve seen it.
I guess I'm trying to say it takes a lot or at least something really new to impress older fans.
That being said, I just got LEader Starscream and holy ****, that's a finely engineered toy.

Maybe they (Takara/Hasbro) could like maybe stray away from the alien insectoid look and go back to it's roots and design the figures into a more mech/humanoid looking figure?

All the excess intricate design of the Movie inspired toys imho cost more to make a master mold. Wished they'd make the designs simple yet one that stands out.

My nephew has been bugging me for two days to transform Human Alliance Bumblebee for him. And I just did it.

Human Alliance figures are awesome, they're well designed. That I will admit.

Sadly though they're from the movie line and to me, that's peppered with butt ugly figures with even butt uglier faces, like those insect-style faces. That's been my biggest irk with the movie stuff.

Alternators? Now THAT was a line which has helped inspire Human Alliance. Sadly though, the movie aesthetic lets it down a little.

Burn ... still whinging and not getting over things.

Burn wrote:Thing is, I hated the look of Animated. Absoloutely hated it. But I do see where you're coming from so i'll throw this one at you.

Rodimus the Prime wrote:I'm an artist myself, and man, I just love to marvel at the workmanship that goes into designing and building a Transformer toy today.

As an artist have you not grown bored of the same characters being given different looks?

I ask that from a kitbashing perspective. I've done a few over the years, I don't claim to be great, far from it. And this is another thing that disappoints me, not just for Hasbro, but the fan creations out there, it all seems to be about "updating" pre-existing characters.

As an artist would you like to see some new characters? Something more original?

I personally would love to see more fans create their own characters, complete with bio (provided it's not some uber "I is teh greatest" type character) but the bulk seem to be about their take on a canon character.

And I realise Hasbro can't give us new characters ALL the time, they have to stick with their core group, but would it hurt for a couple of new characters and a different direction on the same basic story that seems to be told every series?

P.S. I'm 33, nearly 34 so I was there for G1.

Ah, I had a feeling you too are of the privileged generation!

I see what you're saying. For my part, no I've not grown bored of seeing old characters redone. In fact, to me, this is all very new because I didn't follow any previous line since Beast Wars.

With art, if there's something I want to see, something totally new, I draw it. I do my best not to concern myself too much with what people are or aren't doing, because focussing on that is a recipe for annoyance. I can certainly relate to your desire to see some new characters, but for my part, I've not felt the desire. I'm open to it, but with Tfs it hasn't been a concern of late.

When it comes to toy collecting, I've found that what works best for me now is getting only the things that strike that special chord deep within. It can be old, it can be new. Whatever the case, it has to hit that chord, otherwise it's a waste of money and time. With Transformers, what strikes the chord best are the things that are both nostalgic and that represent the things I'd always wanted to see as a kid. (More posability, and Cybertronian modes). The Animated Toy line was awesome to me because they were all new and yet recognizable takes on old favs.
By the way, I'd love to see some pics of your customs! Do you post any of it here?

Rodimus the Prime wrote:When it comes to toy collecting, I've found that what works best for me now is getting only the things that strike that special chord deep within.

I'm heading that way. Primarily my buying habit is to get one of each mold, preferably the original. Then if there's a repaint that really takes my fancy (Cybertron Cannonball!) i'll grab it as well.

I've only ever bought and then sold one figure because I didn't like it, and that was TFCC Punch/Counterpunch. The head just killed it for me.

By the way, I'd love to see some pics of your customs! Do you post any of it here?

I haven't posted much in a long time. My weekends are too short and i'm too tired after work during the week. But this is what I have done.

http://members.dodo.com.au/~dazx/bni/index.html

My "talents" are far below that of most of today's "big names".

::Nominates thread for best disscussion with respectful discourse in forever::

Nice site Burn, I agree with the name batteries not included, which IMHO leaks and destroys the the toy hehehe.

Burn specifically mentioned movie toys, and I was wanting to weight back in on that idea, having bought some toys last night for the first time in ages.
I got Leader Starscream because I am a Starscream fan. The toy is a masterful piece of design and engineering, and I don't like the movie designs much and Starscream at all. But this is a very innovative figure.
I know they are not really MP figures, but seem to be the Japanese releases of the ROTF Leaders, but Leader Starscream is not even Masterpiece-name worthy, in my opinion, because while he's a great figure he really has no character as a character in the movie-verse, so his toy is largely just a plastic robot. The toys these days are wildly inventive and well-engineered, but yeah, the movie aesthetic is so so ugly. I get it, they're aliens, it doens't need to be explained to me over and over again. People lose their m minds over how awesome the Animated designs were but they looked like human-ish robots. If the Bay movies need so much human screen time so that we as an audience can connect with the characters (I call BS on that one too...) then what's really the big deal of the robots looking human-ish? We've got favorite characters from any TF line, and I'll bet my new Leader Starscream that not too many of us have favorite characters that are the humans, so it doesn't seem like we need a go-between to like giant space robots.
I think that by its very nature Transformers will always be innovative to someone, mainly because the franchise carries on despite our familiarity with it. I think a big part of the movie-verse debate is that zomg supporters of the movies don't recognize that I (just as an example) don't care for the movies because of what they are doing NOW, and not that it's becuase they're not what Transformers WAS or WERE. I'm fine with moving ahead, and I don't want to live in perpetual 1984 and I don't. I know things need to move ahead, and modernize, but that doesn't mean that I have to love the present incarnation better than anything from the past or what I actually do enjoy.
As an animal, human beings follow and adhere to governments that are hundreds of years old (in some instances) and religions that are thousands of years old, and no one has a problem with that. We don't say "Judaism? Really? Stuck in the past much? Just keep your Hebraic blinders on and never, ever try to modernize..." but if you happen to not soil yourself over the newest TF thing, you're stuck in the past? And in G1 specifically? What if I liked Beast Wars better? Does that mean I'm a GEEWUNER because I don't love love love the Bay movies?
All of that is certainly appearing off topic, but I'm a big believer in others ruining things for you, and I think that aside from there just not really being anything new under the Transformer sun these days, I think always hearing how innovative the movie designs are with their Durer-inspired faces helps to kill off your sense of their innovation. They're over hyped for what they are, which are just toys to sell in conjunction with a movie. That worked for me at least. Hearing about how terrific the movie figures are or the Animated figures are and how You are inferior for still liking your G1 Megatron moreso than that half-armed hunk of **** ROTF Leader Megatron? Yeah, I'm not, and if you need to stump your idea that hard, you're covering up for some failing, and that's like Psyche 102. Like when short dudes try to act like they can kick every behind in the bar? Yup, candyass.
I think that a wane in interest with anything is a combination of factors. Some people wane because not enough people LOVE what they do. Like "Aw, the fandom is killing it for me because not enough of you salivate over Animated....goodbye Transfandom..." but it's more stupid to 'cling' to G1? I think the new stuff is perfectly innovative in terms of construction, but I think the franchise is light on new ideas, and alas, I think the only real new ones are ones that are stupid, like the inclusion of more fleshlings in a story that is about robots.

Someone's going to bring up Stormbringer in answer to that last part, and talk about how boring in was. Boring, honestly? Giant alien robots fighting, in a story from a franchise based on giant robots fighting? It was a bit lacking in the writing department. I mean, four issues and not a single hash brownie or masturbation joke? Pssshhhtt. Amatuers.

@Burn: Love your work man! Fun stuff!
Cannon Fodder Lemming is my favourite! In fact, best...name...ever! Best function ever, and best motto ever!

After seeing your work I think I've got a better grasp for where you're coming from now, too.

@Dagon & Burn, what ideas do you guys have for what could capture the innovation for you again? Toy-wise, and story-wise?

@Rodimus the Prime:
It's not that the innovation is lost or gone, I think there's just not as much surprise as there used to be, even in new concepts like the PCCs. I think it's a neat idea but still, we've had it for 25 years already.
Let me say this as for innovation in toys. I've typed it like 30 times already, but yesterday I got Leader Starscream. Just an hour ago I was setting him up on a shelf with the two Leader Brawls from movie 1 standing behind him. Starscream absolutely blows Brawl away in terms of his engineering and stuff. It's not even a contest. Leader Brawl was the best toy from the first movie, just my opinion, but man alive, Starscream.
Innovation is alive and well in the toys. I don't like the movie designs, but they are pretty well engineered and all. I was trying to say earlier that 'innovation' in terms of new stuff is lacking for me, but I didn't mean innovation is lacking in the toys. Its just that after nearly 30 years, there's nothing new under the sun. Still love me Transformers though, and always will.

My bad Dagon, I didn't pose my last questions properly, I'd meant them respectively, because I know you and Burn weren't talking about the same thing. Seems like I misunderstood you a bit too, as I thought you meant story ideas.

Ok heres my thoughts on inovation.So many ideas have been done so far.We keep on using the same gimics with the same story over and over again.I sure Hasbro would love to do something different.In the past seven years I have heard that they would and have asked questions.The problem is they would have to completely reinvent Transformers or go out to left field with a new story.No matter what the evil backlash from the fans s a part of the reason it doesn't.Just see the hate Beast Wars gets to this day.I think Hasbro is a afraid to change a formula that already works.I think to inovate TF's I think the story would need to change first.I would totally welcome a new story or a story that happens on the other side of the universe far from Megatron and OP.A whole new cast without one tribute till the repaints come. I think the fan outlash and hate mail could be to much for them to chance. Rodimus Prime didn't work they brought OP back.Beast Wars came and went and you either love or hate it.Since then Its like a retelling of G1 but with different side characters and sometimes Prime dies and comes back.I personally love G1 and generations reimagining the figures with new technology.I really liked Beast Wars and I'm a big fan of the movies.I think some of the movie toys are great most seem lacking but I see it as a step into the future that could lead to something even better.With all these lines I still would love to give Hasbro and ok to just throw all the TF's past away and do something so different so outragous just to see what they would come up with.I hope that day comes I feel it would really open the TF world in the future.I'm not saying to completely give up on characters we all know and love just give them a break a year or two just to see what can be done.Even Hasbro asked about four years ago does Prime always have to be a red and blue truck?

Rodimus the Prime wrote:@Dagon & Burn, what ideas do you guys have for what could capture the innovation for you again? Toy-wise, and story-wise?

Toy wise? I honestly don't know.

Story wise, well let's look at things lately. The bulk of stories have revolved around the TF's coming to Earth for something. Be it energon, mini-cons, or a cube. The Decepticons want the power those things provide, and the Autobots want to stop them.

Let's not do that again shall we?

IF it has to be on Earth, let's have the Decepticons come here for one simple reason.

They want to conquer it and add it to their already vast galaxy spanning empire. Yeah, that's right, the 'Cons are a massive force.

The Autobots don't need to be underdogs either, they can be a massive force as well. They can be two different civilisations who's have a distant origin to the long lost planet of Cybertron.

You don't even need the core group of regulars. Animated had Prime and Co. not as the forefront leaders of the Autobots, but rather a maintenance crew. Why not have a story centred around a different group (call them The Wreckers if you must) and have the big core group like Prime and Megatron backup characters but have the story centre around the "grunts".

It would be something different. And it actually gives a different take on the whole story for Cybertron and Earth meeting.

On a different note, went to the big city and found HFTD Hailstor, Tomahawk and Terradive plus Generations Megatron and Darkmount.

I agree the Combiners really have taken a step backward. As a kid I was never happy with the G1 guys. Sure there were some great designs like Menasor and Defensor but they were too slaggin small.

The Power Core Combiners seem smaller and that to me goes against what combiners should be.

The Combiners have always been touted as giants in the fiction but they're continually getting annoying small toys.

To add insult to injury, ROTF Devestator was a nicely large toy and the individual components lacked robot modes. Now PCC's are doing the same thing.

To get a great combiner I had to go to the KO's. I picked up oversized Korean Bruticus and he was exactly what the old G1 combiners should be. Onslaught is the same size as G1 Ultra Magnus and Bruticus is in or around the Supreme scale. If the KO companies can manage this, why can't Hasbro?

On another Combiner related note, why are we bombarded with Devestators and Bruticus'? They're always boring to me and why can't Menasor, Computron or Defensor get some love?

Also, I despise the tiny, cheap looking Legends and Stealth Force and Robot Heroes. Not against non-transforming TF's, I loved Actionmasters and the Replica/Revoltech lines but don't deform or cutesy up the TF's.

I also agree on the subject of the alien heads of recent years. Most of the Baymovie toys are cool but I always prefer the traditional G1 helmet and discernable face look of the G1/Unicron Trilogy. I'm not joking when I say Throttlebot Rollbar had more character in his head sculpt than any Movie toy. Which leads me onto my next rant - character updates.

While I will admit to never being a Bumblebee fan, Bay did make the character very cool, to me at least, but does BB need so many toys? Same for Starscream, although he at least gets repainted as various, sometimes new, Seekers. But what about updating characters like the Throttlebots who despite loads of character in their appearance were still poor toys? That said, the upcoming Windcharger is an old fan's dream.

This rechurning of core characters has gotten old fast. Any G1-er will agree that back in the day, we were always glad to see new characters. All they needed was a cool toy and interesting bio/tech spec. Kick Off couldn't transform but I loved his bot design and vengeful gladiator background and so did Misters Roberts and Roche as evidenced by his appearance in Last Stand of the Wreckers.

The 1 or 2 lines of bio on modern TF's are usually lack lustre. When reimagining an old TF, I'd be happy if they either stuck the old G1 tech spec bio or their Dreamwave MTMTE bio on the back of the packaging. I loved Dreamwave because they had such a great grasp of each character and even went on to liven up Armada with bios for them. If they're going to reimagine BW toys, I'd be quite happy for the profile from the Sourcebook. I know it wasn't well received but I liked it.

Character is what seperated Transformers from other robot toys back in the day. I only stopped collecting as a teenager because the UK comic stopped. The fiction is very important, almost as much as the toys themselves.

To go back to the alien heads for a moment. What about Star Wars TF's? The alt modes were amazing replicas of Star Wars vehicles but having a large Darth Vader helmet or organic faces ala Chewbacca was a terrible idea. They just looked naff. Same with making the bots be the Star Wars character.

Sorry to go on but I find this to be quite an inteersting thread.

@ Burn.

The story line concept you put forward of a burgeoning young empire building army is nice and all, but I still dig the mysterious, ancient long buried mechanical behemoths who just recently were awakened by a natural disaster to continue their civil war on earth. Isn't that a classic plot or what?

I still remember the Tuesday night MTMTE first aired in my country.........

If it were up to me, just have Takara/Hasbro maintain their 1980s quality and I'll be a happy fan. Just my opinion though.........or maybe yet, try to follow the bitter sweet plot of Gundam 0079 and Seed.......and add the animation style of mixed CGI and the series would be awesome.

fenrir72 wrote:The story line concept you put forward of a burgeoning young empire building army is nice and all, but I still dig the mysterious, ancient long buried mechanical behemoths who just recently were awakened by a natural disaster to continue their civil war on earth. Isn't that a classic plot or what?

It is. And while there's nothing wrong with it, I guess i've just grown bored with it.

Opened Hailstorm and Megatron ... Megatron sadly is missing hip rotation. I like hip rotation. And the fusion canon is just a little bit too heavy. Alt mode is a bit bleh but robot mode makes for a pretty menacing Megatron.

Now Hailstorm .. this is what I like about Decepticons. They're machines of war. He's a brute and he looks a brute. Nice little figure, and having all the extra missiles is a nice different touch.

Rodimus the Prime wrote:My bad Dagon, I didn't pose my last questions properly, I'd meant them respectively, because I know you and Burn weren't talking about the same thing. Seems like I misunderstood you a bit too, as I thought you meant story ideas.

Nuh-uh Bro, I think my response was poorly organized and executed. I was sorta-gripping about toy and story ideas.

Burn's got a good thought going story-wise. I didn't care for Animated but the story did a good job of having the standby characters like Optimus without having them in their normal roles (like Optimus as the boss of everything).
I guess personally I'm just at a low point in my interest in Transformers, and I think its due to a bunch of factors. My money has has been really tight for a while, like it has been for many people, so my figure buying has been laxs, but just the other day I went on a spree. The G1 Ongoing comic lost me after the first four issues, and there's no cartoon running right now, so visually there's not much going on for me. I'm so tired of the Bayverse arguements' devolution into 2deep4u and that people with high IQs tend to find the movie brilliant that I could cry. It's like I'm just out of touch with what's going on and it makes me less excited about things overall. Like are we still crying about the cancellation of the Animated toys and cartoon? How come that's perfectly acceptible, but you're simply a neckbeard for still liking G1? No one can be considered stupid for liking a movie, but now liking ROTF means you're some kind of genius?
Please, we talk on the internet about toy robots. We are clearly Nerds, all of us.

All that being said, I bought some new figures Thursday. I've typed that a bunch because it feels good to say since it had been a long time since I'd been on a toy bender like this. In general my spree has made me feel happier about the TF universes as a whole. Then I started re-doing some of my display space, and I'm in much better spirits still.

I don't know Burn, maybe some personal time in your TF happy place could give you a recharge? It seems to be working for me at least.

Oh, and pardon my rudeness, but I forgot who it was that mentioned new characters like G1 had. Not just because it was the beginning of the story, but because new toys didn't equal repaints or Powered Up modes or anything yet. Datsuns and Seekers don't count, becuase while they are repaints, they are clearly different characters: Smokescreen is not Covert Ops Prowl, which without a doubt, he would be today. I know that Smokescreen gets an occasional figure, but you guys should be able to understand what I mean.
I love repaints but I also prefer new characters to hyped up redos. Armada and Energon were dropping the ball for me on that issue. Sure sure, Powerlinx Hot Shot. But was is really so hard to take CCybertron Red Alert and make Cannonball from him? Moar nu characters!