The Energon Pub

Rated X wrote:And if you dont have a picture yet, then just tell us what you got planned.

That's essentially what they're doing by putting out those teasers. Also, it gives collectors who are strapped for cash a chance to prepare to shell out for 3rd party prices.

Some may not fully appreciate teasers and shadowed silhouettes the way they're meant to be perceived, but that's the way marketing gets done. Just like how we all hate commercials as they clog tv channels, radio stations, magazine ads, billboard signs, etc.

More publicity equals more sales, simple as that.

Mkall wrote:

headsortails wrote:I do hope it's a headmaster. I really miss those guys and the Targetmasters too for that matter. i thought they were an awesome toy line.

Oh I've heard stories about what some people thought and did when they first came out. It's what many would call sacriligious today.

All that aside, I hope to see more from this era done, specifically the Horrorcons.

that is so sad........I really did like them though......Slugslinger, Triggerhappy, Mindwipe, Nightbeat, Chromedome, Skullcruncher......the list goes on. It was hard for me to believe what some thought.

Just got this in an e-mail from BBTS. 4,000. AWESOME!!

BBTS wrote:BBTS & FansProject Toys for Tots Donation!

Good News! The Marines just picked up the Toys for Tots donation! We'd like to thank everyone who helped to donate over 4000 individual toys and figures by preordering the FansProject Function X-1 Mystery Figure. FansProject deserves a special thanks for taking part in this with the mystery figure. You've all done a great thing and thousands of children will have a great Christmas because of your help!

NOS wrote:

Rated X wrote:And if you dont have a picture yet, then just tell us what you got planned.

That's essentially what they're doing by putting out those teasers. Also, it gives collectors who are strapped for cash a chance to prepare to shell out for 3rd party prices.

Some may not fully appreciate teasers and shadowed silhouettes the way they're meant to be perceived, but that's the way marketing gets done. Just like how we all hate commercials as they clog tv channels, radio stations, magazine ads, billboard signs, etc.

More publicity equals more sales, simple as that.

Cant say I agree. Imagine GM or Ford putting out silhouettes of cars each year ? What if Mcdonalds put a silhouette of a new hamburger ? This crap only seems to fly with Transformers fans. I would love to see a joint effort between Seibertron/TFW2005 to blast teasers to oblivion. Even though 3rd parties have their own websites, the fan sites could have a great influence if they chose to get involved. They could embarass the crap out of them since the TF collectors community is fairly small in size compared to other hobbies.

Rated X wrote:

NOS wrote:

Rated X wrote:And if you dont have a picture yet, then just tell us what you got planned.

That's essentially what they're doing by putting out those teasers. Also, it gives collectors who are strapped for cash a chance to prepare to shell out for 3rd party prices.

Some may not fully appreciate teasers and shadowed silhouettes the way they're meant to be perceived, but that's the way marketing gets done. Just like how we all hate commercials as they clog tv channels, radio stations, magazine ads, billboard signs, etc.

More publicity equals more sales, simple as that.

Cant say I agree. Imagine GM or Ford putting out silhouettes of cars each year ? What if Mcdonalds put a silhouette of a new hamburger ? This crap only seems to fly with Transformers fans. I would love to see a joint effort between Seibertron/TFW2005 to blast teasers to oblivion. Even though 3rd parties have their own websites, the fan sites could have a great influence if they chose to get involved. They could embarass the crap out of them since the TF collectors community is fairly small in size compared to other hobbies.

So you eat and drive TF toys now?

Rated X wrote:
Cant say I agree. Imagine GM or Ford putting out silhouettes of cars each year ? What if Mcdonalds put a silhouette of a new hamburger ? This crap only seems to fly with Transformers fans. I would love to see a joint effort between Seibertron/TFW2005 to blast teasers to oblivion. Even though 3rd parties have their own websites, the fan sites could have a great influence if they chose to get involved. They could embarass the crap out of them since the TF collectors community is fairly small in size compared to other hobbies.

From what I've seen, the majority of the fanbase actually want them and they're certainly not going anywhere... I don't think there's too many that feel the same way you do about them.

I for one enjoy the "tease". I like seeing what's coming up and I like the fact that these companies show progress-images and accept feedback from the TF community. I enjoy watching the projects unfold.

I've actually seen plenty of car commercials where they tease a new upcoming model like this. Either with a shadowy silhouette, a canvas/tarp over it or simply a word on the screen. I've seen them do the same with early movie teasers tons of times where they'll only show a sound or logo or something on the screen.

What these 3rd parties are doing is no different.

Porsche once released this image about an upcoming car



Couldn't see much there, but it is a VERY ugly car, so it was understandable

Rated X wrote:

NOS wrote:

Rated X wrote:And if you dont have a picture yet, then just tell us what you got planned.

That's essentially what they're doing by putting out those teasers. Also, it gives collectors who are strapped for cash a chance to prepare to shell out for 3rd party prices.

Some may not fully appreciate teasers and shadowed silhouettes the way they're meant to be perceived, but that's the way marketing gets done. Just like how we all hate commercials as they clog tv channels, radio stations, magazine ads, billboard signs, etc.

More publicity equals more sales, simple as that.

Cant say I agree. Imagine GM or Ford putting out silhouettes of cars each year ? What if Mcdonalds put a silhouette of a new hamburger ? This crap only seems to fly with Transformers fans. I would love to see a joint effort between Seibertron/TFW2005 to blast teasers to oblivion. Even though 3rd parties have their own websites, the fan sites could have a great influence if they chose to get involved. They could embarass the crap out of them since the TF collectors community is fairly small in size compared to other hobbies.

The first billboards for the Ghost Rider movie were nothing more than a picture of a road with a flaming trail going down it. Movie producers do things like that all the time. It leaves things to the imagination. Imagination leads to speculation, speculation leads to conversation, conversation creates hype. It is a good business practice. Save money on advertising, keep final costs lower.

I'm not a fan of shilluettes either. I mean, for the initial teaster? Fine. I can live with that. But it goes on for WAY too long sometimes.

I dont agree with people's all of a sudden stance of "we like teasers" when they usually bash teasers just like I do on the spot. Lets settle this with a survey. No opinions or assumptions for the fandoms stance just "yay or "nay".

Survey question:

Do you WANT teasers INSTEAD of a digital picture of what will be for sale in the future ???

Yay or Nay

My vote: Nay



(for the purpose of this vote the word "teaser" is referring ONLY to a darkened silhouette or blacked out image. I am not referring to prototype shots or visible cartoon images/renders)

Do I want teasers INSTEAD of a digital picture of what will be for sale in the future ???

Of course I prefer better pictures, who doesn't!?

Do I want teasers INSTEAD of getting nothing till the project progresses far enough to show better shots???

Sure, why not!?

Rated X wrote:I dont agree with people's all of a sudden stance of "we like teasers" when they usually bash teasers just like I do on the spot. Lets settle this with a survey. No opinions or assumptions for the fandoms stance just "yay or "nay".

Survey question:

Do you WANT teasers INSTEAD of a digital picture of what will be for sale in the future ???

Yay or Nay

My vote: Nay



(for the purpose of this vote the word "teaser" is referring ONLY to a darkened silhouette or blacked out image. I am not referring to prototype shots or visible cartoon images/renders)

Please move this type of discussion out of this thread. This thread is for FP's Function X. If you want to create a poll, please do so outside of this. Thank you.

So, can we please focus on the 4,000 toys for toys Fro Tots instead of the bitching and whining about teasers and silhouettes, please? Good LORD!

Mekatron wrote:Do I want teasers INSTEAD of a digital picture of what will be for sale in the future ???

Of course I prefer better pictures, who doesn't!?!

Is that a "nay" ?

Mekatron wrote:Do I want teasers INSTEAD of getting nothing till the project progresses far enough to show better shots???

Sure, why not!?

A color drawing is always available before they purposly choose to black it out. Before the drawing avalible a statement on their website would be sufficent.

Example:

"Fansproject is proud to announce that our next project in the works will be the highly requested homage to Hasbro's G1 Headmaster Chromedome."

And if Fansproject doesnt want to use copyrighted names in their statement, they can easily come up with obvious written hints to let us know who it is meant to homage.

I'm glad to hear so many toys were donated. I assume it was from BBTS' own inventory? That's a good way to clear out crap.

Having said that, I know a bunch of kids are going to be happy to receive the toys. I normally donate around $30 a year (though I try to up the amount every year) and this helped me put a lot of it in one place while still reaching a bunch of people.

As for the figure; if Hasbro follows through on their plans to release comic book versions of the characters, I would like to see how this version compares to them.

And finally, the silhouette needs to go - preferably replaced by a silhouette that shows a picture when you hover your cursor over it.

I thought I was doing a good thing by putting teasers on the sopt here. It's REALLY stupid that Fansproject is putting out a darkened image for "Function X" when they already released drawings of Chromedome and the other Headmasters a few months ago. What do they think, we have alzheimers disease ???

But since some people would rather use this thread to keep "speculating" about something that's blatantly obvious, have fun playing along. Ill create a thread for a teaser opinion survey on one of my days off. Sorry if I offended anyone, but I gotta keep it real.

Edit:

On a side note, It is a very honorable thing to participate in Toys for Tots. I commend BBTS. But on the other hand take it into consideration that it's a tremendous tax break on clearance items that dont sell. And we all know taxes are going up for wealthy business owners if a deal is reached. Just food for thought. I dont want this to turn into a debate.

Doubt anyone's "offended" X. The forums are known for strong opposing opinions... I would hope everyone's used to it by now.

If you want to discuss the Pros and Cons of teasers feel free to start another thread about it and get this one back on topic.

datguy86 wrote:As for the figure; if Hasbro follows through on their plans to release comic book versions of the characters, I would like to see how this version compares to them.

when did Hasbro announce these plans? I think I missed it.

craggy wrote:

datguy86 wrote:As for the figure; if Hasbro follows through on their plans to release comic book versions of the characters, I would like to see how this version compares to them.

when did Hasbro announce these plans? I think I missed it.

I'm sure Hasbro has "plans" for everything. At this point I would not be surprised if there were concept diagrams to re-do every G1 character somewhere in their vast storage closets. Sadly to our chagrin, they have to do other things to bring in the bucks.

Arctorro wrote:Porsche once released this image about an upcoming car



Couldn't see much there, but it is a VERY ugly car, so it was understandable

Oh crap... Fansproject Function X is going to be very ugly...

Mkall wrote:

craggy wrote:

datguy86 wrote:As for the figure; if Hasbro follows through on their plans to release comic book versions of the characters, I would like to see how this version compares to them.

when did Hasbro announce these plans? I think I missed it.

I'm sure Hasbro has "plans" for everything. At this point I would not be surprised if there were concept diagrams to re-do every G1 character somewhere in their vast storage closets. Sadly to our chagrin, they have to do other things to bring in the bucks.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, or plan is too strong a word. I thought Hasbro announced they were planning to release characters based off the MTMTE and RID comics due to the popularity of characters like Swerve, Chromedome and such.

Watched the headmaster episode in which chromedome had to shoot his friend Jakis from plant master before work this morning...I'm so pumped for my function-x!!!!!

can't wait to see more 3P company's knock out the Japanese trilogy character line up!

datguy86 wrote:

Mkall wrote:

craggy wrote:

datguy86 wrote:As for the figure; if Hasbro follows through on their plans to release comic book versions of the characters, I would like to see how this version compares to them.

when did Hasbro announce these plans? I think I missed it.

I'm sure Hasbro has "plans" for everything. At this point I would not be surprised if there were concept diagrams to re-do every G1 character somewhere in their vast storage closets. Sadly to our chagrin, they have to do other things to bring in the bucks.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, or plan is too strong a word. I thought Hasbro announced they were planning to release characters based off the MTMTE and RID comics due to the popularity of characters like Swerve, Chromedome and such.

There's a wonderful phrase which I hear a lot in my line of work. That phrase is "plans change"

The wonderful thing about the word plan is that when spoken, it conveys the possibility that something may happen, which usually means someone's thought longer than 5 minutes on said "plan." Hasbro's "plans" sound nice, but until preorders for products start appearing, I will not take a verbal statement containing the word "plan" as certainty.