william-james88 wrote:Noideaforaname wrote:(while regular TFs are also getting simpler, I might add)
That all depends what you are comparing it too. I notice a shift in the Transformers brand in 2007. Before then, Transformations were more or les simple (ie the Cybertron line) and there wasn't that much G1. All the G1 present was the classics line, and very few masterpiece toys. Then the movie happened at the same time as the Animated series. So all the G1 characters came back full circle (albeit with completely new designs) and the toys became more complex than ever before. To a point where it got insane in the ROTF line for kids. Since I didnt collect TFs back then, I had to go back and try to find all the toys I wanted. I look on local adds a bunch. You guys cannot imagine the amount of times I find lots of movie toys being sold because the parents just find them too hard for their kids to do.
Anyways, I just wanted to say that toys are only getting simpler if we compare to 2007 and on, not before. And the G1 inundation happens to also be at the same time. You know what's crazy guys, 10 years ago, thre were no bumblebee toys on the shelves.
Yeah, you're right, actually now that I think about it, we had the exact opposite discussion back in 2007.
Back then most hardcore collectors were actually complaining about the complexity of the Movie designs and toys. Claiming that they sucked due to being so complex, taking too long to transform and that nobody wants to fiddle about with something that complex.
Heck, some even ridiculed the line for having "Automorph", which was a gimmick that would allow parts of the figure to put themselves into position during transformation to take a few step away from it. Naysayers said that this was only needed because the toys were stupidly complex, and I was one of them.
But we got used to the complexity and saw how it could actually benefit figures giving them more satisfying transformations and robot-modes. Now we want to keep the complexity while Hasbro is trying to drastically move in the opposite direction. The big problem is that since 2007, the robot mode designs have become so complex and detailed, that complex transformations are needed pull them off.
Hasbro is overdoing simplicity though, or at least not doing it right. Instead of designing toys and character designs that are naturally simple, they design complex looking robots, and then try to give these complex robots simple transformations that are just inadequate to the actual design of the figure. And while they're at it, they heavily cut down on articulation, which comes of as stupid, because we love articulation. I mean part of what I thought was so awesome about the Beast Wars line, was that as a whole, the toys had loads of articulation and could move in ways no other toy could at the time.
They need to take a look at the original Classics line and Cybertron, which had a pretty good balance of simplicity and complexity. Having satisfying transformations that fit the designs of the robots, plus they were decently articulated.
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