The Energon Pub

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:01 pm

Hey all!

So I can't stop wondering about Generations Whirl and Roadbuster coming with sticker sheets. I honestly love applying stickers to new toys. It takes me back to the G1, G.I. Joe, and StarWars days of my childhood. Plus you just get to spend more time fondling your new shiny treasure.

My concern with stickers is, they don't last forever. My G1 toys (whom I love like the warm blankie my Granny made for me when I was just a protoform) look HIT! Of course I played with them much harder than I play now.

I feel like, as of late, we are seeing a lot of concessions being made in the manufacture of these toys, as the prices quickly inflate. We are seeing hollow parts, flimsier plastics, and almost translucent paint apps. When is the last time transformers came with stickers? G1? G2 had paint jobs, right?

I will gladly, and with great precision, apply some new cool version of Wheeljack's stripes, but in 4 or 5 years when the corners start to peel I'm gonna be pissed!

As for my opinion of the a fore mentioned Gen toys actual stickers, we can save that for later.

What do you guys think? Does anyone care?

Thanks,
Cobotron

News Credits: 60 · by **fenrir72** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 1:03 am

Maybe it depends on which figure?

Tomy's Prime version has decals that don't stick well. But the fig had a somewhat different plastic color.

Hasbro and Whirl came with transparent decals (maybe a homage to the originals?) Jetfire didn't come with any but his originals had a lot of labels, so it may depend on the line or the fig.

Extra paint apps cost more too or the lack of 'em...........go figure no? How those decisions get carried.........

News Credits: 12 · by **GuyIncognito** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:25 am

I'm a fan of stickers, too. Especially for Classics-verse figures. I like the way they look, and I enjoy applying them. I've got at least two dozen figures with Reprolabels on them.

News Credits: 650 · by **ScottyP** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:08 am

I'd rather have stickers all day long over either crappy paint (How ya doin', Cubex Huff?) or lack of detailing. If stickers are the trade off for getting slightly better toy design, then bring on our new pasty overlords.

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 6:21 pm

Agreed. I would gladly apply a sticker to a solid thigh.
By detailing, do you mean like what we saw on the Cyberton line? Vector Prime comes to mind. All that gear work, YUM!

I was hoping Reprolabels would come into play here. I have always hesitated on them. Although they look great, I'm afraid they wont last. Do you think they would bring down the value of a toy in the future?

fenrir makes a good point. Gotta fit into those price points. That new Jetfire looks like he could use a little help from a sticker sheet. Maybe that will be the figure to spark Repros for me.

Hey guys, whats that new print/paint app process called? Tamm stamp? tramp stamp? tambershamp?

by **VioMeTriX** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 8:59 am

repro labels make stickers of a higher quality than even has/tak. trust me on this I have over 20 sets.... but I still have not had the time / patience to apply mp-10 labels after I finished doing such a great job airbrushing him. well sooner or later ill pull out my tweezers.

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 2:12 pm

one million times NO.

to me its more of a cop-out than a lack of paint apps. not to mention that the newest figures to feature stickers were so poorly executed, they dont even fit where theyre supposed to go!

besides, i dont think whirl and roadbuster are even missing much without the stickers (aside from insignias).

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 3:37 pm

shajaki wrote:one million times NO.

to me its more of a cop-out than a lack of paint apps. not to mention that the newest figures to feature stickers were so poorly executed, they dont even fit where theyre supposed to go!

besides, i dont think whirl and roadbuster are even missing much without the stickers (aside from insignias).

Thank you.
I'd much rather have sweet paint apps all day long.
I'm a fan of stickering, but how many "not a step", and "DANGER EXPLOSIVE" stickers does a TF need. So week. After giving up on Whirl half way through, all I did for Roadbuster was the badge and the red dots.
The Wrecker badge was a nice touch though. Lets have more of that. I like the idea of slight customization.

All that being said, I'm still gonna try some Repros.

by **VioMeTriX** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 3:59 pm

well ive been using reprolabels for four or five years now... regular figs, alternators, masterpiece....not a single lifted edge on all 19 figures I have reprolabels on and they fit in where they are supposed to be like a glove... but im not going to argue it any further...you are entitled to your own opinion.

shajaki you cant make others see your point by making big letter NO and sounding fanatical like someone else we had here, so tell me do you lick your stickers or transformers?

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 4:35 pm

VioMeTriX wrote:well ive been using reprolabels for four or five years now... regular figs, alternators, masterpiece....not a single lifted edge on all 19 figures I have reprolabels on and they fit in where they are supposed to be like a glove... but im not going to argue it any further...you are entitled to your own opinion.

shajaki you cant make others see your point by making big letter NO and sounding fanatical like someone else we had here, so tell me do you lick your stickers or transformers?

If I may.
I thought Shajaki's NO was in regards to the "Wave of the future" question.
Could be wrong.

News Credits: 767 · by **Dead Metal** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 4:50 pm

I've never liked applying stickers to anything. Sure it allows for customization, but stickers often don't fit perfectly, it's fiddly and yeah, they com off easy.

I'm OK with optional stickers, say Gen Roadbuster's insignias, and some Reprolabel stuff looks really cool and interesting, but then it's only stuff like screens or number plates (planning on getting the MP 10 set just to pimp out the trailer).

I don't want to go back to the days that you had to apply stickers to get details, that should be sculpted and painted. Or having G1 style "detail" stickers that are just funky shapes.

I believe the only reason Gen Metroplex, Roadbuster and Whirl came with stickers was call back to G1, pure nostalgia. Both Roadbuster and Whirl are more G1 based than the rest of their wave mates, both are based on figures that originate from a line that is still produced mostly in kit form to this day, so the stickers made sense. Metroplex was likely a way of cutting corners due to his huge size and, well most who'll buy him are actually adults who grew up with the original, so they'll like the stickers.

News Credits: 60 · by **fenrir72** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:59 pm

VioMeTriX wrote:repro labels make stickers of a higher quality than even has/tak. trust me on this I have over 20 sets.... but I still have not had the time / patience to apply mp-10 labels after I finished doing such a great job airbrushing him. well sooner or later ill pull out my tweezers.

Been using them too especially on those loose figs at ebay(great help/godsend), but as to better than Tomy or Hasbro, not necessarily.

Those mounted on clear plastic background are great but for those on the mirror type, the print stuff then to chip off or fade. They also have those annoying horizontal streak/print lines.

Another complaint is that for the gestalt teams, well, you have to buy he entire set and not the individual'bots.

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:19 am

VioMeTriX wrote:well ive been using reprolabels for four or five years now... regular figs, alternators, masterpiece....not a single lifted edge on all 19 figures I have reprolabels on and they fit in where they are supposed to be like a glove... but im not going to argue it any further...you are entitled to your own opinion.

first off, i didnt say anything about reprolabels. those are fantastic. the quality of materials and the effort of the designers is unparalleled. had you read my post, i was referring to hasbros recent attempt on roadbuster and whirl which were low quality (in comparison) and poorly designed (ie: dont fit where theyre supposed to go).

VioMeTriX wrote:shajaki you cant make others see your point by making big letter NO and sounding fanatical like someone else we had here.

i dont see anything fanatical. mainly because my opinions (and yes theyre still opinions) are presented with evidence. some would call that a "valid argument". and i can in fact help others (not make, as you put it) see my point by by grabbing their attention with bold colored letters, then presenting my "valid argument".

VioMeTriX wrote:so tell me do you lick your stickers or transformers?

no. no i do not.

anything else youd like misunderstand, misinterpret, or take out of context? maybe insult me some more? the art of conversation can be a tricky thing.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 12:29 pm

They're certainly not the way of the future. Lines like Arms Micron focus on the customisation aspect of stickers, and should not be taken as an indicator of future trends. Roadbuster and Whirl follow the same scheme. Metroplex on the other hand... Paint isn't cheap and Metroplex is a big boy. :shock:

Personally I like stickers when done properly. Call me silly, but when applying them, it gives me a sense of "adding my own touch" and really call the figure my own.

The drawbacks like peeling and fading, sure they're annoying, but you can learn to live with it if you have the proper solutions.

To the OP's question of when Hasbro/TakaraTomy stopped with stickers: after the end of G2 they stopped with sticker sheets. Stickers were still factory-applied on BWII Thrust, Dirge, Megastorm, Starscream & BB. Can't say about RiD Dreadwind & Smokejumper.

by **MGrotusque** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:31 pm

Stickers are awesome. I'd like all TF's to be released with stickers.

News Credits: 1 · by **leakin' lubricant** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:40 pm

I hate stickers personally, I hated them in G1 too, I dont mid adding the odd fraction symbol, (which I tend to do on most of my figures 3rd party or otherwise) but when it comes to sickers as apposed to paint apps its a big no-no from me, I would actually rather take a can of spray paint to a figure than sit applying stickers that are gonna peal over time.

by **alternator77** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:04 pm

personally I really see the sense of stickers now a days and like applying them. for one thing it saves Hasbro the cost of trying to add these details via a paint app and I pretty sure its far easier and cheaper to do a run of half a million stickers as opposed to taking their chances with paint.
To me that puts the resources where they belong IMO and that's a creative and fun design with a good transformation to boot and we seem to be getting that with many of these figures. is it the wave of the future ill say yes and no.
For certain lines and their respective demographics you probably wont (titan, hero-mashers, one-step, Cyberverse) but for kreo, generations, and masterpiece we probably will see more but who really knows. >:oP