The Energon Pub

RhA wrote:Remember thrilling 30? Not so thrilling. A very bad year for TF's even.

aye....especially in the UK! as we only ever got the Voyager Class figures, in physical discount stores(B&M) & still haven't got the rest of that line(deluxe) here in the UK! & wondering if we ever will?

as for the Platinum Edition sets, as i stated somewhere before....here in the UK we've been fairly lucky to have got those(especially Trypticon) but the prices are way too high for what your getting inside the box((in terms of plastic quality & limited articulation ect (with the exception of Trypticon)).

Hellscream9999 wrote:

RhA wrote:Remember thrilling 30? Not so thrilling. A very bad year for TF's even. This year we're seeing the 30th anniversery of the movie and the 20th for Beast Wars, neither of which will be anything more than a sticker on a box.

Well, if you only went by the thrilling 30's list of exclusive figures, then yes, otherwise I thought it was a great year for tf's one of the best even, based on the variety of the figures offered

Yeah, I agree with that. The 30th anniversary exclusive figures themselves were whatever (2 Metroplex toys?! Does Hasbro think I live in a giant mansion with loads of cash?!) but the 30th gen line accomplished what it established. It had updates for characters from all eras, from G1 to Armada and they were all fine to a certain extent. Definitely a better treatment of the Beast Wars franhise than Hasbro is giving us this year.

Amelie wrote:
Rodimus Prime might be a bit of a naff figure (blame the fact he was downsized from being the same height as Galvatron at the prototype phase), but Galvatron is, imo, easily one of the best post-diaclone era figures they made in G1.[/color]

WOW, big statement here. I felt that always went to Scorponok or Predaking (he's post diaclone right?).

EDIT: Oh wait, you wrote one of the best, then yeah sure. I would like to have one to confirm that.

william-james88 wrote:EDIT: Oh wait, you wrote one of the best, then yeah sure. I would like to have one to confirm that.

*plays violin* - Once upon a time, I was a Blitzwing, Skidz, Bluestreak and a Shockwave away from a complete 1984 up to movie collection.

Galvatron was one of the highlights of my collection. I had two, even - one for display in the box and one for outside. He's actually pretty posable

- Shoulder rotates AND moves up\down.
- Limited (but still has) elbow joints.
- Waist swivel
- Limited (not needed for Transformation) thigh up\down movement
- Limited Knees

For a G1, especially with the brick-a-sauruses we got post-movie... thats a lot.

Seibertron wrote:With all of that said, my basic point is this: if sets like these Platinum sets that are supposed to be celebrating the 30th anniversary aren't appealing to the very people that these sets are designed for, what's the point of them? As it stands, these sets are extremely disappointing, especially with the absurd pricing that just strikes me as an extreme slap in the face as a collector and as a Transformers fan. I am looking forward to getting to talk to the brand team about these sets at Toy Fair in 12 days.

In all honesty, I think this is somewhat right but has one fatal flaw in logic. I don't think these actually are designed to appeal to us, this particular "us" being the western audience. I'll go through the Platinum releases to date and we can check out the reactions as I personally recall them as I make the very long version of my point, but there's a tl;dr at the end of this post that got out of hand as I typed it if you'd like to skip all that:

• YotS Omega: Three camps of people here: 1) Yay, a Classics Omega! 2) Stupid Energon toys! 3) Zomg not nearly as cool as Planet X Chicken Ship :sips PBR:
• YotS Optimus: Outside of some diehard UT fans and OP collectors, did anyone care? I did, but I fall into one of those camps.
• Grimlock v. Bruticus: People complained that SDCC Bruticus was hard to get. Then it basically gets a re-release and people complained that it wasn't different enough.
• Ultra Magnus: "Too big". Great toy though, but yep, it shelfwarmed.
• Predaking: Well received, but general sin of being too pricey for most to care outside of G1 collectors until Amazon heavily discounted it. Also plagued early on by Amazon's careless shipping method: shipping labels stuck directly to the toy's box and just sent on with no protection.
• YotH Starscream: See YotS Optimus. Shelfwarmed hard.
• YotH Optimus: You love it now, but people complained because it wasn't a straight up MP-10 re-release at the time.
• All of the AoE releases: Many of these were great, and appropriate uses of the Platinum subline imprint. They were also too expensive for most to care, and had downright strange distribution and release timing.
• YotG Optimus: See YotH Starscream/YotS Optimus.
• YotG Soundwave: Lots of jokes, but mostly, see YotH Optimus.
• Insecticons: People mad at Kmart for the audacity of wanting to make a profit on something, only to realize their local Kmart closed up shop a long time ago.
• Seeker Squadron, Intel Ops, Trypticon: Well received and priced pretty much in line with what you'd expect G1 reissues to be priced at. Fun minor variances from the originals but more or less faithful otherwise. Might be the only home runs Platinum has achieved to date.
• Triple Changers: Let's not even get started. Love/hate abound in the fan community with little in-between. Confusing distribution and release timing to the point where some like myself had them six months before their official western release through Amazon.
• Dinobots: Does anyone care outside of Dinobot collectors such as myself? Even I'm waiting for clearance (well, and a paycheck, but that's circumstantial.) Also irritating given the SDCC set that already happened - why weren't these the toys in that?
• YotM Optimus: Cost not surprising, but also makes it a tough sell. Will probably end up like YotS Optimus/YotH Starscream/YotG Optimus, with a small boost from Beast Wars and OP collectors.
• Upcoming sets, both confirmed and rumored: These feel like Hasbro Asia originated ideas. Western audiences, especially those that import from Japan and Hasbro's Asian market, seem more than ready to move on from these molds.

Platinum has tried a lot of stuff, and used (or is going to soon use) molds from all but four major past lines (Beast Wars, Animated, Armada, Movie 1). These are presumably done in runs that I'd guess to be around 10,000 units, which makes the MSRP be what it is for these to ever get by a board room. Hasbro can probably justify their continuing existence, despite some past failures (or what look to be from outside), because they're all repaints, and I think these face a similar challenge to Botcon sets these days.

This challenge is maintaining appeal and relevancy when collectors' dollars are stretched literally more than ever if they want to keep pace with the hobby. It's easier than ever to import at very reasonable pricing, MP releases crank out monthly, along with said Platinum sets, regular releases, Combiner sets as of late with G2 Superion, TFCC and Botcon stuff, other imports, other licensed product, and bless your heart if you try all that and even the smallest dosage of unlicensed robot toys. So, even if they can appeal to a small number of folks as compared to say, mass release Combiner Wars toys, these are low cost, high margin items.

I think the best thing to do with these Platinum sets is to temper all expectations. Even I have fun armchair designing other concepts for these, and have done so in this very thread, but at the end of the day I'm determined not to let the idea of what could have been force any kind of judgment into what is. There's another main reason for this that I'm finally about to circle back around on.

Disappointment is fine and natural, but it's pretty clear that someone said from the get go that this "30th Movie Anniversary" product was going to use Classics/Universe 2.0 molds. Looking at the selection, many of these haven't been released through Hasbro Asia at all (exception being Deluxe Galvatron), so I think that's your likely genesis. I also look at comments in this thread about how the Platinum Seekers are not easy to come by in that market. Additionally, how about the pictures online or sometimes used for news when these sets get released in places like Singapore: there's a ton of this product on the shelves there! If I walk into TRU today, there isn't one single Platinum Edition release on the shelf. Same thing with Target, despite them actively having stock of a set online right now. I just don't think this (the western world) is a market being actively pursued for these sets, and quite frankly, I don't blame them at all for that when I think back to our cold receptions to many of these releases as shown above.

tl;dr We're probably all disappointed here in the west because these sets aren't for us, because they have no idea what the hell we want anyway based on our own behavior. Therefore, these sets are being designed with Hasbro's Asian market in mind.

Cool rundown Scotty!

I am just a bit surprised with your comments on this one:

ScottyP wrote:[*]Dinobots: Does anyone care outside of Dinobot collectors such as myself? Even I'm waiting for clearance (well, and a paycheck, but that's circumstantial.) Also irritating given the SDCC set that already happened - why weren't these the toys in that?

Isnt this this just the same as your point on the Platinum Bruticus? Why didnt you ust say 'see Platinum Bruticus'? This was also made for those who didnt get the SDCC ones but unlike the Bruticus, there was enough difference this time. That's the way I see this set.

It's a home run when you think about it. Fans get toys that used to be ultra exclusive in decos that were wanted and plus they get these awesome bonus heads. So yes, there is a definite want for this set. It totally sold out in Canada, faster than any other platinum release.

william-james88 wrote:Cool rundown Scotty!

I am just a bit surprised with your comments on this one:

ScottyP wrote:[*]Dinobots: Does anyone care outside of Dinobot collectors such as myself? Even I'm waiting for clearance (well, and a paycheck, but that's circumstantial.) Also irritating given the SDCC set that already happened - why weren't these the toys in that?

Isnt this this just the same as your point on the Platinum Bruticus? Why didnt you ust say 'see Platinum Bruticus'? This was also made for those who didnt get the SDCC ones but unlike the Bruticus, there was enough difference this time. That's the way I see this set.

It's a home run when you think about it. Fans get toys that used to be ultra exclusive in decos that were wanted and plus they get these awesome bonus heads. So yes, there is a definite want for this set. It totally sold out in Canada, faster than any other platinum release.

The SDCC Bruticus was, at its time of release, a highly in demand figure of a very popular iteration of the character from a game that had come out just prior. It sold out very quickly at both the show and online. This made the lukewarm reaction to the Platinum release somewhat funny to see, though given the elapsed time and amount of folks that had just gotten the retail release by that point, it wasn't a huge surprise either.

The SDCC Dinobots were a great set at the time, and the pop-up Ark included is an incredible piece of work. It wasn't a pain to get, and remained in stock on HTS for several weeks. It had some demand, but nothing like the Bruticus set.

Edit: clicked Submit too quickly.

Anyway, the Dinobots also have entirely new heads, which I think is a huge difference in its own right. So it is cool to see these overall, but the Dinobot and Platinum Bruticus sets are different enough from a molding, circumstance, and snarky-comment-potential perspective to warrant their own write up here.

ScottyP wrote:
Anyway, the Dinobots also have entirely new heads, which I think is a huge difference in its own right. So it is cool to see these overall, but the Dinobot and Platinum Bruticus sets are different enough from a molding, circumstance, and snarky-comment-potential perspective to warrant their own write up here.

Nice one! And yeah I dont get tired of your comments, the more the welcome. I was just wondering if you saw them similarly to the Bruticus release, since I did (as toy releases). And now I know why the circumstance wasnt entrely the same

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:
Anyway, the Dinobots also have entirely new heads, which I think is a huge difference in its own right. So it is cool to see these overall, but the Dinobot and Platinum Bruticus sets are different enough from a molding, circumstance, and snarky-comment-potential perspective to warrant their own write up here.

Nice one! And yeah I dont get tired of your comments, the more the welcome. I was just wondering if you saw them similarly to the Bruticus release, since I did (as toy releases). And now I know why the circumstance wasnt entrely the same

I think the problem with the tru bruticus set was that, by the time it came out, reviews had been out for these figures for a while. He came with the woeful grimlock figure right? And that thing turned off a lot of people; but the combiner was so awkward and disappointing that I think a lot of people viewed it as being a terrible release overall and not worth the price, even with a game accurate deco.

Hellscream9999 wrote:I think the problem with the tru bruticus set was that, by the time it came out, reviews had been out for these figures for a while. He came with the woeful grimlock figure right? And that thing turned off a lot of people; but the combiner was so awkward and disappointing that I think a lot of people viewed it as being a terrible release overall and not worth the price, even with a game accurate deco.

In comparison, do you think people are more excited or less excited for the Platinum "G1" Dinobot set?

william-james88 wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:I think the problem with the tru bruticus set was that, by the time it came out, reviews had been out for these figures for a while. He came with the woeful grimlock figure right? And that thing turned off a lot of people; but the combiner was so awkward and disappointing that I think a lot of people viewed it as being a terrible release overall and not worth the price, even with a game accurate deco.

In comparison, do you think people are more excited or less excited for the Platinum "G1" Dinobot set?

As I recall, the only people excited about that set were the ones who missed out on the SDCC set. And others (like me) thought the heads were out of place on the AOE bodies.

shajaki wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:I think the problem with the tru bruticus set was that, by the time it came out, reviews had been out for these figures for a while. He came with the woeful grimlock figure right? And that thing turned off a lot of people; but the combiner was so awkward and disappointing that I think a lot of people viewed it as being a terrible release overall and not worth the price, even with a game accurate deco.

In comparison, do you think people are more excited or less excited for the Platinum "G1" Dinobot set?

As I recall, the only people excited about that set were the ones who missed out on the SDCC set. And others (like me) thought the heads were out of place on the AOE bodies.

the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

william-james88 wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:I think the problem with the tru bruticus set was that, by the time it came out, reviews had been out for these figures for a while. He came with the woeful grimlock figure right? And that thing turned off a lot of people; but the combiner was so awkward and disappointing that I think a lot of people viewed it as being a terrible release overall and not worth the price, even with a game accurate deco.

In comparison, do you think people are more excited or less excited for the Platinum "G1" Dinobot set?

I think the new heads help. I think the sdcc version was met with quite a bit of fanfare in general and a second chance to get them - with the bonus of new heads on top of that really helped it. Not to mention that the deco's were pretty on point and, if you can get past the monkey arms, they were all excellent figures.

I think the only people decrying the dinobots set are those that expected updates or G1 re-issues or can't get with the times of bay-formers, and those that bought the sdcc set; so I think people are much more excited for that set

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:The Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

That's where I stand; I see some stuff that makes me go 'oh, cool', but they price themselves far and away out of my budget, and, I don't actually care all that much about any of them.

*shoved huge shnoz into convo*

Personally, I think the most common problem on the platinum dinobot set was the use of movie figures for G1 characters. Old school fans like myself have been craving reissues or updated Dinobots for many years. Its why there are so many successful variations in the 3rd party market. We love our Dinobots, but the movie ascetic simply does not cut it. When I heard a platinum dimobot set was coming, I got very excited, even though I should have known better. The movie bodies just felt like a huge insult. Especially after so many actual G1 reissues.

Ironhidensh wrote:*shoved huge shnoz into convo*

Personally, I think the most common problem on the platinum dinobot set was the use of movie figures for G1 characters. Old school fans like myself have been craving reissues or updated Dinobots for many years. Its why there are so many successful variations in the 3rd party market. We love our Dinobots, but the movie ascetic simply does not cut it. When I heard a platinum dimobot set was coming, I got very excited, even though I should have known better. The movie bodies just felt like a huge insult. Especially after so many actual G1 reissues.

Well, if the G1 Dinobot molds still existed, I'd think they (or at least Grimlock) would have been reissued even before the Platinum line was a thing.

Hellscream9999 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:The Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

That's where I stand; I see some stuff that makes me go 'oh, cool', but they price themselves far and away out of my budget, and, I don't actually care all that much about any of them.

To me, it's fancy paint that takara could do on figures that may or may not be very good and very overpriced. That Junk set with 3 $15 deluxes for twice what it's worth? The paint is not worth it, nor to get the mold.

Now you see, botcon stuff like that makes much more sense cause it's for a show and so limited in stock, but this is trying to make a collectors piece out of something fairly easily acquired through other means at cheaper rates.

It may be for collectors, but it is taking huge advantage of said collectors

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:The Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

That's where I stand; I see some stuff that makes me go 'oh, cool', but they price themselves far and away out of my budget, and, I don't actually care all that much about any of them.

To me, it's fancy paint that takara could do on figures that may or may not be very good and very overpriced. That Junk set with 3 $15 deluxes for twice what it's worth? The paint is not worth it, nor to get the mold.

Now you see, botcon stuff like that makes much more sense cause it's for a show and so limited in stock, but this is trying to make a collectors piece out of something fairly easily acquired through other means at cheaper rates.

It may be for collectors, but it is taking huge advantage of said collectors

Well, it is hasbro after all. Maybe if they chose to use objectively great molds (like megs ) and gave them unique deco's befitting the title of 'platinum' (like megs ) - the platinum dinobots were halfway there, should'a lost the monkey arms

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

william-james88 wrote:The G1 stuff did well (as noticed by several retailers selling out) but before we see the positive repercussions of that, we need to suffer through the rest of the scheduled stuff while Hasbro plans out the rest of the G1 toys to release.

Very good point! Doesn't make me any happier about another Titanium Rodimus Prime release, but that's unrelated now isn't it?

Oh we are on the very same page. Unrelated but still depressing. What I find really sad is that pairing. It doesnt add anything to any collector's lives. There's a classics rodimus in another platinum set and we are getting a better scaled Galvatron with the proper alt mode the same year this platinum set is sold. At least with G1, you are reaching a different aspect of the market, the nostalgia of the actual original toys.

Someone with a decent Galvatron figure (which is what I hope the TR one is)probably doesnt need a Univere Galvatron anymore. But they could probably still be interested in a G1 galvatron toy simply for nostalgia's sake or for another aspect of their collection (collecting G1 toys, or original versions of characters).

Then again I am noicing a trend with these 2016 platinum sets. They want to rerelease the most recent molds of the season 3 bots, especially that decepticon trio (albeit in a different deco).

I'd be all for Titanium Rodimus if he's all plastic. The original scratched too easily and I didn't care for the heft. But give him an orange chest, a yellow spoiler, modern plastic... I'd be sold.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

I feel the heads work fine due to the accompanying deco. I dont think anyone can be a fair judge without having them in hand.

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

I feel the heads work fine due to the accompanying deco. I dont think anyone can be a fair judge without having them in hand.

To me, the knight heads really worked with the knight styled body, but it didn't work with the G1 heads to the knight bodies. It looked out of place

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

I feel the heads work fine due to the accompanying deco. I dont think anyone can be a fair judge without having them in hand.

No offense if you like the movie figures, but I don't have to hold a turd to know it's a turd. Movie figures and G1 homages do not mix.

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

I feel the heads work fine due to the accompanying deco. I dont think anyone can be a fair judge without having them in hand.

Why not? I have every iteration of the AOE Dinobot's save the Platinum G1 headed set. High res pics of the new heads were enough to convince me I didn't want them. It's all a matter of personal preference.

*Though part of me did want them for completions sake*

shajaki wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

I feel the heads work fine due to the accompanying deco. I dont think anyone can be a fair judge without having them in hand.

Why not? I have every iteration of the AOE Dinobot's save the Platinum G1 headed set. High res pics of the new heads were enough to convince me I didn't want them. It's all a matter of personal preference.

*Though part of me did want them for completions sake*

I just meant that sometimes things look better in hand. For one, no pic online has ever done that Swoop headsculpt justice. For me, I didnt see how well they could work until I had them in hand. I had only boght them because I wanted the SDCC sets and being in Canada, it was trickier and pricier to get. This seemed like a really nice consolation prize

But yes, I am projecting my personal experience of warming up to them once I had them in hand onto everyone else, which is not fair.

Ironhidensh wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

I feel the heads work fine due to the accompanying deco. I dont think anyone can be a fair judge without having them in hand.

No offense if you like the movie figures, but I don't have to hold a turd to know it's a turd. Movie figures and G1 homages do not mix.

So... evasion mode o/p isn't an incredible figure

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:the heads were very out of place. the movie heads made so much more sense on those bodies.

That being said, the Platinum line has done virtually nothing for me. There is simply nothing worth having there

I feel the heads work fine due to the accompanying deco. I dont think anyone can be a fair judge without having them in hand.

To me, the knight heads really worked with the knight styled body, but it didn't work with the G1 heads to the knight bodies. It looked out of place

The G1 heads made me interested in the AoE Dinobots. That's a platty set I'm keeping an eye on. That set and the classics Prime / Nerf-a-repaintron. I apparently have fringe taste. Most of the platinum sets don't do much for me, but every once and a while they are crazy enough to get my attention. The pricing model tends to keep me at bay, but they go on sale enough to keep me watching.