The Energon Pub

So I spent a decent amount of time analyzing things and crunching a lot of data within the last few years concerning the state of the current collecting scene as well as factors like bang for your buck etc and I came to the conclusion that all these collector oriented toylines if you can even really call them that anymore are extremely boring and unsatisfying to mess with since they all do basically the same thing. It doesn't matter if it's gi joe classified power rangers lightning collection dc multiverse or age of the primes, every single figure does the exact same thing barring the transformations given I mentioned age of the primes. Am I missing something here or am I actually on point with this notion? I figured I'd see what everyone here had to say cause I know if I brought it up on any other forum sites it'd probably go downhill pretty quickly and I've had nothing but positive experiences here. Having said that, coming to this conclusion has estranged me from some I considered friends and caused me to jettison most of my collector oriented figures only keeping a few for sentimental reasons and switching to collecting older better figures like the phantom menace commtech line and stuff like that where the goal was to be fun not overly indulgent in the stodgy sensibilities of the masses. So Sound off am I crazy or am I right?

Personally, my feelings are mixed. I tend to find well-articulated action figures more satisfying to mess with than ones limited to the Kenner five-point scheme (if even that), especially if they wield swords or bows, and it's nice to have lots of accessories too (especially for characters who did have multiple weapons). That being said, I do enjoy G1 Transformers and messing with them and their gimmicks (at least, on figures I've gotten complete enough to enjoy that), and I also enjoy My Little Pony dolls (where articulation was never the point) and DX Power Rangers/Sentai mecha (which are almost always even brickier than G1).

Gimmicky kick actions and the like can be fun, but they can also get in the way if there isn't a good option without them (*glares at the Revenge of the Sith toyline*); I prefer gimmicks that get less underfoot - like spring-loaded missile launchers (which do I miss Transformers coming with), pop-out weapons, grappling hooks with working spools (especially if there's spring-loaded firing or retraction)... Or the commtech reader chips (not that I've ever had a reader).

When it comes to Transformers, while I solidly enjoy the neo-G1 stuff I have mixed feelings on the new versions of post-G1 stuff. The tradeoffs typically aren't as favorable and some figures are outright worse or a lateral move at best. Armada Optimus is good, Hot Shot looks pretty appealing, and Megatron's alright. But Armada Starscream is "eh" due to coming out too small and not having the transforming sword. Cybertron Starscream is also too small and fails to have articulated pectoral cannons. And Vector Prime sucks. But overall I think Transformers is still doing a fair bit to add fun.

With Star Wars I think what sucks about the collector line is the insistence on using die-cast to cater to the whiny snobs who act like die-cast is inherently and automatically superior and any toyline lacking it is convenience store trash, because that makes it more costly than it really needs to be.
Well, it also sucks that they don't release mono-cases of high-demand characters (like RotJ Luke and RotS Anakin) in order to poison the well for scalpers.