CyberAutobotProwl wrote:A few pages back someone mentioned the prigression of Disney buying Hasbro. Before that Hasbro buying WOTC. and WOTC buying TSR before that.
Well if that's the analogy im in really bad shape. WOrst case scenario. I have hope this isnt going to be too bad of a thing but overall...
TSR used to be great and hot. I havent played TSR games in a long time. It has long since cooled off and lost its creative spark. No one i know plays it or has aasked me to play one of its games. WOTC nought it and it is now bland.
WOTC was mega hot and fun about 15-20 years ago. THere were great "conventions" a la deck competitions and drafts even were fun times with poeple I had never met and havent seen since. It was a lot of fun and I bought a lot of cards for a while. Then it cooled down and I havent bought any except for a couple desperation decks in the past 10 years.
Hasbro bought it and WOTC pretty much ceased to exist for me. It is now really bland and holds a spot in the front of some mega chains. I never catch anyone but myself looking at them. It wsa probably the belgium companies hidden recipe of crack that kept me in there. Musta changed recipes.
now come DIsney a good company sure and has a lot of good properties. Sure it bought Marvel and kudos to them. But what have they done with it creatively but make it bland. No DIsney logo needed it just isnt very appealing.
Avengers was ok but odnt kid yourself on how good it was. In my own opinion it was a lil fun but just ok as a movie. And it was the bleeping Avengers?! It should have been epic. truly epic. I dont even remember what the story led to. it vaguely comes back to me. If I think really really hard about. COnversely I can remember DOTM fairly well and dont have to think hard about it. and it wasnt particularly great. just had things in it I consider worthwhile.
What has DIsney done with all of its brands? What has been striking or defining of an era. Earlier disney periods of my life I can say well that was well done here or there. But at least they had a lot of creative expression flowing out of them. Pixar is pratically carrying Disney on its back just like Adrian Peterson did with Vikings football team this season. But if thats all the effort they get out of their team they are creatively bankrupt. One part of their company will not keep the rest worthwhile and interesting forever.
Im not surprised Disney bought Lucasfilm. Its not like Geroge Lucas would retire and permanently dismatle the company as he retires. SOmeone would have bought it. THe only thing, that I can conclude is that it is the Hasbro family which I think is still involved with some things? that they too are thinking of stepping back and letting someone take over.
It is probably going ot be ok. But I sincerely sincerely hope this doesnt follow the pattern of hasbro buying WOTC who bought TSR.
Good properties come from creativity and innovation not simply writing out a check. Consider the Yankees as a baseball team. They outspend everyone and they can still not play the world seires and soemtimes be mediocre.
We don't have a choice but Im hoping it wont mean Transformers becomes a fad and then is forgotten. Cause it could be good. but it easily could be a watering down of the brand.
I agree with you on a good chunk of what you said. I felt that WOTC buying out TSR, which went bankrupt, was a good thing. However, even after they promised us some kind of Richard Garfield influence, we did not get any of that up to the point Hasbro bought them out. And after that, Hasbro peaked with 3.5e... But plummeted with 4e, and their sole focus (once again) of D&D's 4e system. That, and I wanted to b!tch slap the rep who proclaimed 4e to be the best system, even though their novelizations and games greatly improved (Daggerdale was fun, but did have a few issues).
With Marvel, much like LucasArts, they do not touch anything that is not a movie or TV deal. So everything is, quite honestly, on Marvel. So I am hoping that Marvel NOW! will fix all the issues created prior to the buyout. Then again, I cannot hate them because they created the The Transformers and revamped G.I. Joe for the 1980s.
And with Transformers... They are going to be 30 in 2014. So if this is a reality that does happen, Disney might push to add the original animated movie into their library. Add TOMY's Disney Label line to their parks and stores (under the Hasbro label). And push to have the Transformers line be more at-par with TOMY's... Hopefully also having a Transformers RPG be published.
... Primus, do I want a Transformers RPG that is actually playable and not online!