The Energon Pub

So, like the title says:

How will the Movie Line be viewed in 10 years time?

The Movie line is the biggest deviation in TF Bot aesthetic ever, take Deluxe Bonecusher for example, he looks like no other TF to date, all previous designs basically boil down to being humanoid looking creatures despite whatever verhicle or animal elements are present whereas Bonecrusher is distinctly alien in appearance.

And this got me wondering about how we'll look back on this Movie style in a decade or so.

Take for example the Generation 2 line, I know G2 was mocked and vilified for along time as being souless plastic junk in an acid trip colour pastiche but today it's recognised as having some truely great molds and making huge advances in articulation, there are many people(myself included) who would welcome reissue of certain molds(Turbomasters, Skyscorchers, Laser Rods, Clench - I'd buy all these).

I think don't think the Movie line will have the widespread fondness G1 or Classics gets but rather be appreciated by a smaller, hard core of fans - kind of like Beast wars, you either don't like it(Truck not Monkey!) or you love it alot, few people are in between.

looking at my Movie collection I think they are fascinating designs that will remain that way for years not because they remind me of the characters the I've been endeared to since a young age but because of their odd alien feel, that's rather foreign to a TF fan and stands apart in a collection.

Your thoughts people?

I figure they will be valuable as far as any collectables go.

Some wil be more in demand like any one of the 08 Bumblebee's and Leader Prime...

But otherwise, on a whole, I think they will increase in value well, but not realy more so than say the Armada bots today.

Realy what I think it will come down to is the rarity of varient seeming as that the movie has had multile repedative redecos.

Then again, 10 years time will tell...

I guessing characters featured in the Movie will be alot more valuable than those who weren't like Dropkick for example.

Considering what MISB G1 stuff sells for 25 years after it came out I can't help but wonder what a sealed Leader Prime will go for on Ebay in 2032

I don't think Movie toys will appreciate in value as much as G1 toys have because people will be keeping them mint in the hopes that the same will happen to them. Mint G1s are rare - I don't think mint Movie toys will be as rare. But maybe I'll be wrong.

Remembered for the Movie aesthetic they brought to the toys.
They'll probably appreciate, but not as much as there's a lot of product out there.

Craven Knight wrote:I guessing characters featured in the Movie will be alot more valuable than those who weren't like Dropkick for example.

Considering what MISB G1 stuff sells for 25 years after it came out I can't help but wonder what a sealed Leader Prime will go for on Ebay in 2032

its always hard to tell.

the differnce between G1 and BW onwards is that G1 was the first time TF for TF and relatively few were kept sealed/displayed/kept boxes. When BW arrived tf fans were getting old enough to buy and keep as collectibles (as did i) and more so with later toy lines, there will be masses of MISB movie toys out there just, maybe more so than for any since BW.

In a nut shell:when G1 was around there were few adult collectors buying them up and taking care of them, with the movie line theres a significant % of the toys being not being played with or even opened.

from my perspective the movie toys (except for some of the legends) have no character, no charm, in fact the average armada minicon oozes more fun than a movie toy. Todays kids might get more nostalgic over the animated toys.

Mykltron wrote:I don't think Movie toys will appreciate in value as much as G1 toys have because people will be keeping them mint in the hopes that the same will happen to them. Mint G1s are rare - I don't think mint Movie toys will be as rare. But maybe I'll be wrong.

yup.

heck, its possible to buy some MISB beastwars toys for around their original retail price, they are now 13 years old which is interesting as that would be the equivalent of say a 1988 G1 toy in 2001!!! im sure gen 1 MISB on ebay at that time were already high priced

10 years? okay, lemme see...

...oh crap, did Ironhide's Automorph malfunction already? to the bargain lots then!

i don't see much value on them 10 years from now, especially when bought loose. these things have the most uneven plastic, QC and paint apps ever, and the Automorph probably will be the first feature to go once things start breaking up.

logically speaking, the way Hasbro has been churning out these toys and distributing them worldwide, these will easily become the most saturated TF line ever in terms of availability. so i'd only see minor increases in price value over time (more supply than demand almost always has the tendency to lower prices).

oh, and this line will probably be more remembered for the Concept BB hoarding in its early stages than anything else.

zemper wrote:10 years? okay, lemme see...

...oh crap, did Ironhide's Automorph malfunction already? to the bargain lots then!

i don't see much value on them 10 years from now, especially when bought loose. these things have the most uneven plastic, QC and paint apps ever, and the Automorph probably will be the first feature to go once things start breaking up.

logically speaking, the way Hasbro has been churning out these toys and distributing them worldwide, these will easily become the most saturated TF line ever in terms of availability. so i'd only see minor increases in price value over time (more supply than demand almost always has the tendency to lower prices).

oh, and this line will probably be more remembered for the Concept BB hoarding in its early stages than anything else.

the frustration factor of these toys is something that actually might put kids off generally, they arent much fun, i wonder if they will get all nostalgic about them in later years?

I can bet that when animated arrived kids will be way more engaged with them

First, it depends on how many movies they make, for all we know Transformers five may be in theaters in ten years, if so we’ll probably see a great demand for the toys we have now.

More than likely though it will just be remembered like every other TF series before it, a good movie with fun toys.

Mykltron wrote:I don't think Movie toys will appreciate in value as much as G1 toys have because people will be keeping them mint in the hopes that the same will happen to them. Mint G1s are rare - I don't think mint Movie toys will be as rare. But maybe I'll be wrong.

From a "value" standpoint I also agree with this. It's entirely possible their price peak has already passed with figures like Concept BB selling for well over 40 bucks on eBay and such when the demand was through the roof and the availability was nonexistent.

And now that most everyone interested has theirs, plus one to keep MISB, and the hype is dying and the 500 different repaints available...if you bought as an investment, I can't imagine you're going to be laughing your way to the bank anytime soon.

As for how people will view them in general, I would guess it'll be similar to how it is now. Some think they're great and others think they're a waste of plastic.

Except for a few rare figures in each line, none will have the same worldwide appeal and demand for original G1 toys.

The movie toys will see some extra life because over the next 6 or 7 years there will be two more Transformers movies to revive the movie line. Even though each movie will undoubtedly have its own run of figures, some people new to the game will seek out the original movie toys as they get into collecting inspired by the movies.

Therefore, even though the movie toys lack the quality of previous lines, they have a strong storyline that will be extended by future movie releases and that will lead to collectability. Keep in mind that the character sells the toy more than the design of the figure. That is why Primes and Bumblebees are often the most sought after figures.

NotEnoughKibble wrote:
And now that most everyone interested has theirs, plus one to keep MISB, and the hype is dying and the 500 different repaints available...if you bought as an investment, I can't imagine you're going to be laughing your way to the bank anytime soon.

that's why i generally open my TFTM toys (er, those that i bought before that is) - there's no point in keeping them MISB, seeing as to how saturated the market is with these and their repaints i doubt if it'll ever appreciate in value much unlike G1 and Alts/BT. of course, excepting the extras that i have i keep MISB for future trade purposes.

The only way I could see the movie line going up higher in value would be if they were greatly underproduced. Most of the recent store exclusives can be obtained for a somewhat decent price depending on where you go.

Personally, I'm in this for myself. Its very rare that I keep anyting in its package anymore no matter what TF line or other kind of figure it is.

Ten years from now, MOST movie figures will either be broken, lost, or ruined because of their fragile nature. The ball-jointed ones will be floppy messes. The little deluxes wil be busted up, especially their auto-morphs. Paint will be messed up as well. They are the LEAST durable/playable Transformers I have ever seen marketed to kids ages 5 and up.

That will mean one of two things:

A) People will want to buy them real badly because they wish theirs hadn't broken and they want to replace them. They have this desire because the movie figures were different and innovative in their designs.

B) They will be worthless because people got sick of the automorphs breaking, cheap paint apps, and not so durable construction.

It also depends on the figures too. I think Leader Prime will be worth quite a bit since he is so bad-a$$. Leader Megatron will be desireable as well because people who did not buy him then, will wish they had him 10 years in the future. The exclusives will be worth the most.

Movie line will be less attractive, think about the Beast Machines line. It had new inventions, a newer, however crap look, but they are worth only a bit more (some even less) than they were on storeshelves. Some, however may increase their value, like Ironhide (there were very few of them, and the Premium version isn't that better)

It's a bit early to start prognosticating, but here's how I think it'll be remembered:

1 ) REPAINTS GALORE! Good lord, there's HOW many versions of the CC Bumblebee mold? Regular, Cliffjumper, Stealth, Premium, and from what I understand the "Capture Bumblebee" version is different from the Premium... that's five there, and only ONE is supposedly a different character. With Jazz, we got regular, Battle Damage, G1 redeco, and Premium, with NO new characters. Even Bonecrusher, who is on-screen all of ten minutes, gets a repaint.

2 ) The first line since Beast Machines where a given character has multiple different molds. Bumblebee (in his CC version alone) has LOC, Cyber-Slammers, FAB, CC Deluxe, and Ultimate Bumblebee.

3 ) The first line since G1 where non-transforming action figures" have been a part of the actual main line. In this case, that includes the Beatmix, the Cyberstompin', and the Robot Replicas.

4 ) A line where many of the minor characters ended up with more fun toys than major ones. There is no doubt in my mind that Wreckage and Longarm are more fun than Deluxe Brawl and Barricade.

5 ) A line that promoted style over substance. The molds are beautiful, even for the minor characters, with intricate details and cool little touches. But too many are just plain difficult to transform without breaking something, and the plastics just feel too thin and flimsy.

I think when we look back at the movie line, we'll see it for what it really is, a big movie cash in. When we look back at any TF line, whether you loved it or hated it, there's always a certain toy that stuck out as one for the ages. You may hate Armada, but deluxe Optimus/Nemesis Prime and Tidalwave are badass. Once the Animated toys hit, all my movie figures are going in a box. Not 1 has wow'ed me enough to want the shelf space.

A while ago I'd have been tempted to say that I don't think it will last well at all and be largely ignored except by niche collectors, but the line has become so huge (9+ waves I think!?)that it's bound to stand out as an extremely significant factor in TF history. Additionally, I think it's entirely likely that the movie brought TF out into the limelight again, and introduced it to younger consumers who had been passed by by the Unicron Trilogy, or to people who remembered it from the 80's, but who had forgotten until the movie came out. For that reason I think it may actually carry the same nostalgic weight that G1 does for a lot of people who may have discovered or rediscovered Transformers thanks to the movie and its toy line.

As far as designs go, I don't think how different they look will make an enormous amount of difference. It seems that change is simply what happens to Transformers- look at Animated!

Movie bots will always have a place in my heart. I have a special fondness for Cybertron series too but Movie is also up there.

I think the movie line will remain liked for years to come.

The Cactus wrote:... I think it's entirely likely that the movie brought TF out into the limelight again, and introduced it to younger consumers who had been passed by by the Unicron Trilogy, or to people who remembered it from the 80's, but who had forgotten until the movie came out.

You have a point here. I have taught 5th grade for 7 years, but I have yet to have a student who was a big Transformers fan. Sure, some of them watched Transformers and even had a few figures, but whenever I talked to my students about Transformers none of them really liked the Armada/Energon/Cybertron series very much. I never had a student in all my years admit that Transformers was their favorite program or toyline. There was always something better, like Pokemon or Dragonballz. The movie has changed that a bit but it is still not how I remember in the 80s.

I think adults who buy toys are more likely to be drawn in by the movie line. Many remember G1 but everything after that seems foreign to the original series. The movie, while still different, has pierced the "G1 were the only Transformers" attitude a bit and opened the casual or new fan's eyes to the Transformers world again. Therefore I can see a new collector buying movie toys and then revisiting the original G1 toys.

Raymond101 wrote:Movie bots will always have a place in my heart. I have a special fondness for Cybertron series too but Movie is also up there.

I think the movie line will remain liked for years to come.

Same thoughts here...

The Cactus wrote:A while ago I'd have been tempted to say that I don't think it will last well at all and be largely ignored except by niche collectors, but the line has become so huge (9+ waves I think!?)that it's bound to stand out as an extremely significant factor in TF history. Additionally, I think it's entirely likely that the movie brought TF out into the limelight again, and introduced it to younger consumers who had been passed by by the Unicron Trilogy, or to people who remembered it from the 80's, but who had forgotten until the movie came out. For that reason I think it may actually carry the same nostalgic weight that G1 does for a lot of people who may have discovered or rediscovered Transformers thanks to the movie and its toy line.

As far as designs go, I don't think how different they look will make an enormous amount of difference. It seems that change is simply what happens to Transformers- look at Animated!

evolution of a toyline is inevitable and welcome BUT that doesnt say anything about the merits of the new line. personally i feel the movie toys are generally ugly, they are ugly TF and they are ugly toys period. the movie toys pushed Tf designs into a direction that i didnt want it to go, they almost became spawntransformers with spindly pointy bits and WAY too much detail. i have never seen a movie toy that actually makes me smile except legends brawl!!

In my view the animated designs trounce all over the movie toys. From what we have seen/read so far the toys seem solid, have a minimal design, easy to transform, have character (theres arguably more character in starscreams face than in the entire movie line), they are bright and begged to be played with. I have yet to see an animated toy that didnt make me actually smile except lockdown.

Hopefully the movie will at least have generated so much interest in the brand that Tf are going to be here for many years to come, it maybe allows smaller side lines like classics to at least be viable amongst the main lines.

Grahf wrote:Personally, I'm in this for myself. Its very rare that I keep anyting in its package anymore no matter what TF line or other kind of figure it is.

After all, what's the point of having a toy if you don't play with it? Have you seen the Toy Story films? Pity those poor toys sealed up... unloved... watching through the plastic window as the other toys have fun...

That's why I collect Autobots... don't want the Decepticons to trash my study while I'm out...