The Energon Pub

What happened to me today was a key example of how the movie line will be remembered, at least by me.

I went to wally-world and bought a Landmine. Sweet. Except it's head was busted, factory defect. So I returned it and got another one. Same problem. The tabs that hold the head on the neck piece were so weak they snapped from just being transformed once.

And this is how the entire movie line has been for me. I've only got 3 toys that I can even play with. This line was garbage in terms of quality. Forget the inovations or the realist alt modes.

Quality speaks louder than anything else. And the quality pretty much died here.

I'm not sure that the movie line is going to be memorable at all. I agree with a few earlier posts that the leader class Prime and Megatron may hold some appeal to the collectors, but overall the line wasn't anything too special. The toys were way to fragile and complicated(generally speaking) for kids to really enjoy. I'm a 29 year old collector, and am scared to transform my leader Prime just because of the flimsiness.
The line that I think is going to have the most potential is Animated. I'm NOT a fan of the hyper stylized look, but I think that so far the cartoon has the same magic that G1 had when I was a kid. It's filled with INTERESTING and distinct characters and the toys seem to have fairly simple transformation schemes. And I believe that for a kid to enjoy the toy, they don't need to spend 5 minutes on transforming it.
So, to sum up my long-windedness; I think the movie toys are just gonna be a footnote in 10 years, especially to the current crop of kids that are playing with Transformers.

returnofplex wrote:I'm not sure that the movie line is going to be memorable at all. I agree with a few earlier posts that the leader class Prime and Megatron may hold some appeal to the collectors, but overall the line wasn't anything too special. The toys were way to fragile and complicated(generally speaking) for kids to really enjoy. I'm a 29 year old collector, and am scared to transform my leader Prime just because of the flimsiness.
The line that I think is going to have the most potential is Animated. I'm NOT a fan of the hyper stylized look, but I think that so far the cartoon has the same magic that G1 had when I was a kid. It's filled with INTERESTING and distinct characters and the toys seem to have fairly simple transformation schemes. And I believe that for a kid to enjoy the toy, they don't need to spend 5 minutes on transforming it.
So, to sum up my long-windedness; I think the movie toys are just gonna be a footnote in 10 years, especially to the current crop of kids that are playing with Transformers.

good points. seeing bulkhead and starscream on youtube it looks like their transformations could be complete in a few tens of seconds. looks like the designers deliberately wanted to simplify the toys.

microclone wrote:

returnofplex wrote:I'm not sure that the movie line is going to be memorable at all. I agree with a few earlier posts that the leader class Prime and Megatron may hold some appeal to the collectors, but overall the line wasn't anything too special. The toys were way to fragile and complicated(generally speaking) for kids to really enjoy. I'm a 29 year old collector, and am scared to transform my leader Prime just because of the flimsiness.
The line that I think is going to have the most potential is Animated. I'm NOT a fan of the hyper stylized look, but I think that so far the cartoon has the same magic that G1 had when I was a kid. It's filled with INTERESTING and distinct characters and the toys seem to have fairly simple transformation schemes. And I believe that for a kid to enjoy the toy, they don't need to spend 5 minutes on transforming it.
So, to sum up my long-windedness; I think the movie toys are just gonna be a footnote in 10 years, especially to the current crop of kids that are playing with Transformers.

good points. seeing bulkhead and starscream on youtube it looks like their transformations could be complete in a few tens of seconds. looks like the designers deliberately wanted to simplify the toys.

Thanks. Do you remember when all you had to do was flip Prime's arms out, legs down, and head up, and the transformation was complete? Those were the good ol' days! I really think that the movie toys tried to be as complex as the characters looked on screen. And lets face it, the collectors can love toys like the Alternators, or movie line, or Masterpieces all they want, but it's the children and their parent's money that keeps the franchise alive. I really think that the gimmicks and complexity need to take a backseat to general quality, accessibility, and over-all fun to make a memorable transformer line.

I've been really enjoying the Movie line and for me they'll remain as a special place in my collection as the toys that brought me back into collecting. Since the Movie hit stores I think my collection has doubled in size as I added them, as well as went hunting for older Transformers that I had long desired.

I agree that the Movie line are not the simplest figures to transform, but for me that is part of their charm, I like the detailed designs and such. I've also had only one problem with quality and that was with a CC BB, but I got my money back and another one in better condition. I'm not really sure how the movie line will be viewed in the future though, I think it'll be one of those things that we fans will debate until the sun burns out. There will be people like me who love it and there will be those who don't, I think it's that simple.

Now I am one of those people who is on the fence with Animated. I was looking forward to the line but now I'm not so sure. I find the cartoony look of the figures to be a little much for my liking, at the moment I think I may just get a few choice figures like Blitzwing and a few other Decepticons to try and get my 'Cons on equal numbers with my Autobots. Right now Prime has the bigger army then Megs.

Well.. I don't know. When it comes to all toys.. 10 years down the road they will be sought after. I doubt people will think they are obsolete, seeing as my Beast Wars Figures that I have 10 years from then are still well-articulated and are better engineered than some of the figures today

I prefer sturdy toys with simple transformations that still have accurate looking alt and bot modes.

I really like G1 (and G2 for that matter), but I was turned off a by Beast wars. None of the subsequent lines interested me that much accept for the alternators and a few of the classics/MP. But I really like the movie line a lot--but I definitely think they are not for small kids.

Lapse Of Reason wrote:I prefer sturdy toys with simple transformations that still have accurate looking alt and bot modes.

seems like those categories fit Beast Wars toys to a "T".

I agree that the "Auto" transforming gimick will come into play when deciding if the Movie figures will be successful. Sealed copies will be desirable, but there won't be much of a market for loose samples with broken springs and gimmicks.