The Energon Pub

gothsaurus wrote:yeah funny, the redecos you mentioned I actually really loved... Fracture and the Minibots.... and evil bug to play against Bumblebee. That stuff is great story fodder. All gets the imagination going.

I love getting new characters, especially when they throw us a bone and do some character development via comic or bio.

A few favorites that jump out: Glyph, TapOut, Ferak, various Botcon femmebots, Nacelle...

I have no problem with the Go-Bots reference redecoes. I was just curious if chuckdawg's sentiment about redecoes using molds that looked nothing like a character extended to them, since technically, well...

Mayor_of_Detroit wrote:I’m sure you mean well by collectors, but I don’t think the accessibility of repaints, particularly of minor or “enticing” characters is the issue collectors seem to have. The problem seems to be with the restriction on toy personality, innovation and individual quality. Here are some areas where I think your article could address the discussion further:


1. Quality of Character Representation

2. The End of Botcon Exclusives

3. Definitive versions and Long-term Iterations

4. Limitation of Innovation and Visual Styles

Wrap-up

Fans shouldn’t be afraid to ask for more from Hasbro, and collectors shouldn’t feel like they miss out if they don’t buy a disappointing figure. Transformers lines oversaturated with repaints will continue to exist as long as collectors will buy them.

Once upon a time, the Transformers Live Action films were the main Transformers lines, and fans were more than happy to give Hasbro a kind word of disapproval. Now we have an entirely new movie line of generally great quality which is almost universally praised. These improvements don’t happen overnight. It’s up to collectors to stick with their guns and voice their concerns, otherwise we’ll be stuck buying multicoloured fembot repaints forever.

Bravo, sir, and welcome. That was an incredible first post. Personally, I agree with a lot of the points you made, although I don't think following in BotCon's footsteps is that terrible of an idea. A lot of my favorite figures - Legends Slipsteam, Nightbird, my amateur customs - are repaints or headswaps.

Over-saturation doesn't seem like a huge problem, especially as it is now. All my opinion BUT - you don't have to buy every repaint. They may make four praxians and seven seekers, but you can have just one (or in my case none ) on your shelf. I don't think this batch of exclusives is stealing spots from other possibilities, they are creating those spots because many collectors like the logic of getting Ratchet from Ironhide, etc. Thankfully this is staying away from the main line. If the figures on store shelves, the brand's bread and butter, were all repaints it would be less pleasant. The tail end of combiner wars wasn't too great.

I definitely agree about the problems of G1 myopia - the same characters are remade on a rotating basis and too many resemble technicolor boxmen. That's why I'm skipping a bunch of Siege figures altogether - they are definitely making a crimson-eyed soundwave and lanky sideswipe eventually. Instead, I'm buying the "new" characters and things which may scale with my "definitive" figures.
As for the lack of non-g1 characters, I think 2020 will address that significantly. The brand team is definitely aware, as their words (more than their reveal slides) earlier today showed.

The only thing that irk me with these online exclusive repaints is that I have to import them. With shipping and the exchange rate, that make those around double the price of the normal version. Still, it's better than quadruple or quintuple that were those Botcon and TF Club ones.