The Energon Pub

[Aladar The Outmode]

So to explain things I'm autistic and I'm trying to help myself unmask. To explain to those unfamiliar with the concept, think a transformer in their vehicle mode all the time. So in an effort to make some progress on that venture I'm making this post to just list everything that annoys the actual living breathing physically painful hell out of me with the franchise as a whole in this day and age because part of masking is hiding the fact that something annoys you. I'm putting it here because you guys are among some of the most accepting and supportive fans I've seen and I hope that that remains true here. Feel free to post a response with anything that bugs you as much as all of the following bugs me.


The near constant reliance on the sacred toy commercial that is g1.
The lack of faithful recreation of designs from prime and animated in legacy (not asking for 1:1 but they NEED to match the series style and not be assimilated into g1)
The over abundance of collector focused crap clogging up the shelves in stores
The DiSpLaY and ArTiCuLaTiOn philosophy being the primary focus rather than the fun factor like it used to be
The lack of affordability
The aftermarket pricing for older figures
And finally the lack of genuine respect for anything outside of the allspark forsaken STC by corporate

If none of that bugs you you're perfectly fine and I have no beef with you but I'm done hiding the fact that it genuinely pisses me off. Stay awesome stay safe and stay outmoded everyone I hope this isn't ripped apart.

[Burn]

... I can agree with everything you've just listed there (and I grew up with that toy commercial)

[TulioDude]

Its okay, I understand how you feel.

[Aladar The Outmode]

Not gonna lie I thought the first response would be ripping me apart lol thx for the understanding it means a lot

[Gauntlet101010]

Agree with some disagree with others.

Personally, I'm tired of the same old faces all the time and I'm tired of the quickly updated toys we've gotten lately. I remember touching on this when Commander Magnus was revealed and not getting much sympathy, but I feel burned out on a lot of these characters. And it kinda sucks because this is my era; it's the one I'm most invested in. But they way they've handled it has really gotten my goat. And it's not just him, but a LOT is pointed to by him.

So Siege came out and replaced CW Magnus. Fair enough, it was a very different take on the character. Not ... quite what I was looking for, but who knows how long it'll be until we get a new one, right?

Not long at all! Kingdom comes out replacing Siege. Better bot mode, but vehicle mode is kinda meh. But it's a leader class and seems to be the last we'll hear from Magnus. Right?

Nope! Commander class, baby! At last, it seems they can't do any better. We're done. But, instead of a triumph, I feel like Kingdom was just a waste. A waste among a sea of waste.

I feel like, if they can't do him right the first time, maybe don't do him at all! He doesn't have to be in the line all the time. And some of this is on me too. I was dumb enough to get invested, I guess.

But it isn't just Ultra Magnus. Ironhide, Arcee, Rumble, Soundwave, Starscream, Galvatron. Just off the top of my head. How many people bought Siege because those guys were "Earth mode enough"? I remember that being tossed around a lot until they were remolded.

Like we don't need to see Ultra Magnus, Ironhide, or Arcee all the time. If these characters couldn't be done right, then leave them on the shelf. Don't release them. Make something well thought out and release that! It would have been okay if Ironhide was skipped in Earthrise. We did not need Studio, Kingdom, and Cyberverse Arcee all released at the same time.

Anyway, I'm glad we'll be seeing new characters in Legacy. Let some other characters and designs get some love.

I agree wholeheartedly on not matching Prime aesthetic for Prime characters. They G1-ified those guys way too much.

[Aladar The Outmode]

I've been irked by the assimilation game since siege with galaxy upgrade prime and hot shot of course by my own admission I'm an aesthetic purist but it doesn't change if you gonna give me animated Prowl he WILL match animated without the dumbass blocky bullshit we've had since oh I dunno off the top of my head classics when it comes to the oh so precious collector focused generation line (again not dunking on you if you enjoy it just sick and tired of it myself) the more I see of the stupid g1 stuff and the assimilations the less I'm willing to take anything less than go back to how things were during armada where the collector focused stuff was high end exclusively and the fun actually good stuff was all on retail

[Rodimus Prime]

The near constant reliance on the sacred toy commercial that is g1.

For me this is a 2-sided problem. 99.99% of the fandom considers the 1984 cartoon series "G1" and the start of it all. However, for me when the phrase "Generation 1" is mentioned, I think of the comic 1st, then the toys, and finally the cartoon. So even though I don't get so upset about the modern-day obsession with G1 that HasTak seems to have, I do get irked as well that they're slaves to the animation designs. Case in point: Legacy Menasor. I'm in the vast minority, but I'm all about comic book appearances, especially the profile pictures, and I do get frustrated with the G1 comics getting barely any attention. And no, IDW is NOT G1. It's G1-inspired. Like most other parts of the brand.

The lack of faithful recreation of designs from prime and animated in legacy (not asking for 1:1 but they NEED to match the series style and not be assimilated into g1)

Agreed. They should have been kept to their unique designs. G1 ended in 1991.

The over abundance of collector focused crap clogging up the shelves in stores

Disagree. Collectors get a small amount of attention, mostly in Selects and Studio Series. The overabundance is on the rest of the pegs and shelves, with crap that not even parents of little kids buy for them. Stuff that ends up on clearance aisles and eventually in the city dump.

The DiSpLaY and ArTiCuLaTiOn philosophy being the primary focus rather than the fun factor like it used to be

For me personally this is a problem on a figure by figure basis. Figures with extra gimmicks should be fun, but basic figures with nothing extra can be involving only to a certain extent. Don't forget that these are mass-produced pieces and profit is always the top priority. Otherwise we'll start seeing deluxe-sized figures at voyager prices (I.e. SS86 Hot Rod) as the norm rather than the exception.

The lack of affordability

Agreed, but again: profit.

The aftermarket pricing for older figures

Again I agree, but it's basic supply and demand.

And finally the lack of genuine respect for anything outside of the allspark forsaken STC by corporate

Once again, corporate respects one thing only: profit.

[Munkky]

In regards to certain characters getting multiple toys over a short time period like Ultra Magnus, Arcee and Ironhide, generally I don't mind it, but it's a case by case basis. For example, I appreciate Studio Series 1986 Ironhide and Ratchet being made and put at general retail because Earthrise Ironhide and Ratchet were part of Amazon exclusive box sets that were hard to get for many people, and I would definitely appreciate an Earth mode Prowl that's not part of a store exclusive two-pack. I don't think 1986 Arcee should have happened so soon after Earthrise/Kingdom Arcee, but I know the latter isn't a popular figure even though I personally don't have an issue with it. We don't need, for example, new Insecticons for many, many years now, because the Legacy ones are fine figures that I can see ageing well.

[Aladar The Outmode]

The near constant reliance on the sacred toy commercial that is g1.

For me this is a 2-sided problem. 99.99% of the fandom considers the 1984 cartoon series "G1" and the start of it all. However, for me when the phrase "Generation 1" is mentioned, I think of the comic 1st, then the toys, and finally the cartoon. So even though I don't get so upset about the modern-day obsession with G1 that HasTak seems to have, I do get irked as well that they're slaves to the animation designs. Case in point: Legacy Menasor. I'm in the vast minority, but I'm all about comic book appearances, especially the profile pictures, and I do get frustrated with the G1 comics getting barely any attention. And no, IDW is NOT G1. It's G1-inspired. Like most other parts of the brand.

The lack of faithful recreation of designs from prime and animated in legacy (not asking for 1:1 but they NEED to match the series style and not be assimilated into g1)

Agreed. They should have been kept to their unique designs. G1 ended in 1991.

The over abundance of collector focused crap clogging up the shelves in stores

Disagree. Collectors get a small amount of attention, mostly in Selects and Studio Series. The overabundance is on the rest of the pegs and shelves, with crap that not even parents of little kids buy for them. Stuff that ends up on clearance aisles and eventually in the city dump.

The DiSpLaY and ArTiCuLaTiOn philosophy being the primary focus rather than the fun factor like it used to be

For me personally this is a problem on a figure by figure basis. Figures with extra gimmicks should be fun, but basic figures with nothing extra can be involving only to a certain extent. Don't forget that these are mass-produced pieces and profit is always the top priority. Otherwise we'll start seeing deluxe-sized figures at voyager prices (I.e. SS86 Hot Rod) as the norm rather than the exception.

The lack of affordability

Agreed, but again: profit.

The aftermarket pricing for older figures

Again I agree, but it's basic supply and demand.

And finally the lack of genuine respect for anything outside of the allspark forsaken STC by corporate

Once again, corporate respects one thing only: profit.

The comics are really cool for the marvel side of things I'm actually quite fond of them to address the animation slavery I'm honestly at the point of it vanishes and it does so quickly toy or comic accuracy or don't do it anymore (more consistent than the animation anyway) addressing the small amount attention collectors get, it could be an area by area thing too cause all I ever see is boring samey collector focused figures while the fun interesting stuff is next to non existent outside of the TMNT reissues (hope those are good I'm gonna pull the trigger on them soon) aftermarket supply and demand goes over my head and then some which is why it's good I'm not a stock broker I just know I'm at the point where I'm gonna lose my mind if it doesn't decrease to the original retail price at max going downwards from there based on condition as for corporate just reformat and regenerate replace all the dumb out of touch executives and put someone who actually cares and gives a damn about what the minorities and majorities want and deliver something that will satisfy both fronts

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Rodimus is talking out his arse (big surprise) by not counting CHUG+ as part of the attention paid to collectors. While that does have kid appeal factors and wouldn't have gotten big without kids also buying it, the character selection and prioritization of articulation over gimmicks is definitely collector-focused. And it gets a pretty hefty chunk of the space at retailers... as does Studio Series.

Also, in almost all cases (at least with shared characters) the G1 cartoon and the G1 comics used the same model sheets with the only difference being color scheme (and that's when the D-list presses the Transformers comic was relegated to were allowed to color things fully lol).


And the comics could be just as bad as the cartoon about misinterpreting Menasor's model.

Wrt the original post:
* I don't mind G1 getting a lot of attention, but I think that should stay in its lane: the neo-G1 CHUG+ lines. It certainly shouldn't be infecting and dominating NEW universes and stuff to the degree it does now. I'm thankful Earthspark is mixing things up.
* Agree that the assimilation of Prime and Animated in Legacy is awful; Bulkhead definitely got the worst of it. I'm glad they seem to have taken the criticism to heart for Animated Bumblebee and especially Animated Optimus.
* About articulation vs. fun factor... I mean, articulation is something of a fun factor in itself - it brings a good bit to the table in playing with the toys battling it out, and it's also fun to photograph them posed in battles and other scenes (which articulation helps a lot with). But it's certainly not the only fun factor of value. Which is why SS86 Ultra Magnus lacking the cab robot bugs me, why I resent SS86 Ironhide being "Earthrise with integrated roof" (instead of going for the battle platform), why I didn't feel inclined to replace my Titans Return Hot Rod, Blurr, and Galvatron (I like the added fun factor of the Titan Master heads), and why I've always been leery of people moaning "where muh Beast Wars" and "where muh Unicron Trilogy" etc. wrt CHUG+. That stuff has more to lose and less to gain. There are cases where the tradeoff has been worth it, but also cases where the remake feels like a pathetic shadow of the original.
** That being said, some CHUG+ lines have brought other fun factors. Like the Weaponizer stuff introduced in SIEGE.
** I wish the Micromaster play pattern resurrected for SIEGE and Earthrise had been better-promoted by Hasbro. Either the WFC comics or the WFC cartoon should have leaned more into being a toy commercial.
** RiD2015, Rescue Bots, Cyberverse, and now Earthspark have at least been bringing some gimmick fun to the table.
* I think you're right to complain about lack of affordability and frankly Hasbro are hurting their profits with the prices they charge now. They should roll prices back to TR/PotP levels. They've jumped down the idiotic rabbithole of "raise prices to make up for low sales", which might pick up the profits slack for a quarter or two but over a longer term just causes a destructive feedback loop.
* Aftermarket pricing for older figures is definitely awful, yes. It's not simply "supply and demand". That's part of it, but I think collectorflation and an increasing number of people trying to sell them for a serious profit (instead of simply pawning old toys they don't want anymore) are bigger factors.
* STC?

Agree with some disagree with others.

Personally, I'm tired of the same old faces all the time and I'm tired of the quickly updated toys we've gotten lately. I remember touching on this when Commander Magnus was revealed and not getting much sympathy, but I feel burned out on a lot of these characters. And it kinda sucks because this is my era; it's the one I'm most invested in. But they way they've handled it has really gotten my goat. And it's not just him, but a LOT is pointed to by him.

So Siege came out and replaced CW Magnus. Fair enough, it was a very different take on the character. Not ... quite what I was looking for, but who knows how long it'll be until we get a new one, right?

Not long at all! Kingdom comes out replacing Siege. Better bot mode, but vehicle mode is kinda meh. But it's a leader class and seems to be the last we'll hear from Magnus. Right?

Nope! Commander class, baby! At last, it seems they can't do any better. We're done. But, instead of a triumph, I feel like Kingdom was just a waste. A waste among a sea of waste.

I agree that Kingdom was a waste. A frivolous "We need a Magnus toy out on the anniversary... but don't have a spare Commander slot to do an actual improved version so we'll just do a dodgy retool of SIEGE". Having got SIEGE, I eschewed Kingdom in favor of waiting for a Commander-class toy, and my patience has been rewarded.

But it isn't just Ultra Magnus. Ironhide, Arcee, Rumble, Soundwave, Starscream, Galvatron. Just off the top of my head. How many people bought Siege because those guys were "Earth mode enough"? I remember that being tossed around a lot until they were remolded.

Uh... 1. Galvatron and Arcee weren't in SIEGE, and 2. Ironhide and Soundwave are the only two mentioned there where "Earth Mode enough" is applicable.

Like we don't need to see Ultra Magnus, Ironhide, or Arcee all the time. If these characters couldn't be done right, then leave them on the shelf. Don't release them. Make something well thought out and release that! It would have been okay if Ironhide was skipped in Earthrise.

Indeed (he was an exclusive, but still). Especially since SS86 Ironhide was just "Earthrise with an integrated roof" (which itself feels kinda wasteful, but still).

We did not need Studio, Kingdom, and Cyberverse Arcee all released at the same time.

Dunno that Cyberverse is a valid inclusion in that list. What are you, the Hasbro exec who said "No Animated Cyclonus because Universe Cyclonus is close enough"? But I agree that the Earthrise reissue in Kingdom wasn't needed and arguably ER Arcee herself probably wasn't either.
Although, there is something kinda funny about us getting so much Arcee after it took TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS for Hasbro to get over the "Ew girl cooties in our toyline for boys" and make a proper G1 Arcee toy.

Anyway, I'm glad we'll be seeing new characters in Legacy. Let some other characters and designs get some love.

Eh... Only if they're not done dirty.

I agree wholeheartedly on not matching Prime aesthetic for Prime characters. They G1-ified those guys way too much.

Case in point.

I've been irked by the assimilation game since siege with galaxy upgrade prime and hot shot

Given that Unicron Trilogy stuff harmonizes aesthetically with G1 aesthetically I don't know that I'd call those two "assimilation", any more than you could say that of TR Sky Shadow (quasi-right figure made to get more mileage out of a mold) or Timelines Breakdown (headswap redeco that doesn't really match the character aside from head and colors). They're definitely crappy representations though.

of course by my own admission I'm an aesthetic purist but it doesn't change if you gonna give me animated Prowl he WILL match animated without the dumbass blocky bullshit we've had since oh I dunno off the top of my head classics

Mind you, Classics was a B-list or even C-list filler line at the time; it didn't dominate the shelves. Agreed about wanting him to match, though. How much do you think a new head would help the Legacy figure?

when it comes to the oh so precious collector focused generation line (again not dunking on you if you enjoy it just sick and tired of it myself) the more I see of the stupid g1 stuff and the assimilations the less I'm willing to take anything less than go back to how things were during armada where the collector focused stuff was high end exclusively and the fun actually good stuff was all on retail

G1 stuff in CHUG+ I don't mind, since that's what CHUG+ was created for, but I agree with you about hating the assimilations. And it would be nice if new-series lines got more space (especially Earthspark) and GEEWUN stopped infecting other lanes.

[Gauntlet101010]

Gauntlet101010 wrote:
But it isn't just Ultra Magnus. Ironhide, Arcee, Rumble, Soundwave, Starscream, Galvatron. Just off the top of my head. How many people bought Siege because those guys were "Earth mode enough"? I remember that being tossed around a lot until they were remolded.
Uh... 1. Galvatron and Arcee weren't in SIEGE, and 2. Ironhide and Soundwave are the only two mentioned there where "Earth Mode enough" is applicable.

My point about Duplicate toys isn't limited to Siege, but to recent toys in general.

As for "earth mode enough", back when Siege was first revealed there was a lot of hey being made about the cars being Earth mode enough to stand for new versions of Prowl, Sideswipe, etc. Can you count Magnus in there? Prime and Megs? Afterwards they were retooled into figs with actual Earth modes it feels like a waste to anyone with that mentality.

I remember a convo I had here once; I think it was on a list where I wished we got a proper Earth mode Datsun mold where I didn't have to pretend to not see the Cybertronian bits and was advised to just get the Siege stuff. Glad I didn't, but I feel annoyed for the people who actually did.

Does that make my point clearer? It's years away from being relevant anymore, but it bugged me about the last trilogy lines.