The Energon Pub

Sat Aug 14, 2010 4:10 am

Its been said that TF3 will be the end of the Michael Bay TF movies. That got me thinking, of how Hasbro has used the movies to bring TF toys back into a leading place among the mainstream. Like they where in the 80's. BUT what happens after TF3 and its toy line are done. Without that golden goose of the movies for Hasbro to sell its TF toys. Are we back in another down time, of lesser TF toy relevance and sales in the mainstream. Such as the G2 era and the unicron trilogy era. Or does Hasbro reboot the TF line with a new TF movie, or even a Beast Wars movie perhaps to become the next golden goose for sales of the "TF's of Tomorrow". What do you think Hasbro will do after TF3, to keep TF toys as popular as they have been in the live action movie era? Or do you think another down time era is in store for the TF brand post movie era?

Sat Aug 14, 2010 8:15 am

I could rant about this for paragraphs, but I don't have the energy or willpower. Bottom line, I don't want to ever see another movie come out after this, ESPECIALLY NOT BEAST WARS!!! Don't get me wrong, I loved Beast Wars, but a live action and/or theatrical movie? I would just outright die.

I say we need a somewhat prolonged lull once the movies are over and done with. But knowing Hasbro they will try to milk the Transformers for all their worth, so... bah.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:20 am

give us something called g1 reborn

News Credits: 2 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:23 am

Shadowstream wrote:I could rant about this for paragraphs, but I don't have the energy or willpower. Bottom line, I don't want to ever see another movie come out after this, ESPECIALLY NOT BEAST WARS!!! Don't get me wrong, I loved Beast Wars, but a live action and/or theatrical movie? I would just outright die.

I say we need a somewhat prolonged lull once the movies are over and done with. But knowing Hasbro they will try to milk the Transformers for all their worth, so... bah.

I totally hear you Shadowstream. After this last chapter we need to have a break from any live action films. Personally I think if hasbro decided to do an animated film (prefer to see classics/henkei/generations or WFC) I think that would be different. Now if they were to do an animated film giving it a spin like WB did with Gotham Knight... :KREMZEEK:

But IMHO the toy lines will remain strong indeed. The films definitely gave the lines a boost to the already strong fan base, and up is the only direction things can go...'nuff said.

News Credits: 241 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 10:46 am

UM Prime wrote:give us something called g1 reborn

Kids: "What's Generation 1? These robots look lame, they can't even move!"

News Credits: 14 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 11:39 am

Having Bay leave the franchise does not mean Hasbro will stop making movies. They might wait a few years before Restarting the franchise with something else though.

G2 started on the way down, asmost kids of the 80's had forgotten Transformers when they stopped being available in sotes for a while.

G2 with only a recycled G1 cartoon for promotion quickly died.

The A/E/C trilogy on the other hand managed to keep toys on shelves, and a Cartoon on TV for 6 straight years so far from a lull.

I'd like to see Hasbro move away from the movie aesthetic and try something else. I'd like to see Takara take over TF design again.

News Credits: 1235 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 11:52 am

Hasbro has stated that Transformers: Prime will serve as their master continuity and they have plans are for it to do so for the next 7 to 10 years. I know that Hasbro have no plans for Prime toys at the moment but it's hard to imagine that they will go 10 years and not make toys for it.

News Credits: 3 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 12:43 pm

UnknownTrans4mingBot wrote:Hasbro has stated that Transformers: Prime will serve as their master continuity and they have plans are for it to do so for the next 7 to 10 years. I know that Hasbro have no plans for Prime toys at the moment but it's hard to imagine that they will go 10 years and not make toys for it.

I have a feeling that Hasbro is try to pull a GW* on us. I wouldn't bee\ surprised if we saw Prime figures 2010 Q4 or 2011 Q1.

*For those that aren't familiar with Games Workshop's practices: They refuse to tell customers ANYTHING about what's coming out until 3 months prior at the least(and even then, they just hint at it). It's worse than Crazy Devy's teasing.

News Credits: 14 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:28 pm

They said TF Prime would have absolutely no toys. While this may be the beginning of a 10 year continuity, I'm guessing like A/E/C they'll change titles through the years. So we'll probably see toys for the subsequent titles in the "continuity".

Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:34 pm

UM Prime wrote:give us something called g1 reborn

...isn't that Classics? And if you're talking about a show or other media... isn't that Animated?

Also, we all know what's next. Movie toys in horrible repaints as Generation T- oh wait, there's already horrible repaints. In that case, Beast Wars II. Er, III. Beast Wars Generation 3.0, now with even more blinding colours!

Seriously though, I think in terms of the toy they're going to be riding the PCC train for a while, Generations has a lot of life left in it, and we'll be seeing repaints/remolds/random releases into the line of the third movie for at least two years after its release. Even if they have to repaint earlier molds. As for me, I can't wait for my Tuner Payload :3

In terms of the media, Transformers: Prime is it until further notice. It's got enough of the movie aesthetic (bleh, not for me) to bring the kids who grew up on the movies into the TV world, with enough new stuff to probably draw a lot of the collector's notice after the first season. Also, if Prime DOES end up having any toys they'll be a very long time coming. At BotCon they always show (almost) everything they have planned for the next year to year and a half, and there they explicitly stated that at this time there'll be no plans for any toy line for Prime whatsoever. Considering that the concept images for toys are done at LEAST a year before the cartoon is made, and most of the time the designs of the cartoon and toys are done in conjunction for consistency, I think we'll be well into season 3 if we start seeing any toys at all.

News Credits: 3 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 4:30 pm

I haven't seen a whole lot from Prime, but what I have, I think I could do without a toyline from it.

I'd like to see more come of WFC. More figures, another game, and even a show or movie.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 4:30 pm

Considering the amount of money the films are making, both in terms of ticket/DVD sales and merchandising, I fully expect that we'll see a new one within five years of Michael Bay's last one. Probably sooner.

The big lines that follow the films will continue to pave the way for toys based on cartoons, video games, fan-favorites, or new concepts entirely (e.g. PCC). Hasbro would be remiss to let the pop culture side of things dwindle as they did after Generation 1 and I would be surprised if it happens. They've worked too hard to get back to the top of the public's consciousness and I think they plan on staying for a while.

News Credits: 3 · Sat Aug 14, 2010 4:59 pm

Andrius wrote:Considering the amount of money the films are making, both in terms of ticket/DVD sales and merchandising, I fully expect that we'll see a new one within five years of Michael Bay's last one. Probably sooner.

Hopefully it's long enough in between for them to actually write a half decent script.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 5:11 pm

I can guarantee the following:

1 ) Whatever the next MAJOR line is, it will be something no one here predicted in either subject or style.

2 ) There will be an Optimus Prime, a Megatron, and a Starscream, and a Bumblebee or Hot Shot (or both).

3 ) There will be numerous homages.

4 ) At least one fan will wail and scream about how it "Ruined Transformers FOREVAHHH!!!"

5 ) At least one mold in the line will be cheered as one of the best molds to ever exist.

6 ) At least one mold in the line will be decried as one of the worst molds to ever exist.

7 ) There will be at least as many repaints/remolds as new molds, and some of those repaints and remolds will be from previous lines, perhaps as far back as RID or even G2.

8 ) Even if the fans hate it, the toys will be bought up like hotcakes.

Now, to save this message to my inbox so I can quote it every time discussion about a potential new line begins...

Sat Aug 14, 2010 6:55 pm

I don't like the Prime designs, the bots are too generic looking and they don't match their alt modes very well. So even if they make a toyline for it I don't think it'll be very good. There are infinite possibilities for toys though, there are hundreds of characters that could be used in the Generations line. PCC has a lot of potential if they'd put some variety into it. I'd love it if they made limb packs with different gimmicks like they did with the Minicons in Armada.

Sat Aug 14, 2010 7:32 pm

While I'm not buying them, I think the Human Alliance figures offer a lot of little features that I would like to see in other TFs. No, I'm not talking about the Human figures, but rather all the little accessories that pop out of the TF body for them. It reminds me a lot of the original cartoon season 1 where every Autobot was basically a walking Swiss Army Knife as well as a carl. For instance, Jazz had a grappling hook stored in his arms and a stereo and lights system too. Also, don't forget those little computer consoles that were in everybody's arm. Or plain old pop out weapons are always cool.

Personally, I thought that what the Actionmasters should've been about that. They can't transform, but I interpret that to mean that the mechanical advantage of the Transformer it self changed. Remember all those classics animes where a hundred missiles pop out of a single bot? Or maybe Radar dishes or solar panels. Or a gladiator bot with melee weapons coming out by the aft load, or a repair bot with the bot being the medkit/mechanics kit itself. That would've been awesome, and easy to do now.

Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:00 am

Bring back Binaltech\Alternators in a live action TV show set in Japan, they pretty much inspired the Citron C4 TV adds. (wouldn't that make a great movie) and it did