The Energon Pub

Now before you start assuming this is news. It's not. I've been newsing so much lately, that perhaps it is fair to guess that any topic from a username in bold orange is news, but alas this time it's not.

There's been an issue in the past few toylines that has begun to agonize me. It's extrapolated in the Revenge of the Fallen toyline, and now I just can't stand what's going on. I'm talking about how similar the Transformers Movie toylines are with TMNT toylines. Now it might seem a bit off to think that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could be related to Transformers, but with ROTF, it's become ill apparent that they are getting ever so closer together.

What I'm getting at is repaints. It happens in TMNT every single line, and no offense to TMNT collectors - their four favourite characters always get repainted or put into a new suit of equipment over and over again. That's cool and all, and there's not much that can be done seeing as Leo, Raph, Mike and Don are really the only four main characters. I don't mind the Deep Divin' Turtles, or the Fightin' Gear Turtles, or the Ninja Knight Turtles, or the Air Ninja Turtles; it doesn't get old because it's imaginative and it ties in with other figures being released. Now apply that to Transformers and....




... you get really bad results. Repainting is a staple in Transformers toylines. It's existed since it's creation. It's how Hasbro thrives. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING DOES IT HAVE TO BE BUMBLEBEE! What really ticked me off in N.E.S.T. Global Alliance toyline - which is the second half of the Revenge of the Fallen toylin - there are two Bumblebees being released in the first waves. One of them is practically unavoidable, Battlefield Bumblebee, which is included in a 2-pack and comes with a Certificate that is mandatory for Mail-Order Ravage. The second is N.E.S.T. Bumblebee, a repaint of RotF Bumblebee. Add the fact that there was Cannon Bumblebee previously, and RotF Preview Bumblebee... makes it 4 times we've seen the mold this year. Then add everything from the first movie and... well..yeah, you get my point.




Seriously! What justifies this? I know repainting is cheaper than making a new mold. I understand that. But for once, wouldn't it be nice to have the third Arcee bike? Another Constructicon? Perhaps even repainting something else that isn't Camaro Concept Bumblebee? I know Bumblebee's the face of the franchise, he's the kid-favourite, he's the star..... it would be nice for once in awhile, that we get something different. It started off with the 2007 Movie, didn't falter in Animated, and now in every class, every scale, there's Bumblebee.

And while I started off comparing it to TMNT, I think Hasbro's take on Bumblebee is even more excessive. Atleast the Turtles get cool Scuba masks, shining armor, or air kites. All we see, day in and day out, is a yellow turd car on the shelves.

Do we really need this? Do we want 30 versions of Bumblebee by the end of the Movie Trilogy? I don't. I'm sure some collectors, specifically Bumblebee collectors will disagree with me. But there's nothing more of a turnoff to someone like me, or any younger collector without much money, is the same character, being repainted over and over again. Hasbro's aim is for the younger generation right? Please... they don't want Bumblebee. I don't want Bumblebee. Stop this madness.

Someone save us...


~Blurrz

(As I write this, Hasbro is planning a repaint entitled Human Alliance Nightwatch Bumblebee w.....)
(Turtle Pictures Courtesy of http://ninjaturtles.com/)

screw bb. he was such a miniscule part of the cartoon now all of a sudden he can take out anyone. makes me sick would love to see thundercracker come into the movie and kill bb in the first 2 minutes of the 3rd movie

Blurrz wrote:
Do we really need this? Do we want 30 versions of Bumblebee by the end of the Movie Trilogy? I don't. I'm sure some collectors, specifically Bumblebee collectors will disagree with me. But there's nothing more of a turnoff to someone like me, or any younger collector without much money, is the same character, being repainted over and over again. Hasbro's aim is for the younger generation right? Please... they don't want Bumblebee. I don't want Bumblebee. Stop this madness.

I would be willing to bet even most Bumblebee collectors are getting a bit tired of the tired, unoriginal repaints. I think it's stupid and pointless, but I don't mind too much since they're an easy pass for me. If I was crazy enough to be a completionist it would totally piss me off, though.

I haven't collected the ROTF toyline, save for some of the store exclusives with a "G1" theme, but I do follow the releases and I do see where you are coming from.

Hasbro is in danger of over-saturating the brand with one "flagship" character. My concern is that if some of the others don't get some coverage toywise soon, then EVERY subsequent line will need B'Bee in the forefront to make people identify with the brand.

At least with the 2007 range Hasbro (who I'm assuming are responsible) had the courtesy to throw Cliffjumper in.

If they had any sense they'd use the 2009 remold to do a 3pk, B'Bee, Bumper & Cliffjumper.

The mold gets reused, the collectors get their homages and B'Bee is out there on shelves, everybody wins.

I got one, cout it, ONE Bee from the movie lines, it was the 07 line's Camaro concept Bee, back when it was so rare that people were practically selling their firstborns for it, and any store that got it in would suffer a herd of fans and scalpers until there were none on the pegs. Since then I've been tempted to get the ROTF Bee for the updated car mode and the new bot head (though it could do without the constantly attached gun hand) but haven't bothered because I feel like I'd just be fueling the fire.
I'm sick and tired of Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee all the damn time... There's only been one characterization of this Bumblebee I've actually liked, and that was in the ROTF game... something about Mark Ryan's dialogue delivery really made him stand out, and seem kinda like a badass, but that definitely doesn't warrant like 20 repaints/remolds of the same damn figure! Give the yellow one a rest, PLEASE!

- Sam

Samsonator wrote:Give the yellow one a rest, PLEASE!

- Sam

The irony of someone signing off as "Sam", asking them to lay off the B'bee repaints! Sorry mate I couldn't resist

The did lay off it once, but once isn't enough, given the avalanche of Camaros we have put up with.

Personally I think they need to give the character as a whole some downtime and maybe concentrate on the epic & ongoing struggle beteen Op' & Megs, which is more often than not the central theme.

In the first movie line it wasn't so bad, at least we were actually getting different colored versions of 'Bee (Cliffjumper, Stealth BB). But the thing in ROTF is THEY'RE ALL THE SAMEEEEEE. It drives me nuts. I honestly don't mind repaints if there's actually a difference in the color scheme of a figure, but when you keep releasing them in the same paint scheme it's just ridiculous.

I like the NEST pack, I want it just so I can get that BB and Ravage! I already have soundwave. But this other stuff is just stupid, why the hell would we want random repaints!?

Blurrz wrote: All we see, day in and day out, is a yellow turd car on the shelves.

I work at Wal-mart, and I usually take a trip down the toy aisle at least once a day to see if anything new is in, and I haven't seen Bumblebee for awhile. We get 'em in, but they don't stay for too long. Instead, we have at least a dozen Ravage's and Mudflap's. Come to think of it, Mudflap and Ravage also clog up the shelves at Target, Kmart, and TRU.

Wal-mart did get a big mega shipment for Christmas in last week, so there are other deluxe figures in, but I didn't notice any Bee's. Skids is also a hard to find one around here, as I saw one in the recent Wal-Mart shipment, but he's been sold.

Also, wouldn't Prime and now Ironhide also be in the same category? At least a similar one. Prime gets at least one new figure a line, and has had WAY more figures than Bumblebee has ever has. Of course one could write that off as he's the original iconic character, so that's why. Ironhide had three figures in Movie 1(regular, off road, Premium), and in ROTF has had two already, both with new weapons. Who knows if there'll be more.

But back to 'Bee, I don't think the "TMNT" effect is accurate. The "Wolverine" effect sounds better, cause back in the old Toybiz line there HAD to be a Wolverine in EVERY wave: http://www.marveltoys.net/person.php?character=2&page=1&v=abcdefghijklmn It died down after awhile, but Wolverine has had a lot of figures, and is a better analogy to Bumblebee.

At least it isn't as bad as Spider-Man or Batman, and we're not getting four or five Bumblebee's or Prime's for every Starscream or Megatron.

I wish they'de repaint BB into movie Bugbite. They could even do a movie Waspinator maybe.

This is an effect that started with the first movie and it stems from the fact that the movies have relatively few characters.

In the G1 days a repaint became a new character, had unique abilities and personality, but with the limited character set from the movies the few characters they do have get over saturated.

In addition to the bazillion repaints, BB Prime and the rest get 50 incarnations as legends, deluxe, scouts, bumper battlers ad nauseum. In earlier lines these different size classes would usually be different characters.

Good repaints=great!

Bad/uninspired repaints=terrible waste of money.

But, as the saying goes, if you don't like it, don't buy it. I know, I know, that doesn't work for completists, etc, etc. It's just what I do to keep myself sane.

I've never gotten excited over a repaint so seeing the same mold ad infinitum is very boring.

kirbenvost wrote:Good repaints=great!

Bad/uninspired repaints=terrible waste of money.

This is how I see things too. I really enjoy good repaints because I think a good colour scheme can significantly affect a figure's appearance. Some molds seem perfect for a repaint to homage another character or may not be the greatest figure with one colour scheme but when given a repaint, it totally elevates the figure's appearance.

I'm not a fan of the army of movie BB repaints but I don't really care about them. I have HA BB and it's such a good figure, the other BBs might as well not exist.

On the other hand, I do agree that at least TMNT repainted figures had a lot of extra work done like adding accessories.

Duke of Luns wrote:At least it isn't as bad as Spider-Man or Batman, and we're not getting four or five Bumblebee's or Prime's for every Starscream or Megatron.

Absolutely... I was going to bring up the Batman example. I'm not much of a collector, myself; I only pick up figs that really, really interest me, but the oversaturation of BB toys does have the effect of setting him first and foremost in the minds of younger fans. Years down the line, those kids will look back and reminice about the awesomeness that was BB in the way older fans (like myself) venerate Optimus...

I'm not a huge fan of the Yellow Mime, myself. Never have been. Did NOT understand his popularity back in G1 either, so it's all a perennial mystery to me why ANYONE has a tingle in their wallets for him. I own one Bee--the 07 deluxe, which I bought solely so my 'cons could beat something up. (What?!?! You don't do this? You LIE!!!) And his Bayverse face freaks me out--what the heck is that on his face? A ball gag?!

So.... WAY too many Bee repaints. Always. Even in TFA line there are three, four Bees that are just repaints. That I can think of. The repaint/resell is a classic trick and one that I let Hasbro pull on me on any number of occasions (hello, Nebular Starscream), but my concern as others have stated here is that Bee then 'becomes' Transformers. Yay, the bot who pees on humans is the new face of TFs. There's a delicious Hasbro irony in that.

But I'm kind of torn. See, I KNOW I'm not really the intended audience/consumer of toys. Kids are. So part of me likes the ideas of the way that the repaints can 'extend' part of the story, so kids at home can use their imaginations, just a tiny bit, to make up a new story instead of just repeating the action from the movie. Like the Turquoise Screamer--so we find out he's searching for Allspark fragments. Cool, I could totally see a kid using that for a new play scenario.

But at the same time, sheesh, it just feels lazy of the toy manufacturers. I don't mind a bunch of renditions of the same figure (deluxe, leader, FAB, etc), but after a while too many repaints just seem...desperate.

HK, we can smell your desperation, Hasbro...

Ther's actually one size class BB didn't come in: Scout.

A pity because then I would actually have bought him. Of course, I wish all cars were scouts.

I do see where you're coming from. Oversaturation of characters is annoying. I hate when a repaint is supposed to be the same character especially if it's sufficiently differnt to pass as another character. Just lazy.

Speaking of lazy, I get tired of one or two line profiles on the backs of a lot of toys and miss the old atyle tech specs.

alh77 wrote:I wish they'de repaint BB into movie Bugbite. They could even do a movie Waspinator maybe.

I gotta agree with this. I don't own any B'B figure yet, I've always wanted one (and considering the thousands of versions, I've had my opportunities) but I don't like b'b's toy much. Other toys just always catch my eye before he does. If they made a repaint (other than Cliffjumper) I'd put it on my 'get fast' list. Bugbite would just be awesome, with purple stripes on a white Camaro. Oh Yeah!