Rated X wrote:I know its cheaper than making the figures in America where they are designed. But in the long run, they get what they pay for with all these leaks and even unreleased items for sale early from the honorable factory workers that they pay 50 cents an hour. As far as the checklists go, yeah they are just pieces of paper. But what they symbolize is alot stronger. They symbolize a message of respect for the fans who collect. They say "This is what we got coming so get ready". In the G1 days, dont recall there being "waves" either in which you had wave 3 in hand but had no clue who was in wave 5. If anything, maybe you could call the combiner teams "waves". But they were waves with no stupid secrecy because if you want to know whats coming just look at your checklist. And thats when they were really just toys and nobody was really "collecting" them in the sense that we do today. Now that they are doing homage lines geared towards adult collectors, they should treat us like the adults we are. Not "look at the silhouette and guess whos coming" or "get ready for our reveals at hascon it will be huge". That crap is all stupid. Most people who buy chug figures are adults these days.
I completely agree that checklists should be brought back, but for a different reason; fun. The whole reason that I am an adult collector, and I assume I speak for quite a few others, is for the fun of it. I've collected TFs since '84, and I love the characters wholeheartedly, but the reason I still collect them is for the fun of it. I don't have to think about politics, the market, my clients, my kids' college tuition, my bills, etc. The argument that you make that you're a paying customer with a full wallet is a valid one, but more fitting to TT's MP line, or Hasbro's half assed attempt at importing it. The primary purchaser of the Hasbro product is still for kids, and that is evidenced by the fact that the vast majority of product is purchased at Target, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, etc. and not an online only 'Matty Collector' type format.
As far as the checklists, I agree that I'd love to see a whole lineup in one shot, but I don't mind the 'blackout' concept, particularly on things they're not ready to show yet; it beats the coy wink and nudge deflections that are given out at botcon panels. I don't know if you're old enough to remember getting the old kenner Star Wars guys when they were new, but sometimes the newer characters were blacked out on the cardbacks, and the speculation of what they were going to look like was half the fun right there.
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