transformers_va wrote:Why is Bumblebee apparently
so popular? Imho, he wasn't that good in the G1 cartoon, comics, etc., and the Bay movies didn't help with the whole not talking aspect to an already weak character. I'm personally getting annoyed at the focus in on Bumblebee, Grimlock, and Optimus.. there are
sooooo many other Transformers that are
much cooler/better than they could ever be.
Sorry about the rant, but with all the Bumblebees in the Studio Line..
Bumblebee is the kid-appeal character - on the small side, usually but not always yellow, has a lot of moxie for his size, often best friends with human companion characters if present, usually cute in some way. G1 Bumblebee set a trend followed by most subsequent kid-appeal characters to some degree: G1 Hot Rod, G1 Wheelie, Beast Wars Cheetor (Who spawned a quote about the concept: "Little. Yellow. Special. Kids love him."), Armada Hot Shot, Energon Ironhide, Cybertron Scattorshot (though he splits the kid-appeal duties with Jolt), movie Bumblebee, Animated Bumblebee. Don't know for sure right off about RiD (2001) or TFP.
Anyway, marketer logic (which is often out of sync with reality) says that since the kid-appeal character appeals to kids, toys of them are infinitely more marketable and thus they should get a bazillion toys (as well as get huge toys despite part of the character's appeal being that they're SMALLER. Beast Machines Supreme-class Cheetor, Animated jumbo-size Bumblebee, the assorted Leader-class movieverse Bumblebees - DotM Leader-class Bumblebee being the stupidest by far... And Hasbro's marketers never seem to learn despite how many of these have shelfwarmed. Including Supreme-class Cheetor, the one who started the trend.). RiD through the Unicron Trilogy, this bad habit was suppressed. But come the movies it flared right back up and hasn't been properly quashed since.
As for movieverse Bumblebee not talking normally most of the time and using radio clips instead, that apparently is Spielberg's fault. Because he thinks it makes him more interesting and more appealing. As for his being such a main focus, well... Kid appeal aside, the fact that they have to deal with shooting in actual physical locations means that his size makes him easier to fit into scenes than larger characters.
I do think there are a couple too many Bumblebees in the line, and the "one accessory per figure" thing (which has only a couple exceptions) is annoying and obviously done for profiteering (oh, you want Ratchet's gun? You have to buy a whole new Ratchet toy that doesn't even reflect a movie paintjob). On the other hand, some of them are nice to have. Classic Camaro 'Bee needed a new toy, the TLK Bee reissue is probably welcome to people who missed out on getting Proper TLK Deluxe 'Bee at retail because of how horrible TLK's distribution was (due in part to how badly Wave 1 shelfwarmed). But it is a bit much all the same.
hausjam wrote:I will pretty much be sticking to 3rd party from now on. Between Studio series and WFC, the immediate future of Hasbro looks rather disappointing.
What's your problem with WFC: Seige? No, really, what's your problem? We're getting a Chromia that actually turns into her car mode, a new Deluxe Ironhide/Ratchet van mold, Firedrive for people who don't want to buy
Legends Targetmaster Roddy, Cog to go with Fortress Maximus, a new and very G1-looking Voyager Optimus (it figures, right after I finally found a reasonably-priced CW Optimus), a cab-robot-and-trailer-armor Ultra Magnus who looks more G1 in robot mode than CW Mags did (plus seems to have a Voyager-size cab!) and while his altmode looks more RiD than G1 it can probably carry one more Deluxe car than CW Mags, a new Deluxe Sideswipe (a welcome sight since while Universe Sideswipe is a good figure, he's also one of those Costs A Heap Secondhand Because Because toys now. My only disappointment is he probably can't combine with CW Optimus since we still need a combining Sideswipe and Windcharger), a new Hound that comes with more weapons than Universe Hound did and is likely a little bigger...
I can understand being disappointed in the Studio Series, but WFC: Seige is looking pretty appealing. Certainly not grounds for "WAAAH WAAAH I'M JUMPING TO 3P ONLY EVEN THOUGH MOSTLY WHAT THEY DO IS MASTERPIECE-STYLE FIGURES AND NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF CLASSICS/GENERATIONS STUFF OUTSIDE OF 50 DIFFERENT NOT-DEVASTATORS".
