by Wolfman Jake » Mon Mar 09, 2020 11:58 am
- Motto: ""A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller."
-Edward Hoagland"
- Weapon: Retractable Mecha-Fangs
The gap between Transformers toys made specifically for kids and those made to appeal to adult fans and collectors is widening. There was never a distinction before, but now, Transformers made for kids are becoming less complex and cutting plastic usage and paint apps to keep costs down and sizes up. Conversely, the stuff from Generations and the Studio Series has become smaller, but more intricate in terms of complexity of transformation, sculpting, screen accuracy, paint applications, etc. This has all come at the cost of...well...cost.
As meaty and satisfying as a lot of Unicron Trilogy toys were, particularly those of Cybertron, they were far simpler toys with loads of play gimmicks, like Minicons or Cyber Planet Keys that deployed spring-loaded extra weapons or other surprises. They were from a time when there wasn't a distinction between what kids want and what adults want from Transformers. They could afford to use more plastic, because it cost far less to develop those simpler toys, even with gimmicks attached to them.
What we are getting now for adult collectors are "mini Masterpieces." Masterpiece used to be the "adult" collector line, but now it's become more of a luxury line, with an emphasis on screen accuracy never before seen in transformers toys, calling for incredibly complex transformation schemes, to get the looks right. Generations and Studio Series are approaching the complexity of the Masterpiece line at a smaller scale, so of course the figures are going to be a bit more fragile. There are now many more small parts that go into making these figures look "right" in both modes, something that Hasbro doesn't see as a priority for the "kids" lines.
Always keep in mind as well the effects of inflation. Many of us who grew up with G1 began being able to buy our own toys around the time of Beast Wars and the Unicron Trilogy. Transformers toys then were fully plastic, used lots of cost-cutting ball joints, and generally weren't as faithful to their media appearance. The production costs were down compared to the beginning of the franchise, when a lot of the legacy Diaclone and Microman stuff still used die-cast metal and rubber tires. G1 toys were expensive, almost as much (given inflation) as Generations and Studio Series toys are now. We don't remember that since our parents bought G1 Transformers for us, or they were given to us as gifts. I didn't get a lot of Transformers as a kid in the 80's because they cost a lot of money. Regular plastic action figures cost a LOT less than Transformers then.
In short, Transformers toys have come full circle at this point. They started off as higher end toys, with authentic vehicle or alternate modes, die-cast metal, chromed parts, rubber tires, clear plastic windows, etc. Later on, when toy technology advanced and the cost of using plastic over metal was much more economical, production costs dropped and so did retail prices. Now we're back figures that look very close to their media appearances in robot mode, alt mode, or both, requiring new engineering techniques and transformation schemes to get the looks just right in an era where plastic material production is getting more expensive again, making Transformers as we want them higher-end toys once more.
Wolfman Jake - Spendin' the day howlin' away.
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The choices are either stop collecting, pray for sales, or swallow the bitter pill because you'd rather pay the extra $8-$9 at retail then pay double to triple the new price on eBay later on. 
Still a great figure that replaced my Henkei Astrotrain as my Neo G1. 
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