The Energon Pub

This is more me organizing my thoughts on why I feel it's time to move on from my Transformers Fandom then an Open Dialog.

I would of just did this in 'word', but I was thinking that maybe some of you feel the same way and this is a sort of 'your not alone' post.

I would love to hear what some of you have to say on my reasoning. I've come to respect this community, when you're not itching over each other on the extrapolated details.

Let's clear out some of the obvious possibilities-
No, I'm not getting married, engaged, moving, into a relationship, out of a relationship, new job, losing old job / income, or spiritual in any way.

My primary reasoning is that it is not the Transformers I grew up with any more. One good TF reference to describe what I'm saying now is from the cover of Mavel's TF Generation 2 #1...

"This ain't your fathers Autobots!" ...or something very similar.

Between that comic series and the Beast Wars shows, my childhood love came back more mature, just as I grew into maturity [which is synonymous with 'Bastard' during those late 'teen' years]. Violent themes, philosophical storylines, pseudo-swearing... TF was a friend that was growing with me.

Enter the age of RID and Armada. [I know that these series may be as prominent to some of you as the early stuff was to me, but instead of arguing with my opinion... just keep an eye out for when these feelings start to form in yourself in regards to TF]

This was the first example that sank in with me that TF had sold out. Instead of keeping with the successful [opinion] trend of evolving characters and storylines, the show de-evolved to the level of the hot marketing titles of the day: Pokemon, Digimon, etc. Television aimed at the lowest common denominator, stupidity, in conjunction with plots that require the collecting of 'product'. Like Coke 2, TF gave up it's advantage as the unique property, to be similar to the current trends.

I was about to give up when I heard of a small upstart called Dreamwave. Once again, the comic industry stood tall as a beacon crying out, "they won't touch us, we have cooties or something". Thank you, Dreamwave, for taking it back to basics.

I'm gonna side-step a minute here. What I mean by basics is good vs evil for control of fuel. Fuel equals power, here, in our real world as well. This struggle exists and has gone on ,more or less, since the first man took another man's firewood because his got wet in the rain. Today the middle east is a trading post where blood is exchanged for oil. An absolutely relevant theme to teach the morals of war... Thats why TF got along so well with GI Joe more than anything else, same theme.

Back on topic. So I cruise controlled through armada without looking back because i heard in the rumor mill that there was going to be a new CG animated TF series. Excellent, a new BW type show! Dramatic, smart, evolving, graphic... And with the advances in video game graphics, this should be more detailed than BW could hope!

Energon... Frag, what the hell is this... That train of thought went on until I heard about the KISS players. Now that was 'creepy uncle' mature. That should not have an audience. If getting me to say that Cybertron is not that bad was what takara was hoping to do, they succeeded. That doesn't mean I like it, it just means that by comparison I'm not ashamed of TF:Cybertron, or even RID for that matter.

Bayformers [because the animated one is called 'The Movie'], what a ride. I got here only a few months before it got the green light. I heard G1 re-write. Cool, back to basics. I saw the designs... had my doubts, but 'waited to see them move'. Release night came and went. I watched it a few times to be fair. I stand solid by the following statement:

Great TF movie if you ignore the scenes with the military, government, and/or s7 that are without a transforming transformer in them. Otherwise, It's a summer blockbuster.

I'm upset at how much money this movie made, but I'm glad to see so many coming out who wanted to relive their childhood.

The toys, the reason behind it all, for the movie should be the highest quality product line in hasbro's history. Instead, we get Optimash Prime, Cyber Slammers, and Leader Class Megatron.

TF:Animated. If there is a messiah to the TF franchise, I hope that it is TF:A. I already know what it is, though, and it's not helping me to keep the faith. It'll get the same chance I gave every series. Just as I'll give TF2 a chance whenever that comes out.

I'm not dictating where the franchise should go, it's not mine to do so. But, if it wants to go my way, we can car pool or something.

In the end of it all, I regret nothing of the time or money I contributed to this franchise, nor would I want to do it again.

Disappointment is an important emotion to guide one to their destiny, however, unnecessarily disappointing yourself through dependence on trends is damaging to every destiny.

I'll be lurking, Peace!
Nick


PS- pm me when HMW2 is up and running, should be cool!

I agree with you completely. At least you've had a good run and a lot of memories.

However, if you missed out on the Classics, you should really check them out. I can't wait for more of them!

finally someone with a bran, who doesn't jst scream "IT SUCKS!"
Congratulations on sucessfully expressing your ideas without sounding like a purist. For me though, It's hard to agree, because I was born into Beast Wars and grew with the new Series. (But you gotta give RiD it's props) Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed your fandom, and..erm...are you selling your collection



(P.S-If I were you, I'd definatly watch animated, you never know, you could get a nice surprise!)

The problem is with you.

Transformers has never been the same thing for more than 2 years in a row.

Not even the much beloved G1 maintained its consistancy past Season 2. Season 3 and post movie toys and media was vastly different than the microman/diaclone toys.

Transformers is always in a state of flux. You don't have to like every line or series. You might only like one series or line in fact.

If you've ever liked a series of Transformers, you're a fan. Just because there are other ways to enjoy them, doesn't invalidate yours.

Counterpunch NOT being a douche? What has this world come to?!!!!

Perhaps we're in Bizarro World? Anyways, at least this is justified & not just another whiney fanboy proclaiming that Megs face was messed up in the movie. People DO get away from the stuff they like at some point, although I hope it doesn't happen to me.....in any case, perhaps you shall re-discover TFs one day....(even though stated you wouldn't)

Counterpunch wrote:The problem is with you.

Transformers has never been the same thing for more than 2 years in a row.

Not even the much beloved G1 maintained its consistancy past Season 2. Season 3 and post movie toys and media was vastly different than the microman/diaclone toys.

Transformers is always in a state of flux.[/u]

This is a great point, and a tribute to Hasbro's/Takaratomy's willingness to explore all avenues of its creation rather than become stagnant.

Transformers would not exist today if it had rested on the success of G1. Even the best idea, eventually gets played out. If there was no '86 movie/season 3&4 , no beast wars, no unicron trilogy, no live action movie, TF would have gone the way of Thundercats. All these examples took TF in a new direction under the same premise. I would change CP's "flux" to evolution.

Do I like every cycle of this evolution? No, but each time TF is reborn, there is always something to be enjoyed.

Sad to see a fan disappointed by the franchise, but if more adult themes are what you need, than you should be reading IDW TF comics, they pretty much picked up where Dreamwave left off.

I know you werent looking for rebuttals, but really, TF reinventing itself is it's strength, not weakness.

Omnus wrote:This is more me organizing my thoughts on why I feel it's time to move on from my Transformers Fandom then an Open Dialog.

I think part of your problem is the other fans. I'll be honest, a great part of my discomfort with all of this as a whole, is the people. Not all of them, mind you. There are many great people in the fandom that not only contribute, but they actually give of themselves for the betterment of us all. But there are so many negative and whiney fans who do nothing but complain and don't actually do anything to help fix the problems, they ruin it for a lot of us. Not enough to end it all, but darn close and it's not fair.

Omnus wrote:I would of just did this in 'word', but I was thinking that maybe some of you feel the same way and this is a sort of 'your not alone' post.

I would love to hear what some of you have to say on my reasoning. I've come to respect this community, when you're not itching over each other on the extrapolated details.

And I see I was proven right on that. People are a big problem in fandoms.

Omnus wrote:Let's clear out some of the obvious possibilities-
No, I'm not getting married, engaged, moving, into a relationship, out of a relationship, new job, losing old job / income, or spiritual in any way.

All of those are legitimate reasons for a turning point in your life, or anyone else's. Don't dog the idea, it's more common and sensible than you'd think.

Omnus wrote:My primary reasoning is that it is not the Transformers I grew up with any more. One good TF reference to describe what I'm saying now is from the cover of Mavel's TF Generation 2 #1...

"This ain't your fathers Autobots!" ...or something very similar.

Between that comic series and the Beast Wars shows, my childhood love came back more mature, just as I grew into maturity [which is synonymous with 'Bastard' during those late 'teen' years]. Violent themes, philosophical storylines, pseudo-swearing... TF was a friend that was growing with me.

This was actually one of the things that kept me in the fandom. The changing, the evolving, the continual move forward. I'm tired of looking back at the past on a constant basis. Sometimes a change is needed, and TransFormers is one of those things that certain requires a change every now and then. Granted, I'll admit, not every change/evolution, etc doesn't work. I can see the positives and negatives to all of the TransFormers mythos.

Omnus wrote:Enter the age of RID and Armada. [I know that these series may be as prominent to some of you as the early stuff was to me, but instead of arguing with my opinion... just keep an eye out for when these feelings start to form in yourself in regards to TF]

These feelings *DID* form in me. About G1 and holding onto it for so long. There have been many great advancements that G1 could never accomplish. There are many downsides that the current (and recent past) lines have brought to the table as well. I'm not arguing with you, I'm agreeing with you, but have aspects of it different from your's. The principle remains the same.

Omnus wrote:This was the first example that sank in with me that TF had sold out. Instead of keeping with the successful [opinion] trend of evolving characters and storylines, the show de-evolved to the level of the hot marketing titles of the day: Pokemon, Digimon, etc. Television aimed at the lowest common denominator, stupidity, in conjunction with plots that require the collecting of 'product'. Like Coke 2, TF gave up it's advantage as the unique property, to be similar to the current trends.

Of course TF was sold out. Hasbro and Takara worked together to design the current lines (like they always have) and to keep a twentysomething property at least a blip on the radar, some compromises had to be made. I'll admit, the "Gotta catch 'em all!" Poke'mon feel to the Mini-Cons is a terrible feeling. Like I said, I see the negatives along with the positives. Believe me, I find nothing perfect about any of the TF lines. Nothing. You have to remember though, some compromises worked out for the better. You can't just blame the heads behind TFs either. TV is required to be dumbed down by all the standards and censors in place. G1 would never fly on today's airwaves. That's one of your biggest problems right there. One other thing you forget (and everyone does)...TFs were meant to sell out from the very beginning! They were always intended to be a thirty minute commercial for toys. If you think it was anything else, you're the one who's missed the point. He-Man was the trendstarter. The show started right after the laws were dropped that were placed against such things. Once He-Man started it, every property jumped on the bandwagon. TF definitely sold out, just to get in the spot light to begin with.

Omnus wrote:I was about to give up when I heard of a small upstart called Dreamwave. Once again, the comic industry stood tall as a beacon crying out, "they won't touch us, we have cooties or something". Thank you, Dreamwave, for taking it back to basics.

Dreamwave actually helped ruin G1 for me a little bit more than it already had. It was the most downtrodden, pointless, depressing, go nowhere bunch of storylines, and it lived up to that. It went nowhere. At least the G1 cartoons, and the Marvel comics were a bit more uplifting and lighter than Dreamwave's. It was a constant barrage of war, war, war, kill, kill, kill, maim, etc.

Omnus wrote:I'm gonna side-step a minute here. What I mean by basics is good vs evil for control of fuel. Fuel equals power, here, in our real world as well. This struggle exists and has gone on ,more or less, since the first man took another man's firewood because his got wet in the rain. Today the middle east is a trading post where blood is exchanged for oil. An absolutely relevant theme to teach the morals of war... Thats why TF got along so well with GI Joe more than anything else, same theme.

The movie does the same thing. Even though it's a cube, it's still a race against each other for power. Yet there's a twist this time around...we humans aren't the innocent bystanders anymore. We imprisoned Megatron, we experimented on him, we mutilated him ("all of our technology was reverse engineered from him. NBE-1, that's what we call him.") we used the Allspark like a battery and never gave a second thought to the awe-inspiring potential it really had. Megatron had every right to be angry with us and attack us for what we did to him and his people. (We kept the Allspark from the Cybertronians until the last minute. The military took Bumblebee's assistance to get the Allspark to another secure facility to keep it from Megatron, but never once did they ever mention giving it to the Autobots who truly did deserve it.) It's a battle for fuel (of life) for power (to create) with a twist. You have to be willing to see the whole picture, not just the pieces you wish to.

Omnus wrote:Back on topic. So I cruise controlled through armada without looking back because i heard in the rumor mill that there was going to be a new CG animated TF series. Excellent, a new BW type show! Dramatic, smart, evolving, graphic... And with the advances in video game graphics, this should be more detailed than BW could hope!

Energon... Frag, what the hell is this... That train of thought went on until I heard about the KISS players. Now that was 'creepy uncle' mature. That should not have an audience. If getting me to say that Cybertron is not that bad was what takara was hoping to do, they succeeded. That doesn't mean I like it, it just means that by comparison I'm not ashamed of TF:Cybertron, or even RID for that matter.

KISS Players are on their own level, I don't even consider them TF canon really. They're a fringe item for a certain market of Japan (where this is clearly accepted) and hey, that's their right. Their laws are far different from our's. We wouldn't want them coming over here and dictating to us how we handle things, we can't do the same to them. (though America does try it's darnedest, I'll admit.) The A/E/C trilogy isn't as bad as you've painted it. There are a great many figures to have come out of those lines. Yes, some of them were G1 homages (clearly), but figures like Vector Prime are just wow. (and there are many others like him.)

Omnus wrote:Bayformers [because the animated one is called 'The Movie'], what a ride. I got here only a few months before it got the green light. I heard G1 re-write. Cool, back to basics. I saw the designs... had my doubts, but 'waited to see them move'. Release night came and went. I watched it a few times to be fair. I stand solid by the following statement:

Great TF movie if you ignore the scenes with the military, government, and/or s7 that are without a transforming transformer in them. Otherwise, It's a summer blockbuster.

I'm upset at how much money this movie made, but I'm glad to see so many coming out who wanted to relive their childhood.

The toys, the reason behind it all, for the movie should be the highest quality product line in hasbro's history. Instead, we get Optimash Prime, Cyber Slammers, and Leader Class Megatron.

You should be happy that the movie made so much money. It finally legitimized TFs around the world. Oh sure, they were legitimate to us for many years, but our opinion pales in comparison to the rest of the world's. Well now that the rest of the world sees what we see, our voices are much louder. Not only did it give us our time in the limelight, it also ensured the continuing success of TransFormers as a whole and guarantees that they'll continue to come along, at least for a little while. That's a positive in my book and should be in anyone's. Success is not a bad thing, especially for a property that's over twenty friggin' years old! That's nothing short of a miracle, really. How many chances are we supposed to get? We're darn lucky we've gotten this far, and we should embrace it, not look down our noses at it.

Omnus wrote:TF:Animated. If there is a messiah to the TF franchise, I hope that it is TF:A. I already know what it is, though, and it's not helping me to keep the faith. It'll get the same chance I gave every series. Just as I'll give TF2 a chance whenever that comes out.

I'm not dictating where the franchise should go, it's not mine to do so. But, if it wants to go my way, we can car pool or something.

Oh I don't think TF:A could save the franchise for us. It could save the franchise for it's target audience...kids. It should've always been for kids, it's supposed to be for kids and we've forgotten that point. We're so self centered and say things like "it grew up with us, like an old friend, it's a part of us" well, it's a part of kids too, as it was always intended to be. We carried it too far away from it's intended audience (or at least tried.) If you're banking on TF:A to save anything for you, you're up a creek without a paddle. If you're banking on it to help continue making money to ensure that we'll have more TFs to come..then yeah, it'll save the franchise for us.

Omnus wrote:In the end of it all, I regret nothing of the time or money I contributed to this franchise, nor would I want to do it again.

Now wait. What the heck? You can't have both ways. You don't regret it at all, yet you'd never relive it if you had the chance? Sounds to me like regret. Which is fine, you're entitled to that, but face it, come to terms with it, and move on. I might consider doing some things different if given the chance (like going back in time, buying up all the G1 figures MISB, some for me to keep, others to sell on eBay for their original retail price and make the market bottom out. Ridiculous prices for plastic and metal...), but overall? No. I'd stick with the status quo because it's all been worth it to me. I've had buyer's remorse a time or two, I've had my run ins with the lowest of the low in the fandom, but not enough to make me regret the whole shootin' match.

Omnus wrote:Disappointment is an important emotion to guide one to their destiny, however, unnecessarily disappointing yourself through dependence on trends is damaging to every destiny.

That's your problem. You use words like faith, destiny, dependence when talking about a cartoon and toyline! I think you've forgotten the fun of this fandom and started to try living *in* it. It became your life, and when it didn't give you anything of worth, you felt let down. That's not the line or company's problem. That's your problem. That's your fault. If a toyline has any part of your life's destiny, then it's time to take a step back, and realize your priorities have definitely been in the wrong place(s). I'm not picking on you, I'm not trying to judge you. I'm going based on facts, coming from your own words. It's time you read those words and take them to heart, so you can correct the problem and find happiness.

Omnus wrote:I'll be lurking, Peace!
Nick

PS- pm me when HMW2 is up and running, should be cool!

You're always welcome here. We'll keep a spot open for you.

Sid Burn wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:The problem is with you.

Transformers has never been the same thing for more than 2 years in a row.

Not even the much beloved G1 maintained its consistancy past Season 2. Season 3 and post movie toys and media was vastly different than the microman/diaclone toys.

Transformers is always in a state of flux.

This is a great point, and a tribute to Hasbro's/Takaratomy's willingness to explore all avenues of its creation rather than become stagnant.

Transformers would not exist today if it had rested on the success of G1. Even the best idea, eventually gets played out. If there was no '86 movie/season 3&4 , no beast wars, no unicron trilogy, no live action movie, TF would have gone the way of Thundercats. All these examples took TF in a new direction under the same premise. I would change CP's "flux" to evolution.

Do I like every cycle of this evolution? No, but each time TF is reborn, there is always something to be enjoyed.

Sad to see a fan disappointed by the franchise, but if more adult themes are what you need, than you should be reading IDW TF comics, they pretty much picked up where Dreamwave left off.

I know you werent looking for rebuttals, but really, TF reinventing itself is it's strength, not weakness.

You, me, and Counterpunch are in full agreement here.

Problem is, he could see the difference, he chooses not to. This is one of my biggest problems with the G1 fans. They're completely unwilling to let go, or at least make room for more. Nothing can change, nothing can be bettered, etc.

You can't look at life like that, which apparently, collecting was his life, or at least a really big part of it.

This reminds me of a great statement I saw in a sig on TFans...

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.

Damolisher wrote::shock: Counterpunch NOT being a douche? What has this world come to?!!!!

Run! Its one of the signs of the Apocolypse!!!

Omnus, your reasons make sense and I can totally appreciate them but, as blunt as he is, Counterpunch has a point: Transformers has always been in a state of flux. People even argue that G1 season 3 was too much of a departure from seasons 1 and 2, and that was the same line!

The other thing is that while the cartoons are worse now than BW or BM, the toys aren't. I, for one, feel that the Cybertron line is one of the best we've had. Maybe you should shift priorities: forget about Transformers on the screen, ignore the Armada cartoon or the movie, and consider instead collecting the toys. Sure, the movie toys have their flaws (all lines do) but the Cybertron line is still readily avaliable and TF: Animated may be a step in the right direction. Who knows? Or maybe you would consider dipping into some of the newer comics from IDW. That way you could maintain an interest in TF fiction but not have to watch those cartoons you don't like.

One final note on the cartoons: forget about Energon but give Superlink a chance!

O, and don't take it all so seriously!

Autobot032, not to be difficult here, becuase I really don't mean to be, but people don't have to let G1 go if that's thier favorite series or line or whatnot. I mean, I agree with so much of what you said, but we don't have to try to embrace new or different series. If Omnus didn't like Energon or whatever because it was worse by his estimation than G1, that's on Omnus. G1's my favorite too, but I give the new stuff a try, and am looking forward to Animated. But I really don't like Armada/Energon/Cybertron as cartoons, and that's cool.
Sorry if I'm splitting hairs, and like I said I don't mean to come off like an ass, I'm just saying. We don't have to like every series or whatever just in the name of progress. Sure, there;s some great stuff in the more recent TF series, but people are still not going to like it if they just don't like it. At least Omnus gave it a chance, which is more than can be said about of lot of the fandom.

I don't see why you feel you have to leave "the fandom" (whatever that is) because you don't like the modern toys and media. If you don't want to collect TFs anymore, that's fine, but don't drop a hobby because other people make you feel you're not good enough.

I think the problem (as with most things in life) is that the people who are most vocal are a small minority. Most people don't actually care enough to argue who gets made next in Classics, or if Beast Wars ruined the franchise, or any other topic of discussion. They just like playing with toys and watching cartoons. But at either end, you've got the extremes of people who love G1/BW/Armada/Whatever and will tolerate nothing else vs people who love everything and will attack anyone who doesn't like a show/comic/toy/whatever.

Now, I'm in the first group. G1 Season 1 and 2 was the definitive Transformers. Don't try and argue with me, it's not a matter of fact but religious faith. I like modern toys that remind me of G1. The Movie has RUINED THE FRANCHISE FOREVER, but the franchise doesn't seem to know this and will carry on regardless. But I'm guessing it's not people like me that have made you feel like this.

My guess is you've been guilted by the opposite extreme. Because you don't like all the incarnations of Transformers, you feel like you're somehow a "bad" TF fan. This is cobblers. I'm going out on a limb, but I'd say the majority of fans actually don't like ALL of it. So why let a minority bother you? Pick and choose what you want to watch/collect/read. It's your money and time, no one else has the right to tell you you're doing it wrong.

Unless you're watching and collecting Beast Wars, of course.

Zombie Starscream wrote:

Damolisher wrote::shock: Counterpunch NOT being a douche? What has this world come to?!!!!

Run! Its one of the signs of the Apocolypse!!!

If it's the Apocolypse,... where are we supposed to run?

Whiner-tron wrote:

Zombie Starscream wrote:

Damolisher wrote::shock: Counterpunch NOT being a douche? What has this world come to?!!!!

Run! Its one of the signs of the Apocolypse!!!

If it's the Apocolypse,... where are we supposed to run?

To the ships, there our only chance!

OK you feel the same way I do, but I just stoped whatching TF a long time ago, I gave the movie a chance it got my respect, I'll give TFA a chance, I just read the comics and collect the toys, and watch my G1 DVDs.

Omnus, my friend, I am an epitome of the GEEWUN era. It was my first love and will always have favor to me, but Counterpunch and our fellow bretheren are right, times change.

Don't let different continuities of a ficticious storyline sway your love of TF's, but don't be biased to accepting new views either. Realize the fact that each universe is a being in its own, and try to enjoy it for its own purpose.

As my 8 year old nephew told me one Christmas when I got him both Optimal Optimus (The it toy to have that year) and a sweet g1 reissue Prime (to which gave him no interest)"Uncle Steve, I'm sure this toy was cool when you were a kid and you think mine aren't, but I like mine better. And when I'm your age, I'll probably think my nephews toys are silly too."

Kids I tell ya.

Your nephew seems able to accept what most of the fandom can't or won't.


Times change. G1 has had it's day, the Unicron trilogy is gone; the next era is the movie franchise and animated.




But I will remain new. I will change with the times.
I'm a cool British time traveller- I am flexible




I hope the future of tfs holds something you can hold dear matey!

Time is like an avalanch; keep with it or be baried.

Leonardo wrote:The other thing is that while the cartoons are worse now than BW or BM, the toys aren't. I, for one, feel that the Cybertron line is one of the best we've had. Maybe you should shift priorities: forget about Transformers on the screen, ignore the Armada cartoon or the movie, and consider instead collecting the toys.

This is a great mindset, I personally cant sit through an episode of the Unicron trilogy, it is just too painfully restricted in its voice over. I think it comes off ridiculous even if the idea is great.

BUT I love the Unicron Trilogy toys, and there is also alot to be found in the Unicron Trilogy Comics as well.

I am currently rereading the Dreamwave run of Armada, there is some great stuff there.

Minus some Armada toys, I can support you.

Dead Metal wrote:

Whiner-tron wrote:

Zombie Starscream wrote:

Damolisher wrote::shock: Counterpunch NOT being a douche? What has this world come to?!!!!

Run! Its one of the signs of the Apocolypse!!!

If it's the Apocolypse,... where are we supposed to run?

To the ships, there our only chance!

OK you feel the same way I do, but I just stoped whatching TF a long time ago, I gave the movie a chance it got my respect, I'll give TFA a chance, I just read the comics and collect the toys, and watch my G1 DVDs.

quick to the douch krusher

The Master Blaster wrote:Your nephew seems able to accept what most of the fandom can't or won't.


Times change. G1 has had it's day,

As is apparent by how difficult it is to buy reissues of the G1 toys, or DVDs of the G1 cartoon. Or how Hasbro totally ignored G1's influence with their Classics line. Or how comic companies won't produce G1 comics. Yeah, G1 is dead and buried.

Sledge wrote:

The Master Blaster wrote:Your nephew seems able to accept what most of the fandom can't or won't.


Times change. G1 has had it's day,

As is apparent by how difficult it is to buy reissues of the G1 toys, or DVDs of the G1 cartoon. Or how Hasbro totally ignored G1's influence with their Classics line. Or how comic companies won't produce G1 comics. Yeah, G1 is dead and buried.

bait much? The G1 argument has been done to death, we all have warm feelings for G1, you dont HAVE to defend it with every post.

G1 was and is great but it could not have supported TF for 20+ years alone.

Omnus wrote:This is more me organizing my thoughts on why I feel it's time to move on from my Transformers Fandom then an Open Dialog.

I would of just did this in 'word', but I was thinking that maybe some of you feel the same way and this is a sort of 'your not alone' post.

I would love to hear what some of you have to say on my reasoning. I've come to respect this community, when you're not itching over each other on the extrapolated details.

Let's clear out some of the obvious possibilities-
No, I'm not getting married, engaged, moving, into a relationship, out of a relationship, new job, losing old job / income, or spiritual in any way.

My primary reasoning is that it is not the Transformers I grew up with any more. One good TF reference to describe what I'm saying now is from the cover of Mavel's TF Generation 2 #1...

"This ain't your fathers Autobots!" ...or something very similar.

Between that comic series and the Beast Wars shows, my childhood love came back more mature, just as I grew into maturity [which is synonymous with 'Bastard' during those late 'teen' years]. Violent themes, philosophical storylines, pseudo-swearing... TF was a friend that was growing with me.

Enter the age of RID and Armada. [I know that these series may be as prominent to some of you as the early stuff was to me, but instead of arguing with my opinion... just keep an eye out for when these feelings start to form in yourself in regards to TF]

This was the first example that sank in with me that TF had sold out. Instead of keeping with the successful [opinion] trend of evolving characters and storylines, the show de-evolved to the level of the hot marketing titles of the day: Pokemon, Digimon, etc. Television aimed at the lowest common denominator, stupidity, in conjunction with plots that require the collecting of 'product'. Like Coke 2, TF gave up it's advantage as the unique property, to be similar to the current trends.

I was about to give up when I heard of a small upstart called Dreamwave. Once again, the comic industry stood tall as a beacon crying out, "they won't touch us, we have cooties or something". Thank you, Dreamwave, for taking it back to basics.

I'm gonna side-step a minute here. What I mean by basics is good vs evil for control of fuel. Fuel equals power, here, in our real world as well. This struggle exists and has gone on ,more or less, since the first man took another man's firewood because his got wet in the rain. Today the middle east is a trading post where blood is exchanged for oil. An absolutely relevant theme to teach the morals of war... Thats why TF got along so well with GI Joe more than anything else, same theme.

Back on topic. So I cruise controlled through armada without looking back because i heard in the rumor mill that there was going to be a new CG animated TF series. Excellent, a new BW type show! Dramatic, smart, evolving, graphic... And with the advances in video game graphics, this should be more detailed than BW could hope!

Energon... Frag, what the hell is this... That train of thought went on until I heard about the KISS players. Now that was 'creepy uncle' mature. That should not have an audience. If getting me to say that Cybertron is not that bad was what takara was hoping to do, they succeeded. That doesn't mean I like it, it just means that by comparison I'm not ashamed of TF:Cybertron, or even RID for that matter.

Bayformers [because the animated one is called 'The Movie'], what a ride. I got here only a few months before it got the green light. I heard G1 re-write. Cool, back to basics. I saw the designs... had my doubts, but 'waited to see them move'. Release night came and went. I watched it a few times to be fair. I stand solid by the following statement:

Great TF movie if you ignore the scenes with the military, government, and/or s7 that are without a transforming transformer in them. Otherwise, It's a summer blockbuster.

I'm upset at how much money this movie made, but I'm glad to see so many coming out who wanted to relive their childhood.

The toys, the reason behind it all, for the movie should be the highest quality product line in hasbro's history. Instead, we get Optimash Prime, Cyber Slammers, and Leader Class Megatron.

TF:Animated. If there is a messiah to the TF franchise, I hope that it is TF:A. I already know what it is, though, and it's not helping me to keep the faith. It'll get the same chance I gave every series. Just as I'll give TF2 a chance whenever that comes out.

I'm not dictating where the franchise should go, it's not mine to do so. But, if it wants to go my way, we can car pool or something.

In the end of it all, I regret nothing of the time or money I contributed to this franchise, nor would I want to do it again.

Disappointment is an important emotion to guide one to their destiny, however, unnecessarily disappointing yourself through dependence on trends is damaging to every destiny.

I'll be lurking, Peace!
Nick


PS- pm me when HMW2 is up and running, should be cool!

I feel your pain. You should do what I did- give up on Hasbro and start collecting from Takara.

Stormrider wrote:

Omnus wrote:This is more me organizing my thoughts on why I feel it's time to move on from my Transformers Fandom then an Open Dialog.

I would of just did this in 'word', but I was thinking that maybe some of you feel the same way and this is a sort of 'your not alone' post.

I would love to hear what some of you have to say on my reasoning. I've come to respect this community, when you're not itching over each other on the extrapolated details.

Let's clear out some of the obvious possibilities-
No, I'm not getting married, engaged, moving, into a relationship, out of a relationship, new job, losing old job / income, or spiritual in any way.

My primary reasoning is that it is not the Transformers I grew up with any more. One good TF reference to describe what I'm saying now is from the cover of Mavel's TF Generation 2 #1...

"This ain't your fathers Autobots!" ...or something very similar.

Between that comic series and the Beast Wars shows, my childhood love came back more mature, just as I grew into maturity [which is synonymous with 'Bastard' during those late 'teen' years]. Violent themes, philosophical storylines, pseudo-swearing... TF was a friend that was growing with me.

Enter the age of RID and Armada. [I know that these series may be as prominent to some of you as the early stuff was to me, but instead of arguing with my opinion... just keep an eye out for when these feelings start to form in yourself in regards to TF]

This was the first example that sank in with me that TF had sold out. Instead of keeping with the successful [opinion] trend of evolving characters and storylines, the show de-evolved to the level of the hot marketing titles of the day: Pokemon, Digimon, etc. Television aimed at the lowest common denominator, stupidity, in conjunction with plots that require the collecting of 'product'. Like Coke 2, TF gave up it's advantage as the unique property, to be similar to the current trends.

I was about to give up when I heard of a small upstart called Dreamwave. Once again, the comic industry stood tall as a beacon crying out, "they won't touch us, we have cooties or something". Thank you, Dreamwave, for taking it back to basics.

I'm gonna side-step a minute here. What I mean by basics is good vs evil for control of fuel. Fuel equals power, here, in our real world as well. This struggle exists and has gone on ,more or less, since the first man took another man's firewood because his got wet in the rain. Today the middle east is a trading post where blood is exchanged for oil. An absolutely relevant theme to teach the morals of war... Thats why TF got along so well with GI Joe more than anything else, same theme.

Back on topic. So I cruise controlled through armada without looking back because i heard in the rumor mill that there was going to be a new CG animated TF series. Excellent, a new BW type show! Dramatic, smart, evolving, graphic... And with the advances in video game graphics, this should be more detailed than BW could hope!

Energon... Frag, what the hell is this... That train of thought went on until I heard about the KISS players. Now that was 'creepy uncle' mature. That should not have an audience. If getting me to say that Cybertron is not that bad was what takara was hoping to do, they succeeded. That doesn't mean I like it, it just means that by comparison I'm not ashamed of TF:Cybertron, or even RID for that matter.

Bayformers [because the animated one is called 'The Movie'], what a ride. I got here only a few months before it got the green light. I heard G1 re-write. Cool, back to basics. I saw the designs... had my doubts, but 'waited to see them move'. Release night came and went. I watched it a few times to be fair. I stand solid by the following statement:

Great TF movie if you ignore the scenes with the military, government, and/or s7 that are without a transforming transformer in them. Otherwise, It's a summer blockbuster.

I'm upset at how much money this movie made, but I'm glad to see so many coming out who wanted to relive their childhood.

The toys, the reason behind it all, for the movie should be the highest quality product line in hasbro's history. Instead, we get Optimash Prime, Cyber Slammers, and Leader Class Megatron.

TF:Animated. If there is a messiah to the TF franchise, I hope that it is TF:A. I already know what it is, though, and it's not helping me to keep the faith. It'll get the same chance I gave every series. Just as I'll give TF2 a chance whenever that comes out.

I'm not dictating where the franchise should go, it's not mine to do so. But, if it wants to go my way, we can car pool or something.

In the end of it all, I regret nothing of the time or money I contributed to this franchise, nor would I want to do it again.

Disappointment is an important emotion to guide one to their destiny, however, unnecessarily disappointing yourself through dependence on trends is damaging to every destiny.

I'll be lurking, Peace!
Nick


PS- pm me when HMW2 is up and running, should be cool!

I feel your pain. You should do what I did- give up on Hasbro and start collecting from Takara.

Is Takara much better then Hasbro? I wouldn't know as I don't have anything from Hasbro yet.

For some stuff yes - Takara tends to do a better job. Ex - listening more to the fans and doing characters that we want, doing better paint jobs, adding extras, adding more die-cast.

Takara has also stated recently that they will be gearing their Transformers for 20-30 year olds. While Hasbro seems to be trying to please the 8-18 year olds.