The Energon Pub

I know many TF toylines are put on hiatus for the movie, but what about the other toy lines such as the Classics, the Alternators/Binaltech and the G1 Reissues?

Will they make a return after a while or are they finished with those lines?

ZenithF0RTE wrote:I know many TF toylines are put on hiatus for the movie, but what about the other toy lines such as the Classics, the Alternators/Binaltech and the G1 Reissues?

Will they make a return after a while or are they finished with those lines?

For ga-zillionth time: time will tell. Alternators may make a comeback with the revelation of Alternators Rodimus.

Just guessing, but I think the Classics line will return as well as the Alternators line. As for the re-issues, that I'm not to sure of.

There was never an official statement saying that Classics or Alternators is done. They just said that these line will go on hiatus till after the movie. The movie will really line up the future of the franchise I think. (as in how popular the line will or will not become)

ZenithF0RTE wrote:I know many TF toylines are put on hiatus for the movie, but what about the other toy lines such as the Classics, the Alternators/Binaltech and the G1 Reissues?

Will they make a return after a while or are they finished with those lines?

What are you willing to do to bring them back?

Seems to me Classics was only supposed to be a filler line to tide the fans over till the movie hit, so I'm not sure whether it was really supposed to last long to begin with.

Still, if worse comes to worse and Hasbro decides only to invest their efforts in bringing back just one of these three lines post-movie, I'd take Classics hands-down; Hasbro never seemed to move enough G1 reissues to support anything but the die-hard twentysomething collectors, and they don't seem to want to try with Alternators anymore probably because of licensing issues/costs.

We'll just have to wait and see, otherwise barrage Hasbro with letters and e-mails for lack of a better plan.

I'm fairly sure the reissues are done for; they just haven't aged well enough to sell to the younger crowd and the older collectors likely already have either the originals or Takara reissues. It might make sense if they released moulds Takara hasn't reissued, like Scourge, Gnaw, Slugslinger, etc... but even then I doubt they'd market well enough to be worthwhile.

Classics is... doubtable. Especially after giving away the Seekers to Botcon to sell as exclusives. The next animated series is slated to roll out after the movie line so if Clssics did return it'd be either after that line or prior to a movie sequel.

Alternators, I think, has a pretty strong chance of returning. It was a secondary line to begin with so no real competition with the primary lines, there's an easy Frenzy repaint, they've already got a Megatron prototype that hasn't been released, there are plenty of Japanese releases to pull over domestically, etc.

Counterpunch wrote:

ZenithF0RTE wrote:I know many TF toylines are put on hiatus for the movie, but what about the other toy lines such as the Classics, the Alternators/Binaltech and the G1 Reissues?

Will they make a return after a while or are they finished with those lines?

What are you willing to do to bring them back?

Why shouldn't they. The Alt. line is my fav, and the Classic line is a close second.

And come on, we all know that you have all of both lines

I think Alternators are the only one that will reemerge.
Classics is done in my book. They were fun but after the lack of interest from Hasbro I don't see them coming back. Although more Dinobots and a Shockwave would be great.
Reissues will always be around, just not in continuous flux.
Which is fine for me. When they do finally make more, it will be that much more exciting.

The past 12 months have been a good year for Transformers fans.

We got a Masterpiece Megatron and Starscream.

We got the Classics line - updated G1 Transformers with modern manufacturing. Better than any G1 homage figure within a current line!

We got Titanium figures focusing on War Within characters.

We got well painted Japanese Beast Wars reissues.

We got two of the most interesting Alternators - Ravage and Rumble. Ravage is awesome, in my opinion.

We have a big budget live action Transformers movie coming out, with figures to go with it.

The animated movie was rereleased with good updates. A good looking show box set is on the horizon (albeit not USA).

We have Botcon sets focusing on classic G1 characters - not just all obscure characters.


I am one happy Transformers fan. I think the titanium line will continue. Alternators is a maybe, with a big lean towards continuing. Classics is a big hope of mine, and I believe we will see it revitalized sometime in the future - just not anytime soon. The nice part is that it is not tied to a current production, so it can sprout up again anytime in the near or far future.

--B-- wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

ZenithF0RTE wrote:I know many TF toylines are put on hiatus for the movie, but what about the other toy lines such as the Classics, the Alternators/Binaltech and the G1 Reissues?

Will they make a return after a while or are they finished with those lines?

What are you willing to do to bring them back?

Why shouldn't they. The Alt. line is my fav, and the Classic line is a close second.

And come on, we all know that you have all of both lines

heh, yea...

My girlfriend's ex (whom she's still friends with), who works for Hasbro, said after the sold out Botcon set, Classics are dead.

But, he said what's coming after the movie toys should be pretty freakin' cool. But, he wouldn't elaborate.

I'm assuming he meant "Heroes"...

well here is my ten cents

1. G1 reissues will come back after the movie. (the movie will really push the franchise in a major way) not sure how hard they will be pushed but I think they will merge them with the classics line to push more product.

2. Classics- though not a major line, it has sooo many benefits to it---so I say they will continue but probably more on the titanium type of releases. Like a wave of deluxes or a wave of voyager class figures then a break and then another put out later. plus the addition of the G1 reissues and this line could merge and become a very stable line.

Here is something I would like to see---they could do build a figure, but instead of something like transmutate they could include any gestalts they have the mold for still(except for ruination lol)

3. Alternators--this line needs to continue. If the rule is 3 characters to each mold, they have several molds they can repaint and retool which include-----Prowl(1), Windcharger(1), Grimlock(1), Meister(Jazz)(1), Mirage (has 2 if they do not actually put out rodimus), Prime(1), the new Ravage(2), Rumble(2), and Skids(2). That is a total of 13 more figures they can put out with the existing molds they have. Even though everyone complains about repaints, I know I would buy each and every alternator I came across.

Well that was a bit long, but I feel as though each line can continue in addition to a MAIN toyline after the movie hoopla is done.


P.S. Hasbro please do not make Rodimus a convention exclusive like you have screwed us over with classic thrust, dirge, and thundercracker

Classics will not be back.

Here's why: No gimmicks

Marvel Legends fans are dealing with this issue now. The recent Spiderman 3 line is now a 5 inch action-feature line, instead of a 6 inch (standard) action-figure line.

Fantastic Four 2 will go the same route.

Why? Because market analysis with children finds that the 'action-feature' is the most important part of the toy. It's what the kids identify with.

Classics doesn't have that. It's a shame. But just watch, whatever comes after the movie will be based upon a gimmick. That's how things roll now.

deja vu? vuja de? i'm so very confused at this point.

Aren't there like 6 other threads about this?!

Godmodule wrote:Aren't there like 6 other threads about this?!

All the time!

I think the reissue issue is gone, seeing how tough it was to find Soundwave and that Takara seems to do better with thier version than Hasbro.
I think Classics will come around again whenever there's a lull in series or productivity or whatever. It may be sporadic, but I think we will see more of them in the future.
Alternators I think will stay around, but I for one am getting bored with them. Rumble and Ravage are excellent, but they are the only innovative ones in a while. The first of each mold is good, but then since they're repaint material afterwards they just change the head and paint and there is another figure. Shockwave was probably the last innovative one, using the word loosely becuase of the gun hand.

But yes, I still buy the Alternators, but in the future that may change.

What I see evaporating potential wise is the 3" Titaniums. After the movie figures what else would they do with this line? In all of its' incarnations too: how many titanium x-wings do we need, and how many different forms of battle damage can they devise? The 6" Titaniums have great potential, detractors be damned, but the little guys not so much.