Looks like I accidentally kicked over an anthill, woops. Want to clarify that I have nothing against o.supreme and AcademyofDr.X; I realize that by airing grievances I have with my experience in the fandom in a reply to their comments, it implies that I'm accusing them of those things, when that isn't the case. Their only "crime" is expressing surprise/incredulity over a medium that doesn't convey nuance or tone well, in a thread whos last few pages of negativity have tinted everyone's perceptions for the worse. I will note that I referred to 86 as a commercial at the end of my diatribe, which is where that quibble came from.
Rtron wrote:I haven't seen much vitriol directed at the line by itself, but rather, at how we seem to always go back to the same well. Most people don't dislike G1. I think most of us who came after it was long dead actually really like the designs. Hell, Siege/Earthrise seem to have been a big success with "younger" adult fans. What post-G1 people dislike is how all-encompassing it's become. That everything has to fit G1. I LOVE the G1 robots, they're cool as hell! But I strongly dislike that it's the bar that every new Transformers is measured against, and how much it seems to force the brand to remain stagnant. The pushback every new idea gets is what's bothersome. Hell, even the movieverse is going G1 now. If there were any alternatives, it wouldn't be a problem. But there aren't, specially in fiction. Toy-wise, the situation is slowly getting quite better.
This. This this thisthisthis. This is the core of my issue with g1, at least toywise. I don't have a problem with the toys, per se, having gotten much of WFC. It's that it's the only thing on the menu.
In fact, that's a really great metaphor. The fandom as a whole is a party, with hasbro as the host, and the franchise's various offerings the food catering. The first time the party is hosted, the host serves pizza, and it's a smash hit. People can't get enough of it, and as the weeks go by they try new toppings to keep people coming back, but some of the choices, like anchovies, are questionable, and people start leaving, and more pizza is left untouched at the table. Realizing they have to change things, the host switches to chinese takeout instead. The reaction is immediate. Although there is a large group of attendees who are vocal about the fact that they thought this was a
pizza party, enough are willing to try the takeout, and enough new attendees are lured in by it when they weren't by the pizza, that the takeout is a success for a while. Eventually, more and more of the takeout is left uneaten at the end of the night, so the process repeats with mexican, then cold cuts, then seafood. And all this time, this same group of attendees continue to gripe about the lack of pizza. So the host finally relents, and room at the buffet is made to bring pizza back, and it is
devoured. Not only do the complainers enjoy it, but many who had stopped attending come back to remember the taste, and the newer attendees sample it too, enjoying it as well. Seeing as the pizza was a success once more, and that some of the sushi was left untouched, the host allots more of the catering budget to pizza.
Although the pizza is doing okay, the seafood side of the table is starting to get left behind, so the host shakes things up and replaces it with fast food; greasy, unhealthy, slightly misshapen and absolutely delicious. The pizza only crowd hates seeing it at the same table, but it disappears at the same rate as the pizza, so they are forced to abide by its presence. There's fried chicken there too, but it falls by the wayside in the face of the two more popular dishes, as does indian. The host fills the space left behind with lunchables, intended primarily for the kids. The recipe for the fast food changes, becoming too greasy for most, so it falls by the wayside, much of its space taken up by more pizza. An experiment is tried with pizzaburgers, and though successful, it took away space from the fast food, not the pizza. After longstanding requests, a small amount of room is made at the pizza table to bring back takeout, but the pizza displaced is merely moved to the fast food table, since the depleted menu left room there.
Generation 1 is like pizza. There's nothing wrong with it, and it's enjoyable, with a wide variety of toppings of varying degrees of appeal, like combiners with pepperoni like broad spectrum approval, or pretenders, who have many detractors, but some fans still swear swear by it, like pineapple. It's good. It tastes alright. But it's been served nonstop in some form or another for nearly the entire history of the brand. After a certain point, it doesn't matter how good a pizza is, because eventually you get sick of having it over and over and over again. But there's a small group yelling about how the blend of cheeses isn't exactly how they remember, and the crust needs to be crispier, and their raised voices carry across the hall, and are what is heard and fresh in the host's mind when it comes time to plan the spread for the next event. Most of the rest didn't complain about the pizza, per se, because it was still good. But it wasn't until the under-the-breath mutterings of 'pizza
again?' became widespread enough to be noticed past the pizza brigade's shouting that room was cleared at the table, and it remains to be seen whether or not the change will stick.
I have nothing against the pizza. I don't hate it, and have enjoyed the pizza I've had. But I'm starting to get tired of having it over and over, and the arguing about how the cheese isn't the right shade of golden brown from the next table over is getting on my nerves, and I could kill for some General Tso's.
*edit:
Rtron wrote:I do think Alekese would be doing himself a favor by looking up on Youtube the scene where Unicron transforms, as it is pretty awesome. But, it's up to him..
That is one of the promotional clips I've seen that I mentioned, yeah. I thought the arm transformation matching was an inspired touch.
