Hot_Rod wrote:Definately in the '80s. I remember the stores I went to used to have the ENTIRE ROW stacked from top to bottom all the way to the end of the row on BOTH SIDES with Transformers figures. It was like you stepped into the isle and above the mountaintops of fresh Transformers Boxes, you could hear the Angel Chior singing. It was great!
Now you're just lucky if they have more than a few pegs or 1 shelf in a small 2 foot section of the toys/boys department. If money tells the story, than what the retailers have done then and now has to give you your answer.
Especially when you take into account that most of us are here today thanks to The original Transoformers and it's the only reason it still exists. Alot of us pushed for it to return all through out the '90s. I remember constantly
mailing Hasbro to bring them back or to put the original show back on TV or release all the episodes. Heck, even as a immature little kid I actually prayed for it to return. And it did!
But every where you went in school or in the store or in public people were wearing Transformers Merchandise. There's not very much of that today. Not as much merchandise being sold as widespread or publicly displayed by kids. Heck most of the stuff you do see are being worn by adults. I've seen insignia's on cars with adults only in them and T-shirts worn by adults by never seen any kids these days with a Transformers memorbelia/merchandise being displayed in public. Kids today don't seem like Transformers as much any more. I seen one poster say his nephew told him that "Transformers were gay". Kids seem more into the Card Trading Pokemon and Yu-gui-Oh type stuff and all the anime now a days. And let's not forget about all the hi tech video games that is out there now that wasn't out back when Transformers was most popular. Toys were more relavent in the '80s and video games didn't have as strong of a grip on a kids life and what they do for entertainment.
Transformers today doesn't have the same grip on society or the market like it did when it was brand new. It also just doesn't seem to have that same charm with the new incarnations to draw as large of a group as it did when we adult fans were young.
Evem if you talk to your average joe worker who never goes online or never touches an anime etc, and you ask them if they know about Transformers, you always get the answer like, "OH yeah! I remember them! I used to have the [Fill in the blank] one when I was a kid" or "I used to watch that after school alot!"
I know a guy who is a Automobile Body Shop manager. We got to talking about shows we used to like that aren't on any more and he Brought up Transformers. I was talking about Silver Spoons and out of the blue he goes, "you know a show I really liked to watch? Transformers. I couldn't watch them other shows but Transformers... that was a goooood show, even for a cartoon." He had no clue I was a fan and had no clue that other versions of Transformers exist today.
He is about 22-23 years old.
Hot_Rod wrote:YouFearGalvatron wrote:Yeah, I was one of Hasbro's desperate little b****es.
Hehe, me too. Though I think alot of us involved in the fandom were. We have a passion for Transformers.
Though I wasn't too big on Beast Wars. Beast Wars for me was like a "Huh? This don't look like it has anything to do with Transformers" type feeling. I'm more of a vehicular guy myself and I rather anjoy all the touches that the original Transformers had to offer like the Classic Transforming sound, the dinstinctive voice effects, and all the combiner teams and such. I also prefered the Robotic beast modes like the Dinobots over the orgainic looking ones because after all, these are robots.
But Beast Wars did revive the Franchise going so for that I will always greatful. You can only imagine how excited I was to hear about G2 and then RiD and then Armada for the first time though. G2 was great but then it was like, "Wait a minute, didn't they already do all this? It's just the same stuff in different colors!" and RiD was cool until I got tired of the kiddy jokes in it. Same with Armada.
Anyway I did have one more thing I wanted to add to my previous post...
If you look at the home consol video games of today they are WAY more high tech then we have ever seen. So naturally a kid will spend more time with the video games having fun they they would with toys. When you look at When Transformers were popular in the 80s, they did not have to compete with video games like they do now. There was Atari and Nintendo, but those were low tech compared to what we got today. And Nintendo never really got popular until Transformers started to die down in around 1988. So that mean Atari was the only affordable video game system around during the G1 years, and that was just a blip on your TV screen bouncing back and forth. Back then the only way to play a real good video game was to go to the arcade. If you wanted a real good time with a real good video game you had to pop quarters in the machine. So toys at home were more popular and less expensive to entertain little Johnny.
It wasn't until 1988 that Nintendo really caught on and not suprisingly, that's also when Transformers started to fade away. It's also around the same time that Sega Genesis came out. So the popularity of home video game improvements most likely contributed to The Transformers downfall in the last couple years of the '80s. I know once I got a Nintendo, I stopped playing with my Transformers. My life was school, Nintendo, Baseball, and my dog.
So you have the rise of Nintendo and Sega simultaneously happening at the same time The Transformers were beginning to lose it's grip on the market. Cooincidence? I think not.
Cause and effect; Chain of events
All of the Chaos makes perfect sense.
Other factors could be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles busting on the scene with close to 200 episodes and 3 movies. But more so that some of those kids who were fans of Transformers were getting older and more into sports at a time when Culture said it's NOT OK to act like a child or enjoy kid things for very long and to grow up or be ridiculed.
Psychout wrote:Im not scared of a gender confused minibot!
For realsies! Just look at Star Trek. The very first show was low tech, only lasted a few years, and in a way was kinda campy. But it had a bunch of fans and these had conventions and Star Trek stuff and the fans kept it alive. The amount of fans in the later years was probably much larger then it had been in the begining. It was enough to spawn new shows and tons of new stuff, and we now havestuff that is kind of inspired from Star Trek, like cell phones. Transfomers is young compared to Trek, so it might not have fully "matured" yet. Star Trek has been around for at least 2 1/2 generations, while Transformers is still barely past the first, roughly. So Transformers will still be around for a while, as it has enough passionate fans to keep it going. So while it might seem that there were a lot of fans in the eighties, today there are a lot more serious fans then there were in the beginning. And serious fans keep stuff going.Screambug wrote:I get the feelings Transformers are now FAR MORE popular than it used to be in the 1980s. Only that the fandom isn't as visible as it was back then. Nor does the fandom consist just of little boys like in the past; there are now teens, grown men, and women into Transformers as well as a new generation of kids being raised on G1 thanks to their parents who couldn't stop loving the Transformers!:)
I think the great TF fandom of today exists mostly on the Internet rather than in the public eye like in the past and that it's probably BIGGER than real life, too...there used to be mostly toys and stuff for kids (like cereal, books, and pull-up underpants) in the 1980s, but today, we have a WIDER variety of TF stuff, including pricey statuettes of our favorite characters, PVC models, DVDs, toy reissues, lovingly illustrated graphic novels, comic book reissues, illustrated albums of our favorite characters, snacks, chess set, Monopoly gameboard, bikes, posters, and even soft plushies that actually transform to boot! Don't forget about shoes, pens, and cell phones that transform, too. And how about all those TF cons around the world? Homemade TF costumes that actually transform? Hand-sewn TF dolls? TF fanart that range from chicken scratches to glorious oil paintings? There's even several TF forums out there, too!
Heh, it used to be a kiddish fad back in the old days, but today, it's a GREAT cult around the world! (I am really SO impressed by today's fandom, frank to say. )
Burn wrote:I don't think it can be really measured.
Both are very different eras. The 80's never had the technology these days. The 80's also never had 20+ years of history to reflect on, nor did it have the fanbase variety it has today.
The only reason 80's may seem popular is that those fans of the modern era are probably going through the stage of their lives when playing with toys is a taboo. Once they realise they don't need the acceptance of their peers they'll embrace the things they used to love all over again and there'll be a hoarde of modern day TF fans to join the old folk.
i_amtrunks wrote:Burn wrote:I don't think it can be really measured.
Both are very different eras. The 80's never had the technology these days. The 80's also never had 20+ years of history to reflect on, nor did it have the fanbase variety it has today.
The only reason 80's may seem popular is that those fans of the modern era are probably going through the stage of their lives when playing with toys is a taboo. Once they realise they don't need the acceptance of their peers they'll embrace the things they used to love all over again and there'll be a hoarde of modern day TF fans to join the old folk.
I think that is a part of it, but I also think Transformers was bigger in the 80's as there was much less direct competition. You had Transformers, He-man, and later on Thomas and TMNT, as the main toys, these days there are toys for everything ranging from cartoon series to movies.
Even kids entertainment groups have toys and goods out.
Riotflea wrote:80's, hands down.
These days, kids have so much VIRTUAL fun, that the tangible, in-your-hands kind of toys are dwindling at best.
Gone are the days where Transformers took up one half of a Toys R Us aisle... gone are the days of many a beautiful Transformers (and similar anime) bootlegs swarming the booths at flea markets.
Sure, this ugly 2007 movie will give a teensy squirt of product recognition into the public lexicon, but the time when every kid on every corner was spitting out slobber in the attempt at making a transforming sound are dead, DEAD, DEAD. There will not be a giant, gushing thrust of excitement as has been in the past.
Technology's just too fun these days. WE are becoming action figures with cool accessories. And things are only going to continue in that direction.
Burn wrote:I don't think it can be really measured.
Both are very different eras. The 80's never had the technology these days. The 80's also never had 20+ years of history to reflect on, nor did it have the fanbase variety it has today.
The only reason 80's may seem popular is that those fans of the modern era are probably going through the stage of their lives when playing with toys is a taboo. Once they realise they don't need the acceptance of their peers they'll embrace the things they used to love all over again and there'll be a hoarde of modern day TF fans to join the old folk.
Riotflea wrote:Yah, this topic reminds me of my hunting days.
I'd hit garage sales, flea markets and every little mom and pop toy store just looking for ANYTHING Transformers, or at least anime / bootleg. I'd walk through a city like Allentown, PA... staring at the dusty top shelves of every tiny store, squinting to see if there was an even dustier Transformers, Orguss, Dunbine or Godaikin robot box forgotten somewhere.
But do you see kids really doing such things these days? Hell no.
For awhile, Power Rangers / Super Sentai type things were fun for people... but the bootlegs always fall back to transforming toys.
Nah, those days are gone. It's just a fact.
I predict the next big toy wave will be when technology brings toys up to speed with iPods and junk... like, toys that transform themselves or have some kind of superior electronic gimmick. (sound, lighting and mp3 abilities through self-charging, battery-less polymers?)
But even then, there also needs to be character idolization.
It's not like you get home from school now and there's JUST GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron and M.A.S.K.
No, now there's Cartoon Network, Fox, godawful freaking Toon Disney and who knows how many other sources of cartoon viewing.
There's no chance for a single cartoon these days to offer something that can indoctrinate a whole boy's age group anymore.
And then there's the internet... forget it.
The days we speak of have passed.
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