Why the Perception of Getting More Repaints than Ever Shows how Good Transformers Fans Have it Now

People just like bitching about things. The ONLY repaint in this line that doesn't really make "sense" is Crosshairs. Every other repaint is justified. The Datsuns are supposed to be the same. The seekers are supposed to be the same. Ratchet and Ironhide are supposed to share a mold. I could understand the complaint during the prime wars but not now.

I agree wholeheartedly. The figures being more accessible to the masses and cheaper is great.

On the flip side, I do truly miss the conventions, and surprise reveal of exclusives there... (and in the mail.) That has always been a fun experience.

I also deeply miss the stories, comics, art, lithographs and lore they developed as part of Botcon. Now, we are getting a lot of great characters, but we are missing the development for all of them.

(I wish they could devote some one-off comics to these new characters — Spotlight comic and bio. Could be a six issue art using the Rainmakers and three other new characters, for example. Each one gets a cover and bio, but the story could have a short arc.)

But I digress, peppering in a few new characters is great. Excited about Barricade, Orthia and the Rainmakers.

I think this is a pretty good time to be collecting, too. People complained about all the repaints and remolds in Combiner Wars, and I thought it was a small price to pay for figures that were a huge advancement from the G1 combiners. You had a lot of similar figures to be sure, but you had combiners with knees, elbows, and hips that could actually move (and without the dinky connector-heads)! There are so many more display options with today's figures that I have no problem with repaints.

That said, the recently-revealed Stormbringers could have been a little more creative, color-wise, and not so "background character-accurate."

Still, though, am awesome time to be a collector. These are the kinds of figures we could only dream about in the '80s!

Glarryg

steals_your_goats wrote:The ONLY repaint in this line that doesn't really make "sense" is Crosshairs

Even then, that Crosshairs looks really good in robot mode, making the lackluster vehicle mode (at least in his case, works for Ironhide and Ratchet IMO) endurable at the very least. I love these repaints. If you're a collector, but don't have a lot of money, but still like variety, you have a choice of what character you want from a particular mode. Example - I would prefer Skywarp, not a huge Starscream fan. However, my brother prefers Thundercracker. Neither of us try to buy a figure the other owns. But with Hasbro not hesitating to repaint this mode, we both get the joy of the Seeker mold and can still have a sense of uniqueness about our individual collections. True, the Seeker one is a mold so easily redone (I've counted seven uses of this mold, counting the Storm trio), but it illustrates what I like about this "golden age of Transformers".

Repaints that are separate characters are great but Im not a big fan of repaints that are just the same character with a power boost or something

Glarryg, you nailed it about Combiner Wars. Hasbro finally nailed it with a strong, versatile connector port with CW. Separating that from the head opened a lot of doors.

It's still kind awkward when the CW version is the best version of a character. LOL. :-\

gothsaurus wrote:It's still kind awkward when the CW version is the best version of a character. LOL. :-\

Like Cyclonus? I don't mind so much.

For me, its the way these repaints are being handles that I really like. Unlike most previous repaints that clog shelves, these guys are all basically bonus figures that are being sold on the side of the line. this makes them like the con exclusives noted previously but more accessible, and ultimately optional if you don't care for them, even more so then general release figures found at retail.

some of these are must haves for me. seeker squadron? yes please. Shackwave? (radio shack galactic man shockwave) hes a total win for me, since I never had the hasbro version of the g1 wave, I only ever had galactic man. crosshairs is the only fail for me.

people do tend to forget, this franchise was founded on repaints.

The Unite Warriors Cyclonus. Man. He's snazzy.

Amen! Thank you Will!

Repaints, two or more characters sharing the same mold, it’s an inherent part of the fandom and honestly none of these are really a stretch. I personally find it a time to celebrate whether you want all these or not whether you get all these or not. It is a great time to be a Transformers fan.

Skywarp and Thundercracker and both repaints.

Well said. It is a time to rejoice!

And truly, knowing Hasbro has to sell a few repaints of each mold to break even on their R&D, safety testing, etc.... we shouldn't even bring it up as a fandom. It's part of the process. We should be guessing and wondering what the repaints will BE. Not moaning or debating if repaints should exist... or bad mouthing them for doing it.

It is hard to complain about repaints/retools given that the first two years of TFS were based on largely repaints and retools.

Also if they are based off an existing character doesn't it make sense to repaint/retool them. So course some effort has to be put into the toy, just getting a Sideswipe and repainting him Red and Blue and calling him Optimus Prime won't really work or would it.

Being a Digibahser complaining about retools/repaints would make me a bit of a hypocrite, but hen again mine are for fun and again I put effort into them.

I personally don’t mind a lot of repaints (combiner wars might have pushed the limit a bit) because it gives others a chance to pick up a figure they missed the first time around. For example, I was disappointed when generations nightbeat was changed from a jazz to a bumblebee repaint because I wanted to get my hands on the RTS jazz mold.

gothsaurus wrote:Well said. It is a time to rejoice!

And truly, knowing Hasbro has to sell a few repaints of each mold to break even on their R&D, safety testing, etc.... we shouldn't even bring it up as a fandom. It's part of the process. We should be guessing and wondering what the repaints will BE. Not moaning or debating if repaints should exist... or bad mouthing them for doing it.

That's what i do, new toy announced and I'm going who could this also be?

I don't mind repaints if it serves a purpose. I am ON this Seeker train. I want to see all the Diaclone bois, too. Clampdown. Exhaust. Delta Magnus. Tigertrack. All of em.

I DO mind repaints when it's the same character IN THE SAME LINE FOR NO REASON. Titans Return is the worst example of this, featuring 4 Optimus'. (I mean, I get why Delta Magnus happened, but then we never got God Bomber, AND it was in an expensive box set with other less than necessary figures. I seriously only wanted Nautica and the clones out of those.)




***EDIT***

I FORGOT ABOUT THESE COMPLETIONIST WALLET LEECHES.

I think what's made it more noticeable is that fact that this year they've plumped for just about all of the the obvious repaint characters - the Seekers, the Datsuns, Ironhide/Ratchet etc - at the same time. This has flooded the line with lots of very similar looking figures: there are now seven colour-variants of the seeker mold on sale in this first year alone. Four Datsuns.

Does this mean that next year/series we'll be seeing lots more variation among the design of the molds? I doubt it.

I do also think there's cause for complaint when they start shoe-horning characters into molds that don't suit them. I was looking forward to Crosshairs until I saw the mold they'd used, which killed my interest almost completely. Barricade dropped into the Datsun mold has the same effect. How many Femmebots share the same mold now? Four, plus almost-Chromia? Slamdance is a rather poor use of the Flywheels mold. There are folks looking for a Blaster using the Soundwave mold. I hope that if they do go that way they at least find some budget to remold some of him as well as the obligatory new head.

And while it's great that US fans can pick up Select figures for the same RRP as normal ones, for eveyone else it means shelling out more for a repaint than for the original character the mold was designed for. Still much less than the OTFCC figures, but still....it reduces the value of the proposition. Paying slightly more for a figure was fine for the likes of Deluxe Groove, Grotusque and Punch/Counterpunch - these were unique figures (until Wreck-gar was announced, anyway). But for a repaint there's very little incentive other than if you particularly love that character.

I do like that Select figures have placed repaints within the reach of everyday buyers and not just the die-hards that could afford dropping $400 on an exclusive set but this line is starting to look VERY cheap due to the flood of similar fare.

honestly I still think crosshairs makes more sense than crosshairs from the kup/orion pax mold. I'm not in love with the cartoon accurate head and the forearms are the wrong color but otherwise it's a better match to his vehicle mode. Really the only major change I would make if I had control would be to tampo the hinge area of his chest/windshield piece black, make the red redder and replace the black plastics on the forearms and grill with blue.

I'm not at all mad about all the repaints, especially since all of the characters that are coming out are just like they were in the G1 and just like they have been since. Every time there's a Starscream you know you are at least getting Thundercracker or Skywarp. Every time there is a Prowl, a Bluestreak or Smokescreen. Ironhide = Ratchet, so on and so forth. I agree with Decepticon Finishline, when it's the same character repainted for no real reason OR the same character in different size classes (deluxe to voyager, voyager to leader) is when I'm annoyed. That repaint or different size class could've been used for a different character.

It's a great time to be a Transformers fan. I just wish I didn't buy all the bots over the last few years so I could buy these now instead

Have to say, if putting the dino cassettes with movie bots was the only way they could figure out (cost and logistic wise) to get those out to the masses, then good job.

Keep them coming. Still four more cassettes we're watching for.

Awesome piece, and an interesting cross-section of the fandom. With its quality and quantity, Siege will undoubtedly go down as part of a golden age of collecting, even though my personal acquisitions have reduced.

I freely admit to bemoaning various repaints on the boards, but more because I dislike the colorschemes or particular mold. I do, however, understand disappointment when a repaint takes a mainline spot that could have gone to something more original. Not really sure why one would complain about selects, since it seems to have a minimal impact on the normal line's content.

I'm all for repaints.

I just wish that Magnus Prime was more Ultra Magnus than Optimus Prime.

DecepticonFinishline wrote:I don't mind repaints if it serves a purpose. I am ON this Seeker train. I want to see all the Diaclone bois, too. Clampdown. Exhaust. Delta Magnus. Tigertrack. All of em.

I DO mind repaints when it's the same character IN THE SAME LINE FOR NO REASON. Titans Return is the worst example of this, featuring 4 Optimus'. (I mean, I get why Delta Magnus happened, but then we never got God Bomber, AND it was in an expensive box set with other less than necessary figures. I seriously only wanted Nautica and the clones out of those.)

Optimus1.jpg

Optimus2.jpeg

Optimus3.jpg

In the Case of Battle Core Optimus Prime, I really think this was Hasbro trying to provide for the Fandom's interest in Nova Prime (who would get BotCon figure, has a fairly strong showing in 3P and is still a popular repaint custom for Super Optimus toys like this years Galaxy Force Leader Prime) in a way that was still easy to market to casual fans and kids. It's obviously a very different thing from the regular Optimus

The one that really fits the pattern here is the G2 redeco of TR Voyager Prime, but as an exclusive, thats a little harder for me to count.

Their robots, I think it makes perfect sense that some of them share the same looks.

Their not "born" most of the time, their constructed in some way or another, would there not be "templates" of some type depending on what a Transformer was constructed to do?

For some reason I used to not like redecos. Not so much didn't like them as much as just didn't purchase them. Some like the two Devastator two-packs or Frostbite. "I already have those figures", I foolishly thought to myself. I later regretted those decisions but was able to get some of them for cheap along the way

Now I love redecos and retools when they make sense. When I have a toy that's good, I want more. More that are designed like it or just more of that particular mold just in different colors. I loved Combiner Wars because of it. I still want more characters done in the CW/PotP style. All the ones that never got made like Sideswipe, Tracks, Seekers, Soundwave and everyone else. To me it makes sense that they should all use the same bodies. Only certain body types should be able to accommodate the combining process. Therefore for a bot to be able to combine, they would need to reformat themselves to a body capable of combining. Even if it doesn't make sense for them to use the same body like Streetwise and Prowl. I couldn't care less about them never having shared a body type before.

I also don't want to limit it to just G1 guys. I love Alpha Bravo and Rook. I loved how Beast Wars and Beast Machines had so many toys of characters that weren't on the shows due to the budget constraints needing small casts. I'd like more toylines to have new, toy only characters in them. A good toy is a good toy regardless of having any fiction associated with them other than the bio on the back of the box. I have an imagination. I can make them do or be whatever I want them to be. I can even change their names which seems to be difficult for some people regarding characters with official name tweaks.

Bring on the redecos and retools. I want all the characters using good toys. I'll even go so far as to pick up extras and make even more. I plan on getting a few extra from the Sideswipe mold to make Clampdown and Deep Cover. Provided that Hasbro doesn't show them off themselves soonish.

That's a good point. When some odd repaint takes the place of a good character on the shelf, that does bother me. I'm remembering a lot of Night Watch this guy, or Sand Camo that guy... when I really wanted an Ultra Magnus or a Cliffjumper. (The latter just can't get a break.)

Hoping Hasbro learned their lesson after all the fan backlash about the seeker jets and the Botcon Wings box set, etc.

Case in point, if we don't get a Hotlink because Red Wing took his spot, I'll be bummed.

Looking at the trio of datsun brothers and original seekers, etc.... Hasbro's track record in the past few years has been really good, in spite of a few oddities missing, like Combiner Wars Sideswipe. They seem to be putting a lot of care and thought into their releases lately.

Good call Alpha W. –  I wanted Tracks and the Seekers as well. It was especially painful knowing THEY HAD THE MOLD to make the seekers. Sheesh. We could have an all seeker gestalt — or have a Galvatron with seeker arms. (not to mention a troop builder Sweep army.) There's so much awesome there waiting for me to buy it.

Given how high quality the figures they are releasing now are, I have no issues with repaints. For instance, I will gladly buy the Siege Ironhide mold three times and still ask for them to make even more versions because that figure is just that good.

Latebrus-K wrote:Awesome piece, and an interesting cross-section of the fandom.

Thanks man!

I do, however, understand disappointment when a repaint takes a mainline spot that could have gone to something more original. Not really sure why one would complain about selects, since it seems to have a minimal impact on the normal line's content.

For sure, I get that and would feel that way too. I do think that things have been fine in that regard too though, with us having as many original molds per year as before.

Flashwave wrote:The one that really fits the pattern here is the G2 redeco of TR Voyager Prime, but as an exclusive, thats a little harder for me to count.

Oh man, I love that that toy exists.

At 20 bucks for deluxe figure?! I pass at the repaints.

Will, I don't know what the percentage is of your editorials I agree or disagree with, but I always respect your insights, and on this subject, I tend to agree. Repaints have been a part of Transformers from it's inception, even Takara in it's Diaclone/Microman/Microchange lines would usually use the same basic design twice, if not more.

But the great thing about today is that we see releases of so many obscure characters that we never thought we'd see. Also their availability is not an issue; by making them online exclusives. Hasbro doesn't have to worry about a glut of unwanted product on shelves, and those fans who really want these lesser known characters can obtain them online.

I think making Refraktor a standard release was a bit of a gamble IMHO, however, Hasbro seemingly decided not to pack it in larger quantities than the others, so it will be interesting to see how many fans who actually want 3 are able to obtain that quantity (fortunately I'm not one of those fans, so I'm doing my part to leave them alone although I've only seen one in store as of this writing )

With the Seekers. I know some fans may be upset, but there is precedent for all of these to be unique characters. I think one of the most egregious releases of pointless repaints I can recall was from Playmates Super-Human-Samurai-Syber-Squad back in 1994/95. Initially toys were lifted from Bandai's Gridman toy releases, but then when product was all used up, I kid you not, there must have been a DOZEN recolors of the basic "Servo" action figure, and the larger electronic version, that were absolutely without purpose, or tied into the show at all.

Interesting question. There should be a thread with a quiz asking if everyone found all the Reflectors they want... and if they got 1, 3, or more.

Great article Will! Question is, how many other repaints are left to do.

The number of repints don't bother me anywhere near as much today as it did in 2015, but I am really starting to miss Earth vehicle modes in Generations. I know the Siege line is supposed to have a Cybertronian setting and I have liked a couple of the Cybertronian modes, but I do generally prefer Earth modes and hope they return sooner rather than later. It's one of the big reasons why I'm buying more Studio Series toys and have barely touched Siege thus far.

Hound, Sideswipe, Prowl, Voyager Optimus, and Ultra Magnus are really all Earth vehicles doing Cybertronian cosplay And SIEGE Astrotrain is outright Earth mode, a fitting trade since his Titans Return mode was basically a Cybertron mode toy

Munkky wrote:The number of repints don't bother me anywhere near as much today as it did in 2015, but I am really starting to miss Earth vehicle modes in Generations. I know the Siege line is supposed to have a Cybertronian setting and I have liked a couple of the Cybertronian modes, but I do generally prefer Earth modes and hope they return sooner rather than later. It's one of the big reasons why I'm buying more Studio Series toys and have barely touched Siege thus far.

Honestly, the majority of siege toys have more earth looking modes than cybertron looking. They are as cybertronian as the Combiner Wars protectobots are. The cybertronian theme is there to basically avoid licenses for car modes and so that collectors can use them in any time frame for their collections. Only voyagers soundwave, starscream and shockwave (ha) seem unavoidably cybertronian.

And you are gonna love astrotrain, he is as earthy as can be in his train mode

BUT what could really do to support his customers is to show their plans about recolors and retools as soon as they are ready and not wait until people bought one version and then show them the next one afterwards in hopes that they want that one even more and so much that they buy an alteration of the previous one.

AND the Seekers for example were made to get maximum money out of one mold.

I mean they're all supposed to be the same mold, so it makes sense, and for people who like those characters, this would be great for them. I see also see this as more options to pick from, for example: I didn't like the prowl mold, till I saw it in smoke-screen colors. Basically it's more options to choose from which is a good thing.

Ultimate Weapon1 wrote:I mean they're all supposed to be the same mold, so it makes sense, and for people who like those characters, this would be great for them.

I think you don't get what I mean here. The whole concept of the Seekers, the characters were all designed the same so they only need ONE mold for them. For Transformers remember first there were the toys then the TV show and comics.

I see also see this as more options to pick from, for example: I didn't like the prowl mold, till I saw it in smoke-screen colors. Basically it's more options to choose from which is a good thing.

Same here with Prowl and Barricade. But what IF I liked Prowl and bought him first in fear of having to pay high aftermarket prices if there wouldn't be coming a better version of the mold and then I saw Barricade and thought "Oh, if I knew before I wouldn't have bought Prowl."? So knowing about all versions planned for the mold at ones and in forefront would be a huge advantage / could give us if they wanted to.

I don't see the alleged problem with the repaints in the Siege line so far. Almost all of them are either supposed to be the same mold as another character, like Prowl, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen, Ironhide and Ratchet, or Starscream, Thundercracker, Skwarp, and all the other background Seekers from the original cartoon, or they are an homage to an obscure use of a G1 or G2 mold, like with Galactic Man Shockwave or G2 Combat Megatron. Even better, Hasbro and Takara are taking more care to use alternate head sculpts to differentiate mold-mates, like Sideswipe and Red Alert, alternate accessories, like Prowl and Bluestreak, and now even alternate body parts, like Ironhide and Ratchet. These are being made exactly how they're supposed to be, based on their G1 toys and character models, with some retooling or alternate weapon load outs in almost all the right ways (seriously, Red Alert should have had his shoulder cannon).

Even with the Female Autobots, they're not all strictly repaints with different heads. Greenlight and Lancer have some remolding to their bodies, and Chromia is practically her own mold with just a few parts and engineering ideas shared with the original Moonracer and Firestar molds. The differences in color layouts and paint apps have also done a great job to differentiate all of the characters from one another to the point that you're given the illusion that there are more molding differences among them than there actually are. This gives us a very nice and symmetrical gestalt mode too for Orthia.

Maybe repaints like Barricade and Crosshairs strike a nerve, as they did have their own unique molds in G1. However, Barricade is more of a cross-over with his live action movie incarnation that his original Micromaster self, and he's even based on "fan art" by Guido Guidi using the Smokescreen body type. Crosshairs is more of a compromise, but again, Hasbro surprised us by using his "The Rebirth" cartoon character model head instead of his toy one, and the Siege Ironhide mold itself is a pretty good fit for what the original G1 Crosshairs looked like in vehicle and robot mode anyway.

The main retail line of Siege seems to have only a few repaints used at all. There's Sideswipe and Red Alert, Prowl and Barricade, and Starscream and Thundercracker. All the others are online exclusives. Those repaints aren't taking the place of other characters either. They're just bonus options for fans who want them (and a LOT of fans want them, trust me). And they don't even cost more, for the most part!

And last, but not least, you don't have to buy them if you don't like them or want them. Don't want the Rainmakers? Don't get 'em. No one says you have to. It's the same with "Shackwave" or the rumored toy-colored Reflector trio of Viewfinder, Spyglass, and Spectro. They're there for fans who want them, and they're not taking up space on store shelves.

I had thought that the Prime Wars Trilogy was our Transformers Renaissance, but in truth, the new War for Cybertron Trilogy is blowing that out of the water, even the almost impeccable Titans Return portion of the previous trilogy!

They will never reveal all the repaints ahead of time. That would be the stupidest decision they could make because they're potentially robbing themselves of sales. Also if they showed all the recolors at the same time then at that point why not just reveal the entire line from the start? And if they did that then that kind of takes away a good chunk of the fun of this hobby. Half of the posts on the boards are speculation of what's going to happen next.

Nice job putting the puzzle together Wolfman Jake. You're right... seems like all of the products are exactly where they should be released... niche items going to store exclusives and club, and main line items being popular characters. Not too many mold re-uses on the shelf.

Seriously, someone at Hasbro has to have worked day and night to get all that to work out. Logistics and store-exclusive deals like that don't happen overnight, or without a lot of meetings, phone calls and hand shaking.

Good job, Hasbro. Big props to you this year. You're nailing it.

Lunatic Prime wrote:

Ultimate Weapon1 wrote:I mean they're all supposed to be the same mold, so it makes sense, and for people who like those characters, this would be great for them.

I think you don't get what I mean here. The whole concept of the Seekers, the characters were all designed the same so they only need ONE mold for them. For Transformers remember first there were the toys then the TV show and comics.

I was commenting on the thread, and didn't even see your comment, so I wasn't replying to you directly. But yeah I know it was the toys first back in the olden days, but Im talking about after the characters have become established as having the same mold, so it makes sense for them now to continue that practice, since it was already established.

I see also see this as more options to pick from, for example: I didn't like the prowl mold, till I saw it in smoke-screen colors. Basically it's more options to choose from which is a good thing.

Same here with Prowl and Barricade. But what IF I liked Prowl and bought him first in fear of having to pay high aftermarket prices if there wouldn't be coming a better version of the mold and then I saw Barricade and thought "Oh, if I knew before I wouldn't have bought Prowl."? So knowing about all versions planned for the mold at ones and in forefront would be a huge advantage / could give us if they wanted to.[/quote]

Yeah it would be nice to let us know what repaints they are doing with a mold in advance, but it wouldn't make sense business wise, because people wouldn't buy the other versions of the mold, and would just wait for the one they like best. Also if you bought Prowl, also like Barricade, you could either sell Prowl then buy Barricade, or just keep Prowl and buy Barricade, doesn't matter to me what you do.

steals_your_goats wrote:They will never reveal all the repaints ahead of time. That would be the stupidest decision they could make because they're potentially robbing themselves of sales.

Of course. I know that. That's my whole point.

Also if they showed all the recolors at the same time then at that point why not just reveal the entire line from the start? And if they did that then that kind of takes away a good chunk of the fun of this hobby. Half of the posts on the boards are speculation of what's going to happen next.

I could do without that "fun" for saving time, space and money.

I don't think the opinions of those endlessly griping about repaints existing matter.

Normally articles like this come off schilling for the house, like we're all supposed to fall prostrate in front of Hasbro and be grateful for whatever they put out. Here you make some good points.

As someone who was a day one member of the TFCC we knew that there was no way they'd be able to make new tooling and were ok with that, once they got cooking it was amazing at times what they could do.

Obviously this brand was founded on repaints, everyone knows this. The problem is we're missing one key ingredient, compelling media that captures the imagination. A child in 1984 wasn't buying the same mold three times, he was buying Starscream, the back-stabbing second in command; Skywarp, the moody loyal follower of Megatron; and Thundercracker, the soldier who's not 100% convinced of the cause he's fighting for. There's a reason the cartoon is so beloved, it captured the imagination and gave life to these hunks of plastic, picking up where the bios started. Beast Wars did the same thing. Since then nothing much. If Hasbro would give deeper bios like they used to, or put out a well written compelling show, repaints will have the life they once did.

Repaints didn't really become a problem or noticeable to me until CW and we were getting waves of deluxes with maybe one new mold if at all. Jet Blast-Off killed the line for me.

Now I'm concerned that we're just seeing repaints, not the usual retooling we would get. It feels that Hasbro is slowly sliding back, then again I'm just happy Red Alert is one tight figure.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Obviously this brand was founded on repaints, everyone knows this. The problem is we're missing one key ingredient, compelling media that captures the imagination. A child in 1984 wasn't buying the same mold three times, he was buying Starscream, the back-stabbing second in command; Skywarp, the moody loyal follower of Megatron; and Thundercracker, the soldier who's not 100% convinced of the cause he's fighting for. There's a reason the cartoon is so beloved, it captured the imagination and gave life to these hunks of plastic, picking up where the bios started. Beast Wars did the same thing. Since then nothing much. If Hasbro would give deeper bios like they used to, or put out a well written compelling show, repaints will have the life they once did.

Repaints didn't really become a problem or noticeable to me until CW and we were getting waves of deluxes with maybe one new mold if at all. Jet Blast-Off killed the line for me.

The first paragraph here and most of your post is spot on.

But CW Blast Off 1.0? Fun because of the toy bio. He's a jet because Onslaught made him be one after he couldn't handle the responsibilities of space flight. It's a good example of what you're wanting in toy bio form, especially since IDW's CW arc was super tepid.


Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Blast Off Gallery

ScottyP wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Obviously this brand was founded on repaints, everyone knows this. The problem is we're missing one key ingredient, compelling media that captures the imagination. A child in 1984 wasn't buying the same mold three times, he was buying Starscream, the back-stabbing second in command; Skywarp, the moody loyal follower of Megatron; and Thundercracker, the soldier who's not 100% convinced of the cause he's fighting for. There's a reason the cartoon is so beloved, it captured the imagination and gave life to these hunks of plastic, picking up where the bios started. Beast Wars did the same thing. Since then nothing much. If Hasbro would give deeper bios like they used to, or put out a well written compelling show, repaints will have the life they once did.

Repaints didn't really become a problem or noticeable to me until CW and we were getting waves of deluxes with maybe one new mold if at all. Jet Blast-Off killed the line for me.

The first paragraph here and most of your post is spot on.

But CW Blast Off 1.0? Fun because of the toy bio. He's a jet because Onslaught made him be one after he couldn't handle the responsibilities of space flight. It's a good example of what you're wanting in toy bio form, especially since IDW's CW arc was super tepid.


Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Blast Off Gallery

My fault really, I drank the kool-aid of others who convinced me that Alpha Bravo could be retooled into a shuttle. Another issue was by this point the Aerialbot mold was becoming a little loose to say the least.

We are living in the Golden Age of Transformers

You can say that again!

Plus, yes, at least this time around the USUSAL repaints are not for the elite anymore. Plus those are mail orders so they won't be clogging the store shelves anytime soon.
The complainers truly don't know how business work and even how Transformers work as a whole.

I, for one, couldn't be happier. Well, I could. If I could buy those special repaints via a normal online store in Canada without having to pay high shipping price and reseller mark-ups.

I’m sure you mean well by collectors, but I don’t think the accessibility of repaints, particularly of minor or “enticing” characters is the issue collectors seem to have. The problem seems to be with the restriction on toy personality, innovation and individual quality. Here are some areas where I think your article could address the discussion further:


1. Quality of Character Representation

For a brand name with a strong emphasis on individual characters, the toys are currently a poor attempt at making each toy’s character feel distinct. Younger fans who are invested in the Siege line will probably look back at their shelf to find only 7 or 8 molds dominate their entire collection.

I understand that seekers were always supposed to be clones of the same jet, and likewise Ratchet feels at home as the white repaint of Ironhide. But there’s no reason why Barricade, Elita-1, Crosshairs, Greenlight, Novastar, Lancer and Slamdance should be repaints of their respective mold predecessors, other than to cull production costs. Most niche’ characters are not receiving a genuine update to their traditional form, alternate mode, transformations or gimmicks. Even classic characters such as Soundwave or Shockwave are fixed in the strange limbo of having their robot modes portray their personalities quite well but have alternate modes which do not capture the feel of their original toys or character theme.

At best, this homogenization of character profiles in toys allows Hasbro to produce a larger range of figures at lower costs to them with less production time. This may have allowed them the budget to reintroduce city-formers. At worst, personality in Transformers toys is now more generic and safer than ever. I grant there is a greater spectrum of G1 characters available, but it’s hard to feel very invested about the character of background seeker number 3.


2. The End of Botcon Exclusives

Many fans were upset to see their Botcon exclusives annual routine come to a close. Admittedly I never read any complaints about the saturation of repaints at Botcon, though this was unsurprising. It’s hard to blame Fun Pub with such a limited design budget. Accessibility of exclusives may have soured some collectors, but almost all of Fun Publication’s molds also saw a widespread retail release. Seasoned collectors were the main audience to obsess over obscure repaints, which just so happened to be the only demographic which could afford exclusives anyway. There was no strong demand among younger collectors to have these exclusives released at wide retail.

Given less production constraints, Botcon exclusives probably would have been new action figures instead. This was something that Marty Isenberg and Derrick J. Wyatt wished for Botcon 2011, but instead had to base most of the Stunticons on Autobot toys. With a retail production budget, there’s no good excuse why minor characters shouldn’t receive a brand-new toy, and following in Botcon’s footsteps by repainting toys to represent these characters isn’t exactly ideal.


3. Definitive versions and Long-term Iterations

The Siege and Generations Select lines lure collectors by finally delivering just about every G1 cartoon character imaginable. This is an exciting opportunity for old school fans, but collectors should remember that definitive or ‘last word’ Transformers toys are a very rare occurrence. Most G1 Transformers will probably receive new figures within the next half decade and many of them could surpass their repaint counterparts.

There is absolutely nothing preventing Hasbro/Takara from making a new Slamdance for another combining-themed line, or a new Crosshairs for a target master reboot, for example. These repaints may seem like rare characters now, but they are in no way definitive versions.

Instead of releasing a wide variety of minor characters as repaints, figures would benefit from having a focussed design with attention to quality and detail. This is probably why the 2010 Generations and Reveal the Shield lines were so well appreciated by fans, and why many of their figures stand as the definitive versions of the characters on the shelves of collectors today. I know I still love my RTS Windcharger.


4. Limitation of Innovation and Visual Styles

Many fans consider War for Cybertron: Siege and Generations: Select to be synonymous with the ongoing Generations/ Classic line. This is something your article mentions itself.

However, the aims of the early Classics lines and Siege are very different. The Classics line wasn’t just about making modern versions of G1 toys; it was about modernizing and paying tribute to all Transformers characters. Obviously G1 would receive a huge focus, but the designers were originally encouraged to tweak the toys a little such as making Onslaught a non-combining Ultra-class figure, swapping out Inferno’s ladder, trying new ways to integrate Nightstick with Cyclonus, removing Bumblebee’s weapons, or packaging an entirely new Ravage figure with Hound. Even non-G1 characters such as Lugnut or Dinobot could receive updated designs which were refreshing.

The sky was the limit with the 2006-2011 classics figures and personally, I don’t think the new Siege toys carry its legacy very well. As a serious fan of the Beast Era and Transformers: Animated, I feel incredibly alienated by retail Transformers today. Accessibility for toys I’m hunting down is lower than it ever has been. We seem to be stuck in this void where everything must look like a blocky G1 toy, with rectangular forearms, a gun, and a Cybertronian vehicle mode. Some characters and their toys benefit from this visual style, like Optimus and Omega Supreme, but within the entire Transformers cannon there are far too many losers.


Wrap-up

Fans shouldn’t be afraid to ask for more from Hasbro, and collectors shouldn’t feel like they miss out if they don’t buy a disappointing figure. Transformers lines oversaturated with repaints will continue to exist as long as collectors will buy them.

Once upon a time, the Transformers Live Action films were the main Transformers lines, and fans were more than happy to give Hasbro a kind word of disapproval. Now we have an entirely new movie line of generally great quality which is almost universally praised. These improvements don’t happen overnight. It’s up to collectors to stick with their guns and voice their concerns, otherwise we’ll be stuck buying multicoloured fembot repaints forever.