Hasbro keeps screwing up Transformers...

[chet]

..and screws with Star Wars in the process. See for yourselves:

toynewsi.com/news.php?catid=8&itemid=7937

Reminds me of that episode of The Apprentice where they had all those idiot contestants trying to come up with interesting toy designs.

Maybe this should be cross-posted someplace where Star Wars fans can read about it and gasp in horror. No fair that only Transformers fans will go through this agony.

[vice]

pero in fairness sir cute sila.hehehe parang mutated transformers.hehehe nice head though.

[Garvy]

chet said:

..and screws with Star Wars in the process. See for yourselves:

toynewsi.com/news.php?catid=8&itemid=7937

Reminds me of that episode of The Apprentice where they had all those idiot contestants trying to come up with interesting toy designs.

Maybe this should be cross-posted someplace where Star Wars fans can read about it and gasp in horror. No fair that only Transformers fans will go through this agony.

Don't worry, I've seen this posted on multiple SW toy collectible sites. So far, the jury is still out on this one, at least until the actual toys hit the market.

Its obviously an experiment where Hasbro opted to leverage on two major properties, SW and TF. Yes, I do agree with you, the two don't go together.

I for one would be very interested to see how well received or how badly spurned these toys will be. Only time will tell.

Cheers,

Garvy

[engrgv]

They maybe ugly but I'll buy them just the same!

[lastmaximal]

i dunno, that General Grievous-former looks good to me. nice vehicon aesthetic. vader and obi-wan are very ehh. the x-wing is decent though, it'd be a nice alternate universe seeker. wonder how it'd look in skywarp colors?

and hey, if "screwing up" transformers means keeping them alive and well and TRANSFORMING into different things for 20 years...

- last "screw on, hasbro, screw on" maximal

[patacat]

when i saw grievous i thought "hey it isn't so bad" but as soon as i saw darth vader i got turned off. not to mention luke and obi-wan. they were just scary plain scary looking.

[chet]

lastmaximal said:

and hey, if "screwing up" transformers means keeping them alive and well and TRANSFORMING into different things for 20 years...

- last "screw on, hasbro, screw on" maximal

Really? Ako I believe that if they haven't got any good ideas worthy of the Transformers name and legacy, I'm not averse to letting the brand lie dormant for a year or so until they can come up with something better than this crap. Transformers deserves and Star Wars deserve better than this.

I can just imagine some suit with an ivy league MBA (no offense to other suits with ivy league MBA's out there) just blurting out during their brainstorming session: "I know! let's make Transformer robots that change into...Star Wars characters! Wicked cool!"

[cmdrjanjalani]

Well, I think the concept looks good on paper, and both SW and TFs are big geek franchises for Hasbro. I don't like it much though, not interested in it. Besides there's enough TF goodness already that I can barely keep up.

But I think that saying Hasbro is "screwing up" everything is silly. Did you not see what they had to show in Botcon? On SW, Hasbro's releasing almost every character and is a geekboy's dream come true.

[ALeX]

what next? vader with removable matrix

[chet]

cmdrjanjalani said:

Well, I think the concept looks good on paper, and both SW and TFs are big geek franchises for Hasbro. I don't like it much though, not interested in it. Besides there's enough TF goodness already that I can barely keep up.

But I think that saying Hasbro is "screwing up" everything is silly. Did you not see what they had to show in Botcon? On SW, Hasbro's releasing almost every character and is a geekboy's dream come true.

Well I didn't say they were screwing up everything. Just these ridiculous things. Dapat hindi nakalampas sa design labs nila yung mga ganyan at dapat hindi pumayag ang LucasArts and Takara na ganyanin yung mga intellectual properties nila. It's a travesty.

[lastmaximal]

chet said:

lastmaximal said:

and hey, if "screwing up" transformers means keeping them alive and well and TRANSFORMING into different things for 20 years...

- last "screw on, hasbro, screw on" maximal

Really? Ako I believe that if they haven't got any good ideas worthy of the Transformers name and legacy, I'm not averse to letting the brand lie dormant for a year or so until they can come up with something better than this crap. Transformers deserves and Star Wars deserve better than this.

I can just imagine some suit with an ivy league MBA (no offense to other suits with ivy league MBA's out there) just blurting out during their brainstorming session: "I know! let's make Transformer robots that change into...Star Wars characters! Wicked cool!"

the good cmdr has already made a clear stand on this, but to back it up:

throttle back, dude. i'll admit it's a far-from-pretty execution of an unusual concept, but this is no reason to not see the forest for the trees.

You're right. Transformers and Star Wars DO deserve better than this, but guess what? they're GETTING it.

Their main lines have never been stronger, and there has never been more variation in sublines and fringe product and hoopla. Star Wars fans practically have lightsabers and evolution sets and continued releases and memorabilia coming out their ears, for one thing.

Transformers in turn is seeing a continued renaissance: a succesful 20th Anniversary for G1 with an equally solid anniversary figure, an unexpectedly cool welcome mat [6 show-accurate dvd-pack-in figures and TWO NEW MOLDS] for even Beast Wars' 10th anniversary, a continually strong main line [with MUCH improved fiction] in TF: Cybertron, a reborn comic franchise and convention/club [both proving viable enough to have survived major shakeups in the companies originally in charge of them], kickass current side-lines [BT/Alts keeps on truckin', for one], a potential neo-G1 filler line in the wings, AND a highly-anticipated movie projected to be strong enough to go head to headwith the Spider-sequel in July 2007. i wouldn't DARE ask them to slow down NOW. that'd be like swearing off hearing, cutting off your ears because you found out the Masculados and Village People are coming out [hee hee] with a tandem album.

Sure, this SW/TF subline is a half-hearted execution of an unusual concept, and i'm totally with you on that. But it's not gonna be hits all the time, you gotta have some misses.

and even then some people are out there who actually like this stuff and pick it up [usually - and correctly enough - the kids this line is aimed at instead of us old farts].

they try lots of things that don't pan out for some fans... Animorphs, Beast Wars Mutants, and now this. but they learn from everything that they do and things are generally made immeasurably better in the long run, in the greater scheme of things.

i just looked over that long TF paragraph i typed up, and i'm thrilled all over again. now i'm rereading the whole star wars/transformers broughaha, and the idea just made me shrug and sigh. sure, it's product i don't really like and don't think should have been invested in. but hey, big deal, they can pacify me with the other 99% of the stuff they've lined up so far. it's all good, dude!

- last "feel the love, man" maximal

[chet]

lastmaximal said:

the good cmdr has already made a clear stand on this, but to back it up:

throttle back, dude. i'll admit it's a far-from-pretty execution of an unusual concept, but this is no reason to not see the forest for the trees.

You're right. Transformers and Star Wars DO deserve better than this, but guess what? they're GETTING it.

Their main lines have never been stronger, and there has never been more variation in sublines and fringe product and hoopla. Star Wars fans practically have lightsabers and evolution sets and continued releases and memorabilia coming out their ears, for one thing.

Transformers in turn is seeing a continued renaissance: a succesful 20th Anniversary for G1 with an equally solid anniversary figure, an unexpectedly cool welcome mat [6 show-accurate dvd-pack-in figures and TWO NEW MOLDS] for even Beast Wars' 10th anniversary, a continually strong main line [with MUCH improved fiction] in TF: Cybertron, a reborn comic franchise and convention/club [both proving viable enough to have survived major shakeups in the companies originally in charge of them], kickass current side-lines [BT/Alts keeps on truckin', for one], a potential neo-G1 filler line in the wings, AND a highly-anticipated movie projected to be strong enough to go head to headwith the Spider-sequel in July 2007. i wouldn't DARE ask them to slow down NOW. that'd be like swearing off hearing, cutting off your ears because you found out the Masculados and Village People are coming out [hee hee] with a tandem album.

Sure, this SW/TF subline is a half-hearted execution of an unusual concept, and i'm totally with you on that. But it's not gonna be hits all the time, you gotta have some misses.

and even then some people are out there who actually like this stuff and pick it up [usually - and correctly enough - the kids this line is aimed at instead of us old farts].

they try lots of things that don't pan out for some fans... Animorphs, Beast Wars Mutants, and now this. but they learn from everything that they do and things are generally made immeasurably better in the long run, in the greater scheme of things.

i just looked over that long TF paragraph i typed up, and i'm thrilled all over again. now i'm rereading the whole star wars/transformers broughaha, and the idea just made me shrug and sigh. sure, it's product i don't really like and don't think should have been invested in. but hey, big deal, they can pacify me with the other 99% of the stuff they've lined up so far. it's all good, dude!

- last "feel the love, man" maximal

Well, I don't think I've missed the forest for the trees there. I've never dismissed the fact that there are a lot of great new Transformers and Star Wars toys out there, possibly enough to "make up" for these unfortunate lapses in design judgment, but I'm of the opinion that toy makers nowadays really can't afford to slip up anymore. The kids of today are giving up on toys at a much earlier age, finding their entertainment in video/computer games and other stuff. Couple this with the fact that there is quite a fierce struggle to get shelf space. Retailers have mercilessly refused carry product for any number reasons.
Look what happened to Mattel's Batman line. This disappeared from U.S. stores because retailers only wanted Batman toys that could be supported by the cartoon or the movie. Just like that, countless collectors were left out in the cold. This is probably not the most apt example, but I just cited it to illustrate the fickleness of the market. Let's hope that, if this monstrosity of a toy line ever gets released, and it bombs, that retailers aren't discouraged to stock other Transformers toys.

[lastmaximal]

collectors actually make up more or less just a rough 20% of the market for this stuff ... and even then, both fandoms have had little trouble adjusting to stuff - particularly BECAUSE most collectors just shrug off little "lapses of judgment" like these.

regardless, sub-lines are known by retailers to be sub-lines and generally don't seem to affect their opinion of the main line. and the last three main TF lines have been amazingly strong sellers.

i respect your opinion, dude, it's just i think this isn't as big a deal as you make it out to be. let's just be glad they've never made a lapse in judgment this big with the main line since... well, Actionmasters.

- last "as a sub-line, it's all right. but dear god don't make it the main line ;D" maximal

[cmdrjanjalani]

chet said:

Well, I don't think I've missed the forest for the trees there. I've never dismissed the fact that there are a lot of great new Transformers and Star Wars toys out there, possibly enough to "make up" for these unfortunate lapses in design judgment, but I'm of the opinion that toy makers nowadays really can't afford to slip up anymore. The kids of today are giving up on toys at a much earlier age, finding their entertainment in video/computer games and other stuff. Couple this with the fact that there is quite a fierce struggle to get shelf space. Retailers have mercilessly refused carry product for any number reasons.
Look what happened to Mattel's Batman line. This disappeared from U.S. stores because retailers only wanted Batman toys that could be supported by the cartoon or the movie. Just like that, countless collectors were left out in the cold. This is probably not the most apt example, but I just cited it to illustrate the fickleness of the market. Let's hope that, if this monstrosity of a toy line ever gets released, and it bombs, that retailers aren't discouraged to stock other Transformers toys.

You're right that it's a very difficult toy market out there. We don't have Wal-Marts here, and it's really disappointing that Transformers has only whimpered in the mainstream market because no TV network was smart enough to release the cartoons here (and this includes GMA who had the bright idea to release the Armada show three years after the line ended). Kids today will buy anything as long as it's on TV and fun to play with. Transformers has lots of potential but is until now being wasted by retailers and distributors. I have a feeling that we won't see anything TF-related in TKs and on TV until the movie comes out on 2007.

For me, the least they could do is stock a limited amount of TFs in their "collectors" area, were they place those MacFarlene and NECA figures that are too adult for kids. Even Marvel Legends are considered a collectors' line since most of the characters with the exception of the Wolverine, Spider-Man, and now Fantastic Four characters, have characters that kids wouldn't recognize. Too bad Playkit really sucks in TF distribution. If only they have a fraction of the effort they have in releasing MLs here, they would probably have a decent market of TF sales here, even if we can only cater to the collector market for now.

[lastmaximal]

cmdrjanjalani said:

You're right that it's a very difficult toy market out there. We don't have Wal-Marts here, and it's really disappointing that Transformers has only whimpered in the mainstream market because no TV network was smart enough to release the cartoons here (and this includes GMA who had the bright idea to release the Armada show three years after the line ended). Kids today will buy anything as long as it's on TV and fun to play with. Transformers has lots of potential but is until now being wasted by retailers and distributors. I have a feeling that we won't see anything TF-related in TKs and on TV until the movie comes out on 2007.

there are a lot of factors to be considered here. for one, we're not the primary market. North America is.

secondly, i don't know enough about the hoops local channels have to jump through now to get the canned shows out over here, but i'm sure it has a lot to do with having to wait til the show is finished and cleared for local viewing or something to that effect. they didn't exclude/ignore the prospect of importing it for fun, i'm certain. but yeah, i'm right there with you on the likelihood of it really boosting sales.

as far as the collector section thing goes... i dunno. kids may not always recognize the characters but they'll buy the stuff because, as you said, the stuff is fun to play with. i feel entirely at peace leaving TK, TT and KS and similar venues to the kids' whims because we have more than enough people out there - those manning our favorite friendly neighborhood specialty stores - to take care of our specific collector concerns. no need for us to be there gumming up the economics of the mainstream.

but yeah, don't get me wrong though... playkit does kinda blow at this, especially lately. i'm always giddy with joy whenever the big mainstream stores DO bring transformers stuff in nowadays, but it actually weirds me out when i compare this to the days when BW/early BM was pretty much ALWAYS on shelves... RiD was imported decently enough, but it was horribly late and way overpriced compared to the line/s just before it... although yes, economical factors most likely caused that. still, it's no secret that Armada, Energon and Universe [with TFU i could understand, since it wasn't a main line, but ehh] had horrible importation. especially compared to what had come before.

it just disappoints me to no end that d**n near everything that's on cartoon network [and come on now, nearly everyone has cable... legally or illegally] now is a ban kee franchise... and that transformers isn't a ban kee franchise.

- last "sigh" maximal