On Size & Quality

Now that TransFormers: Prime toys are available in the UK (even turning up - slightly overpriced - at the toyshop just down the road from my home), I have a slightly better idea of their size. Haven't bought any yet (certainly not at £2 above average price on each one!), but seeing them in package, in person gives me some idea of what all the fuss is about.

Size-wise, it's really rather odd. Back in the days of early G1, you had your 'Mini Autobots' (which are roughly analogous to today's Scouts or Cyberverse figures), the Diaclone-derived Autobot cars (which would be Deluxe in the contemporary parlance) and Decepticon planes, along with the Microman-derived figures like Megatron and Soundwave (which would be closest to Voyagers).

Whereas the Diaclone-derived cars were boxed, modern 'Deluxes' are carded, and so tend to look smaller by association with that packaging method. Some of the later G1 reissues were carded but, by that time, slightly larger standard figures - Headmasters, Targetmasters, Powermasters, etc - were being boxed.

So, by and large, the only difference between a G1/Diaclone toy and a contemporary Deluxe is that the former features rather more metal (the die-cast construction being something of a selling point - they were like 'proper' toy cars, except that changed into robots!), and the latter tends to be far more complicated and far more poseable.

Trouble is, each price-point has been growing steadily smaller over the years. As recently as the Unicron Trilogy, Scout-, Deluxe- and Voyager-class toys seemed that much more substantial (if simpler, and burdened by some terrible gimmicks). One need only look at the difference in size between the Deluxe range from Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and that of Dark of the Moon (2011) to see the telltale signs of cutbacks. The new Voyager Ironhide is barely larger than a Deluxe in either mode and, other than a slight remold to RotF Leader-class Optimus Prime, there was only one new Leader that made any sense - Sentinel Prime. The 'upgraded' Leader-class Bumblebee was a disproportionate mess with an ill-fitting backpack of battery-powered weapons, and Leader-class Ironhide actually turned out more simplistic than the Deluxe from 2 years previously. While his weapons were at least stored internally, they weren't especially well executed, and reduced the toy's overall effectiveness.

In favour of the contemporary toys, larger size classes more frequently brings greater complexity. Many of the larger G1 toys were as basic as the Mini Autobots, some barely transformed (Metroplex and just about every Headmaster/Targetmaster/Powermaster, I'm looking at you). Sure, we still get oddities, like all the Megatron toys from the first two live-action movies, but there are far more refreshing and original designs (Highbrow from the 2010 post-RotF, yellow-boxed toyline being one of my personal favourites) which more than balance it out.

What's upsetting the balance, though, is the quality.

As the complexity improved, the quality - in terms of durability - of the plastic has become worse. I have a good few toys from the Dark of the Moon line that broke within a few minutes, just during transformation. Take the Jolt remake, for example. It's not a bad figure, overall, and mostly a huge improvement on the weird 'interpretation' he got off the back of his 2 minutes on screen in Revenge of the Fallen. But the joint that rotates the car bonnet into position as part of the robot's foot is very stiff, and has broken on one leg. Likewise the tiny joints that hold Crankcase's dreadlocks in place. Those rubbery tendrils barely move during transformation, and yet the socket into which they're plugged has broken, leaving one side prone to falling out. Worse than those (depending on your perspective, I suppose) is the tiny hood ornament on Voyager Megatron's bonnet. One wrong move rotating the bullbars round, and that hood ornament was no more. Sure, it's tiny... but the plastic just seems so soft, if it breaks that easily. Worse still, if ever there was a Megatron toy that cried out for Leader-class scale, it was Dark of the Moon's Voyager.

Quality control has been a burning issue in the fan forums since the TF: Animated line, but it always tended to be build/assembly quality, or the accuracy/evenness/extent of the paintwork. Now, increasingly, it feels as if the quality of the plastic has been dramatically reduced. Colours aren't as vibrant, and some parts appear almost translucent, despite being ostensibly 'solid'.

All these factors, coupled with Hasbro's logistical glitches over the latter half of last year, and pretty much all of this year so far, are obviously contributing to their shrinking profits. I've no idea what the logistical problems were, specifically, or if they could have been avoided... but it does strike me that reducing the quality of the product while keeping the price the same (or increasing it!) is a recipe for losing customers in the long run. By and large, all of my G1 toys are still in good condition, almost 30 years after I bought them... If I can't say the same for toys I  bought only last year, then the quality issue surely needs to be addressed.

Personally, I'd sacrifice all the silly gimmicks - the electronic lights and sounds, the transforming weapons and most especially the Mini-Cons - if it meant better quality plastics, and more interesting and intricately detailed/painted transforming robot toys.

After all, when the series began, the fact that they were transforming robot toys (with reasonably accurate real-world 'disguises') was the only gimmick.

Still being rubbish

A couple of months ago, I was considering the idea of posting a message to the effect that I'm on a deliberate haitus from this blog. Here's the situation:

• I have over 120 posts that could be considered 'in progress' (that is, the images are in place for over 120 draft posts), but many of them are quite old toys, so I have to work up the enthusiasm to write about them - particularly where I've got a version of the same character from a more recent continuity/toy line.
• I have just under 400 TransFormers toys in the cabinets in my home alone (not including Mini-Cons), with about 20 Exclusives still in their boxes, and at least another 50 still in storage at my folks... that means there are more than 250 already photographed in my second Photobucket account (hurrah for the limitless storage - shame they didn't make that decision before I had to open a second account!) just waiting for me to make the effort to get them into Draft state, at the very least.
• I'd like to clear the 120-odd posts I have in progress before I move onto newer stuff, but am beginning to think I should just make a start on the newer, more exciting ones.
• I'm unemployed, so I haven't bought any new TransFormers in absolutely ages (not that there have been any - well done Hasbro! Hardly a surprise your profits were down over Christmas since the stock wasn't on the shelves!), and didn't even get any for Christmas.
• I renewed my membership to the Collectors' Club but am not especially interested in this year's BotCon set, and one of this year's Club Exclusives left me cold. The other one - pairing up with this year's Membership Incentive figure - is a Classics version of the battlecharger Runabout. I started putting in a preorder for him... but at about $40 for the figure, then a further $58 for shipping to the UK, I just couldn't justify it to myself. Sure, it's a limited edition and, technically, one of a pair... but it's a £25 Limited Edition Deluxe class action figure that would cost me over £60 even before ParcelForce add their extortionate markup. To put that into perspective, mainline Deluxes retail in the States for about $12, which translates to less than £8. It's sold out now, so the decision is moot, but I may not renew my membership again, even if I get a steady income.
• The prospect of some paid work later this month immediately set me thinking about splurging on TransFormers: Prime toys... which would be a really bad idea before I get paid.

I seem to pop in on this blog once in a while, clearing anywhere between two and four Drafts, but whenever I look at the list, I don't feel compelled to write about these toys right now. I have other things on my mind...

What I will say is this: I am not deserting this blog. I have lots to say about the Dark of the Moon line (not least that it's the first line where the toys have frequently broken while transforming or just posing them), and I'm quite enthusiastic about the TF: Prime line (moreso the First Editions... some of the mass releases look a bit crummy), but I don't expect to get any for a while, and I suspect I won't be getting this blog up to date anytime soon.

I could post a list of the models that are already in Draft form and ask you, gentle reader, to tell me which you'd most like to see/read about, and tailor my updates that way... Just to give you a taste, the current Drafts include:

• Unicron Trilogy (LOTS of Japanese Galaxy Force toys)
• Movie toys (TransFormers, some Revenge of the Fallen and its spin-offs)
• TransFormers Collectors' Club and BotCon Exclusives
• TF: Animated

This blog has been going for almost three years now and, in that time, I've had more than 7,500 pageviews, and precisely one comment... Feedback would be much appreciated at this time. Any takers?

TransFormers (Movie) Arcee

If I remember correctly, in the early stages of planning for the first TransFormers live action movie, Arcee was intended to appear, but ended up getting replaced by Ironhide. Considering what a botch-job they made of him, it's almost tempting to wonder what the movie would have been like with Arcee instead... Would there have been a love triangle between Sam, Mikaela and Arcee? Would Revenge of the Fallen have included a scene with Mikaela languishing upon Arcee, spraypainting sexily? Oh, hang on, RotF did actually feature a trio of female biker-bots, so probably not.

In any event, designs for Arcee were made, and she actually looked pretty darned good... And since Hasbro occasionally gets things right (and may have picked up on the fans constant clamouring for a new Arcee toy, based solely on her appearance in the 1986 animated movie!), these designs were not entirely wasted...

Armada Powerlinx Red Alert

Personal friends and long-time readers of this blog will no doubt be aware that I am no stranger to impulse buys. Pretty much every Armada purchase I made was an impulse buy, because I already knew that they were all a bit rubbish. Powerlinx Red Alert was an impulse buy on two levels - first, I was on a business trip and just happened to see it in a small, independent toy shop; second, while I was vaguely interested in the original, I wasn't remotely interested in this recolour until I saw it on that fateful day... So, do I regret this purchase?

TransFormers (Movie) Barricade

No-one can deny that the live action TransFormers movies have played with expectations. Sadly, most expectations ended up getting cruelly dashed by a series of movies that cared more about its human characters than the titular giant alien robots... and cared less for them than it did the potential for big explosions. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Michael Bay...

But I digress.

When photos first surfaced of a police car - a Saleen-remixed Ford Mustang police car, no less - the obvious expectation was that Prowl was going to be one of the Autobots. He would have been a good choice, too, considering his logical, tactical brain would be thrown for a loop by anything unexpected... and what could be more unexpected for a sentient alien robot than organic life? Oh, the possibilities!

On the other hand, casting a Decepticon as a police car was a rather neat way of playing on the expectations of the characters within the movie, which is surely more important... And so, we have Barricade.

TransFormers Collectors' Club BotCon 2003 Sunstreaker & Sideswipe

It's funny to think that there was an annual BotCon before the current license-holders, Fun Publications, took it on, developing it into the bonanza of boxed-set toys it is now. Originally a small-scale affair with no real star guests, it led to the formation of a company whose raison d'etre was to run BotCon and which, in 2002, became Hasbro's officially licensed TransFormers convention operator (albeit operating under the less catchy name "The Official TransFormers Collectors' Convention" because the company split and the guys who owned the name 'BotCon' were no longer involved. Shortly thereafter, the company lost its license, and Fun Publications jumped in.

I only have a few of the pre-FunPub exclusives - these two and 2002's Tap Out - and it seems they're neither highly regarded or much sought-after. I have to confess that I probably only bought these because of one of my strange OCD issues: When it comes to TransFormers Lamborghinis, I've gotta catch 'em all...

TransFormers (Movie) Ironhide

It's kind of bizarre, if you think about it, what aspects of a particular character fans will get hung up on. Take Ironhide, for example. Back in G1, he was one of the awful 'Cherry Vanette' models whose cartoon representation was nothing like the toy. He was essentially the same as G1 Ratchet, but in red and without the lightbar. When he was announced as one of the characters picked for the Michael Bay movie, most fans were OK with him being a GMC Topkick C4500 pickup truck... but complained that he was black rather than his trademark red.

TransFormers (Movie) Bumblebee (Camaro Concept)

It is, perhaps, no surprise that Movie Bumblebee has had multiple incarnations, not just across the three movie toylines, but within each one as well. A 'Camaro Concept' version was inevitable simply because that's the disguise he adopted shortly after being 'discovered' by Sam. However, despite being a significant upgrade on the '76 Camaro version, the first upgraded movie Bumblebee still exhibits many of the flaws of the first movie's toyline... but is that really so bad?