As we mark another year of this blog's continued existence, the
sense of ennui is strong. Hasbro have singularly failed to produce
anything I was willing to pay full price for, even in those very few
cases where I actually bought official merchandise. Meanwhile the Third
Parties continue to pack in far more bang for your buck. Broadly
speaking, what you get from Third Parties is a smaller range of
better-engineered products at almost any scale... But the
Masterpiece analogues is where they're really starting to shine.
While Hasbro only recently finished off its 2007
Masterpiece Movie series with the last Decepticon, Brawl,
several different companies have now released their interpretations of
Dark of the Moon Megatron and
Age of Extinction/The Last Knight Optimus Prime, Unique Toys released
their take on DotM Mirage/Dino and revealed
Revenge of the Fallen Skids and Mudflap, while amazing-looking figures
of RotF Sideways and AoE Stinger magically appeared earlier this
year.
As paid work (and my birthday) permitted, I made only a handful of purchases,
fewer even than last year. My two Hasbro purchases both left me feeling a
little ripped off, even having acquired both at a discount (a Legacy 2-pack
for less than the cost of a single Deluxe, and a Core class figure for about
£2-3 less than RRP). The new comic book series has been gaining a lot of
praise in the fandom but, to me, it looks like an even worse version of the
1980s Marvel comics, and much of the narrative that some are describing as
'peak fiction' just seems like over-the-top nonsense to me. There have been no
further rumblings about a live-action follow-up to Rise of the Beasts, but the
first trailer for the CGI animated movie TransFormers One seemed to pitch it
as a comedy road movie (which, I gather, is more a fault of the trailer than
the movie it's advertising). There really doesn't seem to be much to get
excited about... But I can't say I'm unhappy about not finding myself in
accordance with the vast majority of blinkered, hardcore GeeWunners and those
who think 'Bayhem' applied to a comic book story is a good thing...
So, again, we're celebrating an anniversary with a pretty negative vibe and,
as always, we'll begin with the Dishonourable Mentions:
