Movie line just ain't doing it for me

[Echotransformer]

Originally Posted by herooftheday316

Are you guys burnt out on the movie line also? Do you guys get those giddy feelings when opening them up and transforming them? I am alone?

Thanks for saying something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I actually picked up a bunch of TFs today and let out a sigh wondering why I bought all of them.

The thing about the movie line is there are JUST so many figures out there. TOO many. RPMS, Replicas, Gravity Bots, R/C cars, helmets, hand-held guns, Those big non-transforming bricky ones that make noise (for really young fans, I suppose) and then all the legends, scouts, dlx, voyager, leaders.

Bumblebees. TONS and TONS of Bumblebees. We get about a dozen renditions of Bumblebee for the movie, but not one rendition of Wheeljack or Trailbreaker or Shockwave for Classicsverse!?

2-pack exclusives that have one bot you want and one you don't. And BAD repaints that warm the shelves, hiding the figures you sort of want. And sales that happen when you don't need a figure and normal prices and scarce supply when you DO need a figure. It really starts to lead to fatigue.

As others have said, only a select few have made me truely excited upon opening and playing--ROTF leader prime, HA Bumblebee, Dlx Sideswipe and Legends Devy. Everything else has been just OK...and compared this to Classicverse where 95% of them were AMAZING and Animated where about 90% were AMAZING and there's no question in my mind you're not alone in your feelings.

And I do find that the brand has some difficulty with focus right now...reminants of Animated, Nest ROTF, Power Core Combiners, War for Cybertron--even toys that are like the old Mask toys? Bigger RPMs? RPMs with lights? The only line getting properly 'fleshed out' is ROTF and it is my least favorite. Sheesh!

I can't help but wish there was more time, money, energy and design resources being poured into the next gen line (would love a fleshed out War for Cybertron) and Generations and a nice finale to Animated rather than a lot of stuff I really don't need (and mostly won't even buy).

But that's me talking. I am (we are) a small voice. I assume Hasbro is making lots of money off these 'distractions' to the brand or they wouldn't be making them. There must be research showing these 'alternatives' are getting more people into the brand and helping to buy the core merchandise and maintaining those healthy profits that are keeping Hasbro ahead of Mattel these days.

So you're not alone, my friend. Not alone at all!!!

End rant....

[Dragon Knight]

yeah, aside from the scouts I bought today, I can't remember the last time I actually bought anything else from ROTF...

[Matrix_Holder]

I agree with every thing you just posted Echotransformer, too much ROTF clutter and not enough substance. I still have my energon Downshift *cough wheeljack cough* on display with my classics. I cant wait till PCC and "transformers" come out. I am almost giddy with anticipation, lol.

I picked up mindwipe, lockdown and brawn from ROTF at the toy show in burlington last week. lockdown is amazing and he was one of those if I see him ill get him...not to important though, I actually like him more than the brawn that I couldn't wait to get. mindwipe is absolutely incredible with skystalker combined with him, again...offscreen characters that rock while onscreen is meh. yes, way to many bumble bees (how many do we really need) I have 1 and thats all i want of him.

[Tekkamanraiden]

My first and only ROTF is Skystalker, unless you count Superion and Bruticus. The only other one I'm interested in is Mindwipe (have to have a F-117 to go with my B2).

[Team Jetfire]

Wow...

I am surprised at the general discontent of the ROTF movie line. Sure the movie may have been a little silly for some, but I thought we were in the "Golden Age" of transformers. To me, this is the best that it is ever going to get.

That being said it depends what kind of collector you are. Hell knows that there is some great stuff coming down the pip and enough sub-line stuff (like masterpiece and fans-project stuff) to keep even the most hard to please person happy.

Really, we all win!

[Pascal]

Originally Posted by ang3l3s

Personally though i find the power combiners a regression in transformer technology, i mean now the arms and legs don't even transform!!!!!!!!

Energon Prime and his drones? The Powecore limbs do transform... from vehicles to limbs. And in a pretty much more elaborate fashion if you ask me.

[Pascal]

Originally Posted by Echotransformer

Bigger RPMs? RPMs with lights?

My daughter absolutely loves them (and so do I...)! I left Bumblebee on the kitchen floor today with all her other toys when she wasn't watching and she went for Bumblebee in no time. She would roll him for a while (those things roll pretty damn well btw), then pick it up to look at the bot sculpted underneath, then roll him some more, then push the button to trigger the sounds... I think ROTF did a great job to offer something for everyone, from toddlers to adult collectors.

[Dragon Knight]

What really gets me is the amount of repaints this line has...I mean look how many bumblebee or ravage repaints they made!

[Pascal]

Ravage only has 1 repaint... the other is for Japan only...

[jackwacko]

While the movie itself was less than stellar, it does serve as a re-introduction of Transformers to a wider range of audience. The movie line is not only a line itself, but also serves as a gateway for collectors, such as myself, who liked transformers, but never bought them, to go hunting for characters of previous lines.

My first transformers toy, ROTF soundwave, has brought curiosity towards who "Soundwave" is. Which eventually led to me hunting for a G1 Soundwave. Also while many of the movie line toys are quite lackluster, especially the on-screen ones (we're looking at you Megatron), some of the off-screen characters (Bludgeon, Mindwipe, the scouts) serve as a great update to some very cool, but lesser known characters as well as familiarizing with G1 (Didn't know what a pretender is until I looked up Bludgeon).

So ya, in conclusion, the movie line toys are kinda repainty (Ironhide, Ratchet, BB being the main offenders), it does serve as a memento in the realm of Transformers.