The Transformers VENTING Thread

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by steamwhistle

The Transformers VENTING Thread

Does something bother you?

Rage about it here.

Oh that Computron, he can be so Smug!!!

[The Nemesis]

Really trivial/petty thing to vent about, but here goes:



Back when PotP was released and I was getting back into collecting mainline/CHUG stuff after years of only doing retro releases or collectors-y things like Binaltech or MP, I appreciated the included trading cards. I didn't love the whole "there's like 13 versions of each card!" bit because it seems like the sort of thing that will push OCD collectors to buy up multiples of a figure just to get the card they want or complete the set without having to find a ton of fans who have no need for them. But fine. I don't mind having the weird random assortment of Primes tied to each character in my set.


I also got a small handful of TR/CW figures and found that those cards had tech specs on the back, which I thought was an even cooler use of the card gimmick because it was like G1 boxes without the need to chop the box up and get an irregularly shaped thing that can't be stored easily outside of a scrapbook.


So I was psyched when it was revealed that cards were making their return with Kingdom. The whole "destinies" bit reminded me a of the PotP Primes-centric cards, but fine. Whatever.


Then I get my first Kingdom figure (BW Megs) and get an Ark card in it. "Huh. That's weird." I think to myself. "Why would they give you an Ark card in the box of a different character? But it seems to far out there to be a production snafu."


That's when I read up and discover that the card distribution is 4 subjects per wave, currently 1 destiny per subject with subsequent waves adding more characters and destinies.


So, for now, Wave 1 only gets you The Ark, Optimus, Blackarachnia, and Dinobot with 1 specific destiny each. Wave 2 apparently contains a new G1 Megatron card and new destinies for Dinobot, The Ark, and Optimus, but drops Blackarachnia.


That's dumb. There's now no guarantee you can get all the cards you're looking for across 1 purchase of the bots you want in a wave. So far I have the 4 deluxes and BW Megatron out of Wave 1. All I'm waiting on now are Cyclonus and Optimus Primal to show up in store near me. But of the 5 cards I have, I got 3 Arks, 1 Blackarachnia, and 1 Optimus Prime. No Dinobot. And no guarantee that the 2 remaining wave 1 figures I need will necessarily have that card packed inside.


What's stupider is that the cool holofoil effect on the obscuring part of the card is neat, but you peel that piece off to reveal the destiny and then what? If you wanted to display it like a regular card you would need a blank or duplicate cards to put the sticker onto for safekeeping. I keep all my previous cards in a binder like an index of what figures I have. But I don't have enough extra cards to show the versions where I might keep the sticker still on it or to hold the stickers I've taken off of others.


I realize that the part of the audience that might take the card collecting "seriously" is minimal to the extent that they don't need to alter the line to cater to those people, but this whole thing feels like an interesting idea poorly realized.


It also shows that they're missing the obvious thing to do with the cards that is staring them right in the face:


1) Front of a card is a big, flashy art piece of the character whose toy you bought.


2) back is a tech spec with ratings bars and a character bio/destiny bit, collectors' serial # (like what's on the WFC boxes, where figures are identified as "WFC-X#" where X is the line (S, E, K) and # is the release # in that line (W1 cores were 1-3, deluxes were 4-8, etc) whatever else you want to and can fit into the limited space (the CW/TR tech specs were far bigger than they needed to be to convey the point, so you could shrink them and gain more real-estate to do the other stuff)



3) If you want to do collectable variants or chase stuff, then do random versions of the cards with a different piece of art on the front, different destiny bit on the back (but otherwise pretty much the same) or random foil variants.



there. Now you've made a card that satisfies completionist/rare-hunter collectors, serves a purpose for indexing the line, and isn't gimmicked out to the point that collecting them becomes more trouble than it's worth.

[Pascal]

Originally Posted by steamwhistle

I really like that MP-10 was really how a real-life transformer might appear.

I wish the Binaltech line was still alive.

[The Nemesis]

Originally Posted by Pascal

I wish the Binaltech line was still alive.

I kind of get why it's not. I imagine those specific-vehicle real-world licensing deals are picky and difficult to do. Especially when so many of the European brands were so hesitant to get involved either for pride reasons (Ferrari/Lamborghini not wanting to "stoop" to licensing their luxurious likenesses out for silly toy robots) or dubious ethical aversions (Porsche or, for a long time until right around the Bumblebee movie, Volkswagen being skittish that associating with 'war toys' might bring up the uncomfortable fact that the brands had Nazi ties in WWII).



and we know that given how much Transformers fans tend to detest change or undue alteration in any form, so you could imagine how well it would go when more characters with iconic real world car equivalent alt modes in G1 get totally different modes for Binaltech.


"What? Hubcap is being done as a Prius coupe instead of a Porsche? BLASPHEMY! The gall to disrespect the legacy of Hubcap in such a blatant fashion! Transformers is ruined FOREVER!"


I already recall people kvetching about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker being Vipers instead of Lambos.


Also I kind of feel like maybe they hit a wall when they started releasing repaints as different characters ("It's actually Dead End! It only looks like Sunstreaker!") and random character choices that have no affiliation with commercially available vehicle alt modes (Grimlock, Ravage, Optimus Prime, etc). When they dipped from there into the deep well of C-listers like Swerve and freakin' Camshaft, I have strong suspicions that things were not in the best place for that line.

[steamwhistle]

Trimmed my fingernails.

Then went to transform a ‘bot for which I need fingernails.

[Pascal]

Kingdom Inferno looks cheap AF with all the grey parts instead of the classic white.

[UsernamePrime]

amazon coneheads

[wesperino]

Originally Posted by UsernamePrime

amazon coneheads

Second this!

[Matrix1981]

STORE EXCLUSIVES AND SCALPERS.... sorry for the caps.

[evenstaves]

Pandemic killing cons

Let me tell you, there's a few figures I turned up my nose up at in the past, at cons ("this too marked up" etc)

But now, with Mandy being trapped in only-DHL-to-Canada mode?
Those marked-up con prices are starting to look better by comparison, sheez!

Plus CanPost shipping being ridiculous