Animated Popularity

[Jinto]

I had never seen Transformers Animated until very recently, I just hadn't been interested and I never bought a single figurine. I was doing a little browsing and there doesn't seem to be a very big market for second hand figures around.
Are the figures extremely popular and therefore not for sale so much? Or were they not produced as much as other lines?
Having almost no knowledge of TF Animated I'm curious.

*Begins episode 3...*

[GoktimusPrime]

It's a relatively recent line, so I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to find sealed figures at regular retail prices. There might still be some stores with Animated toys still shelfwarming now.

But I'd say that the line is too recent for a significant aftermarket demand for second hand loose toys. Besides, always better to buy toys current and mint! :D (often cheaper than waiting years later too :))

[liegeprime]

The thing is, Animated came out kinda like a "filler" line to tide the shelves by of retailers so that Tf wont appear to have disappeared while Hasbro is cooking up for their Movie line toys... it may not be like Generations/RtS which is "purely filler line" since Hasbro deemed to have a cartoon show for it, even media and franchise products with the Animated designs but nonetheless its a "in the mean time" line which actually has gained a good following and has in some cases lost some fans ( not all people will like the Powerpuff look of animation and toys - I like it very much though).

So, having that in mind. In it's recent heyday when it was the line being the prime thrusted toyline of Hasbro there was flood of toys, but, with the emergence of the movie, most of the toys vanished and was pulled off the shelves with only a few figures shelfwarming here and there in some obscure store space, then the 3rd Tf movie came out and everything just got phased out to make way for these ugly, smallbots. So, your best bet to get them would be online stores, and toy stores who keep/sell old stock. As recent a line as it may be, once the Tf movie stuff was out, this was old news and as such regarded as much as a "filler" line

[kristofferrer]

Good to see you take interest. Initially, i wasn't too keen on the series. They art looked a bit ... weird. After watching the first 3 episodes however i was hooked and i slowly started to appreciate the overall engineering of the toy. The toys were accurate representations (in both forms) of the series.

The toys didn't appear very popular but there are a gems circulating in some retail stores. For second hand, I'd buy from toy fairs, and from the forum. For brand new, id resort to robot kingdom and Ebay for the hard to find items. The best bit about the animated series is that the Hasbro releases of the toys are actually very good! The toys are relatively cheaper as well.

IF you're trying to kick start a collection, I have a megatron (leader class) i'm selling (pm me if interested).

[5FDP]

I love the Animated series and it's second to only G1 IMO. Unfortunately it ended before it's time.

If you do decide to start collecting the toys, I guarantee that you won't regret it.

[GoktimusPrime]

Good to see you take interest. Initially, i wasn't too keen on the series. They art looked a bit ... weird.
The artwork is unorthodox, and whenever Transformers takes on an unorthodox aesthetic, there are portions of the fandom who can't accept it.

Transformers traditionally bases its aesthetics on Japanese mecha (which indeed is its origins - Diaclone, Macross, Dorvack etc.) which is often rich with detail. Animated uses the more contemporary "Cartoon Network" style which is all the rage in American cartoons now (e.g. DC, Powerpuff Girls, Clone Wars, Ben 10 etc.) -- and it's a style that is intentionally very simplistic. I'm personally not a fan of this style of cartoon, but if the story's good I can overlook it. And technically there's nothing wrong with this style, it's purely a matter of personal taste.


After watching the first 3 episodes however i was hooked
I was the complete opposite. I didn't like the first 3 eps. In fact, I don't like Season 1 in general... too childish and lacking in story-telling sophistication for my tastes. But the final eps of Season 1 (Megatron Rising) were the first that really peaked my interest. The human villains are just teh suck. Season 2 -- there were eps that I absolutely loved, and others that I hated (SUV = collective suckage). Season 3 on the other hand was just pure win... it's the only season that I consistently liked. Then it got cancelled!! :mad: And of course, I'm still waiting for Season 3 to come out on DVD! :mad::mad:

So yeah, I started disliking the show, then came to like it. But even now I'll more often re-watch episodes from Season 3 and select Season 2 eps, but I hardly ever re-watch Season 1. I want Season 3 DVDs!!!


and i slowly started to appreciate the overall engineering of the toy. The toys were accurate representations (in both forms) of the series.
Well that would be because the toys were engineered in tandem with the cartoon. i.e. Hasbro would make character designs which would be given to both the animators and toy designers at TakaraTOMY - so both the animators and the toy designers were basing their designs off common concept sketches from Hasbro.

This is an unusual way for Transformers to be developed; usually Transformers are created as toys first, then later on artists will design comic book or cartoon models based on those existing toys. So generally speaking whenever you see a visual discrepancy between a Transformer toy and cartoon, it's not the toy that's show-inaccurate, but the cartoon that's toy-inaccurate! :)

Now there are pros and cons to designing Transformer toys in tandem with animators (or even based on animation models, as is the case with many movie toys). The advantage is of course that the toys do look more like what you see on screen. The disadvantage can be in the engineering, because toy designers are suddenly restricted by having to design a Transformer toy and "forcing" it to look like something that a cartoonist has envisaged. And it's a LOT easier for a cartoonist to design a Transformer than it is for a toy designer... griffin recently described Hasbro's concept sketches and TakaraTOMY's design sketches as comparing a child's crayon drawings with a Picasso. ;) Because cartoonists don't have to worry about things like:
+ Reality - where do all these parts go in robot mode? How do they get there?
+ Cost - all toys must adhere to a controlled budget and conform to a size and price point
+ Play issues - is it intuitive for a certain part to move this way? Would it require a tiny part that is easily broken and present a choking hazard? (e.g. Masterpiece TFs; which is why they're marketed at mature collectors in Japan). If Hasbro wants TakaraTOMY to engineer a gimmick into the toy, then further compromises must be made as well.

I'm personally not a huge fan of Transformers being designed as cartoon models first and toys second, I much rather prefer them being freely designed as toys first then let the artists worry about how to design them as cool looking animation models. Nowadays animators are able to do three dimensional scans and use those 3D renders to build animation models. This is what Mainframe did with Beast Wars -- Hasbro sent them toys, they scanned them and built their show models based on those scans. And it also shows that the animators played with the toys that Hasbro sent them too! This is particularly evident in Transmetal Optimus Primal's "assault" robot mode -- it's NOT an official part of that toy's transformation; there's nothing on the packaging or in the instructions that elude to this, but the toy can transform that way! It's like a fan-mode that the animators made up and incorporated into the cartoon!! :D

I don't know about you, but I remember after watching "Aftermath," the first thing I did was grab my Transmetal Optimus Prime toy and transform him into that assault mode! :)


The toys didn't appear very popular but there are a gems circulating in some retail stores. For second hand, I'd buy from toy fairs, and from the forum. For brand new, id resort to robot kingdom and Ebay for the hard to find items. The best bit about the animated series is that the Hasbro releases of the toys are actually very good! The toys are relatively cheaper as well.
You can still find some Animated toys shelf-warming in stores today. Just last Sunday I found an Animated Skywarp at Myer. About week or so before that I found Wreck Gar, Shockwave, Atomic Nut Convoy and some others.

And yeah, collector fairs should have them at fairly cheap prices... don't pay above standard retail prices for these toys, because they are still pretty recent. Also, the Leader Class toys where shelf-warming so bad, didn't TRU slash their prices down to something really REALLY cheap? I don't remember the exact price, but I remember seeing and thinking "Damn! I bought those toys at full retail!" and wished that I'd waited for that sale. Ah well. :p And even on sale they still took a long time to sell off.


Unfortunately it ended before it's time.
+1. They axed it just as it was getting really really good! The same thing happened with the G1 Marvel Comics! And Beast Wars! I really wish Hasbro would stop doing that! :eek: :(

[liegeprime]

I don't know about you, but I remember after watching "Aftermath," the first thing I did was grab my Transmetal Optimus Prime toy and transform him into that assault mode! :)

.........


+1. They axed it just as it was getting really really good! The same thing happened with the G1 Marvel Comics! And Beast Wars! I really wish Hasbro would stop doing that! :eek: :(


Well, I didnt have ( still dont have) the toy so after watching ... I did nothing heheheheh

Yeah I hate the way Hasbro axes out the series and it just dissapears from their books:(, sigh. Animated still has soooo much potential as shown by the tons of info in those Almanacs released.

[bowspearer]

I tend to agree with the others here that the line was hit and miss in its appeal. Some love the style of the figures, while others like me, were never really hooked on them. That's not to say they're badly designed toys though- Shockwave for example, has a highly complex transformation scheme. It literally with these guys comes down to personal taste.

Likewise with the show- it wasn't one of my favorites (then again, I love Beast Machines as a series and I'm in a tiny minority on that one), but I didn't hate it either and actually quite enjoyed it.

It's one of those series where you can say "to each their own", not be that hooked on the toys and still think the person collecting it has good taste in their choice of TF poison.

Who knows, throw nostalgia into the mix and 20 years from now it could be a cult hit. Time will tell...

[UltraMarginal]

It seems to be a common theme, that I fit into, initially not really being fussed with animated at all. The style of the art in particular. As for the toys, I was collecting other transformers and didn't want to branch too far down the animated line at the time for fear of not being able to afford the "entire set"

Then I got talked into Botcon 2011, watched all 3 seasons, got totally hooked, I have both almanacs and you can tell by the acquisitions link in my sig that I have gone fairly nuts getting hold of figures that I don't have.

As for getting hold of figures:

I was lucky in that I started really collecting them as they were heading to the clearance bin in a lot of places so I picked a lot up there.

for the remaining few I'm after I'm keeping my eyes open on the boards here and eBay. most of the online stores BBTS, RobotKingdom etc are generally out of the harder to get stock.
it will be cheaper at the moment to collect the Japanese version of a lot of the figures from eBay though the japanese versions are shinier, which a lot of people don't like due to the show being more of a matte finish like the US/Aus release of the toys.

Some items like samurai prowl and electrostatic soundwave and activators cliffjumper are particularly hard to come by and their aftermarket price for MISB is very high compared to original retail.

we may perhaps be able to co-operate on a larger purchase and split it is the opportunity arrises, I'll keep my eyes out and keep you in mind.:cool:

[Jinto]

+1. They axed it just as it was getting really really good! The same thing happened with the G1 Marvel Comics! And Beast Wars! I really wish Hasbro would stop doing that! :eek: :(
I agree. I feel that frustration with a lot of shows in and out of the TF fandom. Poor Stargate Universe. :P

Everybody pretend not to notice Transformers Prime and maybe it'll stay around for a few extra years ;)

[jazzcomp]

Didn't interest me much but i've only seen a few episodes.

[klystron]

I must admit I didn't mind the cartoon. I didn't love it and cry endless tears when it was axed, but I didn't mind it. I'll pretty much sit thru whatever rubbish gets stamped with "Transformers" and churned out the entertainment factory, just because its Transformers, and I'll take the rubbish as opposed to the whole line/concept/brand being put to death.
The toys were a bit of a mixed bag for me. I never collected the line, but ended up with a few figures. Arcee was/still is the highlight for me. That figure is awesome and I love it. Prowl was also a winner. Rodimus was cool too, and Blackout looked good. (this is not a decisive list...)
However, Samurai Prowl was one of the worst I have ever bought, and my son's BBee literally fell apart. :eek:
I sort of got the impression that the quality and plastics were not as great as some of the other recent lines.

Without hijacking the thread, I will admit that I am enjoying Prime more than TFA.

[Hursticon]

For me, I honestly can't stand the art-style nor the Hanna-Barbera-esque human characters. :rolleyes:
I didn't mind the narrative though and the characterisation of some of the more well known TF personalities was rather good IMO; especially that of Blitzwing whom I've come to absolutely adore! :D

The show is littered with nods and references to past TF series, with heavy nudges to Beast Wars which is what has probably lightened my opinion of the show since it's initial run. :cool:

However, figure-wise I'm not really interested in the line at all beyond what I have and what is on the way - including:

Deluxe Soundwave
Deluxe Blackarachnia
Deluxe Waspinator
Voyager Blitzwing


IMO, the best thing about this show is the actual Transformers and their character treatments with the Decepticons being the shining stars of the show; the line has/had potential if it had just moved away from the Kindy type art-style as well as the human characters & their stories. :o

It's a show that is well worth giving a go though and has much potential for a comic book continuation from where the Cartoon left off, but it certainly wont be everyone's cup of tea. ;)
(I far prefer TF: Prime, that's for sure :cool:)




*I hope that wall was on topic, or at least helps someone. :)

[1orion2many]

I really disliked the JLA style cartoons and the human villians were some of the worst I've seen:rolleyes:, I didn't mind the toyline though but I must admit I'm a little like Klystron, If it's TF related I'll watch it in the end:o

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I loved it, and really wish they'd done the fourth season. There were heaps of nods to previous TF series, generally strong characters (Animated Ratchet in particular is pretty much my favourite Autobot character to date) with nice 'twists' (i.e. the Constructicons wolf-whistling at passing convertibles) and usually string writing/storylines, the toys were a mixed bag but with far more strong figures than poor, and it was just well thought out in general. You could tell it was a series done by fans, for fans, while still being accessible to newcomers to the franchise.
Like just about everyone I was put off at first by the art style, albeit intrigued by how they could possibly manage to get the character designs into toys, but one day I was bored and started watching the opening three-parter and got hooked.

I'm quite enjoying Prime, the designs are interesting, the combat sequences are pretty good, and there are some good characters (Arcee is great, Starscream is pretty good though falls short of Animated Screamer IMO) but for me there's nothing quite like Animated. Reading what they had planned for S4 is almost painful.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I intially baulked at the concept image they released. However after sitting through the first season, I found I quite enjoyed it. Shame the first season had more meh episodes than good ones, but when the Decepticons were in it it really rocked. Season 2 and 3 were MUST WATCH! for me. I was hanging for the next episode.

The G1 throwback were cool, the Decepticons were super powerful and the Autobots were weake, but managed through teamwork. It also gave us a super awesome evil Megatron again, who had been missing since Beast Wars. It managed to make the HUman character cool (in the end...), gave us some Cybertron mode toys and ended too soon.

It gave us good a new characters, such as super grumpy Ratchet, my number 1 fave and my number 2 fave, Sentinel Prime as a Douche bag extraordanaire.

I also first thought the cartton JLA style looks was pretty horrid, but I was impressed with the toyline, afterall, here we had a figure that looks JUST like it does in the cartoon. And it looks like a cartoon character too!

Animated ended up being the first line for me to want to complete, which I have done, aside from "roadbuster Ultra Magnus" (no cartoon justification y'see).
Personally some top Figures for me :

Blurr, sleek, sexy and blue. Plus he can stand on one leg like he is running (in a style that is like Sonic the Hedgehog, who is also blue)

Lockdown, awesome Monster car mode and a really tall robot mode for mingling with the Decepticons.

Earth Megatron, 2 swords, big cannon, massive. What more do I need to say.
Ultra Magnus, so cool.

[i_amtrunks]

I think it was a moderately succesful line that did more than plug the gaps in and around the movie releases.

The sries started off well but floundered a bit in the first season, as others have said the Decepticons were the highlights, the voice acting and writing were very good. The Autobots were more bland but Ratchet always got the good lines. I think Animated was only my second or third must watch show of the time, due to Spectacular Spiderman!

However season 2 and 3 really lifted the show up a level or seven, littered with references and in jokes, it became more character driven (Megatron driven) and the Decepticons continued to shine. It seems that hasbro has a thing for killing off great shows in season 3, as Animated was going from strength to strength. At east the Earth based story was well wrapped up.

As for the toys, the stylised animation was a hard pill to swallow, I was another who was unsure of how well the designs would translate to figures.
Then (thanks to members here) I got my hands on some figures before they arrived in retail and I was hooked. Voyager Bulkhead was the first figure I got my hands on, and remains one of my favourite figures of any TF line, it was a fun and intuitive transformation that well represented the show character. And the goodies just kept coming, from a Grimlock that was more or less G1 grimmy again through to the well designed flip changer Bumblebee.

Overall it was a great series that improved as it aged and a toyline that supported the series with well designed toys that were only let down by dismal quality control (which occured across all tf lines at the time).

[GoktimusPrime]

IMO, the best thing about this show is the actual Transformers and their character treatments with the Decepticons being the shining stars of the show;
Except for those episodes where the stupid human villains were the antagonists. I can understand the desire to give the Autobots story complications that don't always revolve around the Deceps, but I don't think that the Headmaster, Angry Archer or Professor Princess <shudder> are necessarily the right way to go about it.

While the Decepticons were fun characters, I felt most of them lacked character depth and development. Ditto the Autobots. That's one of my biggest dislikes with Animated... a lack of sufficient character drive and development. Seasons 2 and 3 did improve on it in some parts (but not in other parts).


the line has/had potential if it had just moved away from the Kindy type art-style as well as the human characters & their stories. :o
"Kindy type art" <---I like that. :)

I'm also not a fan of the art style, but if the story is good I can overlook it. It's why I enjoy Star Wars Clone Wars... don't like their Kindy art either, but I like the stories. The recurring human villains just suck, and I'm glad they ditched them in Season 3.


It's a show that is well worth giving a go though and has much potential for a comic book continuation from where the Cartoon left off
It's already happening! "The Stunti-Con Job" is available now at all good comic book stores! (I picked up my copy just last Sunday :)) -- I like how FP are releasing mass-retail reprints of their BotCon comics; makes the stories much more accessible to the public. :D


(I far prefer TF: Prime, that's for sure :cool:)
+1


You could tell it was a series done by fans, for fans, while still being accessible to newcomers to the franchise.
Yeah, but the fan-stuff was pretty superficial. It's not like Beast Wars where the story inter-connected with G1 and G2 and actually became part of that continuity family (and not just making a series of superficial references/homages).

As kup has often said - and I wholeheartedly agree - Beast Wars actually enhances your appreciation for G1 and G2 (because it actually expands on that universe). Animated has lots of G1 "Easter Eggs" -- which are very nice, but that's all they really are. They don't improve or worsen the way I look at G1.


It managed to make the HUman character cool (in the end...),
...who ultimately wasn't human. :p


Animated ended up being the first line for me to want to complete, which I have done, aside from "roadbuster Ultra Magnus" (no cartoon justification y'see).
Also just a repaint of an existing mould. And it wasn't even sold here IIRC. I'd still get a nice toy even if it didn't appear in the film; like Oilslick (he did eventually appear in the cartoon, but that was well after the toy had come out).


Lockdown, awesome Monster car mode and a really tall robot mode for mingling with the Decepticons.
The forearms and legs that pop off way too easily spoil it for me. :( I do like the character concept though... haven't seen a recurring bounty hunter character in Transformers since G1!


Earth Megatron, 2 swords, big cannon, massive.
Leader Class Animated Megatron is - IMO - one of the best Leaders made. Even with the restriction of an electronic sound gimmick it's pretty well designed.


And the goodies just kept coming, from a Grimlock that was more or less G1 grimmy
I was disappointed by the poorly concealed robot head in dino mode... and lack of decent weapon stowage in alt mode too. Otherwise I agree it's a pretty nice toy. :)

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Yeah, but the fan-stuff was pretty superficial. It's not like Beast Wars where the story inter-connected with G1 and G2 and actually became part of that continuity family (and not just making a series of superficial references/homages).The thing with that is that BW was/became part of the G1/2 continuity, whereas Animated is a different continuity.
I can understand why a hardcore TF fan like yourself would find it lacking, but for a casual fan such as myself seeing the various homages in Animated was my first exposure to a lot of the more obscure characters, and presented some nice takes/homages on existing characters. I wouldn't know who a lot of TF characters were (Grandus, Rosanna, the dino-cassettes) if they hadn't showed up in Animated and got me looking through the TFWiki.

I've said it before and I'll doubtless say it many times again: for me Transformers are light entertainment and an interesting thing to collect. For cartoon depth I'm more likely to look to something like Ghost in the Shell or Neon Genesis Evangelion than a Transformers series - though right now I'm going through Slayers mixed with the occasional Cutie Honey episode so I'm very much on the 'light' side of my entertainment cycle atm.

[Jinto]

Now here's something I could definitely get behind! :D

edit***
Wow, that's a huge image. Here's (http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/221/4/e/Maximals__Animated_by_Kingoji.jpg) the link instead.

[1orion2many]

:eek:AAAAHHHHH my eyes:p:D As I said before, Not a fan of JLA style:D

[GoktimusPrime]

I can understand that.

Transformers designs are traditionally based off Japanese Mecha aesthetics, and it's understandable how the far more simplistic and 'cartoonishly' stylised designs of Animated can be off-putting to some people. I remember when Animated came out some people were calling it "Disneyformers." :p

Anime'd---> http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb56/gambet11/th_optimus_prime.jpghttp://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/AnimeZodiac/Transformers/th_AnimatedOptimusPrime.jpg<---JLA'd!

But I remember FFN explaining it as being Hasbro's back-up incase the Bayformers failed. Animated was conceived around the same time as the first live action movie was meant to come out. And as we know the movie franchise made the Transformers look all super-complex and alien; so with Animated they jumped to the complete opposite end of the spectrum and made them look simplistic and cartoony. That way in the event that the 2007 TF movie turned out to be a complete failure, Hasbro could drop it like a hot potato and move on with Animated in a different direction. As it turned out of course, the live action movie franchise was very successful, so they went ahead and released Animated as a filler line.

If not for the live action movie franchise, Animated would have turned out very differently. The original concept for Animated was "Transformers: Heroes", and the designs there did look a LOT more orthodox; more like detailed Japanese Anime-Mecha stuff (you can check out some of the TF: Heroes concept sketches in the Animated Almanacs!). But now that both the movie and Animated franchises have enjoyed success (especially the former), Hasbro's decided to blend both aesthetics together; hence the hybrid moofie-cartoony aesthetics of TF Prime.

[kaiden]

Personally I liked the designs but the writing was horrible though and the constructicons didn't merge for the kill.

Animated was a real mixed bag. the story just so many highs and lows i thought the writers were all bipolar. omega supreme was awesome but the humans sucked as usual. they really should have kept it going.

the only i would change is the writers. the story sucked so bad.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

omega supreme was awesome .
Omega is always awesome. The only not-awesome thing about him in animated was that he didn't get a toy.






I am not bitter

[llamatron]

The Animated toys are overall excellent, some of the most interesting Transformers ever made. However in terms of $$$ value most of them are next to worthless, I wouldn't suggest paying more than 50% of retail value for these guys if you're buying second hand (there are a few exceptions for slightly rarer figures like the Takara-only ones and TRU exclusives).

The show is a mixed bag as people have covered already. First season is pretty much garbage, second is good and bad, third is pretty good. Far better than the horrific dull bland quasi-movie junk we're getting with TF:Prime though.

[Doubledealer]

I had never seen Transformers Animated until very recently, I just hadn't been interested and I never bought a single figurine. I was doing a little browsing and there doesn't seem to be a very big market for second hand figures around.
Are the figures extremely popular and therefore not for sale so much? Or were they not produced as much as other lines?
Having almost no knowledge of TF Animated I'm curious.

*Begins episode 3...*

Great stuff. :) Enjoying the show so far?

For me, when Animated came around it made Transformers fun again. And it's hand drawn! This is of huge importance to me as I find it very hard to care about CG Transformers, they lack soul!

Apart from featuring a brilliant cast of Transformers on both sides, what I really love about the show is how well it strikes a balance between humour/light-heartedness and intrigue/unpredictability. Don't be mistaken, Animated absolutely has a dark side to it which at first is unexpected (at least I found it so!) but this escalates as the show goes on and really makes for exciting viewing.

There are more than a few scenes after which you'll be thinking "What the, did that really just happen??" (in a good way hopefully :p) and it's these sort of moments that make an already great show something truly memorable.

For once I actually really cared about Prime too (usually he bores me to death). His relationship with Sentinel Prime is particularly fascinating!

In terms of the toys...Well, others have said it already but I'll say it again. They capture the very essence of their on screen counterparts amazingly well. Why is there a small second hand market for them? Because you'd have to be a mug to part with them! :p

If wanting to start a collection, I highly recommend testing the water with Cybertron Optimus Prime. :)

[liegeprime]

Omega is always awesome. The only not-awesome thing about him in animated was that he didn't get a toy.

I am not bitter

+1

nah just sour:p