what would be your ideal TF toy line

[morg176]

what would be your ideal TF toy line?

In my opinion, we have had some crap TF toy lines over the last decade. and we have had one or two very good ones too. But it would seem that the fans are not asked 'what is it you want in a tf?' and just as important, 'what do you NOT want in a tf'.

what have we had in the past?

gestalts, duocons, head/target/power/micro masters, pretenders, minicons and the whole armada thing... animated [very cool] and the movie lines [getting tired] and a bunch that i have missed.

what do we have now?

The death of animated [possible the best figures we have seen in a long time]. and the movie line [yawn]

what do we have to look forward to?

power core combiners [PCC] what ever they end up being... some sort of targetmaster multi combiner thing.

what do you want/NOT want in a tf? which sub lines do you think were understated as to their potential as toys, what do think really sucks in a tf?

please share your thoughts, but keep it on topic

[GoktimusPrime]

Something fun, innovative/clever and good value for money. :)

e.g.:
TF1 Deluxe Concept Camaro Bumblebee = Thumbs up
ROTF Combiner Class Devastator = Thumbs down (even when purchased at a discount)

[Gutsman Heavy]

More classics, I'm a sucker like that.

[kup]

The best toy line we had this decade was Classics with Some of the Universe 2.0 releases.

The first Movie line also wasn't bad but they lost focus too quickly.

Galaxy Force/Cybertron had some good toys but I didn't care much for its fictional universe and color schemes - The molds that I own from that line are actually Universe/Classics character focused repaints.

Personally I feel most Animated toys to be rather mediocre just the same as Armada and Energon toys and that's based on design and engineering not the aesthetics. The best thing that the Animated toy line gave us were Activators.

[5FDP]

More Classics gets my vote as well. I collected more of that line than any other in the last 8 years. Classics Jetfire is in my top 5 list of all time favs.

[optimus1]

My top modern lines are:
Alternators (Finally realistic vehicles!)
Masterpiece (The 2010 mystery figure should be good)
Classics/Universe (Modern G1 as it should be)
Animated (show accurate robot modes!)

My preferences are for realistic vehicles with a sturdy robot modes. The movieverse has realistic vehicles but many suffer from much weak robot modes. They dont feel as sturdy as similarly sized Classics/Universe and Animated figures.

The most impressive feature for me are details and realism, that why I love Alts and MPs. Gimmicks are only good if they add an extra touch onto a great figure, like the lightup Matrix chest of MP Prime. Great detail and transformation is THE gimmick for me. Anything else is a bonus, but should not be the main feature. Other great examples are Universe Cyclonus and Hound, both of whom I would have got by themselves anyway. Great figures with bonus partners (Nightstick and Ravage).

[kurdt_the_goat]

Since i have rediscovered TF's (around the time of Movie 1), i've been satisfied with all the lines. I don't particularly want every toy to be a "must have" - i don't want to buy every toy in the mainline! Especially considering Japan has some great exclusives that i want more than any of the mainline toys, i have plenty to buy as it is!

But overall, I think there are enough good toys for me in Movie 1&2, Classics and Animated that i'd be bound to find *something* i like in whatever they come up with next.

My ideal line(s) however already exist - Masterpiece and Alternity continuing from Binaltech!

[Verno]

I'm a BW fan, always will be, but I can see why Universe/Classic figures are so popular. I'm all about realism and having a connection to a character and those lines have brought what was possible in the 80's into the 21st century by retaining what those characters were and making them better.

[i_amtrunks]

The animated and Cybertron lines did some spectacular work regarding the toys looking like the characters from the television series, while personally I do not find it all that important, I think it is an important factor regarding sales.

After the QC drop during and after the first movie line, my ideal tf line would be one where QC issues are minimal (going back to the level of Cybertron toys)

[morg176]

thankyou for your responses, please keep them coming.

many want innovation. im all for this. and with the engineering available for toys [tf] today very little is impossible. I think that a main figure with a partner has often been popular [master series]

perhaps a main figure whos bullbar [or similar] pulls off and transforms into a animal or something. having a partner that integrates fully into the vehicle mode.

and poorly executes concepts such as the duocons [ive always loved the concept] where 2 vehicles join to form a robot. Two animals could do the same thing, or a vehicle animal mix. And having two components tf into a robot would be more appealing than Movie Devastator

Keep the ideas flowing

[kup]

I think that we are all for innovation but what we diverse in is the execution of it.

[MV75]

My ideal toyline has already been done. G1.

It had everything. The only "common gimmick" was transforming.

It had robot points/mail aways, throttlebots, battlechargers, duocons, base-formers, combiners, lights & sounds, target masters, different size classes etc, etc etc.

[dirge]

Want: Realistic alt modes. Good engineering. More Legends. More Encore/reissues - and more newly reissued toys.

Don't want: So many repaints. Junk like Gravity Bots & FABs. Linewide gimmicks getting in the way of the actual Transformer (Armada). Unrealistic stylised alt modes (Armada, Animated). 17 of the same character in one line.

[SofaMan]

and poorly executes concepts such as the duocons [ive always loved the concept] where 2 vehicles join to form a robot. Two animals could do the same thing, or a vehicle animal mix.

I always liked this idea. Something similar to this (http://www.toyarchive.com/Gobots/DreadLaunchers.html)?

[SofaMan]

I kind of want something more epic.


A proper, complete War Within type line. Real TF origin stuff.

Alternate Realms, like Hearts of Steel.

A line of mythology-based TFs. We've had the odd mythological creature, but I think there's more potential here (http://www.members.tripod.com/~Triad3587/transmythics2.htm).

Updated Pretenders, with proper transforming shells.

[morg176]

ahh duocons

the concept was awesome, yet so very forgotten. only two figures; flywheels [cybertron mode jet and tank] and everyones favourite brutal sociopath battletrap. The figures where well, sad really. virtually no articulation to speak of but simply because they combined they were cool. IMAGINE what they could do with them now....

what two vehicles/two animals/ veh-ani mix would you have and what would you call it. what type of weapons would it have

also: slamdance and beasttalk also fall into this category [as well do the jap gestalt cassettes]

[Tommy K]

im not sure about a thread like htis, by asking for a toy line you will also need a show to go with it, nearlly every single toyline of t-formers has got either a comic book or tv show or movie based about it,all except universe/classics i think, so im not really sure on this one hmmm

maybe a beast wars transmetal 3 thing?

[Verno]

They could always give TransTech another crack. Some of the mockups looked SICK!

[MV75]

ahh duocons

the concept was awesome, yet so very forgotten. only two figures; flywheels [cybertron mode jet and tank] and everyones favourite brutal sociopath battletrap. The figures where well, sad really. virtually no articulation to speak of but simply because they combined they were cool. IMAGINE what they could do with them now....



Yea, they'd probably do something like animated jetfire/jetstorm. :p

[SMHFConvoy]

Great sculpt and articulation. Less focus on overly complicated conversion please.

[Sky Shadow]

Alternate Realms, like Hearts of Steel.

I think a steampunk Transformers line would be great, or a WW1 era line. Like Beast Wars, any storyline where the Transformers land on earth at a time other than present day or the future would be a good change from the norm.

[Tommy K]

OH IVE GOT IT

megaformers ( because trans just wont cut it) version transmetal X.20

are made out of 2 small robots

transformers that have 3 modes

a beast mode

a vehicle mode

a robot mode

can combine

are able to use head masters and target masters

has auto light functions

have remote controls for their vehicle modes

can go into pretender shells

and go back in time

they have ai chips imposed into their circuittry

and know your name

they can eat stuff

and become handy devices a picking up women

they can be used for shaving

it discharges scotch and cigars

can be used as lethal weapons

and it plays blu ray movies

now what 10 yr old boy wouldnt want that?

[Lord_Zed]

IMO we've had some great TF lines this decade, Masterpieces, Binaltechs, Alternities, and in the mainstream lines Henkei/Classics, Car Robots and yeah even the movie line ain't to bad as it at least brought realistic Altmodes back to mainstream Transformers. there were some shockers too, like Armada and co. However when considered as a whole I don't see the TF's of the past decade being any worse than any previous period.

I could think of all sorts of ideas I'd love, many of which have been mentioned, personaly I'd really love a Binaltech/Alternity quality Jet-former series, or WWII TF's.

But I guess any of those ideas could be my ultimate toyline, so the guiding principles that would make it awesome, would be realistic altmodes, good sucpts. innovative fun transformations, articulation and realistic looking (or at least detailed) paintjobs that make them look more like scale models rather than plasticy toys, something at least on par with the Car Robot Brothers, or a whole series of TF's with an execution equal to Buster Prime would be pretty damn ideal to me. :)

What I don't want is more unimaginitave fictional alt modes, or overly stylised ones like the Armada and Animated lines, bleh! And no more Armada, or Cybertron annoying Gimmicks that compromise the toy, or look silly like a giant key. nor do I want minimalist cop out paintjobs as seen on some movie toys among others.

[morg176]

i'd like to thank everyone again for some awesome contributions. i started this thread to see both what people wanted in a tf toyline and as importantly what they didnt want.

overall i think that innovative and fun transformations are still the most important. One thing that i didnt see mentioned is that I like to see a figure to have a character all of its own. I saw this in the animated line quite a bit, but i think the movie line lacks it completely.

Masters? i think that head/target/powermasters [HTP] can be accommodated by any figure that is large enough to house them. Pretenders, although cool, need to be more than just a shell that keeps the dust off, they have to do something or transform.

With powermasters, the partner could house a button cell watch battery, and clip onto the main figure, lighting it up [eyes weapon etc] or similar.

duocons again. cool concept. todays engineering could make it awesome! especially for characters that for whatever reason dont quite cut it as figures no matter how cool their character is. Broadside is a classic example.

What two component combo would you have to form your modern DUOCON or CRYPTOBOT [yep, coined this so autobots could have duocon style tf as well]

share your thoughts and ideas.

[heroic_decepticon]

My ideal toyline has already been done. G1.

It had everything. The only "common gimmick" was transforming.

It had robot points/mail aways, throttlebots, battlechargers, duocons, base-formers, combiners, lights & sounds, target masters, different size classes etc, etc etc.

Damn right! :D