Collector Club Magazine #47

I got mine about a week ago, and since none of the global fansites even bother to post up "news" on each issue anymore, it is now a surprise in my mailbox now. (not necessarily a good surprise :p )

This issue is Oct/Nov, so depending on how slow the mail is around Christmas, this could be the last one for the year for us down here.

Page 1/cover - photo of TFPrime Voy Dreadwing & three Decepticon Wave 5 Botshots (would have been fairly new when Americans got their issue early October)
Page 2 - absolutely nothing worth mentioning this issue. A totally wasted page, considering we only get 10 pages of non-comic magazine every two months...
Page 3 - finally some toy photos, but all currently in release, nothing upcoming (for Americans - none have been released here).
(TFPrime DLX Kup & Rumble, TFPrime VOY Dreadwing, Botshots Wave 5)
Page 4&5 - a nice retrospective article on the first Minicons (Armada), which is now 10 years old. Plus photos from the display at BotCon this year.
Page 6-11 - Comic. Flash Forward Part 5. I haven't read part 4 yet because it was so boring, so this didn't make much sense. Next issue I'll read all 6 parts.
Page 12 - Bio of Gen2 Blaze (sparkabot).
Page 13 - Bio of Gen2 Soundwave (Gobot)
Page 14&15 - full 2-page advertisement for the Ehobby joint exclusive Shattered Glass set, noting the closing date as October 2nd (a month before we'd get this issue). Nice photos of the six main figures.
Page 16 - Back page "funnies" and trivia quiz.

A better issue than recent issues, by having a good archive review (of Minicons), and some actual toy photos (just nothing unreleased globally though). The second page needs to be condensed to fit in something useful, while the 2-page advertisement for their exclusive toy should have been in the previous issue if they wanted foreigners (who may not follow internet fansites) to know about it... and didn't need to fill two pages, which is 20% of the non-comic pages. Take out the regular features/pages, and it ended up being 50% of the 4 pages each issue has open to random things.
Kinda disappointing, to have just 24 pages per year of non-regular items... and they still have trouble filling them with substantial content.
A fandom magazine should at least cover news from within the fandom, a bit like our club magazine 15 years ago - at the end of the month we would have a few pages of condensed reviewing of what made news that month. Something this Collector Club magazine could do, to fill up a page or two, to archive/document for future reflection what was going on in the fandom.

It felt to me that 3 pages were essentially advertising. The two with the G1 Shattered Glass, and the "what's in stores now" page.

What a waste of space, I felt even more ripped off than normal with this issue. Probably a reason none of the other sites report it as news any more :D:rolleyes:

And Sideburn, chasing a car that isn't red? There's something very wrong with that!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

It felt to me that 3 pages were essentially advertising. The two with the G1 Shattered Glass, and the "what's in stores now" page.

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I like advertising, and seeing content like this. But there's a place for it - in the single sheet advertisers that come with the magazine (eg. BigBadToystore's, or the previous Hasbro ones).

It should never be the content. Do you think they're doing it to pad the magazine out, so they don't have to draw too many pages of comic?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reillyd

It should never be the content. Do you think they're doing it to pad the magazine out, so they don't have to draw too many pages of comic?

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I think that yes, they are doing it to pad out the magazine.

I guess they can't think of any more word searches.:p

I think the comics in the magazine have been a standard 6 pages, but I suspect that most of their energy is being directed to creating more toys, as opposed to club-like-stuff, so they are trying to 'fill' the magazine in the easiest way possible.

When was the last time they actually had an interview with someone from Hasbro about the line? They could have had some major news in regards to the 'Beast Hunters' bizzo for Prime. That would have been a great interview (one would hope). Completely missing the boat in all aspects as I see it.

The Club magazines are garbage, not worth the paper they are printed on.