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Two questions.
1) Am I the only person here that has a lot of fondness for Action Masters?
2) Do you guys think Hasbro will ever do CHUG Action Masters or are the licensed 3Ps likely to remain my only choice for getting official Generations Action Masters?
When those came out I was done with Transformers. The 86 movie killed off all my favourite characters and I was old enough to see through Hasbro's cynicism. And when the Pretenders came out, I thought "Hasbro, what is the piece of ****?" So, at that period, if someone had shown me nontransforming figures that operated transforming vehicles, I would have barfed.
Fast forward 30 years and I think those R.E.D.s and Super 7s are super gorgeous! ;)
So maybe that's Answer 2, Hasbro has done their Generations Actions Masters.
I think that the RED figures are probably the CHUG versions of Action Masters. I'm not so sold on the Super 7s however. But yup, them REDs look nice.
Personally, I've always liked Pretenders, especially the little ones.
I'm a fan of Action Masters, because I understood their purpose - Transformers characters done in a more playable (articulated) form with more detailed sculpting... making them a perfect compliment (not replacement) for playing with, to the original toy versions of those characters. Something that Hasbro is now able to do with the one product - an accurate looking toy that is very articulated and playable.
The one thing I didn't like, or understand, is why they did half of the Action Masters as new characters... which defeated the purpose of the concept that Hasbro were marketing these toys as (more playable versions of the "bricks" that were previously released).
(I always wanted to see proper Hasbro toys of those new Action Masters characters, and have mixed feelings over the ones that FunPub managed to do over the years.)
I was never one of those fans who stubbornly believed that "Transformers" branding meant the toys inside had to transform.... that is just an inability to understand English, in that there is a difference between a name and a property or action.
As noted by others, the RED figures is probably Hasbro's current version of Action Masters, but as I noted above, it's no longer necessary, as the technology is now there to produce accurate looking robot modes that transform, with limited or no kibble.
Licensed figures are different because they can fill a void that Hasbro doesn't want to fill, or need to. But I don't like the way Hasbro is now competing against one of their license-holders (Super 7), with RED toys. The toys may be different sizes, but they both are based on the same "Action Master" styled concept. The larger Super 7 figures are probably even similar sized to the Hasbro RED toys, with the Hasbro ones being significantly cheaper.
I liked getting a more cartoon model accurate version of Jazz, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Tracks and it never bothered me they didn't transform. But if the Action Masters had been all existing characters I would have found that very disappointing. I liked the mix of classic characters with new designs, and how the new designs hinted at alt modes we'd never seen.
I don't think Hasbro would see mainline Transformers that don't transform again, but we've seen more than a few of the Action Master original characters turn up in transforming CHUG forms over the last decade plus and I think that trend will continue.
Even their partners have a chance to be recycled: Wingthing has got an Encore, Masterpiece and CHUG release!
I think with Transformer figures becoming more versatile, they've been able to achieve since G2/Beast Wars what the Action Masters were trying to do - make a more action figure style Transformer. Therefore the Action Master idea has become less "necessary" but it does mean we miss out on the stupid fun of bigger playsets and transforming suits/vehicles.
I personally don't have a huge desire for the original Action Masters as they mostly passed me over - I was more interested in the gold box reissues (I was 6/7 and the reissues were the ones being shown in the cartoon). I have a couple of the original AMs and was always a fan of the redecos the club did - Kickback, Jackpot, Krok, etc, and could ultimately be interested in getting the ones that were only ever released as Action Masters (Banzaitron, Charger, Krok, etc), but I have other areas of focus first.
As for whether Hasbro would ever get back to the concept - unfortunately I think we'll only ever see Action Masters as a licensed product at best
I really have liked the remold homages we've got though - I hope we get more of those along with a few of the other later/more obscure lines.
The DOTM Cyberverse (and it's continuation into Prime) was probably the last time there were a definite effort to have playsets/vehicles/suits in a 'main' line.Quote:
Originally Posted by Seraphim Prime
But these days though we have the Titan bases and the Modulator/Weaponisers/Fossilizers and the Battlemasters as the transforming weapon companions/armour suits.
My younger brother who was at the perfect age when they came out called them craption masters, for two reasons, lack of transformation and that with any decent play their joints became super loose. As an adult collector I grew to love them but still lamented their stupid loose joints. When I was collecting them there were plenty of MOSC and MIB/MISB figures getting around at very good prices so it was nice to put the G1 figures into my collection.
If I were more into the old GI Joe toys, I would've loved action masters. As it was though, I only had a couple of Joes and I don't actually recall seeing action masters in the shops at all at the time when they would have been out.
The last Transformers I bought when I was a kid was Action Masters - I had Over-run and Optimus Prime. My memory is pretty hazy, I think I moved onto computer games after that and stopped playing with toys. So they have a special place in my childhood memories in that they were my last bought toys. Sadly I don?t have them as I gave them all away.
I'd like to see non-transforming toys (or toys with notional alt-modes just for the heck of it) of more Quintessons as well as Lithons, Trans-Organics, Slizardo and the Skuxxoid etc.
I kind of want that fighting-practice robot from the '86 movie too while I think about it. Bonus points if it comes with a 'Time Out Time Out TIME OUT!' voice chip (and the practice sword and shield Hot Rod used).
And an anti grav ball thingQuote:
Originally Posted by Ode to a Grasshopper
Love Actionmasters, always have. The toys, the original canon, they're awesome. I must have made up more than a hundred OCs of them.