ROTF toys coming out too fast?

Is it just me or is the ROTF line coming out extremely quickly? At least, it's way faster than the Animated toys were hitting stores (and obviously in much greater quantities). I can't help but think, that a month or two from now, pretty much all of the announced toys will have been released.

Knowing how long TF1 stayed on shelves for, I guess i was expecting a steady stream for a long period of time. I'm hoping Hasbro has more planned than repaints (and certainly hoping against Premiums), but my hopes aren't exactly high!

At the very least, the unnannounced toys to last out the end of the year will have to be off-screen characters - excepting a few extras in the movie, almost everything is accounted for... or am i missing something?!

They are coming out quickly, going by Griffin's movie toy check list... there's till 12 legends, 5 scouts, 10 deluxes, 3 voyagers, 1 Ultimate, 1 Human Alliance, and 11 FABs (I think not been keeping track of those!) to come out this year.

However it seems all the Leaders for the year are already on shelf which is really quick!

Ah, thanks for the link, i should have checked that. I was instead looking at http://www.unicron.us/tf2009/ which is much less complete. It looks like a couple toys from each class will make up each month leading up to Christmas. Seeing the full list though makes me realise i was only considering a few size classes - there is a shitload of other product coming out that i'm unfortunately not interested in!

It doesn't bother me. I'm not very good at waiting for stuff so, yeh;)

It's still true though that a lot of Transformers have come out in a very short time. The embargo sell date for movie toys helps cause that too, as the stores have everything ready to sell on a certain date rather than the usual sporadic release of new figures.

I think also with the damning reviews of the movie, it would make sense for Hasbro to get the toys out there quickly before the movie is forgotten.

I wish the Twins ice cream van would be released earlier than September :(

There will be a longish drought of new moulds after the movie cast is done, just as there was the first time around. And, yet again, all the peripheral crap Hasbro has managed to sell to the stores (TRU in particular, this time) will constitute the bulk of Transformers labelled stock for a few months, with the odd repaint here and there.

Too fast? For such an expensive toyline, probably. But that's the way it is when movies last for 3-4 weeks at the cinema.

i suppose it is coming out rather fast...but it is a good thing.
it gives us enough time to buy what we want and move onto the next wave...

It feels too slow for me because I've already pre-saved up for the RotF toys months ago. When they first came out I just went on a big spree. Also it feels that the newer toys just aren't coming out around my local stores. I've seen nothing newer than The Fallen round here. :(

Given the best toy sales are in this monthly period, having the majority of new ROTF moulds show up now is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. So far I've only bought one ROTF TF at full price. Sounds like a win win situation to me. :)

For me it's more a question of which sizes are coming out too fast. I haven't seen deluxes past wave 1 (and even then only Breakaway and Rampage), but I have seen scouts wave 2 and the Mixmaster/Megatron wave of Voyagers.

This sucks, since I want Sideswipe and Ravage.

I don't know if this should be another topic, but as an extension of the thoughts here... disregarding the quality or personal tastes of an individual line, what do people prefer? A line based on a movie, or a line based on a cartoon series?

I think i'm inclined to say cartoon, since the ongoing nature of that media lends itself well to creating characters/toys that we have some attachment to. The movie line may well continue for a year or more, but the main cast has almost been completed already.

Do the characters/toys that don't appear in the movie have as much attraction with you? I notice a lot of people just want to complete the main cast. Or is it just a case of "if the toys good, it doesn't matter"?

I think the toys are coming along pretty quickly too. We're almost over. I'm glad it is though so it means less spread out hunting and we can get most of the toys for the best prices in this season..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kurdt_the_goat

I don't know if this should be another topic, but as an extension of the thoughts here... disregarding the quality or personal tastes of an individual line, what do people prefer? A line based on a movie, or a line based on a cartoon series?

I think i'm inclined to say cartoon, since the ongoing nature of that media lends itself well to creating characters/toys that we have some attachment to. The movie line may well continue for a year or more, but the main cast has almost been completed already.

Do the characters/toys that don't appear in the movie have as much attraction with you? I notice a lot of people just want to complete the main cast. Or is it just a case of "if the toys good, it doesn't matter"?

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Somewhat agree.

I t doesnt' really matter to me. I think that either side of the coin there's a problem. In Animated, there were plenty of toys that got made with very little air time in the first place. To say they had much attached to them that made the interesting was pretty generous. EG: Oil Slick and Lockdown. They were okay and they got an episode but it's hardly that satisfying when they at most have a single episode behind them.

Ultimately, I've become more of a toy person than a fiction person. The only fiction that garners my interest is G1 related. Even in Animated, I didn't feel the impetus of say a Samurai Prowl. I wanted the toys but it was hardly character driven. So to me, there is no difference as to whether a toyline is based on movie or cartoon. I'd say I think that the movie lines are better for the brand but personally prefer something like Animated that challenges the boundaries of engineering and what we call TFs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kurdt_the_goat

I notice a lot of people just want to complete the main cast. Or is it just a case of "if the toys good, it doesn't matter"?

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Both!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kurdt_the_goat

I don't know if this should be another topic, but as an extension of the thoughts here... disregarding the quality or personal tastes of an individual line, what do people prefer? A line based on a movie, or a line based on a cartoon series?

I think i'm inclined to say cartoon, since the ongoing nature of that media lends itself well to creating characters/toys that we have some attachment to. The movie line may well continue for a year or more, but the main cast has almost been completed already.

Do the characters/toys that don't appear in the movie have as much attraction with you? I notice a lot of people just want to complete the main cast. Or is it just a case of "if the toys good, it doesn't matter"?

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If by cartoon you mean G1 or any of the TF comics then I would say both, In the movie line I'm atracted to both major movie characters as well as TF's with unusual alt modes such as Ransack, Payload, even Dreadwings Mig mode is unusual (the Movie lines have more of these than any other). Movie toys also impress me because they actualy have real vehicle modes (well ok some don't right Megatron?). on the other hand the Transformers from the cartoon (or for me comic) based lines I tend to aquire because of nostalgia etc. Universe Dropshot is a good example of this, I got him cause he was in All hail Megs for all of 3 frames and reminded me of G1.

That said though I don't really watch Transformers cartoons anymore, and they haven't really inspired me to buy anything since Beast Machines.