Does anyone else just not care anymore?

[GoktimusPrime]

If I'm unsure about a toy, I won't buy it. I usually only buy a toy if I know I wanna keep it and play with it. That's why I have very few toys sealed (and the ones that I do have sealed are doubles), and also why I rarely sell anything.

[lancalot]

We all change from time to time...we get different hair style , different clothes , so we also get different hobbies and interest .... i just got back into transformer at the end of last year because i saw a few new masterpiece toy where releasing and from there got me hooked into it .... and i lose interest in my old hobby of games as there wasn't anything that hooking me back there anymore .. And with the news of the next gen console looks even worse For me i try to do customs and from there i actually learn alot about different character in the transformer universe that i didn't even know existed ...and plus with the beasthunter series still going it keeping me hooked also all the masterpiece that coming this year ... !!

[Ae-Evolution]

Kinda like what happened to me, I was dragged into collecting again. My last figure I bought at the store was ROTF Bruticus, kind of just lost hope after that. Then I got my debit card and explored the web and found some figures to complete my old collection and then actually checked stores and found Prime figures and thought they were neat. I had a Detolf in my room at the time and in my mind went, "Move over Gundam, make way for Optimus Prime." Now I see all these new figures I actually like, so I'm back in.

[kup]

I'm feeling this at the moment. I keep buying the things but won't open them 'in case I sell them' so just throw them on the shelf. I really can't be stuffed selling them 1 by 1 and posting them all (I have about 500). So the circle continues.

It's an addiction

It's not a good sign when you buy too many things and don't open with thoughts of selling. I rarely sell stuff so I guess I am still feeling good about buying toys although the BBTS voyager delays and the sudden 'gap' of 3rd party toy releases is getting very dull and frustrating with the dropping dollar.

[Zommael]

For a lot of fans Beast Hunters is kiddy and uninteresting, and I do respect that. But for me DOTM and Prime were just boring, nothing I hadn't seen before, so Beast Hunters - and the revived Generations line - has got me back into collecting. Yes, they're obviously kid-focused but I can't help but feel that makes them fun, as opposed to constant realistic vehicles which are all much of a muchness. The accusation that the transformation is always the same is often layered at the beasts, but if I see another car where the hood becomes the chest and the rear wheels the feet...

[GoktimusPrime]

We all change from time to time...we get different hair style , different clothes , so we also get different hobbies and interest ....

Not all of us. Some of us have never lost interest in Transformers.

For a lot of fans Beast Hunters is kiddy and uninteresting, and I do respect that. But for me DOTM and Prime were just boring, nothing I hadn't seen before, so Beast Hunters - and the revived Generations line - has got me back into collecting. Yes, they're obviously kid-focused but I can't help but feel that makes them fun, as opposed to constant realistic vehicles which are all much of a muchness. The accusation that the transformation is always the same is often layered at the beasts, but if I see another car where the hood becomes the chest and the rear wheels the feet...

Some vehicles have mundane transformations as do beasts. Both types of alt modes provide different design challenges. With vehicles, you're trying to transform solid looking vehicles into a humanoid shaped robot; so challenges lie in incorporating alt mode parts into the robot mode with minimal "panelforming." With beast modes you have the task of transforming an organic looking quadraped into a robotic biped. In recent times, designers just use robotic beast modes which isn't nearly as challenging (or interesting) as what we had in Beast Wars where they had to design/engineer organic looking beast modes that transform into mechanical looking robot modes. Naturally the robot modes would have a partially organic look because of the beast mode parts attached to the robot (just as a car Transformer would be covered in car parts). For the most part HasTak did an astounding job, and it's something that we just don't see with TF Prime (mind you their vehicle modes are also fantasy-based too... and wth do Megatron and Shockwave transform into?!? #rhetorical). The fun thing about realistic alt modes is that it helps to create that "robots in disguise" element. I look at Predaking and think, okay... that's a cool monster, but I ain't gonna see it IRL anytime soon. I look at something like K-9 (transforms into an Alsatian/German Shepherd dog; stupid name, I know ) and think gee, I could easily see that animal walking down the road and it could be a robot in disguise!

The thing w/ animal/creature modes though is the temptation for designers to just use the forelegs as arms and the hind legs as legs in robot mode. The typical "standing quadraped" transformation, which is the sort of overused typical transformation type for quadrapeds. TM2 and BM Cheetor are notorious examples of this somewhat underwhelming type of transformation, and I believe Ultimate Predaking is the same (from what I've seen and read; I've yet to see this toy for myself loose IRL). But that's one thing I quite like about Voyager Predaking; the designers intentionally avoided doing just that. Well okay, the front legs do become the arms, but the hind legs actually tuck away into the robot legs and become concealed, and the robot legs themselves are formed from the hind section of the creature's body! I really wasn't expecting that when I first got the toy and I was quite pleasantly surprised by it.

[5FDP]

Not all of us. Some of us have never lost interest in Transformers.

QFT! Personally I can't imagine being able to switch off like that, but hey, if people wanna be bandwagoners who am I to complain. More product is bought in the shops increasing our chances as collectors to get waves that would otherwise be skipped

[Zommael]

Not all of us. Some of us have never lost interest in Transformers.


Some vehicles have mundane transformations as do beasts. Both types of alt modes provide different design challenges. With vehicles, you're trying to transform solid looking vehicles into a humanoid shaped robot; so challenges lie in incorporating alt mode parts into the robot mode with minimal "panelforming." With beast modes you have the task of transforming an organic looking quadraped into a robotic biped. In recent times, designers just use robotic beast modes which isn't nearly as challenging (or interesting) as what we had in Beast Wars where they had to design/engineer organic looking beast modes that transform into mechanical looking robot modes. Naturally the robot modes would have a partially organic look because of the beast mode parts attached to the robot (just as a car Transformer would be covered in car parts). For the most part HasTak did an astounding job, and it's something that we just don't see with TF Prime (mind you their vehicle modes are also fantasy-based too... and wth do Megatron and Shockwave transform into?!? #rhetorical). The fun thing about realistic alt modes is that it helps to create that "robots in disguise" element. I look at Predaking and think, okay... that's a cool monster, but I ain't gonna see it IRL anytime soon. I look at something like K-9 (transforms into an Alsatian/German Shepherd dog; stupid name, I know ) and think gee, I could easily see that animal walking down the road and it could be a robot in disguise!

The thing w/ animal/creature modes though is the temptation for designers to just use the forelegs as arms and the hind legs as legs in robot mode. The typical "standing quadraped" transformation, which is the sort of overused typical transformation type for quadrapeds. TM2 and BM Cheetor are notorious examples of this somewhat underwhelming type of transformation, and I believe Ultimate Predaking is the same (from what I've seen and read; I've yet to see this toy for myself loose IRL). But that's one thing I quite like about Voyager Predaking; the designers intentionally avoided doing just that. Well okay, the front legs do become the arms, but the hind legs actually tuck away into the robot legs and become concealed, and the robot legs themselves are formed from the hind section of the creature's body! I really wasn't expecting that when I first got the toy and I was quite pleasantly surprised by it.

I guess I just prefer More Than Meets The Eye to Robots In Disguise...

[Omega Metro]

QFT! Personally I can't imagine being able to switch off like that, but hey, if people wanna be bandwagoners who am I to complain. More product is bought in the shops increasing our chances as collectors to get waves that would otherwise be skipped

It's not a case of 'bandwagoning' (been a fan of TFs since the 80s). It's more the fact that I'm out growing my obsession with 'plastic toys' as I believe there's better things to spend my money on, such as investing money.

[GoktimusPrime]

It should be pointed out that just because someone is no longer an active collector of Transformers doesn't mean that they've necessarily lost interest in Transformers. They may have merely lost interest in that one aspect of Transformers. One can still remain highly passionate (and obsessed ) with Transformers in other ways, such as continuing to read the comics, watch the cartoons/movies, and play with the toys that you've already collected. It just means that you're not adding new toys to your collection so much.

I know that my collecting significantly slowed down during the G2 years. I still did collect a few toys during that time, but not nearly as much as I used to during the G1 years. To this day I still have a relatively modest G2 collection. But it never meant that I lost interest in Transformers though. I did collect the G2 comics and continued to read the G1 comics, watch the G1 cartoons (and TFTM ), drawing fan art and continued to actively play with my G1 Transformer toys.

I personally don't feel the need to 'quit' Transformers just because there's little current stuff to keep me engaged. If current TFs ever failed to adequately engage my interest (as with G2), then I wouldn't give up on Transformers, I would just enjoy everything that I'd already accumulated. Sure, G2 sucked (as a franchise), but it didn't make G1 any less great. I mean... it's not as if the Original Star Wars Trilogy (in its original form) has gotten any worse just because of the Prequels! You can hate Jar Jar Binks and Hayden Christensen's cardboard acting all you like, it doesn't suddenly make The Empire Strikes Back an inferior movie because of it. That's why I think cries like, "Michael Bay killed my childhood!" are stupid. No matter how much you might hate the Bay films, they do NOT affect or influence anything that came before it. Far out.