Cause there are a lot of flat colour surfaces, i think the animated toys do look a bit more plastic than say the Movie figures do. But, in terms of colour application, Animated is blowing away the Movie figures for me. They're reallllly striking to display, whereas the movie figures have lots of detail but quite a bit of it is lost from being unpainted (or too painted - bloody Ironhide's eyes!) Also, the plastic on animated toys is a lot sturdier than it looks in pictures!