Hasbro confirms both simplified and complex AOE toys.

[Zommael]

Do regular people even realise what they're buying into in terms of complexity? I mean even fans, unless you've watched a video review it's difficult to grasp the complexity of a (deluxe, voyager, leader) toy just from the package shot. The rating is a token inclusion at best since a person has no measure of comparison unless they've bought previous toys in the same range already.

Someone who bought ROTF toys and found them too complex... not only are they probably not converted into "fans" at this point, or entirely forgotten about the complexity, but they're also never going to realise that a new line is easier until they buy one.

Personally i don't think G1 was successful because of simple transformations. Apart from the massive influence of the cartoon, i think it was successful because simply because it spurred the imagination - "How does it get from that, to THAT!".

That's a factor of the original line having realistic alt modes, so it's something the movie line has in it's favour as well. But the robot modes...

I think the only way they're going to convert people to long term fans is to spur the imagination and work harder to make the toys not look cheap, even if they are.

Whilst i'm sure there's some kiddies out there who'll love that Smash & Change Prime as is, you can bet there's others out there that think it looks like he spent too long in the blue lagoon!

There is an elegance to G1 Optimus Prime, for instance, that just isn't present in puzzleformers like the movie and (some of the) First Edition toys. For all his 80s toy engineering foibles - poor articulation, removable hands, weapons he can't hold straight - there are good reasons why it's been reissued and remade so many times: it looks good in both modes, and the transformation is both simple and fun. It's satisfying. Trying to line up all the panels on ROTFOP - or even on some Alternators toys - is just annoying. I'm a collector who prefers to Transform my toys without the instructions. I like to be able to just look at the pics of bot and alt mode and take it away, and I hate "failing" and feeling like I need to look at the instructions. I love it when I'm playing with a toy later on and suddenly discover a transformation step or moving part that I didn't spot before; having to consult the instructions takes that element of fun and excitement away for me. That's what Hasbro should be aiming for: toys that can be transformed easily, but which have lasting appeal to kids and collectors through elements that might not be immediately discovered.

Comparing Hasbro's new mainline toys to one-step TFs is really a false comparison: those sorts of toys have always existed. Just look at Fast Action Battlers or more recently Botshots. Those sorts of toys are even popular with collectors! I mean, personally, I hate Botshots and wish people would stop buying gimmicks like that and Kreo so Hasbro and retailers would concentrate on the frickin' main line, but that's my personal feeling. It doesn't change the fact that these aren't a new toy paradigm, and they aren't intended to replace the mainline. Even if they are calling that line Generations now, as appears to be the case, kids, collectors, and everyone in between will still view those as the main, "real" Transformers. And from what we've seen, they'll be pretty solid: good articulation, nice sculpting, very cool accessories. They'll probably be easy to Transform, too, but not without the elegance in design I was talking about above.

If the new Beast Hunters Optimus Prime and Predaking, Prime Ultra Magnus, and BH Shockwave were the first four voyagers in a new toyline, no-one would be complaining. All four of those toys are essentially upscaled Cyberverse Commander toys; the Cyberverse Commanders perfectly illustrate what I'm talking about with regards to elegance (rather than simplicity) versus complexity. I'd even go so far as to say Cyberverse Bulkhead is a better toy than FE Bulkhead, for example, purely because it's much easier to transform without losing much of the functionality. I mean, okay, it has a massive hole in its back but a larger toy engineered properly could resolve that without having to resort to plastic origami. That's what Hasbro are looking at with the new toys, and I really hope we'll soon see that that's what we're getting.

Fan complaints about the new Generations Optimus feel like quibbles to me. At the end of the day what we've been shown is an Optimus Prime toy that looks good, has good articulation, and is as big as the leaders we're used to. If that's the way the line is heading I have no concerns about it being too simple to transform.

[Lint]

It's obvious that we're going through a bit of a transitory period at the moment. Aaron Archer has left Hasbro and taken his expertise with him, and that means that the new design team will need to relearn some of the things that the old team had already discovered. With this in mind, the new figures will probably be somewhat similar to what we saw with the Unicron Trilogy toys, where gimmicks dominated the line and articulation and design were poor in Armada, were better but still dominated by gimmicks in Energon, and finally worked with rather than against the designs in Cybertron... before design and articulation were finally perfected with the Classics, and a whole new set of rules had to be learned for the movie toys that were then taken into the Animated, Classics/Universe/Generations, and Prime toylines. Gimmicks aren't such a concern these days as Hasbro finally realised after Cybertron that transformation is the gimmick, and that will probably remain as a feature. But the designs, especially with a mandated focus on simplicity, will probably be felt somewhat lacking by the fans for a little while.

Fortunately, this coincides with a general downturn/evolution of the toy collector market in general, with big companies like Hasbro and Mattel once again less interested in adult collectors and seeking to recapture their core - meaning younger - markets generally. Why is this fortunate? Because things move in cycles. Eventually the world economy will stabilise under whatever new paradigm emerges and people will, for however long, have disposable income again. That means that in a few years, the adult collector market will be important enough again for Hasbro to concentrate on it. Coincidentally, by that time the new TF design team will have gone through a few iterations of Transformers toys and learned some of the lessons the designers learned when they were led by Archer. As a result, while I doubt the focus on simplicity is going anywhere, the designs will once again be satisfying to collectors as well as full of play value for kids. That might be annoying to collectors who've been less affected by the GFC such as those of us in Australia, but for Hasbro, a company that mainly operates in America and is trying to push into new markets in Asia, it's vital.

As for simplicity itself as a concept, my overall feeling is that placing it as a core design principle is good for the line. Toys like ROTF leader Optimus Prime are amazing, but (especially iterations such as Taktom's Buster Optimus Prime repaint) more resemble high-end collectible items than toys. No doubt there are some collectors to whom that's very appealing - I own two versions of ROTFOP myself - but when those design principles are applied to items such as Prime First Edition Bulkhead, which feels like a mess of folding panels more resembling an origami than an action figure, it's to the detriment of the overall line. FE Bulkhead doesn't need to be like that, and a conversion similar to ROTFOP is possible without a crazy number of steps (I can scarcely believe it's actually just 25). There is an elegance in simplicity, and that elegance is something the brand needs to rediscover. Prime Soundwave is a good example of a toy that's not overly complex and yet seems to just work as a toy, exceptionally well, and even allow for character-showing gimmicks such as the Laserbeak accessory. We need more toys like that, not only because they have more appeal to younger collectors but also because they preserve the central idea of the brand; that of smooth transformation between robot and vehicle. Not every toy demonstrated that even in G1, but modern engineering allows for a much greater level of elegance and simplicity in the line whilst also giving us better sculpts and articulation.

tl;dr - simplicity is not a bad thing, the line is going through transition, everything will be fine. Sorry for the long post, I just suddenly realised I needed to get that off my chest!

Probably the most balanced and intelligent post on this topic I've read