Robot Heroes are back as Tiny Titans

[griffin]

Looks like the Robot Heroes figurine concept could be back, this time called Mini-Titans.... and not only is the name a contradiction to itself, some resemble Gen1 characters, despite most being RID characters and the assortment is being called "Robots in Disguise".

Anyway, there are 12 in the first wave, with some new names, suggesting full-size toys of them are coming.

Autobots
Optimus
Bumblebee
Strongarm
Grimlock
Sideswipe
Prowl (Gen1 form)
Cliffjumper (Gen1 form)

Decepticons
Underbite
Steeljaw
Bisk
Thunder-Hoof
Hammer-Strike

If Prowl and Cliffjumper are there because they look like their Gen1 forms in RID, Hasbro must have forgotten that Cliffjumper died in TFPrime.

These are expected to be released with the launch of the line in America in January. (we are likely to have them here as well)

[Zommael]

Wonderful. More things that aren't Transformers to take up shelf space instead of actual Transformers.

[Sinnertwin]

Wonderful. More things that aren't Transformers to take up shelf space instead of actual Transformers.

Ah, sounds like you're the "if it doesn't transform it shouldn't be called a Transformer" type of guy?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Ha ha ha! the lobster guy is called Bisque! I Like it!

[DELTAprime]

Hasbro seems to have forgotten which colour Prowl is cause he looks like Bluestreak.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Ha ha ha! the lobster guy is called Bisque! I Like it!

Now they just need a Clam one called 'Chowder'

[Zommael]

Ah, sounds like you're the "if it doesn't transform it shouldn't be called a Transformer" type of guy?

I'm not sure I'd go that far but I find toys that aren't the mainline quite frustrating. I don't understand Hasbro's desire to water down the brand with constant gimmicky sub-lines like Angry Birds, those SD game things, and the horrible Titans. To be clear, I have no problem with gimmicks like the AOE flip-n-change and one-step sublines as I understand the need to appeal to multiple demographics, but what I don't get is the things that blatantly have no real place in the line. To me it just dilutes and damages the brand. So I suppose from that point of view I would be like you said.

[Sky Shadow]

Man, all the Robots In Disguise Decepticons are awesome.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I'm not sure I'd go that far but I find toys that aren't the mainline quite frustrating. I don't understand Hasbro's desire to water down the brand with constant gimmicky sub-lines like Angry Birds, those SD game things, and the horrible Titans. To be clear, I have no problem with gimmicks like the AOE flip-n-change and one-step sublines as I understand the need to appeal to multiple demographics, but what I don't get is the things that blatantly have no real place in the line. To me it just dilutes and damages the brand. So I suppose from that point of view I would be like you said.

I know its not exactly what you are referring to (as you say, you have no problem with flip-n-change stuff, its more things like AB you are talking about), but as a wider example Hasbro has a history of going down the gimmick line when they seem to have trouble coming up with better ideas. Look at G1 - we started off with all these cool figures (Autobot Cars, Decepticon Jets etc), then they gradually got replaced with gimmicky figures like the combiners (but what a cool gimmick that was!). But then we got overly simple gimmick toys like Firecons, Sparkabots, Triggercons etc. By the end of G1 it was pretty much all crappy gimmicks like Pretenders and Action Masters and it pretty much killed the line.

I quite liked the Robot Heroes (my wife loved them because they were cute) though I'm somewhat ambivalent about these ones. But overall with the new RID line I'm worried that the overly simple gimmick thing will continue and turn a lot of us off.

[Sky Shadow]

I know its not exactly what you are referring to (as you say, you have no problem with flip-n-change stuff, its more things like AB you are talking about), but as a wider example Hasbro has a history of going down the gimmick line when they seem to have trouble coming up with better ideas. Look at G1 - we started off with all these cool figures (Autobot Cars, Decepticon Jets etc), then they gradually got replaced with gimmicky figures like the combiners (but what a cool gimmick that was!). But then we got overly simple gimmick toys like Firecons, Sparkabots, Triggercons etc. By the end of G1 it was pretty much all crappy gimmicks like Pretenders and Action Masters and it pretty much killed the line.

Gimmicks ruined the Transformers toyline. The first wave was excellent - small Autobot vehicles that transformed into robots: the 'real' Transformers. However, most fans don't know what on Earth Hasbro was thinking with the second wave. Cassettes? Transformers just don't transform into cassettes, as the now much quoted phrase "M1N1CaR NOT KaSETE!!!" sums up perfectly. These cassettes, considered by most fans to be worse than GoBots, also had a gimmick, the first of many lame and pointless gimmicks. Rather than being Autobots, as all previous Transformers had been, these tapes were called 'Decepticons,' a supposed *second* race of Transformers and enemies of the peace-loving Autobots. The 'Decepticon Tapes' also came with another gimmick: weapons - a blight upon everything the Transformers stood for.

Of course, most Transfans had long since stopped collecting by this point, but after this failure, Hasbro continued to try and keep the franchise alive with more gimmicks; planes, cassette recorders, guns and even larger cars, which were an obvious attempt to reclaim what fans originally liked about the series. The last hope for the line was a toy they called 'Optimus Prime,' which was basically like the much-loved Huffer, but bigger and with lots of gimmicks.

Naturally, Optimus Prime was a failure. Kids couldn't carry him to school in their pockets, and he came with lots of what is now known as 'kibble'; guns, a trailer, missiles etc.: lots of extra gimmicks that ignored the fact that what most fans of the 'real' Tranformers liked was the fact that the toys were self-contained and peaceful. With the addition of guns and an enemy to fight, Hasbro had sealed the fate of the Transformers line, which, after some further pitiful attempts to revive the line, would draw to a close in 1990 in the U.S. (The toys continued in Europe and Australasia, continents that still hoped to see a return to that one great month in 1984.)

Of course, as we all know, the U.S. line returned in 1993 with Transformers Generation 2, heralded with a gold vacuum-metallised Bumblebee. But that's a different story...

(I first posted this twelve years ago now, but I feel like it needs an airing every so often. )