The Random Transformers Thoughts Thread

[Skyfire]

There's this person who drives a car with the licence plate MEGATRON who shares my work commute. I wonder if they are a member here. Imagine car pooling with Megatron, lol.

[KELPIE]

I just discovered that POTP Blot has hinges(in/out) and swivelsFront/back) in his monster hip joints. Before I just thought he had swivels for fwd/back. My love for Blot has just increased 10-fold!

Truly is a marvellous figure.

[Tha_Phantom]

Found Kingdom Waspinator a pain to transform. Legacy Inferno is much nicer.

That was my first impression of Waspinator too. So I left it and came back to it a few months later and found it much more enjoyable. I think it's one of those moulds that needs to be loosened up before it "works" properly.
That said, I still agree that Inferno is much nicer, but I do hope Waspy grows on you.

[Cat]

"What danger?"

[SharkyMcShark]

Does Dr Lockdown post here? I've been watching some of his stuff on YouTube and he referenced and had a pic of GoktimusPrime in one of his videos.

[DrLockdown]

Haha. Don't really. Got sent this post through a friend.

I have an account, but I mostly use Facebook, Twitter and Discord these days (aside from the obvious Youtube).

[SharkyMcShark]

Haha. Don't really. Got sent this post through a friend.

I have an account, but I mostly use Facebook, Twitter and Discord these days (aside from the obvious Youtube).

Oh delightful!

I just wanted to say that I've been enjoying your content recently after only stumbling across it on the weekend.

[GoktimusPrime]

Is it too soon to be doing CHUG Aligned TFs?

Today I saw loads of Legacy Arcees and Bulkheads in a bargain bin, which has lead me to wonder... is it too soon to start targeting the children of the 10s who grew up with TF Aligned? The children who played with Aligned TFs would still be in high school now, such as kids around my daughter's age. To put things in perspective for us G1 kids, we are now about as chronologically distant from the advent of Aligned TFs as Generation 2 was from G1. Many of us G1 kids were tweens or teens during the G2 years (1993-95).

"But we still collected Transformers toys during those years, what's changed?"
Firstly, a lot of us didn't collect Transformers during the G2 years. A lot of TF fans tapped out of the fandom during the later G1 years. Secondly, G2 had a slow start due the the first year of toys being all rehashed G1 moulds (ex. Megatron). G2 picked up more in 1994-95 when it started giving us new characters. While Legacy Arcee and Bulkhead are whole new toys, they aren't new characters. And price-sensitive kids are less likely to purchase toys that are repeats of the same character.

HasTak really didn't do a whole lot for us collectors for the brand's 10th anniversary in 1994. There was G2 Breakdown released in BotCon USA '94, but BotCon was something that was organised by fans (i.e. the Hartmans and Glen Hallit), with G2 Breakdown being a toy that was produced in small numbers but was cancelled for release; it wasn't explicitly made for the convention. Japan did release a 10th anniversary TFTM on VHS (which was the first time that I ever saw the "Superman" style credits; at the time I thought it was custom made for that video release; it would be years later that I would learn that it's the original US theatrical version - the Australian theatrical cut had the narrated text crawl, same as the European release). The 20th and 30th anniversaries were bigger deals; with Binaltech/Alternators and Masterpiece being part of the 20th anniv., and the whole "Thrilling 30" launching the current Generations branch of CHUG which continues to this day (now with the Studio Series and Legacy sub-titles); not to mention the acquisition of the Volkswagen licence and another live action movie (Age of Extinction) for that year. So given how low-key the 10th anniversary of G1 was in '94 vs the much larger 20th and 30th anniversaries in '04 and '14 respectively, I do wonder if the 10th(ish) anniversary of Aligned is too soon to be churning out CHUG figures?

Unicron Trilogy CHUG
UT CHUGs seem to be quite popular now, with both Legacy Armada Starscream and Hot Shot being strong sellers, and with more UT CHUG toys on the way. But of course, we are now in the 20th anniversary zone of Armadaverse, which seems to be the minimum time to start marketing toys at collectors. The children of Armada would be about the same age that we G1 kids were when we started collecting Masterpiece and Binaltech; importantly, we had jobs and disposable incomes - something that most of us didn't have as teenagers in 1994. I don't recall Universe Hot Shot being released here; I got mine from overseas. But that was in 2008, only half a decade since Armada. Then we had Combiner Wars Armada Megatron in 2015, about 12 years after Armada; and again, at only tennish years later, it seemed to be too soon for most children of the Unicron Trilogy to be buying toys like this. I know some did; I was with Handsprime when he bought his CW Armada Megatron (and I bought the G1 version at the same time ); but I do remember Armada Megatron taking a jolly long time to sell, so I'd say that UT kids like Handsprime were in the minority. I think that now seems like a much better time to be doing Armadaverse in CHUG.
"But Titan Class Cybertron Metroplex is shelfwarming."
Is he, though? Titans are always slow sellers. Thrilling 30 Metroplex was a massive shelfwarmer, to the point that Target had it on clearance for $80. And some retailers had Kingdom Autobot Ark on clearance for $99 not long ago. Titans aren't just expensive, but they take up a lot of space. Heck, I've skipped some Titans due to the sheer lack of space to keep them (not necessarily because I wouldn't mind having them or couldn't afford them).

So where are the Car Robot/RiD CHUGs?
We had Thrilling 30 Sky-Byte in 2014, which shelfwarmed; I grabbed mine for $20 on clearance from ToyMate. Again, we see that trying to cash in on fan nostalgia before that magic 20th anniversary mark just doesn't seem to work. But Legacy Velocitron Scourge has sold really well; released 22 years after CR - so again, it's past that 20 year mark. I reckon new CHUG updates of Car Robot toys would sell quite well. Imagine having Core Class Spychangers!

[Paulbot]

Big W has the Retro G1 Starscream rerelease listed now for the frankly absurd price of $69
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/the-...retro/p/256480

Big W now has online (only) The Transformers: The Movie Retro G1, releasing 5/4/23, each $69:

Thundercracker.
Hound.

Free shipping at $100.

[Tha_Phantom]

Yeah I'm over the guessing games. I just ordered a few from Robot Kingdom for myself and some friends.