Universe Starscream

[GoktimusPrime]

I don't recall anyone here criticising Hasbro for attempting to improve a product or make money. That's not the issue.

[jaydisc]

I don't recall anyone here criticising Hasbro for attempting to improve a product or make money. That's not the issue.

Are you serious?

Here you refer to their attempt to make money "shameless":

because I refuse to give into HasTak's shameless attempt in milking more money from me like that...

And here you state that this is how the product should have been:

What they should've done is release this toy in these colours in 2006, and release it in the Classics colours in 2008!

So if it is now what you think it wasn't then, that's not improving a product?

I think we just passed the point of productivity.

[Pulse]

As much as we complain & refuse to purchase a 2nd Classics Screamer, Hasbro will still sell a kazillion of these which will more than justify (to them) doing the same thing over & over again in the future.

At the end of the day, We (as Adult Collectors) are just small fish in Hasbro's big ocean so therefore we hardly get listened to. But TakaraTomy do listen to us so maybe we should give them more business wherever possible...

[jaydisc]

But TakaraTomy do listen to us so maybe we should give them more business wherever possible...

Wait for it....

[Thanatos]

I don't recall ever denying that. But at the same time it's evident that the Classics line does take collectors into account, hence the whole G1 homage thing. G1 is not for kids.

I'm inclined to disagree. With the release of the Madman DVDs, you've not only got parents buying the show for their kids, but you've got the childless adult who has bought them. G1 actually feels more universal. If a kid watches this show and thinks "wow how cool is that character", sure, they aren't going to get the range that was available back in the 80's in terms of characterization, but it does make a few characters available. Especially with the new Sunstreaker and Prowl. Out goes a parent... "wow, this is like from the DVD I just bought my kid, I'll pick this up!"

I won't be purchasing this variant as I do have the 2006 Classics Starscream. If I see it at a low price point (below $20) I might pick him up and use the old one for customs fodder. It's not as if there's a lack of figures that Starscream can become :P Or even sell the old figure off.

The new Starscream is just another repaint/variant that we can either choose to ignore, or pick up. I don't honestly find anything bad about this being released. Sure, I'd have preferred a retail Thundercracker or Sunstorm, but Starscream is "the" seeker, as well as being in the 2007 movie as a character, which as Hasbro has no doubt caught on, is a huge selling point.

[dirge]

Everyone chill.

Jay, it's quite obvious that the Classics line as a whole _does_ take collectors into account. If that were not the case, we wouldn't be seeing an improved Starscream. Instead we'd see another yellow (note: not orange) Sunstorm.

Jay, please refrain from veiled insults. You can disagree with someone - and can talk about unfair complaints, but please do so without emotive cr4p like "bunch of whingers" and "handbags", and without insulting rubbish like, "severe lack of understanding and learning". I'm losing patience with your desrespect of others. Disagree by all means, but CEASE belittling others because you don't agree with their opinion.

As for the complaints about Starscream, I'm inclined to agree with Jay's stance that Hasbro aren't deliberately milking and that there is a lot of complaining going on. But they _are_ thinking of collectors.

Look at Classics Starscream in the context of the time. We'd very recently seen the cr4ppy "Energon" Energon Starscream - painted in G1 colours but without bothering to take the battle damage off the mould. And it's not particularly like an F-15 anyway. It was a fairly cheap and cynical attempt to get collectors to buy a repaint (and, as I recall at the time, it worked - fans went gaga over it).

Then, in Cybertron, Hasbro released that randomly dipped-in-purple Skywarp. A rather lazy repaint of Thundercracker. Okay, it's not as bad as a lot of repaints, but the idea was pretty lazy despite the end result being an improvement on recent repaints.

Compared to these, the G1-focused Classics Starscream is great. Granted, the plastic is a little milky and the paint apps aren't perfect, but it's miles ahead of the feeble Energon tribute attempt...

...Takara then took up the same idea, and with the benefit of hindsight, made some improvements. Keep in mind that Takara didn't need to sink any money into R&D - Hasbro had already paid for the mould's development...

...Hasbro have seen Takara's effort and have decided to provide their own improved Starscream. Good on them for doing so - they're considering collectors. Yes, they know they'll sell these to kids who never got the last Classics Starscream, but they also know that collectors generally have more esteem for Starscream than they do for Flare Yellow Sunstorm™.

Personally, I'm quite happy with the first Classics Starscream - it's a VAST improvement on the vaguely seeker-like toys in the previous years - but I'll still give kudos to Hasbro for improving on their previous effort.

[jaydisc]

"Handbags in the air" is a dance music scene reference to a reaction to a very anthemic track. It wasn't meant to be insulting and was probably a bit too obscure a reference for this audience.

[Kyle]

...Takara then took up the same idea, and with the benefit of hindsight, made some improvements. Keep in mind that Takara didn't need to sink any money into R&D - Hasbro had already paid for the mould's development...

A very good point. Keep in mind that Classic "1.0" was originally a one-off filler line for the period before the movie. As it wasn't intended to last, Hasbro had to "optimise" the amount of paint application to pay for the R&D and moulding. Hasbro was bringing something nice and new to the fans. Most of us would have been perfectly happy with Classic, and there weren't really many complaints. But then Henkei came along, and all of a sudden things became very different.

Same for the movie premiums. The success of the movie and demand for the toys far exceeded Hasbro and the retailers' expectations. My guess is that the premiums were not in the initial plan. After the success and good sale they could afford to improve on Leader OP and Deluxe BB to make them better or more movie accurate. (The toys were developed while the CG for the movie was still being worked on.) At the end of the day it is business and they want our money, but at least they did more than simple repaints by offering us new heads and the new sword. And while most fans praise TakaraTomy for Henkei, I actually found TT to be relatively lazy and boring for their movie line. Their toys were identical to Hasbro's, with the exceptions of Deluxe 74 BB, Premium OP, and the two Trans-Scanning figures.

[FFN]

As much as we complain & refuse to purchase a 2nd Classics Screamer, Hasbro will still sell a kazillion of these which will more than justify (to them) doing the same thing over & over again in the future.

At the end of the day, We (as Adult Collectors) are just small fish in Hasbro's big ocean so therefore we hardly get listened to. But TakaraTomy do listen to us so maybe we should give them more business wherever possible...

The point of Hasbro redecoing main guys like Starscream is there are now many more Transformers customers than there were back in 2006 when this mold was originally released as Starscream. They don't expect or demand you who already own Classics to buy this. They're thinking of the big picture of other customers who don't own the Classics version or the Henkei version.

Last I checked Hasbro was the company to regularly interact with fans and hire (qualified) people out of the fandom.

[lcz128]

Upon reflection (since initial thoughts) I think that while it's great that they're rereleasing it so that people who missed out first time (say, they weren't into TFs again till after the movie in 07) can have the chance to get this {Makes sense as well as a 25th Anniversary thing} - That said, have to say again that I'm disappointed that the paintaps still aren't as good as the Henkei release ... Particularly miffed about the fans on his chest that become the wheels in jet-mode.

That said though ... I won't be getting it :b

Actually - just curious... How much is a Henkei figure for the Japanese? Is it comparable to the US$10 price tag that the Americans pay for?
Anyone know enough about this to shed some light on this?