Armada Megatron is possibly one of the worst shelfwarmers we've seen in Classicsverse. Just today I walked into Target and saw a whole bunch of them gathering dust on the shelf.
The Armada kids are now in their late teens and early 20s, around the same age bracket that we G1 kids were when Beast Wars came out. That was the age when many of us "matured" as collectors, becoming more interactive with other fans and joining fine fan clubs likeAusTrans^OzFormers.But it's also that age where people are still students, and thus lack the same level of disposable income that they'll have in a few years' time when they've entered the workforce.
The G1 Renaissance
The first big push of the G1 renaissance happened in the 00s, which is when most of us G1 kids had completed our education and were participating in the workforce. We suddenly had this thing called disposable incomes. And for those still living at home, unburdened by things like needing to pay rent, bills etc. HasTak (especially Takara) took advantage of this. This was the period when Takara started producing toys explicitly made for the collector market, labelled 対象年齢15歳以上 ("For Ages 15 and Up"). We got toys like:
* G1 reissues (now with fully powered launchers that would choke a child!)
* Smallest Transforming Transformers
* Binaltech/Alternators
* Masterpiece
* Alternity
* Various busts and statues, as well as PVC figurines
This was also when Transformers shifted away from beasts and towards vehicular alt modes. Hasbro were a bit slow to start, giving us Beast Machines in 2000 with mechanical looking bestial Maximals vs fantasy vehicle-moded Vehicons. It shelf warmed.Takara on the other hand, gave us Beast Wars level engineering with licensed vehicle modes; Lamborghini, Dodge, Mercedes etc.; Hasbro released them a year later as Robots in Disguise. They sold like hot cakes. And of course, every Transformers series since then has primarily maintained that G1-esque theme. Sure, we get a few individual figures that are a nod to Beast Wars here and there, but not entire lines (except for BW reissues in 2006 for the 10th Anniversary; but those weren't new moulds). Armada finally gave us a Unicron toy, and Cybertron gave us Primus!
It was also the heightened enthusiasm in Transformers in the 00s which prompted Hasbro to green light production for a live action movie; announced in 2003 and first debuting in 2007. And of course, the movie in turn helped to massively boost interest in Transformers, but let's not forget that it was already the rapidly increasing interest in Transformers that prompted the creation of the movie franchise in the first place. 2000 was also the first time that "Generation One" entered official currency (before then it was an unofficial fan term for all pre-G2 Transformers). So our love for G1 actually pushed that term into official usage.
Why Haven't We Seen The Same Thing With Post-G1 TF fandoms?
Uh... this is a really good question, and I'm not entire sure where the answer may lie. The Children of Armada are probably still too young for Hasbro to thoroughly exploit; they would the around the same age that we G1 Kids were when Beast Wars came out. But the Children of Beast Wars would be around the same age that we G1 Kids were when the G1 Renaissance began. So where are all the BW reissues? Where are all the new BW figures and merchandise?Masterpiece is actually doing pretty well, with MP Beast Convoy coming out and also Cheetor being announced. That's actually better than how G1 MP started with just MP1 Convoy and MP2 Ultra Magnus (which was just a white MP1).
So hopefully the BW MPs will mean more good things to come for the Children of Beast Wars.
But does the demand exist? I honestly don't know...
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