The Soapbox VI: Don’t like Gimmicks? Start dealing with it.

[GoktimusPrime]

Just because something is necessary doesn't excuse it for being bad. I mean, food is necessarily for survival but I'm sure most of us wouldn't eat crap and are reasonably picky in terms of wanting to eat something that we find pleasing and hopefully with nutritional benefit. Likewise while gimmicks may be a necessity we would hope that they would be good gimmicks.

Accepting a necessity doesn't mean that we necessarily need to stop being discerning consumers. I don't think most people ever think that Transformers should ever be devoid of gimmicks altogether - as I said before, simply being able to transform itself is a gimmick. But they should have good gimmicks.

A good gimmick should be like a good music score for a movie - it should be noticeable but doesn't stick out like a sore thumb... i.e.: the gimmick should compliment the toy, not the other way around.

roller: lay off the red cordial man, seriously.

[STL]

Accepting a necessity doesn't mean that we necessarily need to stop being discerning consumers.

Oh I agree completely. I myself am a very discerning consumer. I'd wager I'm the only one or one of very few collectors who possesses a database that not to keep count of my TFs but to record my rankings on all the facets of a Transformer so I have a handle on what aspects of it work best. I'm very meticulous and can be downright harsh in my assessments. That said, I think that the fandom needs to look beyond its island and realise that gimmicks, good or bad, are part and parcel of Transformers. That doesn't stop us from being discerning consumers as you say but it means we start realising that Hasbro are not dolts for filling their toys with gimmicks.

roller: lay off the red cordial man, seriously.

What he said!