Classics Sightings.

[dirge]

In terms of commercial success, Armada did well, FFN. From a collector POV, it hasn't fared so well. I'm not disputing what you're saying, but if you view TFs as artistic endeavours (and approach things purely from a collector POV), Armada was not a success - Armada isn't held in the same esteem as say, G1 or Beast Wars, within the fandom. There doesn't seem to be the same number of fans trying to get their hands on Armada as is the case with ... many lines.

I can't say I kept pace with predictions before the live action movie, so I can't comment either way there.

With regards to the longer term fandom, I think that elements within Hasbro have done a poor job - the success of Armada was fairly shortlived and arguably did less for the franchise's long term than many other less profitable lines. The complete change of direction from the movie to Animated is kinda baffling for me - build up interest with a landmark in the franchise's history and then disgard any momentum gained with a complete change of direction.

The same could be said of the quickfire cancelling of the successful Beast Wars line and replacing it with the flop that was Beast Machines - a baffling decision which seemed to be based more on a "keep it fresh at all costs" mentality rather than a focus on building on successes.

[Robzy]

Armada was not a success - Armada isn't held in the same esteem as say, G1 or Beast Wars, within the fandom.

I agree! The only thing I liked about Armada was finally getting a UNICRON figure!

As for Aaron Archer: Mate, he has presided over Hasbro's biggest successes in Transformers history. That's why he was promoted from lead designer to overall design director. I think he and his team have a good bloody clue what the market want, and their legacy is called success.

I don't! Reports from the BotCon Hasbro Panel included the following paraphrased statements...

1) "Hasbro was surprised at how successful the movie was"
2) "There are so many movie repaints because they had not planned for the demand on Movie stuff to last so long. For TF 2 they will be better prepared"
3) "Still no plans for G1 Dinobot reissues"

[STL]

I wouldn't mind adding my own thoughts in support of FFN to the discussion but I fear we are venturing off topic. Maybe a new thread?

On topic, I spotted a bucketload of Skyfires and Optimus Primes at another Myer too. I talked to one of the girls there and she said she didn't know. I was w/ a new friend and didn't want to seem too obsessive so didn't pursue the discussion though I'm very interested in what price they'll be discounted too.

[jaydisc]

Yeah, my only interpretation was sale. But the scheduling of it seems weird.

[Pulse]

Maybe they're restocking some of the Classics 1.0 figures to go on sale simultaneously as Classics 2.0 in a few months time?

Or maybe not...

[STL]

I feel guilty. Sitting there thinking about all those Skyfires that will be on sale, I couldn't help but think, wouldn't it be nice to have a few more?

hI ham hso hweak.

[jaydisc]

hLOL hYes hYou hAre!!!

[FFN]

I hope Cliffjumper is available again, I missed him the first time around.

In terms of commercial success, Armada did well, FFN. From a collector POV, it hasn't fared so well. I'm not disputing what you're saying, but if you view TFs as artistic endeavours (and approach things purely from a collector POV), Armada was not a success - Armada isn't held in the same esteem as say, G1 or Beast Wars, within the fandom. There doesn't seem to be the same number of fans trying to get their hands on Armada as is the case with ... many lines.

I view Transformers cynically most of the time as merely a toy-selling franchise brand. I judge its success on how well the toys and the advertising marketing (fiction) does with its core primary market (kids). Its a very cynical view, but Transformers is just a toyline. The sheer majority of children during our generations who grew up with G1 didn't become long term fans. Same with Beast Wars. A minority of the people who grew up with them became long-term fans, and that's the same with other series regardless of the quality. That's mostly why Hasbro doesn't build upon what it has just done - they already have fans (young and old), so they're concentrating on grabbing the attention of the next lot of children, because the majority of their previous customers may have given up 'baby things' like toys and moved onto computers and video games (Hasbro has said the entire toy industry is feeling pressure from electronic entertainment because kids are 'growing up' faster now, and give up toys sooner).

I think something people overlook is the huge commercial success of Armada (which in turn created a new generation of Transformers fans) paved the way for subsequent increased budgets and better engineering in following Transformers toylines.

As for the toyline itself, I judge its success on how kids enjoy it, and evidently, kids enjoyed these 'crappy' toys. Hell, I thought they were fun myself. They had character in their design. I'd honestly like to see Hasbro revist the designs in the 25th Anniversary line beyond Armada Hot Shot, since several characters (Starscream, Megatron) deserve better toys.


One should be glad Hasbro continues to market Transformers to children so aggressively, because it means the line is still highly viable for the long term. Look at Hasbro's other great toyline, GI Joe: it has been reduced to catering mostly to collectors, which means its market is not growing by a significant amount (until the new live-action movie, at least).


- FFN, cynical industrialist of FFN Heavy Industries.