There are Leader Class Generations toys?Originally Posted by doublespy
I must admit that this does look better than previous images I've seen... but I'm still remaining wary until I see the toy IRL or at least more in hand photos. Simplification of toys wouldn't be so bad if the price were reduced too, otherwise it just feels like inferior value for money.
Yeah but KOs are dirt cheap! If they're going to sell this toy for $100 RRP then I'd like it to try and at least give us $100's worth of value. Let's face it, most Leaders don't really give you $100's worth of value (a lot of it is paying for the electronic sound gimmick) - but some come close, like ROTF/DOTM Leader OP and Animated Megatron.
*gasp* You're expecting Hasbro to emulate TakaraTOMY's practices?! Next thing they'll be directly surveying us for what we think about their toys and asking us for suggestions!
+1. This is why I really do NOT like Transformers toys that are created as screen characters first. But having said that, it's a "necessary evil" with the live action movie franchise because in a photorealistic setting, toy-accurate designs would end up looking like Power Rangers Zords (i.e. people in robot cosplay) which wouldn't be very appealing to audiences. So I can forgive it for the movie franchise... I just don't understand why Hasbro now applies the same formula to non-movie franchises like Animated and Prime. (-_-) Oh how I long for the good ole days of toy-first Transformer designs!Sadly, for the movie aesthetics, simplified transformation really means losing details or being far from screen accurate, because the concept artists never really think about how or if possible at all their design can be translated into working toys.
One vehicle panel the artist arbitrarily throws on the robot might make the poor engineers over at TakTom work overtime to get it working for toys. Yet people still complain about "fake chests" and "fake kibble".
Having said that, the previous Leader Class Optimus Primes have all been really good toys - so we know that HasTak can engineer good movie-based Leader Class Optimus Prime figures, even if they are complex (although TF1 Leader OP wasn't as complicated as ROTF Optimus Prime, and the retooling done for DOTM Leader OP does make it a lot easier to lock the windscreens into place). And one great thing about previous Leader Optimus Primes is there's minimal faux-kibble; e.g. the windscreen panels on their chests actually becomes the windscreens of the trucks. And TFPRiD Voyager and Commander Optimus Primes demonstrate that HasTak are getting gooderer at reducing faux-kibble in smaller classes too. So I hope that they're able to maintain the same standard (if not better) w/ AoE Leader OP. These toys should be getting better, not worse.
When TF1 Leader OP first came out, I was incredibly impressed. Easily the best Optimus Prime toy ever made since 1995's Laser Optimus Prime. Then ROTF Leader OP surpassed even that! And as mentioned before, retooling was done to ROTF-Buster OP to make a marginal improvement there. So with each successive Leader Class Optimus Prime toy we've seen steps forward (even if the step between ROTF and DOTM was small, I thought it was still quite significant - for me that relatively minor change made the transformation a lot more easier and fun for me), not standing still or going backwards. I hope that this standard will continue in AoE, but the photos don't exactly enthuse me. Maybe the actual product will prove me wrong once it's released. Go on Hasbro, please prove me wrong.
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