Are we becoming jaded or more discerning as Transformer fans?

[Verno]

The fandom tried to get Erector into the TF hall of fame. I think it's safe to say that Hasbro doesn't trust us

But where does that derision for Hasbro stem from in the first place if not from Hasbro themselves and their past misdeeds?

And besides, the HoF is laughable anyway. 1st year - Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream. What's the point of it?!

[Magnus]

IMHO we tend to judge Hasbro unfairly and seem to forget that their key market is children and making toys. Adult logic should not apply. We're fortunate that from time to time they cater toward the adult collector.

I think that we should not label all fans that are critical of Hasbro/Toys as jaded or ungrateful as at the end of the day, even if we are adults, we are all Hasbro customers too.

While I do recognise that Hasbro have done a lot of great things for the Transformers brand that we can be thankful for, I don't think we have to prostrate ourselves before them whenever they throw us fans a bone. I also don't think it is a crime for us to demand that they do things BETTER, especially when we're buying the stuff.

This. I agree that we shouldn't have to accept every single thing that Hasbro sends our way, but at the same time, I can't help but feel that more than a few adult members of the Transformers fandom have a sense of self-entitlement, as if Hasbro exists solely to make them collectibles.

I agree with the whole Optimus/Megatron thing. It's getting old. That's why I'm such a fan of Dai Atlas. Not only is he not a Prime, he kicks arse! He is the way a leader of a intergalactic civil war needs to be to win.

It would make for an interesting shake-up. Maybe I'm being cynical, but I can easily imagine some fans protesting such a change if it were to happen now - "Transformers HAS to have Optimus vs. Megatron!!!!11111!!!!one!!1111 What blasphemy is this?!"

I say this because I find the (adult) fandom is highly resistant to change, at least at first - I still remember the uproar when movieverse Optimus was revealed to be a long-nosed truck instead of a flat-nosed one, and back in the '90s, there was 'TRUKK NOT MUNKY'.

[MayzaPrime]

I am actually pretty excited about the future of Transformers.

The Masterpiece series that Takara is currently releasing are just the best Transformers I have (and I have almost 1700).

The new line of Generations are really good, in fact I have bought multiples of particular figures which I dont normally do unless they are a repaint/retool.

With the 3 more movies to come, which will bring Billions of $$. Hasbro will be able to take more risks, like hopefully Titan class Trypticon .

Could Hasbro do things better? Yes they could, improved distribution, Headmasters , would be a good start.

[Paulbot]

I'm nearly mid-30 and TFs have been part of my life non-stop since I was 6. I find things to like and I find things to dislike. Such a long time has created an intense brand loyalty for me. so when I dislike something it's usually because I feel potential has been missed, but it's not the end of the world; I'll just wait for the next incarnation, the next toyline/comic/cartoon/movie whatever it is.

I think it's quite easy to focus on the jaded/negative stuff that fans talk about and become disillusioned with fandom and not see the stuff that's liked. When I've been at fan meets (in Vic, NSW, QLD and BotCon) the negativity that comes out of the keyboards doesn't come out of mouths, and if it does it's pretty well deserved.

Unfortunately it's a very common Internet thing to complain more than praise. The Internet was a great boost and rallying point for TF fans (I'm thinking back to the A.T.T. days) but the online complaint culture goes beyond TF fandom.

[GoktimusPrime]

Whenever I review anything, I always start with mentioning the pros first, to make myself consider the positives before discussing any negatives, then finally I draw a conclusion.

Wow I've never even thought of, read or seen anyone mention there was some racial characteristics behind transformers eye colour before. This is exactly why I have given up on the general fandom and couldn't care less if transformers faded into oblivion.

It's not a fandom thing. It's called the Hidden Curriculum and is widely recognised when discussing/evaluating children's literature. It's something that was I personally examined when I was doing Ethics in Education during my post graduate studies. A cartoon series targeted at children is a form of children's literature (film literature), and all children's literature (and indeed anything else that we present to children) is susceptible of having a hidden curriculum. It's something that everyone who is communicating with children needs to be mindful of, whether you're an author, teacher, parent etc. It's often interesting to see what the audience takes despite authorial intent.
e.g. Lord of the Rings functions as an allegory for the First World War, despite Tolkien having explicitly stated that it was never intended to be.

[Trent]

I think that the issue is not the negativity in the fandom as such, but more that as some fans get older, their sense of entitlement goes through the roof. Then you get a lot of negativity because of attitude like "This toy is crap because of reason x. They should have done it like y." And at the core of that the toy is crap because it's not what that particular person wanted. Examples I have seen:

"That toy is crap because it's not the right scale." Talking about every TF ever.

"That toy is crap because the stripes are different to the cartoon." Talking about MP Wheeljack.

"That toy is crap because it's the wrong shade of blue." Talking about KFC Ultra Magnus

"That toy is crap because it doesn't have landing gear." Talking about Daca Toys Kronos

"That toy is crap because the face sculpt is too fat." Talking about MP Smokecreen

"That toy is crap because it's too short." Talking about MP Bumblebee

"That toy is crap because it's not chibi." Talking again about MP Bumblebee.

See my point? What they're really saying is "that toy is crap because it's not exactly what _I_ want."


Keep in mind here that I am not having a to at people that point out a feature that they are disappointed with on a toy. I understand some scale comments and the chibi thing with MP BB and so forth. And I also understand that this is an expensive hobby and you are allowed to be fussy over a $80 plus toy. I'm talking about the type of entitlement that is far beyond what an average person would consider reasonable.

[Shirokaze]

What is your current opinion of the current state of Transformers in all its myriad forms?

Movies - While the movies have advanced the brand in leaps and bounds when it comes to recognition and have accomplished some fantastic big-screen feats, it seems they have also become notorious. These days I can't seem to get through a conversation about Transformers with anyone in the 20-30yo age bracket without the mention of how terrible the movies are.
As people that have an emotional investment in the franchise, I think it's easy for us to become critical about how Transformers is being handled when all you hear from the general public is negativity.

Toys - In this case, I feel that every step Hasbro takes forward, they take two back.

Characters we thought we'd never see/strong collector focus via Generations: Poor distribution to anywhere but the US, generally terrible paint apps.

Expansion into many different lines: reduced figure size, reduced figure quality.

The list goes on

TV - I think TF Prime did pretty well at telling a story and hitting it's target demographic. Bring on the Bumblebee Prime

What do you believe has influenced your current opinion of the Transformers brand? (age, experience etc)
Again the declining quality and shrinking of figures is getting me down. This combined with growing up and the realisation of the value of money, I no longer feel like I'm getting my money's worth when I buy a figure.

Do you believe that either you yourself, or the fanbase taken as a whole, has become somewhat ungrateful and jaded?
Yeah definitely. When you care about something and have no control over what happens to it, all we can really do is express ourselves on forums and a lot of them time, it's going to come across as ungrateful.

[Lint]

This. I agree that we shouldn't have to accept every single thing that Hasbro sends our way, but at the same time, I can't help but feel that more than a few adult members of the Transformers fandom have a sense of self-entitlement, as if Hasbro exists solely to make them collectibles.

I'm probably not speaking on behalf of everyone here, but one of the reasons why I am critical of the modern transforming figures is that I want kids to experience the same joy of high quality Transformer figures when I was a kid. I often buy transformers as gifts for young relatives or children of friends and it does make me sad when my gifts get rightly sidelined in preference of higher quality toys.

I say this because I find the (adult) fandom is highly resistant to change, at least at first - I still remember the uproar when movieverse Optimus was revealed to be a long-nosed truck instead of a flat-nosed one, and back in the '90s, there was 'TRUKK NOT MUNKY'.

My biggest problem with movieverse Optimus is not just aesthetics. They've taken an extremely noble and generally good role model of a character and turned him into an extremely destructivemmerciless killing machine that only sees issues in black and white and then dared to sell this guy to children.

I have to admit I was a TRUKK not MUNKYer back in the 90's but I've come to see and respect them both as separate characters.

[RageOnTheRoads]

Unfortunately it's a very common Internet thing to complain more than praise. The Internet was a great boost and rallying point for TF fans (I'm thinking back to the A.T.T. days) but the online complaint culture goes beyond TF fandom.

This.

While I've loved my transformers since the late 80's; I've always been more of a fringe dweller when it came to the fandom culture, popping in and out between G1, Beast Wars, Beast Machines and the new movies. It's odd because the attitude of the people I talk with doesn't seem to align with the cultural image of constantly whining TF fans. Whenever I talk with other fans and collectors they're always enthusiastic about the brand and so willing to show newbies and less hardcore members the ins and outs of the franchise.

With the exception of a few extremists most of the complaints that come from the fandom seem to me to be pretty valid. I've heard kids complain that their transformers break or fall apart too easily or "it's not like the Optimus on the tv." One young fan I know blew a months worth of pocket money on a figure only for it to break the first time he transformed it. He was one unhappy little chap. So there is a degree of convergence between collector complaints and the key demographics complaints.

As for me, I loved and still enjoy a lot of the tf universe like the current comic lines, TF prime, the recent games. And while I find the price of one or two TF's a bit extreme, on the whole the price and quality control of Has/tak toys are much more reasonable than many other toys and collectibles I collect.

My biggest pet peeve with the TF franchise- the 2 and 3 Bayverse movies- has more to do with my experiences in the entertainment industry and only a little to do with my position as a tf fan. It didn't stop me from collecting a fare few movie toys though.

[Magnus]

I'm probably not speaking on behalf of everyone here, but one of the reasons why I am critical of the modern transforming figures is that I want kids to experience the same joy of high quality Transformer figures when I was a kid. I often buy transformers as gifts for young relatives or children of friends and it does make me sad when my gifts get rightly sidelined in preference of higher quality toys.

Out of curiosity, and I'm not having a go at you here, I genuinely want to know, how do you grade TFs on quality? QC, or is it something else?

My biggest problem with movieverse Optimus is not just aesthetics. They've taken an extremely noble and generally good role model of a character and turned him into an extremely destructivemmerciless killing machine that only sees issues in black and white and then dared to sell this guy to children.

I have to admit I was a TRUKK not MUNKYer back in the 90's but I've come to see and respect them both as separate characters.

I can understand why some people would feel that way about movieverse Optimus from a character point of view (and it's a whole discussion topic on its own), but my point was that it seems like fans were getting upset over something that, in hindsight, is so trivial (actually, I think the flame paint job was a bigger 'controversy'), because it seems like they're resistant to change - this was in the context of every new series seemingly being Optimus vs. Megatron. Then again, it may be, as has been suggested, that the most vocal fans online are the ones who do a lot of complaining, and there may be a 'silent majority' who are more optimistic or have adopted a 'wait-and-see' attitude.