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Thread: Transformer Fan First, Or Robot Fan First?

  1. #1
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    Default Transformer Fan First, Or Robot Fan First?

    A while back I met a couple and they were spending about just over $1000 on gundam kits.

    I talked to the girl and I said the robots are awesome, and that is why I watch some of the battles. She said the reason she likes them are because of the story line. She was not that much of a robot fan.

    I think might be that many transformers fan like the transformers story and characters more so than the detail that they are robots?

    I like transformers because I like robots. But the conversation made me now really inquisitive as I notice now some collectors who prefer to collect the same characters. I really wonder and I don't have friends who like transformers, so do you like transformers as the story character first or because you are a robot fan?

    This would help me sleep better at night loloolol.

    oh, and is there a poll option on this forum? thanks for reading this, replies appreciated.

  2. #2
    FatalityPitt Guest

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    I think when it comes to Transformer collecting, the only rules are; buy it if you like it and can afford it, and of course; be kind to other Transformer fans (especially kids).

    Beyond that, there are no hard and fast rules. Everyone's got different buying patterns, and admittedly, mine change as much as Madonna changes outfits.

    If I had to choose, I would describe my toy-purchase-decision-making like this; I try to buy all the cast members of my favourite continuities/storylines, but within a budget.

    My 4 favourite Transformer continuities are (in no specific order):
    - Headmasters (Japanese G1 Continuity)
    - American G1 Continuity (Sunbow cartoons, Marvel Comics, etc)
    - Transformers Prime
    - Beast Wars

    I generally try to buy at least one toy (or representation) of all the characters from these continuities. Which is why I was nuts about the small Legion class figures back in the day; because it meant I could buy each of the main cast members without blowing hundreds of dollars.

    I tend to ignore toys unrelated to the above continuities. I don't have toys from Transformers Animated or the Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Cybertron, etc). I have a few movie toys (but almost all of those were unplanned impulse buys). Not saying toys from those lines/continuities are bad, I just don't have as strong an emotional connection to them.

    If I was faced with a choice between a Bad G1 Starscream toy and a Good Movie Barricade toy; the Bad G1 Starscream would take priority, because I like the character more.

    I guess to answer your question, I lean towards "story character first".

  3. #3
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    I might have liked other robots first (possibly Voltron, Astroboy) but when TFs came along they were all I really cared about as a kid (and today!). And my interest in Tfs is why I would have watched other shows like Machine Men, Robo Story, Robotech, Mighty Orbots, Metal Mickey etc.

  4. #4
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    I like both. There are some Transformers toys which can be brilliant characters but pretty mediocre toys. G1 Thunderwing and Carnivac are examples of this. Others can have excellent toys but otherwise dull characters. An example of this is G1 Overdrive. He has a pretty cool G1 Omnibot toy and a really excellent Binaltech figure, but as a character there's really not much to him. While G1 Wheelie's character sucked in the G1 cartoon, his character in the original bio and other canonical material besides the cartoon was actually decent. But the G1 toy has always been the worst of the G1 Mini Vehicles. And there have been a lot of really interesting characters who've appeared in Transformers lore which didn't (at the time) receive toys, and some still remain toyless (which I personally find frustrating because I want toys of 'em!). These include...
    * All of the female Autobots in G1
    * Alpha Trion
    * Nightbird
    * Devcon
    * Emirate Xaaron
    * Impactor
    * Rack 'N' Ruin
    * Straxus
    * Jhiaxus
    * Scrounge
    * Primon
    * Prima
    * Prime Nova (Nova Prime)
    * Sentinel Prime
    * Boltax
    * Wipe-Out
    * Spanner
    * Liege Maximo
    * Ferak
    * Man of Iron
    * The Navigator
    * Warmonger
    * Macabre
    * Fusion
    * Flame (the scientist, not the Motorvator)
    * Octus, Seizer & Legonis - at the very least Octus, cos who doesn't wanna see a Decepticon Dalek?
    * Toaster
    * Tusks (the piano Transformer)
    * Maccadam (the toy's insert tray could be printed to look like the Old Oilhouse )
    * Death Cobra (could be retooled from CW Vortex!)
    * Dion
    * Hauler
    * Rung
    * Nautilus (not to be confused with Nautica)
    * Riptide
    * Velocity
    * Ten (he could be an accessory-former like TFP Unicron, or build figure like Transmutate)
    * Transmutate
    * Solus Prime
    ...and many more

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulbot View Post
    I might have liked other robots first (possibly Voltron, Astroboy) but when TFs came along they were all I really cared about as a kid (and today!). And my interest in Tfs is why I would have watched other shows like Machine Men, Robo Story, Robotech, Mighty Orbots, Metal Mickey etc.
    This is an awesome answer and one I totally relate to - especially the Metal Mickey reference

  6. #6
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    Great question!

    I like the transformations first and formost. Holding them in your hand like a puzzle, enjoying the engineering. So Gobots, Rocklords, and Mask also grabbed my attention. But as a kid, the show had me hooked far more than those other franchises. Transformers were always cool to me and a few homages in Energon and marveling at Alternators Smokescreen and I was hooked again.

    I do like the TF backstories too but don't watch/read it much (I skim it mostly). I've always short-cutted books and i like what i know about Transformers. I am now far more facinated by the story behind producing the figures.

    I like other robots (not as much) but they gotta have an identity or soul. Mech suits look really cool but i prefer the iron giant.
    Last edited by Deonasis; 10th March 2017 at 08:17 AM.
    "I am not a gun. I'm hitting people with a hammer. On Mars."
    The Iron Giant / David Wildgoose

  7. #7
    Megatron Guest

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    I was a robot fan (generic) and talking cars fan (Knight Rider) before I became a Transformers fan. Then I became aware of the G1 US cartoon, and became a "Transformers character fan" first and foremost, and still am. The story not so much... or even the character profiles for the most part... but that's a different topic altogether. I collect the toys based on character, the closer they resemble their G1 versions the better.

  8. #8
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    I think I'm both. :/ I've always liked sci-fi and especially robot characters, but that probably started with Beast Wars back in 1997. Although, I wouldn't have called myself a fan of transformers then and I only had one figure that I got as a christmas gift. After that I was really into Megaman and Megaman X games around 2001, because, again, it was sci-fi and the main characters are robots. Then in 2007 I watched the 1986 TF movie, which at the time was everything I wanted in a robot character driven sci-fi cartoon, so I bought the G1 box set and watched the whole thing.

    tldr, I like the robots as characters first, toys secondary, and I buy toys of characters I like.

    although, I'm also one of those people that collects every iteration of a particular favourite character so I now have over 300 Jazz items. :v
    "The Decepticons keep bad company - each other!" - Jazz, G2

  9. #9
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    (please forgive this lengthy post - I'm just really excited and this is an interesting topic )

    Looking at the overall TF fandom in general, I would absolutely say that we are - generally speaking - fans of TOYS first and foremost. Reasons for this include...
    • Many Transformers toys have sold well in the absence of popular supporting media. When Transformers first hit store shelves in 1984 they grossed US$1.4 million. That's about AU$4.3 million in today's money. And the Pre-TF toy lines that they came from - Diaclone, Microman etc., were already successful in their own right in Japan. It was this domestic success which attracted Hasbro's attention at the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show. Hasbro didn't know how successful the toy line would be. They initially commissioned a 3 episode pilot for the cartoon and then green lighted more episodes after the toys raked in US$1.4M. Likewise the G1 comics were initially intended to be a four issue limited series (it explicitly said so on the top of the front cover of #1-4). The comics outlasted the cartoon and of course, the final issue ended with the caption "Issue #80 in a Four-Issue Limited Series."

    • Beast Wars is another example. Transformers was a dying line by 1995 but when Beast Wars hit the shelves in 1996 toy sales rocketed up allowing Transformers to become the 3rd best selling boys toy line. The cartoon came later and Beast Wars went from strength to strength, but very importantly it revived the Transformers brand.

    • Car Robot. How many of us were salivating when we saw pics leaked online? How many of us then imported these toys? Most Western fans I knew of didn't care about the story at the time, but we were all fascinated by the toys. Beast Wars level engineering with licensed vehicle alt modes! Then Hasbro released these toys in the West as Robots In Disguise in 2001 and I remember seeing these toys flying off shelves months before the TV show aired. And quite frankly, the TV show isn't the greatest. It's not bad, but clearly targeting a very young audience (unlike Beast Wars which simultaneously appealed to adults and children). But it was the toys that drove adult collectors nuts, and Takara have admitted that Car Robot has gone on to inspire Binaltech and Masterpiece, so their legacy lives on.

    • Binaltech & Alternity. The only stories that these toys have are the text stories printed with the instructions and bio cards. But let's face it, it's really the toys that appeals to people. Even obscure G1 characters like Overdrive were really popular just because he's a sweet 1:24 scale accurate Honda S2000! Die-cast metal panels, rubber tyres, convertible roof top, detailed interior, working steering, bonnet, boot etc. - and a rifle which is formed from his engine & drive-shaft! Then you have new characters like Zoom-Zoom... silly name that's nothing more than product placement and the 'character' isn't even a character (Zoom-Zoom is essentially a drone), but when that promotional animated video came out boy did we get excited! I have both Meister and Zoom-Zoom (and Laserwave), just cos the Mazda RX-8 BTs are just so awesome!

    • There have been many toys that have sold poorly despite prominently appearing on screen; e.g. G1 Warpath, G1 Wheelie, RotF Devastator etc. And conversely we've had toys sell really well despite not appearing in screen media (or in any media at all as with some examples listed in my last point). e.g. G1 Hubcap etc.

    • No matter how good the story gets, a series will ultimately be cancelled if toy sales are poor. We saw this with the G1 cartoon. As the series progressed it did start introducing more mature stories. Season 2 gave us the incredible episode "The God Gambit" which analyses what people will do in the name of religion and how religion can be abused to manipulate the masses. Season 3 gave Transformers a more science fiction theme with more stories occurring off world and Earth being a member of a Star Trek-like galactic federation (with Spike and Carly acting as ambassadors for Earth). But the G1 cartoon was cancelled with only 3 episodes of the fourth season (The Rebirth) made. Even the incredible G1 comics, which typically featured far more mature and sophisticated (and violent) stories than the cartoon. And of course Simon Furman was given complete control over the US comics (allowing him to align the continuity with his work on the UK comics), as well as introducing US comic readers to the work of incredible UK artists like Andrew Wildman and Geoff Senior. Under this team we had incredible stories leading up to, including and following the Matrix Quest. But just as the comics were hitting an all time high, they were cancelled due to dwindling TF toy sales in the early 1990s. Marvel tried again in 1993-94 with the Generation 2 comics, again, really well written stories and some amazing early artwork from Derek Yaniger. But alas the G2 comics were axed after only 12 issues (although what an epic ending!)

    • Conventions & Fan Meets: Toys are always the big draw card. In Perth you have the Nexus Fair, Melbourne has Sandown and Sydney used to have the Parramatta Fair which used to draw in pretty big crowds. I've been attending fan meets since 1998 and whenever a meet happens without a toy convention or fair we get small numbers. Toys attract people more than stories. When we did the OzFormers booth at Sydney SupaNova 2003 we attracted some numbers with our exclusive comic book. We conducted a survey then asking people what they most wanted to see in a Transformers convention and the overwhelming response was the opportunity to buy TOYS. In Sabretron 2004 we drew more people as we had a few toy dealers, and similarly in OzToyCon 2006. But collectable fairs, if they have a decent number of TF toy dealers, would command impressive attendance numbers. I've never been to BotCon, but I'd say a big drawcard for that convention was the opportunity to buy toys.


    Here are some photos from some of the larger meets that I've attended that weren't linked to a toy fair or convention.


    Contrast this with meets from collectable toy fairs, cons etc.



    I've attended meets that involved stories and they usually don't draw crowds. The only two TF story based meets that I attended that drew massive crowds were:
    * The advanced premiere screening of the Transformers film on June 16, 2007. Of course this was a HUGE event with the opportunity to meet Michael Bay, Rachael Taylor and Megan Fox. There were more celebrities there than you could poke a stick at - Deni Hines was literally standing next to me in the queue!

    * The IMAX advanced premiere of Revenge of the Fallen. Again, another big promo event (no celebrities this time though ).


    But most FCBD meets I've attended have had no other fans show up (people just trickle in and out at their own time, it's not an organised meet). In the late 90s I organised meets to binge watch Beast Wars and Beast Machines seasons before they aired in Australia. Remember that people couldn't watch shows online back then. I had the eps taped by a friend in the US and then sent over to me. I would have maybe 3 people turn up to these meets. I also had a G1 binge-reading meet... drew 1 other person. We binge-read the Marvel G1 and G2 comics for a week. But yeah, meets involving TF stories usually don't draw anywhere near as many people as meets involving toys. So I'd say that as far as the overall fandom is concerned, we are lovers of toys first.

  10. #10
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    ^Not to be rude Gok but speak about yourself, that is what is interesting in this thread. I am enjoying reading about the different facets that keep each of us here.
    "I am not a gun. I'm hitting people with a hammer. On Mars."
    The Iron Giant / David Wildgoose

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