I’ll agree to disagree. When rating a Transformer, a lot of collectors think in terms of “Do I like this toy, and will like-minded collectors like it too?” This is all well and good. It’s important for Hasbro/Takara to keep its existing fan-base happy. However when I rate a Generations Transformer, questions that come to my mind include “What would the lay-person (or lay-child) think of Transformers after experiencing this toy? Will he/she want another Transformer after this one? Is the toy good enough to turn a non-fan with no prior Transformers knowledge into a fan?” If this lay-person/non-fan wants another Transformer, or at least wants to explore the hobby after playing with the Transformer; then the Transformer is a successful one because it’s created a potential new customer for the franchise.Originally Posted by tinyJazz
An example of a successful Transformer - Last year, I attended the birthday party of a soon-to-be 11 year-old friend of the family. The kid was a Ninja Turtles fan who didn’t show much knowledge or interest in Transformers, but I decided to give him a TR Hardhead anyway – something different from what he normally gets. Several weeks after the party, I met the family again, and the boy told me he liked Hardhead because he looked cool and transforming him was fun. He also showed me his collection of ‘head-guys’ which his mum recently bought (it was just TR Loudmouth, Nightbeat, etc). To me TR Hardhead is the perfect example of a successful Transformer, because without the kid knowing who the character was, it still won the kid over with its design and fun features, and it made him a fan.
But now, imagine what would have happened if I gave him my MoC RTS Perceptor instead. From the perspective of you and I, RTS Perceptor is good because it looks like G1 Perceptor, and he transforms into a convincing model of a half-track. Me personally, even though he’s a figure of a character I’ve liked since childhood, I didn’t enjoy the toy. The Transformation was too complicated and frustrating. Perhaps I lack a certain intelligence, but the first 2-3 times I transformed it, it took me 15-20 minutes just trying to get him into vehicle mode. If a 24 year-old university-educated business analyst with experience with Transformers struggled with this toy, what chance would a regular 10-year old kid have? I don’t think RTS Perceptor would impress the average 10 year-old. While it has its good qualities, I wouldn’t call it successful.
You might now be thinking “OK, what about Masterpieces? They’re not figures of universally recognizable characters, and the Transformations can be super-complex; yet they’re pretty successful.” That’s because Masterpieces are for a very specific market. One of the differences between Generations Deluxe figures and Masterpieces is that one line is sold at general retail stores like Kmart, Target, etc; while the other is a niche item that’s sold at specialty stores. The Transformers Masterpiece line is not mainstream. Masterpieces are not for everyone, but it does a good job of catering to it’s intended audience. Generations Deluxes on the other hand are more accessible to non-fans, and ideally, the toy should be good enough to attract even a non-fan whether they are buying the toy for themselves, or as a gift for someone else.
From a certain perspective, the marketing and design team for the Masterpiece line have it easier, because they’re catering to people who are ALREADY fans; whereas the Generations line has to appeal to not just existing fans, but also prospective fans – The sort of person wandering the Target toy aisle, who’s heard of Transformers but hasn’t held one, but is curious about them.
To sum up the above as elegantly possible; for a Generations Transformer to be “successful”, it needs to appeal to not just existing fans, but also prospective ones with limited knowledge of Transformers. The added features in Titans Return (cockpits and pilots that convert into heads) don’t contradict this goal, but support it.
Yeah, because if you take G1 Scourge's alt-mode for example, to an 'uneducated' eye; it might look like a flying blue bath tub, or some kind of 'boat'. But when you add the cockpit and pilot, then it becomes apparent that it's meant to be a spaceship.But they don't really need cockpits do they? Hardly seems necessary when there were no humans to pilot them (to begin with). I guess you have the possibility of humanoid aliens or non-transforming robots/drones piloting them. But probably, Headmasters came about from a need to reconcile why the Cybertron modes had cockpits to begin with (and cause they's cool). From that point of view i can agree that Cybertron modes benefit most from having a Headmaster and in the case of toys, functional, scaled cockpit for them.
My memory is a bit foggy, but I remember reading articles about fans back in the 1980's complaining about the outlandish alien-like vehicle modes, etc. I think that might be because they didn't look like conventional vehicles at the time, nor did they have drivers/pilots to justify the notion that they're suppose to be vehicles.
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Scourge was also the very last of the Decepticon Jets that I got - never bothered buying him from shops but later got it free from a friend who "grew out" of Transformers. 
And of course, Takara have admitted that Car Robot became the inspiration for Binaltech and Masterpiece, so their legacy still lives on in the current MP line (and CHUGUR too, really - it's the same concept as CR only with G1 characters).
Looking at the screen model doesn't help much. They're not immediately recognisable modes. Ejector sold better and he was a freakin' toaster! 
DOTM Megatron AoE Galvatron have sold better because they're recognisable trucks. Megatron doesn't have to be a truck, but he just needs to be something that people can recognise. 
