TF Views

Thoughts on the upcoming set of Transformers Subscription figures:


For the last few years, Hasbro has been making it easy save money and less painful to be broke. Fun Pubications has largely followed suit. (The most tempting figure from "Timelines" was a Sunstorm with so many quality control and design problems that I would be wary of buying one even if I had the money.)

This year, Fun Publcations is going to make saving money more difficult.

Krok:
Uses the same bomber mould as "Generations" Megatron and (Dark Cybertron) Dreadwing. The base mould is good. And the Micron/Minicon is a nice touch. But, I am not overly tempted.

Nacelle:
A "mould-bash" using the regular "Generations" Decepticon plane (Acide Storm, Starscream etc) with the wings used for one of the Thrust figures. (I am not sure if the wings are from the "Generations" or "Timelines" figure.) I am very tempted by this one. (I am also still considering the 2013 Bitstream and/or Hotlink figures.)

G2 Starscream:
Nicely compliments the G2 Ramjet from last year. Very tempted by this one.

Carzap:
Recolour of "Generations" Bumblebee/Goldbug using colours from an unreleased Japanese figure from 20+ years ago. Late G2 figures were planned to be released as part of "Blocktown" (a line that combined legitimate figures with Lego-type sets) in Japan, but the line was cancelled. Carzap will come with a small Kre-O gas station and a GB Blackrock Kreon figure. Very tempted by this one.

Tarantulas:
Shares a mould with the Junkion figures from "Generations", "United" and "Timelines", specifically the "masked"Junkion. A good mould, but it has been done before. Not sure that the additional Microns/Minicons are worth it.

Serpent OR:
This is a TF/Joe cross-over figure, drawn from the Devil's Due series from about a decade ago. Based on the "Generations" Scrourge mould. I want to like this one more than I do.


Some people are speculating that the free club figure will be Redwing (using the Decepticon plane mould). It is a good guess, but has not been confirmed.

The only one I'm super-interested in is Starscream, mainly to compliment my G2 Ramjet, and because I'm genuinely surprised that neither Hasbro nor Takara did this one before. Might try to get it on the secondary market, though I've also been eyeing Treadshot and Barricade from the last assortment, and the prices for them are just a bit too high to really tempt me to pull the trigger.

Carzap looks nice, and I appreciate the homage, but I have no experience with that mold and it's never really tempted me. Tarantulas can die in a fire, there were a billion better mold choices for the character and they blew it. I don't really have strong feelings on any of the others (though I agree that Serpent OR should look better than it does, though that might just be the awful digibash job on the preview image).

The mould just does not work for Serpent OR.

It is a good mould. But, there is nothing about it to justify using it for Serpent OR beyond "Fun Publications thought it would be cool". Very fannish.

Dominic wrote:The mould just does not work for Serpent OR.

It is a good mould. But, there is nothing about it to justify using it for Serpent OR beyond "Fun Publications thought it would be cool".

Well, I mean the helmet does the 'animal-head-around-the-guy's-head' thing that Serpentor's helmet is supposed to do, I imagine that's why they went with it. And it's a good mold that has that look, so.

Very fannish.

It's almost like it was made by fans to be sold to fans through a fan club, or something.

Ugh, these are all terrible choices and all look like a huge waste of funds. I really don't get how this continues happening. At least last year's choices had some true demand to them, this year is just bad news. What needs do these fill in anybody's collection?

There is a known market for Decepticon planes, BW characters, Action Masters and obscure foreign characters.

I am definitely in for the planes, money allowing.

It's almost like it was made by fans to be sold to fans through a fan club, or something.

It looks like something that a 14 year old would come up with over a weekend because the mould sort of works if you are not too picky about it looking right for the thing you are half-assing.

>all these G2 homages
>No ArmEnerTron homages



I don't get why FunPub has such a hard-on for the worst era in TFs when at least the 2nd worst era in TF2s had some good molds and gimmicks!

The G2 set from 2010 was very well received. Part of it was that there was not a bad mould in the set. (The Streetwise from "Universe" Prowl was one of the weaker offerings, which should give you a pretty good idea as to how good the mould choices were.)

There is also a significant sub-set of fans (largely over-lapping with the people who buy Fun Publications product) that really like "Generation 2". They like the hideous colours and vaguely knock-off feel of G2. Those same people also like Action Masters and obscure characters for the sake of liking Action Masters and obscure crap.

Dominic wrote:It looks like something that a 14 year old would come up with over a weekend because the mould sort of works if you are not too picky about it looking right for the thing you are half-assing.

Why doesn't it work?

Dominic wrote:Those same people also like Action Masters and obscure characters for the sake of liking Action Masters and obscure crap.

As opposed to liking obscure Decepticon planes for the sake of liking obscure Decepticon planes, which is totally classy and a thing all the cool kids do.

Why doesn't it work?

If they are going to make a toy of a specific character from a specific story, a specific setting, then maybe they could make a toy that actually looks right (if not exactly like) the character in question. Half assed cross-over is all that thing is. The SDCC toys were better, despite the TFs being recoloured Joe vehicles.

As opposed to liking obscure Decepticon planes for the sake of liking obscure Decepticon planes, which is totally classy and a thing all the cool kids do.

Obscure Seekers are different. This is one of those things I am not sure if you are creatively misunderstanding, or legitimately do not understand. People who remember the old cartoon tend to recall those "other" jets.