List the WORST cartoon/movie sponsored TF toy line.

[Tigermegatron]

List the WORST cartoon/movie sponsored TF toy line. If you can please leave a short reason why for your choice.

My choice is Beast Machines,For numerous reasons.
1- Some of the earlier toys looked nothing like the CGI cartoon models.
2-Colors from the toys to CGI were way off.
3-A big chunk of the toys were floopy/loose in the joints.
4- Toys were over gimmicked,this ruined poseability & the sculpts of the toys.
5- I didn't like the designs aesthetics of the toy line.
6- Far too many CGI characters were released in the WRONG toy size scales.
7- I only thought Two BM toys were designed decent & they were Ultra sized Jetstorm,Deluxe sized Blackarachnia.

I also thought DOTM,Animated & Armada were awful TF toy lines but BM,I thought was the WORST of them all.

[Onslaught Six]

See, I loved BM. The Vehicons were fantastic. Sure, they didn't always match the cartoon, but depending on what you thought about the cartoon, that was either horrible or awesome.

For me, it didn't matter that they didn't look like the show--it just meant there were 'two' cool versions of awesome designs.

[Tigermegatron]

See, I loved BM. The Vehicons were fantastic. Sure, they didn't always match the cartoon, but depending on what you thought about the cartoon, that was either horrible or awesome.

For me, it didn't matter that they didn't look like the show--it just meant there were 'two' cool versions of awesome designs.

I always try to seperate & judge the TF media as it's own entity & the TF toys as it's own entity. I just didn't like the BM toys at all. the BM toys looked too ugly in sculpt,poor engineering,loose in the joints/parts,ugly colors,ugly high lights. gimmicks that got in the way of sculpt & poseability. The majority of the head sculpts were ugly. the limbs/body parts were misproportioned. Some of the ball joints on the Vehicons,I felt were a bit over sized,preferably in the hips but in other areas of the joints also. far too many claws/missles replacing regular hands with fingers on them.

[Onslaught Six]

But that was the point! They looked all fucked up and cool. They looked like the Strogg from Quake 2, or the machine race from the Matrix--both of which were very popular design aesthetics in the late 90s and early 2000s. They remind me of robots that would show up on a Frontline Assembly album cover from 1996, or something.

Not everything within TF has to look the way regular TFs do. Sometimes, it's okay to step outside the boundaries of the norm, and get something new and interesting in the toyline. I have like 2000 of these fucking things. If they all looked like G1 cartoon characters, I'd be really bored of them by now.

[Gomess]

Probably Energon, because I thought the everyone-can-combine gimmick was rushed, and definitely the Bayformers, because that aesthetic has just never appealed to me.

I like the idea of monstrous-looking robot modes, but they just didn't go quite far enough for me.

[Almighty Unicron]

See, I loved BM. The Vehicons were fantastic. Sure, they didn't always match the cartoon, but depending on what you thought about the cartoon, that was either horrible or awesome.

For me, it didn't matter that they didn't look like the show--it just meant there were 'two' cool versions of awesome designs.

I always try to seperate & judge the TF media as it's own entity & the TF toys as it's own entity. I just didn't like the BM toys at all. the BM toys looked too ugly in sculpt,poor engineering,loose in the joints/parts,ugly colors,ugly high lights. gimmicks that got in the way of sculpt & poseability. The majority of the head sculpts were ugly. the limbs/body parts were misproportioned. Some of the ball joints on the Vehicons,I felt were a bit over sized,preferably in the hips but in other areas of the joints also. far too many claws/missles replacing regular hands with fingers on them.

You also have to understand the context. BM was the first time (not counting "Machine Wars") in years that we had any vehicle based transformers. The toy designers were used to designing beast transformers, who kept a lot of animalistic kibble in robot mode, not to mention the weird aesthetics of the transmetal lines. It was a gradual step back to vehicle based TFs and a lot of the "weirder" stuff from BW was retained in the Vehicons.

[andersonh1]

I'd have to vote for Energon as the worst, at least as far as the combining Autobot gimmick goes. I think a lot of good designs were crippled by having to conform to that limitation.

[Onslaught Six]

You also have to understand the context. BM was the first time (not counting "Machine Wars") in years that we had any vehicle based transformers. The toy designers were used to designing beast transformers, who kept a lot of animalistic kibble in robot mode, not to mention the weird aesthetics of the transmetal lines. It was a gradual step back to vehicle based TFs and a lot of the "weirder" stuff from BW was retained in the Vehicons.

Part of it was just deliberate design choices, though, too--I really like to think that Hasbro took the toyline's name pretty literally, and created beasts with mechanical parts, and machines/vehicles with bestial elements like faces and claws. And it worked!

I'd have to vote for Energon as the worst, at least as far as the combining Autobot gimmick goes. I think a lot of good designs were crippled by having to conform to that limitation.

Yeah, Energon's Autobots are pretty universally awful (the larger toys excepted), but the Decepticons in that line generally ruled. With a little more articulation, and a repaint or two, Scorponok would be the definitive Scorponok toy.

[andersonh1]

Part of it was just deliberate design choices, though, too--I really like to think that Hasbro took the toyline's name pretty literally, and created beasts with mechanical parts, and machines/vehicles with bestial elements like faces and claws. And it worked!

I remember when Beast Machines was in stores that I loved the Vehicon designs, and I still do. They really did take "Beast" machines to heart. Hence Scavenger is a construction vehicle that looks like it has jaws and a long neck, and Jetstorm has his extending head and neck that can swivel while the jet is in flight. They really went for the living machines or machine creature concept, and I agree with you that it worked very well.

The Maximals are less successful, though my appreciation for some of the designs has increased over time. It's a unique line, no doubt.

[Tigermegatron]

If you guys loved almost all of the Energon Decepticons,then it's not the WORST TF toy line sponsored by a media cartoon/movie. The WORST title should belong to the TF toy line sponsored by media that had the LEAST amount of toys you liked/bought in it,not 50% nor 25%.

I hate the Beast Machines toy line,Because I literally think all the 98% worth of the toys were awful. the only Two toys I liked were Ultra Jetstorm & Deluxe Blackarachnia. I hated DOTM because I only thought Two toys ( Leader sized Ironhide & Leader sized Sentinel Prime) were made decent & the rest were garbage. I Only liked/bought 4 Animated toys & I thought the others toys werec awful. Armada had toys with limited poseabilty,I only thought Unicron & Tidalwave were worth buying.

Honestly I thought the Energon 2-in-1 pants/shirts deluxe combiners were complete garbage <-------other than this I thought the line was pure awseome & epic. The Energon Decepticons were the best molds of the line. The energon 2-in-1 pants/shirts voyagers pulled off the combining gimmick better in designs.

I don't know why so many hate the Energon 5-in-1 combiners toys. these were true update G-1 homages. Sure it would have been nice to get 4 new mold limbs instead of recolored duplicates,but the end result still looked awesome. Fanprojects created 2 more limbs-bots for bruticus,so at least this combiner now has 5 new molds in it,with also more inspired combiner accessory pieces/weapons.

Lastly,lets not forget how awesome the energon basics sized terrorcons & Omnicons were. these were decent tiny toys in both modes. the meele weapons & spark crystals that could be combined & given to bigger toys were priceless awesome.

Energon Galvatron while it needed more poseabilty,the toy itself it currently worth over $200+ on the secondary market,so clearly the majority love this toy & are willing to shell out the big bucks to buy it.

I'll admit energon leader sized optimus was epic garbage & energon omega supreme screamed epic tonka play school toy.

Energon Scorponok in the black & red Cybertron toy line colors was a awesome homage for masterforce Black zarak. The sculpt on this mold definately goes down as epic awesome not garbge nor waste of plastic.

Cybertron's toy line while it had slightly better sculpted molds than Energon. A big chunk of the Cybertron toys had less poseabilty articulated joints than energon thanks to the cyber key activated gimmick that ate up too much of the toy line budget. the beast planet bots had less poseabilty than the beast wars & Beast machines beast-bots. other cybertron vehicle-bots lacked the poseabilty in the joints that energon had.