Recycling (or Disguise Robots-The Classic Legacy Generation)

[Grand Moff Muffin]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are around 171,476 words in current use in the English language. So why does the Transformers brand keep using the same ones again and again?

In the period 1989-1991 we had Pretender Classics, Classic Heroes and other gold box 'Classics'. But it has since been used for other sub-lines.

tfwiki.net/wiki/Classics_(disambiguation)

The Pretender Classics were available as exclusives without their shells, as 'Legends', but then there came all of tfwiki.net/wiki/Legends_(disambiguation) including, I believe, 'Classic Legends'.

In 1986 we had Special Teams introduced as the 'Second Generation' of Transformers. Then in 1993 we had Generation 2. Later on, the term 'Generation 1' was coined to refer to everything up to and including the year 1994. Then there was a Japanese series of toy books called 'Generations', an IDW reprint series called 'Generations', the 'Regeneration One' comics, and apparently two sub-lines of toys called 'Generations'. Enough! Star Trek VII wasn't that good! (And off-topic, 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' wasn't actually the next generation, but several generations on.)

tfwiki.net/wiki/Generations_(disambiguation)

After Beast Wars, there was Beast Machines, and then Machine Wars. Three two-word sub-line names using only three words between them! They literally used up all the possible pairings of the words 'Beast', 'Machine' and 'War'.

They had Powermasters, and then Powered Masters, and then G2 Power Masters, none of them related to one another.

The original Transformers were marketed as 'Robots in Disguise', with the tag-line 'More Than Meets the Eye', but then we got all of tfwiki.net/wiki/Robots_in_Disguise_(disambiguation) and tfwiki.net/wiki/More_than_Meets_the_Eye_(disambiguation)

Enough, already! Stop recycling the same words just because focus groups tell you they're perceived as cool!

I would like to launch a campaign for renaming everything in Transformers that reuses a previously used term. There are enough words in the English language not to need such repetition! Who's with me???

Edit: Also, tfwiki.net/wiki/Legacy_(disambiguation) - STOP IT!!!

Martin

[Pinwig]

I think the repetition is deliberate to connect the lines in the mind of the consumer. Beast Machines is an evolution of Beast Wars, so Beast Wars customers are interested because of the perceived link. If it had been called RObot ANimals! the hype would need building from the start again.

[Pinwig]

Oh wait, you knew that didn't you, you're just posing a hypothetical question. I get it.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

But the variations don't mean anything! Beast Wars were already beast-machines! It wasn't a series about animals fighting animals! And all Transformers lines are about warring machines!

(Edit: And how well did that clever word reuse transfer into financial success for Machine Wars?)

Martin

[The Doctor]

Less dried frog pills for Martin.

-Ralph

[Toph]

I have no problem with reusing existing names for new characters. Even within the same universe. After all, there's more than one Bob, why should there only be one Prowl? And I know that's not what this was about.
I do think though, that certain titles should be retired from use, unless the new use is tied directly into the original use.

Robots in Disguise should have been retired as a toyline name after RiD, unless the new use is returning to that toyline.
War for Cybertron should not have been reused if it has nothing to do with the game. (Not that I want a toyline based on those ugly game designs)

All this does is create confusion.

I also think toy class titles should remain relatively static, and hasbro really needs to stop slapping the word "vintage" on everything.

The rest is all just personal "old man yells at the sky" fussing, but the vintage one is actually damaging. Unlike the rest, that word has a very specific use, as the original toys from the original toyline. A Vintage Original Obi Wan Kenobi is a completely different beast than a very modern Star Wars Black "Vintage" Obi Wan Kenobi.
It's even a damaging misuse to use it on the BW reissues (but at least that's vaguely appropriate).
Though I concede it's not exclusively Hasbro. Mattel is contributing to the ruination of the word, just as much.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Yes, it's ridiculous to label a newly produced item 'vintage'.

Martin

[The Doctor]

Down with this sort of thing!

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Careful now.

[Philip Ayres]

Mar 20, 2022 17:55:51 GMT The Doctor said:

Less dried frog pills for Martin.

-Ralph

Surely the lack of dried frog pills is the problem?

[primenova]

Did Hasbro US ever consider using the gold classic boxes? They just had black packs back in 1990,1991

Slightly off topic but just the gold boxes in the first post.

[The Huff]

Great thread idea!

Legends was the name for the size because it was smaller toys of the 'well known & important' characters from Transformers Cybertron - hence the name 'Legends Of Cybertron'. How it went from something very important to - 'this is the cheapest of the cheap toys' never worked for me.

Also hate that we have to use the term RID and RID15 because two very different TF franchises have the same name.



What also annoys me with titles is when there are too many subtitles (if that is the right term).

We have Transformers: Generations: War For Cybertron: Kingdom. HOW MANY TITLES!?

The worse was Transformers: Prime: Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising!!!!

[Bogatan]

Warring Beasts.
Warring Machines.
Beasts vs Machines.

Im giving those a pass.

Robots in Disguise on the other hand was already over used when it was just a tag line.

Transformers: Prime seems to have been a deliberate effort to make internet searches almost meaningless.

[Shockprowl]

I get very confused with all the same names and stuff.