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Post by Pinwig on Dec 22, 2023 13:11:35 GMT
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Post by Toph on Dec 22, 2023 18:02:25 GMT
Hope: Show Accurate Jetstorm
Prediction: no Show Accurate Jetstorm
Resolution: I don't want to be part of the problem, I want to be the whole problem.
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Post by Llama God on Dec 23, 2023 10:25:04 GMT
Hope: The toyline doesn't disappear completely up its own arse in an ever-inward-looking attempt to appeal solely to hardcore collectors.
Prediction: The toyline will disappear completely up its own arse in an ever-inward-looking attempt to appeal solely to hardcore collectors.
Prediction: Given the above, the toys for Transformers: One will, like the Earthspark toys, be nearly impossible to get and not actually be that appealing to children.
Prediction: Hasbro will deal with the above issues by laying off more staff. That's been proven to work reliably before, right..?
Resolution: To continue to be grumpy about the situation we find ourselves in. (Hey, these have to be attainable goals.)
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Post by that_bluestreak on Dec 23, 2023 13:06:54 GMT
Hope: that Hasbro come up with a great child-friendly line that is sold everywhere and kindles a love of our robot friends in a whole new generation.
Hope: That I find at least one grail toy for the collection.
Prediction: Hasbro's scattershot approach will continue for another year.
Resolution: That I will not buy any more G1 Bluestreaks ffs.
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Post by Shockprowl on Dec 24, 2023 17:32:05 GMT
HOPES: Swoop. Gears. Windcharger. Powerglide. Seaspray.
PREDICTIONS: Swoop. Which will bring joy unequalled by any of the achievements or successes possible in the minds and activities of Man. The righteous completion of the Dinobot Road!!!
My joy will be rivalled only my the anguish of the Mini-Autobot road which I predict will remain stagnant and unfulfilled. Yearning. Yearning. Permanently frozen at the event horizon of despair; hands drenched in lover's rosey stain.
RESOLUTIONS: Try to not to treat Omega Supreme like my third child (even though he is).
...wife's starting to look at me funny.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 24, 2023 17:38:58 GMT
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Post by Shockprowl on Dec 24, 2023 22:52:43 GMT
There's hope yet!
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 25, 2023 0:04:37 GMT
False hope!
-Ralph
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Post by KnightBeat on Dec 25, 2023 0:22:03 GMT
Hope: Legacy Crasher will be sold in UK shops, a TF War for Cybertron packaging art book (Siege/the middle series/Kingdom), a Titan class Cosmos would be interesting. Toph's show accurate Jetstorm sounds a good idea as well.
Prediction: Hasbro will release lot of cheap TFOne toys during the summer, but the more-expensive Studio Series toys will have terrible distribution. A new Big Convoy will be released. Edit: An Energon Optimus Prime will be teased.
Resolution: To say "I have summoned you here for a purpose" in Zoom calls.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 28, 2023 10:47:01 GMT
To finish my Minibots (probably involving TFC 12) - carried over from 2017-2023 To get an original Headmaster, preferably one of Apeface/Snapdragon - carried over from 2020-2023
Ironfist - carried over from 2021-2023
Energon Prowl & Checkpoint set - carried over from 2022-2023
Superlink Scoponok - carried over from 2022-2023
Universe Air Raid & Wind Sheer - carried over from 2022-2023
Universe Soundwave & Spacecase - carried over from 2022-2023
Universe Minicons Prowl & Terradive - carried over from 2022-2023
More of the Unicron Trilogy toys I'm missing especially Thunderblast, Autovolt and the last 2 waves of Cybertron Minicons To buy less exclusive recolours I don't need - carried over from 2021-2023 To get the boys in to clear the loft of as many non TF toys as possible - carried over from 2021-2023 Spend less money on toys - so less than £3K |
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 28, 2023 13:15:18 GMT
Hopes: play features return to Transformers and ones that turn into cars can actually roll. Less emphasis on making adult collectibles for photography fans/youtubers and more on them being *toys* to play with. It'll not happen though. Blast effects please just fuck off.
Predictions: the line will continue to eat itself with little to offer kids/casual fans. There will be a contraction as the price hikes hit the wall of the economy but, strangely, a lot less goes on sale.
Flight stands will be introduced in a desperate attempt to keep the focus on the adult fan market.
Missing Link will be very exciting for 5 mins and then be forgotten about entirely.
TF One will come and go, barely noticed.
Earthspark will continue to be very hard to find until, suddenly, whole waves will debut in discount chains.
Just when we think it is finally over, the Siege Megatron mould will return for one last outing, causing the heat death of the universe.
Resolutions: be more focussed on what I want, buy more in-store and keep to 50 or under purchases. Continue re-acquiring toys from previous lines lost during Dark Times.
Buy a lot more LEGO instead.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Dec 31, 2023 15:35:38 GMT
Flight stands will be introduced in a desperate attempt to keep the focus on the adult fan market. I think you are safe on that count. I seem to recall they already tried selling stands and basically no-one cared. Besides, between the Bandai and Kotobukiya stands, the knock-offs of those and Flightpose's stands I think the market is fairly well catered for. I think it is unlikely to happen. For my part:- Hopes: Hasbro either decide to fund the core line better than they have done in recent years and let the designers do less compromised and constrained work on the kids toys, or they fold and admit that they are no longer in the business of making Transformers as kids toys. The latter isn't my preferred outcome, but if they aren't going to make _good_ children's plastic robot toys then better to not do it than half-ass it in the way they have been recently. The Generations line continues to at least move forwards through the nostalgia, so that the balance keeps adjusting - 2024 really ought to be a time for them to be mostly doing retreads of Armada/Energon etc with the occasional 1984-86 retread, and possibly time for them to start prepping to move hard into Animated nostalgia. A nostalgia line isn't something that terribly interests me, but I'd like to see _all_ the demographics in fandom be able to see their childhood nostalgia crowding the shelves if that is what the main business of the franchise going to be, rather than just the proportionally shrinking demographic of "geewunners". Transformers:One is actually something new and different with its own distinct identity and allowed to stand on its own feet. Predictions: Transformers: One will be a "unification of the origins", and will be a reheated stew of bits from various previous transformers iterations mashed together to form a sort of generic "Dawn of the Transformers". Transformers fandom will debate whether or not is the origin of various "universal families" or whatever the wiki-jargon is for dividing up Transformers stories at them moment, the majority of the population will assume it is the origin of live-action movies and wonder why they have put it in a cartoon instead of a movie. The kids line will continue to be half-assed and done on a shoestring, poorly distributed and badly-marketed. Hasbro will continue doing what they have done for the last few years on the basis that if they keep trying then eventually it will work. Generations cycles back around to do another Sunbow-derived Prime, Megatron etc. The target audience will declare mild surprise and buy them anyway. My orbit around Transformers continues to be perturbed ever so slightly by the influence of other mecha franchises so that my point of closest approach becomes ever so slightly more distant again next year than it was last year. (I'm not being pulled out of orbit and hurled out in the void as a rogue planetoid floating between franchises, it is just a gentle drift of my "peritransforhelien" as Transformers pulls more weakly as the years go by). Resolutions: Enjoy the Transformers I buy more - no more purchasing things, fiddling with them for a week and putting them in the box for all the remaining weeks of the year. Have another comb over the Transformer's collection and Marie Condo it down so that all the non-MP stuff that isn't on display will fit into one large XL'd Really Useful box. Only buy Transformers that really interest me, and not end up in the situation where I was with things like Galaxy Shuttle where I bought it just kinda because it existed and was really cheap. Accept that I'm not going to revert to being a "collector" again in the forseeable future, not only because I simply don't have room in my flat to do that, but also because I don't think it is in my psychological makeup anymore. Commission non-transformers art from folks again this coming year - the results of that were wonderful this year, and I can definitely see myself wanting to repeat the experiment. Karl |
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Jim
Thunderjet
Micromaster Backside Monitor
Now in glorious Ultra HD 4K
Posts: 4,922
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Post by Jim on Jan 5, 2024 10:42:00 GMT
Hopes
Something unexpected for the 40th anniversary - like surprise reissues of toys where the moulds were lost. Or omnibus-style outsized collections of the classic comics. UK stories with properly cleaned-up reproduction would be nice to see.
A nice set of minicons for the Armada updates please!
The Skybound comic finds an interesting direction once the inital arc is over, and DWJ sticks around.
Missing Link 01 is not a one-off release, but the start of a new collector-targeted line, though probably with a very gentle release schedule.
Predictions
Missing Link 02 will be Sideswipe, and will look glorious as the original toy did, and the "bUt HE's a nObODy" crowd will be out in force once again.
Racking my brains for what a good 40th anniversary HasLab could be. A full-on PMOP / God Ginrai set feels plausible and could probably only be done real justice as a HasLab. Or maybe something more playset-like - a second go at Metroplex, but with a bigger budget? Hopefully not too much bigger than the Titan, just better with more features. Neither are really directly 40th-related, though PMOP / GG would be almost universally welcomed I think and is an iteration of the poster-bot of the franchise.
Resolutions
Continue being more focused on collecting pieces that I wanted in the past or particularly want this year rather than FOMO-ing the mainline. 2023 was much more satisfying for taking that approach. The odd impulse purchase can be satisfying as well though, don't want to just plan it all out.
Once again, get back into the art! 2023 was a bad year again for this, and 2024 isn't going to be easy, but I miss it when I don't do it. Maybe even see if I can do something for this year's zine as I've skipped two years now.
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