Historically, the end of the year has, at least at times, afforded us a sneak peak at the product line for the coming year. It doesn't happen now as regularly as it once did, thanks to the various pandemic-related shipping and distribution struggles, but it used to be a thing.

For example, I remember hearing about people finding the first batch of Kingdom toys at the tail end of 2020, and after fretting for a bit about not seeing them at retail anywhere, I just ordered the entire wave from BBTS. They showed up in the mail on the last day of the year, and we were having a New Year's celebration and got one of those little meat and cheese trays, and we played Dungeons & Dragons, and it was honestly a fun time. New toys made it all the more enjoyable for me.

So I know we must be at a similar point now, because I'm seeing pictures posted to Twitter of some of the newest United toys like Rescue Bots Chase or Tazmania Kid, but for me, it's perhaps the single most utterly unexciting toy line debut in recent memory. I just can't be bothered to care about any of these toys.

I think the only thing I'm actively looking forward to from the first wave is Tigerhawk, and then it's back to sleep until about April or so when the second wave finally comes out.

I guess I've gotten spoiled in recent years, because after pretty much all the John Warden toy lines that I felt catered to me specifically (not even just fans like me, but me on an individual level) the focus has finally shifted again, and there is no longer a strong emphasis on the characters that I love and enjoy and want to spend money on. I always knew on some level it couldn't last forever, and yet I can't help but feel a bit crestfallen now that we're finally here.

I mean, the writing's been on the wall for a while now. In some ways, they couldn't *not* do this. They've been systematically cranking out what I consider to be the definitive neo-G1 updates for pretty much every major character ever, which is fantastic if you've been collecting since about 2019 or so, but it also means there's no real *reason* to revisit most of these characters. It was either change course and do updates for various Armada- and Prime-era characters, or delve even more deeply into the annals of G1 obscurity. Even I will admit that a toy line cannot be supported by characters like Backstreet and Stranglehold and Sparkstalker that most casual fans have never heard of.

But, it sure is a bit of a let-down. Even during my recent financial crisis, during which I've put a hold on my vintage G1 purchases and giving up on a lot of Super7 and NECA stuff that I like, I've still made it a priority to keep current on neo-G1, if only because I don't want to have to pay exorbitant prices on the secondary market later on. But, going into 2024, there's hardly anything I'm even that excited to buy, Transformers-wise, if the leaked retail listings are any indication. Gears and Sureshot, for sure, and Sandstorm.
A handful of others. Maybe six or seven toys for the entire year, and that's it. I haven't been this unenthused about Transformers at retail since maybe the Energon or Cybertron toy line.

I guess I should count my blessings and be thankful that I could afford the huge deluge of great product from 2019-2023, and be happy that my lack of disposable income happened to concide neatly with a lack of product I actually want to buy. I guess things do happen for a reason sometimes.

This exact same thing happened with Star Wars, and it happened rather abruptly. The acquisition of the franchise by Disney signalled an immediate shift to favor the newest films and television series over the old ones that I grew up on, and so the production of toys I wanted to buy halted almost immediately. There's a very slow trickle of vintage character merchandise, but it's almost nothing compared to what it used to be. Thus passes the glory of the world.

Well, obviously this is a #FirstWorldProblem, and despite everything, I must still be doing pretty good in life if my little plastic robots are the worst thing that keeps me up at night. Well, that and the fact that the kitten keeps flipping her food and water dishes in the middle of the night...

Zob (like, does she do it on purpose, or is she just excessively stupid?)

Zobovor wrote:

> Historically, the end of the year has, at least at times, afforded us a sneak peak at the product line for the coming year. It doesn't happen now as regularly as it once did, thanks to the various pandemic-related shipping and distribution struggles, but it used to be a thing.

> So I know we must be at a similar point now, because I'm seeing pictures posted to Twitter of some of the newest United toys like Rescue Bots Chase or Tazmania Kid, but for me, it's perhaps the single most utterly unexciting toy line debut in recent memory. I just can't be bothered to care about any of these toys.

> I think the only thing I'm actively looking forward to from the first wave is Tigerhawk, and then it's back to sleep until about April or so when the second wave finally comes out.

Ok, let's see what is actually being released that we know about:

CORE:
Infarnac Universe Bouldercrash
Energon Universe Megatron
BW2 Tasmania Kid

I have no idea what an Infarnac Universe is, other than a universe of infarnacs, but based on the photos, these will all be globby, under-decorated, boring, monochromatic vehicle transformers. I don't understand the appeal.

Baby Megatron is actually pretty good. There's a lot of the obvious hollowness issues that the Core class seems to have (its rare to carve out someone's head from behind elsewhere -- although Dragstrip had the rear lobotomy treatment as well), but he's a nice cheap toy of a predeco of an iconic character (I remain convinced that Energon Galvatron is the best version of Galvatron -- space plane is more fun than a cannon)

Taz is an odd one, but I do like the plain BW toys, and he doesn't feel as cheap as most of the Core toys. He's not really fidget-worthy as his transformation is a bit too complex for his size class, but he's really good. If you collect toys rather than characters, he is great. Characterwise, he may make more sense for Japan, and with the unified toyline, it makes sense we should get a few of the characters beloved there. I just wish they loved Elephorca.

DELUXE
Animated Bumblebee
Rescuebots Chase
Infernac Universe Magneous
Cyberverse Windblade

I have no interest in Infernacs. They seem to be the exact opposite of what I would like.

Chase is not a character that I particularly remember existing. He does appear in my favorite episode, "Flobsters On Parade", but all of the Transformers in that show kind of blend together as they had maybe one personality spread thin across the entire cast.

Animated Bumblebee was a must buy because they actually captured the look, and the original Animated Bumbler toy was never my favorite. He got good reviews from people who had him in hand, and when he arrived I was satisfied. I don't love the clear plastic, since he windows were always black in the cartoon.

Windblade doesn't look particularly different universe to universe, so the fact that this is ostensibly the Cyberverse version doesn't bother me. I also have taken to collecting the female transformers. And I like the ideas from IDW of City Speakers and different colonies. And this ends up being her best Deluxe scale toy.

VOYAGER
Prime Universe Thundertron
Animated Optimus Prime
BW Silverbolt

Thundertron is a good toy, with a lot of character to the sculpt and deco. I got him on a whim.

Animated Optimus... I think I'm good with my original Animated Optimus. This version seems to do less, and bring nothing new to the table.

Silverbolt... I'm on the fence with this one. The original was a very nice toy, and I'm not sure this is going to be better. I expect that I will wait for reviews, it will be sold out everywhere, and it will get skipped, and that's ok.

ULTRA
Tigerhawk

After 25-30 years or however long it has been, my BW Tigerhawk has slowly yellowed to be a bit orange. And the chrome flakes. I should buy this, but I'm kind of not feeling it.

COMMANDER
Magmatron

I don't see this having much chance of being better than the original, which is still a great toy. I don't get it. Seems like a bit of a waste of a Commander slot, but this might have been something the Takara folks were pushing for.

(I know they just did Armada Optimus and might not want to do another Optimus, but Energon Optimus, with CW style connectors for the drones would have been a fun choice. The idea of Energon Optimus is good, the execution was not, and that seems like an obvious opportunity. Toss in compatibility with a 10 year old toyline, and that's just a bonus for the fans)

TITAN
Tidal Wave

On the one hand, the original is a great toy, and this version appears to be doing a lot less -- no gimmicks, no minicon ports seen, etc. On the other hand, this would be using the size of the Titan class well. I will probably get him.

> I guess I've gotten spoiled in recent years, because after pretty much all the John Warden toy lines that I felt catered to me specifically (not even just fans like me, but me on an individual level) the focus has finally shifted again, and there is no longer a strong emphasis on the characters that I love and enjoy and want to spend money on. I always knew on some level it couldn't last forever, and yet I can't help but feel a bit crestfallen now that we're finally here.

You collect characters rather than toys.

> I mean, the writing's been on the wall for a while now. In some ways, they couldn't *not* do this. They've been systematically cranking out what I consider to be the definitive neo-G1 updates for pretty much every major character ever, which is fantastic if you've been collecting since about 2019 or so, but it also means there's no real *reason* to revisit most of these characters.

Back before there were dedicated collector lines, it was assumed that people were interested in Transformers for about three years, and that it made perfect sense to revisit. Now, I'm not sure people would upgrade when toys are often worse quality and more expensive.

> It was either change course and do updates for various Armada- and Prime-era characters, or delve even more deeply into the annals of G1 obscurity. Even I will admit that a toy line cannot be supported by characters like Backstreet and Stranglehold and Sparkstalker that most casual fans have never heard of.

I think this is a problem with the current complete split of the kids line and cartoon from the collector's line. There's no reason that Backstreet, Stranglehold and Sparkstalker couldn't appear in Earthspark or whatever the next show is to boost interest in them.

If Bisk and Thunderhoof from TF:RID (2015) can get a following among adult fans from being in a kids cartoon, I don't see why Stranglehold can't. Also, where are my Legacy Bisk and Thunderhoof?

Admittedly, Stranglehold would be hard, as Pretenders are a hard nut to crack.

If they were ever able to do He-Man/Transformers crossover toys, I think that would be the best way to try out new Pretenders.

Less product for me to buy saves me money, I guess.

On Thursday, January 4, 2024 at 5:00:21 PM UTC-7, GustavoWombat wrote:
> I have no idea what an Infarnac Universe is, other than a universe of infarnacs, but based on the photos, these will all be globby, under-decorated, boring, monochromatic vehicle transformers. I don't understand the appeal.

So "Infernac Universe" is actually an obscure reference to InHumanoids, the Hasbro property from the 1980's. Specifically, it describes the domain within the center of the Earth where Metlar lives, the leader of the InHumanoid monsters. Of course, there were lots of different types of InHumanoids—not just lava monsters but also plan monsters and undead monsters that turn people into zombies when they stuff 'em into their ribcages. So they're somewhat limiting themselves with the whole rock thing.

All the Infernac toys look like Rock Lords, which was a Tonka property that Hasbro presumably gobbled up back in the 1990's, but perhaps there are still some legal kerfluffles with actually calling them Rock Lords, like maybe Hanna-Barnera co-owns that part of the IP or something. And, ultimately I guess it makes sense for Hasbro to keep the new toys within the existing shared IP family. Hasbro is pretending the new Rock Lords are "really" based on some obscure, random rock monsters from like one episode of the Japanese G1 cartoon, but c'mon. They're clearly Rock Lords.

But, yes, they're all one color and they're kind of ugly. I guess the idea is that they're sort of locked into doing some form of Weaponizers for the next forever or so, and so they just come up with variations on a theme. What if the Weaponizers turned into guns? Wait, what if they were made of bones? What if they were made of garbage? What if they were made of rocks? (Ideas for future Weaponizers: What if they were made of pizza toppings? What if they were made of cat hair?)

> Baby Megatron is actually pretty good.

It has the advantage of being based on a large toy that was incredibly simple, so it translates well when you scale it down. But, I've always been upset that those stupid wings don't pop off, because Energon Megatron is really hard to fit in my toy box. I have to shove him in there first and then stage all the other toys between his legs and under his armpits and stuff.

> Taz is an odd one, but I do like the plain BW toys, and he doesn't feel as cheap as most of the Core toys.

Beast Wars Snarl, which is how I view him, is just so utterly uninteresting.. He did not warrant a redo. I'll always remember Beast Wars Snarl as the Basic-class toy whose gimmick didn't work, because they tried to make the toy the launching projectile. Instead of shooting his tail from his body, you hold the tail and launch his entire body, and he travels about three and a half centimeters.

> Chase is not a character that I particularly remember existing.

He's been around for a long time. I'm pretty sure he was in the very first Paw Patrol episode. Wait, hang on. Different show. But, the point stands.

> Animated Bumblebee was a must buy because they actually captured the look, and the original Animated Bumbler toy was never my favorite.

The thing about Animated as a whole is that it was so utterly stylized. I think it was deliberately meant to serve as a counterweight to the hyper-realism of the 2007 movie, so they came up with the most cartoony Transformers ever. Huge boots, huge chins, and no working mechanical parts whatsoever.. They all looked like they were wearing body suits with the details painted on. It's an incredibly distinctive and memorable iteration of Transformers that remains instantly recognizable even 16 years later, which is an impressive feat. You could do fan art of a character who never appeared in Animated, and as long as you captured the aesthetic, everybody in the fandom would go, "Oh, sure, an Animated version of Screwloose, I totally see what you did there."

So for them to take that highly distinctive look and try to de-Animate it kind of bugs me a bit. I didn't love the Derrick J. Wyatt art style (it was just Ben10 with robots) but he made the look of the show very much his own, and he gets mad props for that. To redesign the characters to make it look like Floro Dery designed them instead, it really rubs me the wrong way. It's not that I like the Animated aesthetic *better,* but it's the principle of the thing. And this is the wrong way to pay tribute to the artistic endeavors of a guy who died recently. They're erasing his contributions instead of celebrating them.

> Windblade doesn't look particularly different universe to universe, so the fact that this is ostensibly the Cyberverse version doesn't bother me.

I have the Titans Return version of Windblade and I kind of like her a lot. I also have various other versions of her (Cyberverse, I guess) that I don't like as much. They were pushing to include the character really hard for a really long time, and then they just kind of forgot she existed, so I'm surprised they remembered her.

> Silverbolt... I'm on the fence with this one. The original was a very nice toy, and I'm not sure this is going to be better.

Looks like the wings are going to be articulated this time, which was the worst thing about the original Fuzor toy. The wings just hung there awkwardly, and couldn't fold up like they did in the cartoon.
> After 25-30 years or however long it has been, my BW Tigerhawk has slowly yellowed to be a bit orange. And the chrome flakes. I should buy this, but I'm kind of not feeling it.

That's how I sort of feel about the new Beast Wars toys. In some ways I feel like I "should" be buying them, despite not being super excited about them, because I did like Beast Wars back in the day, and I still have all the old toys, and I feel like I owe it to them on some level. But, worst-case scenario, it will end up being a comparatively small collection. I have been stuffing all the Beast Wars tributes into a single Kingdom shipping box, and I haven't filled it up yet. (As a frame of reference, I usually make it to about three shipping boxes per toy line, assuming I'm buying all or most of the toys plus whatever armybuilders I end up getting. Something tells me I'm not going to end up with nearly that many in 2024.)

> I don't see this having much chance of being better than the original, which is still a great toy. I don't get it. Seems like a bit of a waste of a Commander slot, but this might have been something the Takara folks were pushing for.

My perception is that the Transformers team in America is just trying to branch out and bring in characters from all over the place. It could have been Magmatron but it could just as easily have been Liokaiser or Animorphs Tri-Rex or something. (Wow, there's something Hasbro has actually refused to touch in the tribute lines. The fandom would riot so hard if they brought back Animorphs.)

> You collect characters rather than toys.

It's very rare that I look a a Transformers toy and go, "Hmm, this looks like an intriguing puzzle, I wonder if I can figure it out?" I don't deny that it's part of the appeal (toys that turn into other things are always more fun to fiddle with than toys that can't do this at all), but for me, it's a secondary benefit of owning the toys, not the reason I'm compelled to seek them out to begin with.

Obviously, during G1 it was about the toys, first and foremost, because it was an endless parade of new characters, and in 1988 I had no attachment to Quickmix or Hosehead or Nautilator or anybody as characters. But, that part hasn't exactly changed. It's not like Nautilator or Hosehead have become these richly-defined characters with a plethora of adventures and stories in the last 30 years. They're still pretty much nobodies. There isn't anybody out there going, "Man, I just wish they'd do an updated toy for Hosehead, because he's the best Transformers character ever!"

But, the tail-end toys for G1 were deeply unsatisfying for me, because the design philosophy had changed so much. The early Diaclone stuff was arguably as much a puzzle as it was a robot toy, but by the time you got to the Sparkabots or Triggercons or whatever, there was zero level of challenge there. So maybe what I'm really jonesing for is a satisfying puzzle version of characters who were never true puzzles.

At this point, when it comes to obscure G1 or G2 updates, it's far less about the characters themselves and more about completing a set. It's the same with NECA Ninja Turtles. Back when they were doing my favorite characters, of course I had to own them all. But lately they've gone more and more obscure and given
us, like, the background punks that used to hang out with Bebop and Rocksteady that the writers forgot about after the pilot episode. At that point, it's not about a deep love for (checks notes) Dopey or Dumbo. It turns into me going, "Well, I already have the other 100 action figures they've released, so why not?"

So, I think that's where I'm at with neo-G1. I do love Soundwave and Starscream and Jazz as characters. I don't have that kind of love for Ruckus or Flamefeather or Waverider. (Waverider? I hardly know 'er!) At this point I just want them to update every G1 character sold in the USA. But not the guys from Europe or Japan, because I'm arbitrary like that.

> Back before there were dedicated collector lines, it was assumed that people were interested in Transformers for about three years, and that it made perfect sense to revisit. Now, I'm not sure people would upgrade when toys are often worse quality and more expensive.

Zobovor wrote:

> On Thursday, January 4, 2024 at 5:00:21 PM UTC-7, GustavoWombat wrote:

> But, yes, they're all one color and they're kind of ugly. I guess the idea is that they're sort of locked into doing some form of Weaponizers for the next forever or so, and so they just come up with variations on a theme. What if the Weaponizers turned into guns? Wait, what if they were made of bones? What if they were made of garbage? What if they were made of rocks? (Ideas for future Weaponizers: What if they were made of pizza toppings? What if they were made of cat hair?)

I like color. I miss the way that Transformers often used to have a surprise color inside, like Cheetor and his blue, or Rhinox and his green. It was less common before BW, but the Micromasters and Go-Bots (Gobots? Go... bots?) had it because they were gang molded. Now, it's mostly just some gray being revealed.

If ReActivate weren't coming out, I would have liked them to continue to Junkeon idea, but with known and beloved characters. Ever wonder what Jazz would have looked like if he had scanned a Porshe that sat in a junk yard for thirty years and then been cobbled together by a deranged inventor scavenging across a post-apocolyptic landscape?

>> Animated Bumblebee was a must buy because they actually captured the look, and the original Animated Bumbler toy was never my favorite.

> The thing about Animated as a whole is that it was so utterly stylized. I think it was deliberately meant to serve as a counterweight to the hyper-realism of the 2007 movie, so they came up with the most cartoony Transformers ever. Huge boots, huge chins, and no working mechanical parts whatsoever.. They all looked like they were wearing body suits with the details painted on. It's an incredibly distinctive and memorable iteration of Transformers that remains instantly recognizable even 16 years later, which is an impressive feat. You could do fan art of a character who never appeared in Animated, and as long as you captured the aesthetic, everybody in the fandom would go, "Oh, sure, an Animated version of Screwloose, I totally see what you did there."

> So for them to take that highly distinctive look and try to de-Animate it kind of bugs me a bit. I didn't love the Derrick J. Wyatt art style (it was just Ben10 with robots) but he made the look of the show very much his own, and he gets mad props for that. To redesign the characters to make it look like Floro Dery designed them instead, it really rubs me the wrong way. It's not that I like the Animated aesthetic *better,* but it's the principle of the thing. And this is the wrong way to pay tribute to the artistic endeavors of a guy who died recently. They're erasing his contributions instead of celebrating them.

I think this Bumblebee captures enough of the art style to be a decent update. Not perfect, and a bit more boxy, but not offensively erasing the style. It might help that I thought the original deluxe way back when was one of the worst toys in the line. He also looks a lot closer to the animation model than the recent attempts are Armada Hot Shot and RID2015 Strongarm.

Animated Prowl captures the style a lot less, but the character is so different from his namesake that he is still very recognizable. It feels more like they are celebrating the character created by the writers than the artist -- he's also completely different as a character. I almost wish they had just renamed him, so G1 Prowl and this Prowl could coexist more.

As they dip back into the Animated well, assuming they do, I would like them to focus either on the characters that were new (Lugnut, Lockdown), or so reinvented (Blitzwing, Omega Supreme) that a G1ish version is effectively a new character brought into the loose G1 toy continuity.

Or go all out with Derrick J. Wyatt styled toys, in which case, why not go for a character that was never really in Animated. Stranglehold, perhaps.

>> Windblade doesn't look particularly different universe to universe, so the fact that this is ostensibly the Cyberverse version doesn't bother me.

> I have the Titans Return version of Windblade and I kind of like her a lot. I also have various other versions of her (Cyberverse, I guess) that I don't like as much. They were pushing to include the character really hard for a really long time, and then they just kind of forgot she existed, so I'm surprised they remembered her.

She was a major character in Cyberverse, which wasn't that long ago, as well as the IDW comics. Plus they have been really pushing the female Transformers lately. Even appeared in RID2015.

I will admit that I haven't really followed any of those continuities, and mostly just think of her from her original description, where she was weird and sat around and listened to cities. I thought that was far more interesting than just another bot who hangs around Bumblebee.

The new toy has enough posability in the legs to sit in that yoga pose where the soles of the feet touch (Supta Baddha Konasana). I assume that this is the pose she is in while meditating and trying to listen to an ancient Titan. Also, that she is delusional, and hears nothing other than what she wants to hear.

>> After 25-30 years or however long it has been, my BW Tigerhawk has slowly yellowed to be a bit orange. And the chrome flakes. I should buy this, but I'm kind of not feeling it.

> That's how I sort of feel about the new Beast Wars toys. In some ways I feel like I "should" be buying them, despite not being super excited about them, because I did like Beast Wars back in the day, and I still have all the old toys, and I feel like I owe it to them on some level.

If they remolded them like the BW2 Cyborg Beasts I would buy every single one.

The original BW toys had a bit of charm in being clearly not the animals they were marketed as, and now they are a bit closer but not close enough. If a toy-accurate Cheetor went up to a real cheetah, it would have been some weird body horror thing for that cheetah.

The new Tazmania Kid has that completely wrong charm -- or I have no idea what a Tazmanian Devil looks like and just assume it cannot be close to this.

>> I don't see this having much chance of being better than the original, which is still a great toy. I don't get it. Seems like a bit of a waste of a Commander slot, but this might have been something the Takara folks were pushing for.

> My perception is that the Transformers team in America is just trying to branch out and bring in characters from all over the place. It could have been Magmatron but it could just as easily have been Liokaiser or Animorphs Tri-Rex or something. (Wow, there's something Hasbro has actually refused to touch in the tribute lines. The fandom would riot so hard if they brought back Animorphs.)

Maybe next year they will do Road Caesar. And then pair him off against a new Bruticus in the box art. "Et tu, Bruticus?"

>> You collect characters rather than toys.

> It's very rare that I look a a Transformers toy and go, "Hmm, this looks like an intriguing puzzle, I wonder if I can figure it out?" I don't deny that it's part of the appeal (toys that turn into other things are always more fun to fiddle with than toys that can't do this at all), but for me, it's a secondary benefit of owning the toys, not the reason I'm compelled to seek them out to begin with.

Meanwhile, I can graft a character onto an Energon toy if it's a good enough toy. And one of my favorite Transformers ever is Cybertron Downshift, who might be the same character as Energon Downshift, but there's really no character there. He's just a fun toy with a transformation that is straightforward and effective.

> There isn't anybody out there going, "Man, I just wish they'd do an updated toy for Hosehead, because he's the best Transformers character ever!"

Masterforce really is lovely. There are absolutely people who want Cab, Minerva and Goshooter.

Does your lack of interest (a sentiment shared by many) mark the end of Neo-G1 altogether? It's hard to see how any future CHUG versions of the G1 lineup can surpass the current run in terms of balancing accuracy, poseability, quality, and price, especially as the original fanbase ages out of collecting (it won't be long til we're eligible for AARP, and from there, proceeding on our way to oblivion (or the Matrix, or the Well of Allsparks...).

I'd expected Hasbro to redo everyone in Core Class to take advantage of the Legends-size fanbase, as well as get existing fans to triple dip, but so far their efforts have been somewhat scattorshot.

Essentially, is this the end of the line for us as Geewunners? Or, as the mighty Furman often says, does it never end?

On Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 7:10:13 PM UTC-7, CodigoPostal wrote:

> Does your lack of interest (a sentiment shared by many) mark the end of Neo-G1 altogether?

It makes so little sense to me that Hasbro is shifting away from G1 during the 40th anniversary of the brand. If it weren't for G1, none of us would still be here talking about these silly plastic robots in the first place.

My prediction is that as 2024 draws to a close, Hasbro will notice that fewer fans were buying toys during the year. Whether they draw the correct conclusion is anybody's guess. Maybe they'll blame inflation or something, or maybe they'll actually recognize that they made a wrong-headed move and deprioritized G1 a bit too much. It's my hope that they course-correct, and that the 2025 character selection is more enticing.

But, if they don't do this, I guess it's okay. Hasbro's given us a great collection of modern-era versions of all the media characters I love. The fact that they've done modern Siege-scaled versions of pretty much *all* the heritage characters from the G1 cartoon, except for a small handful (Powerglide and Seaspray and Windcharger and some Throttlebots) is pretty damn incredible. I always knew it couldn't last forever.

With that said—if there remains a marketplace demand, and Hasbro stubbornly refuses to fulfil it for whatever reason, then somebody else absolutely will swoop in and take advantage of that. We can't pretend that there aren't plenty of third-party companies who will gladly take our money if Hasbro doesn't want it. There's nothing stopping them from finishing off the neo-G1 assortment with all the characters Hasbro couldn't be bothered to getting around to doing.

> Essentially, is this the end of the line for us as Geewunners? Or, as the mighty Furman often says, does it never end?

There's going to come a point where the original kids who grew up on G1 are no longer buying product, and it will make no sense for Hasbro to spend time and money catering to that specific demographic. That's just inevitable.. But, two things. One, I don't think we've reached that point yet. G1 is still enormously popular, and as I've said recently, it's always the first to sell out when Hasbro offers up a new wave of toys for pre-sale. If the G1 characters were always languishing on Hasbro Pulse long after the newer, more exciting characters sold through, I'd be forced to reexamine that position. But, we're not there yet.

But, the other thing is this. Transformers has reached a point where it's interesting to newcomers even if they never grew up in the 1980's. In some ways it's become timeless. After all, they're still making new media, and new toys, based on Spider-Man, Batman, etc. despite the original fans having aged out of the fandom a long time ago. The character of Spider-Man is now 62 years old, and Batman was introduced 85 years ago. So, there isn't necessarily a hard-baked expiration date on these things. One day, Transformers will be 100 years old, and none of us now will be alive to see that, but it will likely still be going strong.

Or, if you want a toy analogy: the first Hot Wheels car was sold 56 years ago, and the first Barbie doll was 65 years ago. But there are still people buying them. It's not a requirement to have been around during the introduction of the toys to appreciate the modern ones.

I honestly don't see myself losing interest in collecting toys at any point while I'm still alive. It's so ingrained in my personality and behavior that I can't even conceive of that ever happening. But, if Hasbro stops making new product I want, maybe I'll shift my focus entirely on vintage G1 stuff. Maybe I'll branch out and collect European and Japanese toys. Maybe I'll try to build a complete set of Tonka GoBots. Who knows? Eventually, of course, I'll shuffle off this mortal coil and none of this silly collecting business will even matter. But, it's a fun way to pass the time until that day comes.

Zob