Would the Trend of Retro Style Figures Work for New Transformers Characters in the G1 Toy Style?
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2022 11:19 pm
"Vintage", "Retro" and "Nostalgia" has been a big trend in the toy world for the past few years and we simply seem to be getting more. For instance, we currently have on shelves:
- Super 7 recreating the toy aesthetic of the late 70s with new characters that were never made in that style in their ReAction line.
- Mattel recreating the toy aesthetic of 80s MOTU figures for designs of MOTU characters that never appeared in the original line (like the 200X series in that classic style) in their MOTU Origins line.
- Hasbro making late 70s style figures of new Stars Wars characters from the Mandalorian and Obi-Wan series in their Star Wars Retro line.
- McFarlane reviving the 80s Super Powers line by adding DC characters that were never part of the original line as well as modern takes on DC characters with the same scale and articulation.
- Marvel Legends having a subline filled with carded 3.75 inch characters with limited articulation reminiscent of toys sold in the late 70s, early 80s.
These are all well known characters/brands replicating a style or aesthetic from the 80s and yet that list is missing a major player of that era: Transformers. The Transformers brand inspires so much nostalgia and strength among older fans that some will even debate whether or not the Transformers toylines sold in kids' toy aisles, like Legacy, is more for them than it is for kids. If we look at the toy brands mentioned at the top of the article which have a retro toyline, like Star Wars, DC, Marvel and He-man, each of those brands also have more kid friendly lines and at least one toyline dedicated to highly detailed and highly articulated figures at the same price points as deluxe/voyager Transformers toys (which technically makes Transformers a better deal than any other similarly priced action figure since they have double the parts count).
We'll take Marvel for the simplest comparison. The multiple Marvel Legends waves each year are in the same vein as the multiple Studio Series and Legacy waves we get. For kids, Marvel has a bunch of toylines, like the Monsters line, the Mech Line, the Bending line, movie specific lines (recently Thor and Spider-man) and those are in the same vein as the Cyberverse and Earthspark toylines for Transformers. And then there is also the Marvel Legends Retro line, which they are going full hog on, even to the point of introducing different scales like with the new Sentinel figure. There is no counterpart to that in the Transformers line.
Sure the Transformers line has figures labelled as retro, but these are rereleases of pre-existing figures, nothing new like McFarlane's new Super Powers line, or the Marvel Legends Retro line, or the Star Wars Retro line. And I make sure to bring up those last 2 a lot because they are from Hasbro, which means Hasbro sees the value in this retro type of play or collecting and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on brand new molds. The Transformers line becomes one of the only major lines in the toy aisle which does not have a comparable retro line alongside its other lines.
So the question then becomes, is that untapped potential, or a dodged bullet? And how would that even look like. An equivalent could be a redeco of G1 blades in Alpha Bravo colours giving fans the option of having that extra combiner limb on their vintage Superions. Or you could have the G1 characters/toys in their Bayverse decos. Like a silver G1 Jazz or a G1 Optimus with a flame design on his cab. How about an Ironhide and ratchet similar in deco to their E-Hobby releases but with extra parts to plug in a head with references to their Bayverse looks. Or a new mold of a 70s Camaro to give us a Bayverse Bumblebee but with G1 style transformation and articulation.
It could also be G1 toys we never had, like redecos of the G1 seeker mold and have it be Acid Storm. Or a retool of the wings to give us a G1 Windblade. Going the G1 route, they could release that G1 headmaster Arcee, from a redeco/retool of Chromedome. Or simply make a fully new G1 style toy based on the initial design.
Another example could be a grey G2 Megatron sold in G1 packaging to retroactively give G1 Megatron a tank mode so that we can have a cohesive aesthetic of the character of his various tank modes throughout the different eras. These ideas have been around for a while, as evident by the digibash you can find below from site owner Seibertron himself, but with more retro type product out there than ever before in the retail toy aisle, it's the perfect time to bring them back. The question is, would you fans be up for it? I ask because while this may look fun, there have been recent lines that mirrored the G1 toyline in terms of being out of scale and simpler than Generations toys, like the Cyberverse line, and those were mocked by many fans who even questioned their existence. Which makes one wonder, if the G1 line was released today, with all its partsforming, hollowness, non show accuracy, lack of articulation and simplicity, would it be mocked just like fans are mocking other lines suffering from the same issues?
Is this a thing that we want? Is this a thing that we need? Let us know what you think, both in terms of how a line like this would look like and if it is something that would interest you.
- Super 7 recreating the toy aesthetic of the late 70s with new characters that were never made in that style in their ReAction line.
- Mattel recreating the toy aesthetic of 80s MOTU figures for designs of MOTU characters that never appeared in the original line (like the 200X series in that classic style) in their MOTU Origins line.
- Hasbro making late 70s style figures of new Stars Wars characters from the Mandalorian and Obi-Wan series in their Star Wars Retro line.
- McFarlane reviving the 80s Super Powers line by adding DC characters that were never part of the original line as well as modern takes on DC characters with the same scale and articulation.
- Marvel Legends having a subline filled with carded 3.75 inch characters with limited articulation reminiscent of toys sold in the late 70s, early 80s.
These are all well known characters/brands replicating a style or aesthetic from the 80s and yet that list is missing a major player of that era: Transformers. The Transformers brand inspires so much nostalgia and strength among older fans that some will even debate whether or not the Transformers toylines sold in kids' toy aisles, like Legacy, is more for them than it is for kids. If we look at the toy brands mentioned at the top of the article which have a retro toyline, like Star Wars, DC, Marvel and He-man, each of those brands also have more kid friendly lines and at least one toyline dedicated to highly detailed and highly articulated figures at the same price points as deluxe/voyager Transformers toys (which technically makes Transformers a better deal than any other similarly priced action figure since they have double the parts count).
We'll take Marvel for the simplest comparison. The multiple Marvel Legends waves each year are in the same vein as the multiple Studio Series and Legacy waves we get. For kids, Marvel has a bunch of toylines, like the Monsters line, the Mech Line, the Bending line, movie specific lines (recently Thor and Spider-man) and those are in the same vein as the Cyberverse and Earthspark toylines for Transformers. And then there is also the Marvel Legends Retro line, which they are going full hog on, even to the point of introducing different scales like with the new Sentinel figure. There is no counterpart to that in the Transformers line.
Sure the Transformers line has figures labelled as retro, but these are rereleases of pre-existing figures, nothing new like McFarlane's new Super Powers line, or the Marvel Legends Retro line, or the Star Wars Retro line. And I make sure to bring up those last 2 a lot because they are from Hasbro, which means Hasbro sees the value in this retro type of play or collecting and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on brand new molds. The Transformers line becomes one of the only major lines in the toy aisle which does not have a comparable retro line alongside its other lines.
So the question then becomes, is that untapped potential, or a dodged bullet? And how would that even look like. An equivalent could be a redeco of G1 blades in Alpha Bravo colours giving fans the option of having that extra combiner limb on their vintage Superions. Or you could have the G1 characters/toys in their Bayverse decos. Like a silver G1 Jazz or a G1 Optimus with a flame design on his cab. How about an Ironhide and ratchet similar in deco to their E-Hobby releases but with extra parts to plug in a head with references to their Bayverse looks. Or a new mold of a 70s Camaro to give us a Bayverse Bumblebee but with G1 style transformation and articulation.
It could also be G1 toys we never had, like redecos of the G1 seeker mold and have it be Acid Storm. Or a retool of the wings to give us a G1 Windblade. Going the G1 route, they could release that G1 headmaster Arcee, from a redeco/retool of Chromedome. Or simply make a fully new G1 style toy based on the initial design.
Another example could be a grey G2 Megatron sold in G1 packaging to retroactively give G1 Megatron a tank mode so that we can have a cohesive aesthetic of the character of his various tank modes throughout the different eras. These ideas have been around for a while, as evident by the digibash you can find below from site owner Seibertron himself, but with more retro type product out there than ever before in the retail toy aisle, it's the perfect time to bring them back. The question is, would you fans be up for it? I ask because while this may look fun, there have been recent lines that mirrored the G1 toyline in terms of being out of scale and simpler than Generations toys, like the Cyberverse line, and those were mocked by many fans who even questioned their existence. Which makes one wonder, if the G1 line was released today, with all its partsforming, hollowness, non show accuracy, lack of articulation and simplicity, would it be mocked just like fans are mocking other lines suffering from the same issues?
Is this a thing that we want? Is this a thing that we need? Let us know what you think, both in terms of how a line like this would look like and if it is something that would interest you.