Hi all ,

I'll start this topic in a roundabout way so a little patience please .

Just now I skimmed the list of new comics that are available and noted that the new "main line" GI Joe comic (also from IDW) is at issue #11 .

Now , I'm aware that because GI Joe has had no supporting media (like a TV show) for a long time now , a lot of Joe fans have "settled for" or "united around" the comics that have been available almost non-stop since about 2001-2002 , thus the Joe comics have had little problem in sustaining runs that went into the 30-40 issues at a time , along with multiple mini-sires that were published along the ongoing story (instead of predating it) .

Now , as far as we know , there will be no new TF show until late 2010 or possibly 2011 .
My question is , do you see the fandom uniting around / settling for the IDW comics , or do you see the fandoms (or your) interest being sustained by the toys alone , which are mostly re-paints by now .

And yes , I know my question is a problematic one due to how "well" IDW's art for the proposed ongoing story seems to have been received by the majority of our fandom , but I hope that the discussion will center around long term fan interest and not degenerate into another IDW bashing .

The fandom probably won't unite around the comics, but the general trend is unity in terms of attention to the toyline. We've got a whole chunk of new molds coming up with the whole "NEST Global Alliance" movie line, so that should carry things for a while. Beyond that, we haven't seen far enough ahead to know, aside from whatever "Power Core Combiners" are.

When has the fandom united around anything?

Numbers might dwindle to "Pre-Car Robots" days, but there's always been a dedicated group of people keeping the dream alive.

Well, I personally have been honestly enjoying the FanClub stuff as of late. If it keeps being solid next year, that might sustain me fine until the next TV series comes out.

I suspect the fandom at large will rally around the toys, however.

I think we should unite around getting a "fourth" season of Animated, in comic book form. Written by Marty Isenberg.

I'll still, unfortunately, be following the comics. I just finally discovered, or rather admitted that I'm an addict. No interest in the toys, cartoons, or really the movies... just the comics and the message boards. I guess the boards are my so-called "rallying points".

If you're not united at least around Transformers, then why are you here?

Umm, the line has had repaints since it's inception and I think we get way more new molds then we get repaints. I'm pretty surprised by that comment.

Also, your forgetting a character stays on the shelve for a shorter amount of time these days and if they don't have any other new molds in production. Then their gonna milk a mold they spent five to ten thousand dollars to make. It just makes perfect sense. We now know the molds degrade over time. If they don't use them when their new and broke the bank to make them. They don't get their investment back. Thats just normal business. I don't see whats wrong with it. The repaints aren't necessarily for the person who owns the original mold. Their for people that missed the first release of the toy or to keep the mold in stores for a bit longer. Or, for repaint enthusiasts. It's pretty reasonable by now to awcknowledge it's impossible to be a completist when it comes to Transformers. At least not these days. The line has become way huger than it could have been in G1, G2, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. They can't meet that demand for toys without a few repaints.

Like I said repaints are a transformers staple. It's pretty late to realize that.

I generally don't care for the comics, or to be more exact it's too much of a pain for me to keep up with them. So I'll be hanging around for the toyline, which rarely takes a break for long. Between that and discussing the massive amount of stuff that's already happened, not having a show actively running doesn't really decrease my interest in things much. I'm the kind of person who gets as excited about good repaints as new molds.

That being said, if Animated continued in comic form, I'd be all over it. I've got The Arrival tradeback on its way to me right now, in fact.

I'll end up in the fanfic forum and Mayhem during the lull

I like the fiction just as much as the toys. Yet, I'm kind of annoyed that we don't always get good fiction. Idw has been hit or miss. I love the comics but I don't necessarily love them all of the time. If I had to choose I could go with comics over toys to some degree. Yet, the toys are so amazing now that it's a lot harder to say that then it used to be.

i'm going to have to say probably not.

i usually get all of the transformers comics, except for the UK stuff.
and i usually get the spotlight issues as TPB's.

and not every upcoming figure is a repaint..

we've got legends wheelie, soundwave, arcee, & jolt

scout brakedown, skystalker, & scattershot

deluxe dirge, lockdown, brawn, & ratchet. TFA arcee, hot rod, cybertronian ratchet & ironhide

voyager recon ironhide, bludgeon, & mindwipe. TFA bumblebee, blackout & wing blade prime

human alliance mudflap & barricade

and ofcourse the epic leader class STARSCREAM


i'm sure we'll get 1 or 2 more human alliance figures beyond mudflap. and APPARENTLY* we will be getting a leader class bumblebee.

Under normal circumstances , I'd be concerned that this "give'em just toys without a show" mentality by Hasbro would become a standard , but we do know that Hasbro is planning something in regards to TF's with their new TV Chanel .

Guess I'm just curious as to how many fans see a cartoon show as a MUST these days , when the fandom seems to be in a predominantly "toys first" mentality .

Think of it this way : didn't we squirm like addicts on withdrawal when Animated aired and there were no toys on the shelves of the Animated characters for like 4-6 months ?
I'm just wondering if the "there are toys but no cartoon" situation would have the same effect , or if we (or some of us) would turn to the comics for their "media fix" , or if indeed we (or most of us) are happy as long as there are new toys .

*please note that there was no slight intended when I referenced an addiction in regards to Transfandom in general .

Animated ?
For the most part at least .

I'm sorry that you see my post as an attack on re-paints , as that was not my intention .
For better or for worse , as a whole , it seems to me that the fandom still seems to be in "shock" after the second M.Bay movie .
I just wanted to know if all you (as a fandom or a person) want now is just more toys , or will you turn to the comics because of a lack of new official media .

A part of me thinks that the sooner IDW get's that new Animated comic to the shops the better .... , and fans , even non-comic reader fans will sorta flock to the comic shops for that one .

But the skeptical part of me thinks that there is no way they (IDW) are going to put the launch of their "G1 ongoing" in jeopardy by launching an Animated comic anywhere near their launch of their G1 ongoing .

The paranoid side of me is wondering if IDW is keeping the Animated comic on "standby" in case their launch of the G1 ongoing goes badly .

I'm one of those fans who can just wait in the weeds until something comes along that I really like.

The comics do nothing for me, at least in their current incarnation. The toys come and go. I pick up ones that I like here and there. I'm waiting for Animated Arcee and Hot Rod with much anticipation.

What I'm really pining for is a new show. I would love to see it go back to the old formula, with Toei animating it in an American style, with Americans writing the stories. Only problem the Sci-Fi writing in this country and every other is so overwrought I have low expectations.

If the Animated staff were on the job I'd feel better about. Good solid stories, though I found the humor very grating.

But my suspicions are we are going to get Bayformers as the next series so I'm going into TF hibernation mode and just waiting for the good times to roll (for it) again.

EDIT: Though I would rally around a really good comic series with a stable plotline that is TF mythos centric.

Personally, these days, the cartoons (providing they aren't written by the Japanese) and live action movies are the only Transformers-related material I'm interested in.

I dropped toy collecting years ago and I quit the IDW comics at the beginning of the year because of how horrendous they were. Animated and the movies were really all I was left wanting from the franchise.

Once the movies are done and if the cartoons either stop or go back to being written by the Japanese, I'll probably have no more interest in any new Transformers material.

I'm kind of feeling bored with TFs. sure, we got some great new molds from ROTF and Animated like Bludgeon and Blackout (and a few awesome repaints like Beachcomber and Ze Red baron), but honestly? There isn't really much to look forward to after Animated truly ends until the new cartoon, and all we can hope is that it's good. I may start buying more Beyblades and Lego toys over the next year, because... Seriously, there's nothing to look forward to until Spring.

I think there's more to it, and a lot of us don't need fuel for the fire. Current and future material is a case by case basis and has nothing to do with the basis of my appreciation. If the Transformers line died today and there was never another scrap of material produced under the banner, I'd still be here (or 'somewhere' in cyberspace) as a fangirl. I'll actually go so far as to say that I'll never enjoy anything, TF wise, as much as I did some key elements that are now over and done with. (What's the Beast Wars equivalent of a Geewunner?)

But... this is the POV of a character first, toyline second fan. I collect the kitch that represents my favorite characters and very very rarely buy something based on a 'oh, he's cool looking' reaction; I didn't get into Animated at all, but I bought two of the toys in the line anyway because of obvious reasons (Waspinator and Blackarachnia). So as far as trolling the toy aisle recently, there's been Robot Heroes, Universe, a bit of Animated, and the random stuff I've liked from the current material (ie: anything Barricade related). Not having something to buy wouldn't make a difference, it'd just mean I had more money in my bank account.

So, to directly answer your question, my interest is self-sustaining at this point. Buying stuff is an emotional/fannish reaction to characters and material that I like. I bought ROTF Depthcharge because I saw him and thought, 'Yay, DC!' not 'oh good, I've been needing a tiny blue warship on my Transformers shelf.'

I don't even care about the toys, I've always been more interested in the media. But since I have absolutely no standards for Transformers, I'll take anything. It's more of a guilty pleasure for me than something I actually care about.

I guess that would explain why I don't care for IDW lately, though - not because I found AHM shoddy in terms of story but because I found it dull. And being boring is worse than being bad. That's probably why I like Armada so much.

I've pretty much fallen back to the General forums since Animated ended, given that was the only thing keeping my interest alive. After all, I couldn't stand the movies, the comics have been trash since AHM, and I've every Animated toy I wanted. The only thing on the horizon I'd pay money for will probably be Bludgeon, and that's really about it.

Unless the new cartoon turns out to be as good as Animated. Odds are I'll be back for something like that.

The comics wouldn't keep my interest, what with the constant 'Everything must be as G1!" (and that's not really exclusive to IDW. Every licensor seems to do it). I enjoyed Animated because it took fresh risks. The comics, which seem to exist solely to appeal to the distorted memories 30 year old fanboys seem to have of the original cartoon, would do more to scare me away.

I'm happy for the lull at the moment. It means I can relax and focus on other things instead of transformers. I have at maximum four transformers I want to buy over the next year or so: Brawn, Skystalker, Mindwipe, and Bludgeon. And that's good enough for me. In regards to the fandom, I often tend to lurk sites even during lulls, and frankly, the people here have so many other interests in the off-topic forums that I seriously doubt it will be a big blow.

First I looked at this topic, marveling the delicious oxymoron. But then I thought, hey might as well.

I don't think anyone of us have a single interest or are so deeply invested in this property that they can't go without a focal point for six months.

Either way being all dramatic and serious about it ruins the whole fun in the first place. Save that for when it's nessesary.

My interest in Transformers has essentially been exhausted thanks to the movie. The toys don't interest me, the seond film was (arguably) less than ideal, and the comics aren't really anything that strikes my fancy. Beast Wars and Animated were the only things that still held any interest for me, and Hasbro has moved on from them. And therefore, so have I.

I've returned my primary focus back to comics in general, and collecting the Marvel Universe and G.I. Joe lines (for compatability's sake since they're the same scale).

TFs...? Pretty much done.

Off of TFs in general. Until Classics 3.0 starts or we get new media, I'm focusing on my other three loves, Sentai, Gattai and Kaiju.

Interest will wane without new fiction or new lines. In the long term. But...how long will this gap really be? There's tons of stuff going on.

1) People will always rally around G1. With Universe coming back in September, Reissues on the shelves now, and movie molds with amazing homages (Bludgeon and Mindwipe), many will be contented filling out their precious nostalgia. G1 nostalgia is what created the TF fandom in the early online days. During BW season 2, G1 was brought into the modern fiction and kept it around until RID. G1 was always a rallying point. During the highs and lows of the line. People wrote fanfics, did role playing, discussed old episodes, etc... There was a market for old toys. TF fandom is a fandom just as devoted to looking backwards as it is to moving forward. Not to mention, when mainlines slow down, people start to catch up on the older figures (g1 especially) that they still need/want to get. So toy interest will keep many interested. Appealing to older fiction/nostalgia.

2) NEST Global Alliance will keep the movie line going with some nice toys. Leader Starscream seems to be one of the most anticipated figures in a while. While Lockdown and Ratchet will appeal to movie and Animated fans. Current toy line will be rejuvenated with new molds. The movie is out on BRD and DVD, so I'm sure the people getting the movie for Christmas/getting it now will be energized for a brief period fiction wise.

3) Animated is coming back with Wingblade Prime, Blackout, Arcee and several repaints (Soundwave, Jazz, Bumblebee into Wasp). The last cartoon is still clinging to life support and technically hasn't ended toy wise. The last season should be on DVD soon too.

4) IDW is making new comics. The "Transformers" ongoing is so radically different from all of IDW's previous stuff, it's pretty damn close to a new series. Certainly a new premise with the TFs vs Humans thing. While it drove a ton of fans insane, I know a lot of people who loved AHM too.

5) Before TF3, there's bound to be some prequel/gap filling comics from IDW. Probably more books from Allen Dean Foster too. There's some fiction to fill the gap.

6) There is a cartoon in the works for sometime in the next year or so.

7) The TFCC and Botcon have figures and comics. Text stories too. Some people have gotten really into the classics and Shattered Glass fiction, though I was personally underwhelmed by Shattered Glass. These are constantly going. Comics pop up every couple months with the club magazine. Text stories come whenever they feel like.

8) There are fan made toys and projects for the g1 purists. Rodimus Armor, a Springer-ish triple changer, Arcee, smaller Masterpiece Prime and Megatron, the hundreds of semi-interesting weapon and accessory sets everyone seems to be making tons of, hands/feet for Bruticus Maximus, etc... Plus, Fans Project makes trippy bonus comics where Prime fights a Pharaoh and other stuff (including innovative in-comic illustrated instructions). Who knows what crazy jive will come with Rodimus or Springer.

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Personally, I'm drifting from TF collecting as a whole. I'm just sticking to select movie characters and anything that could fit with Classics/Universe. I want to reduce the number of figures and rebuild the size of my collection at a slower pace. Toy collecting can't be continuous addition. At some point you have to purge. I've also gotten into Marvel Universe.

The fiction always reenergizes me. Whenever a new fiction comes, I always get into the new show, new movie, new toys, etc...