Outside? Inside? No, thinking ABOUT the box: your thoughts on Transformers packaging

[CoffeeHorse]

(At least one Optimus Prime and Starscream release got both a robot mode packaging release and an altmode packaging version.)

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Yo, what? I never knew about either of these.

ROTF ran for seemingly forever,

It really did. It kept going in some form or another right up to DOTM. Probably to DOTM's detriment but we'll get there.

As for the packaging, I don't feel much. It works, but it doesn't give me that WOW impression that 07 did, but that's probably more due to context than the actual merits of the packaging. This is fine. Although, that half curve of the 07 packaging was stylish as heck and it is missed here.

 

[Sabrblade]

However, Leader class figures were typically packaged in robot mode. (At least one Optimus Prime and Starscream release got both a robot mode packaging release and an altmode packaging version.)

Er, that Optimus and Starscream on the right are both Voyagers.

Various Seeker redecoes (Ramjet, Skywarp, Nebular Starscream) from the Voyager Starscream mold

Ramjet and Skywarp used the 2007 Movie 1 Voyager Starscream mold while Nebular Starscream used the ROTF Voyager Starscream mold.

 

[lastmaximal]

Er, that Optimus and Starscream on the right are both Voyagers.

Yes, they're illustrative of that second sentence. I originally had them paired with their horizontal packaging variants but changed my mind about the layout.

Ramjet and Skywarp used the 2007 Movie 1 Voyager Starscream mold while Nebular Starscream used the ROTF Voyager Starscream mold.

Ah, that's right!

 

[lastmaximal]

Yo, what? I never knew about either of these.

Same, actually. I think these are international releases, not the US-based ones we'd get over here too. It IS still monolingual packaging, though, so IDK.

It really did. It kept going in some form or another right up to DOTM. Probably to DOTM's detriment but we'll get there.

As for the packaging, I don't feel much. It works, but it doesn't give me that WOW impression that 07 did, but that's probably more due to context than the actual merits of the packaging. This is fine. Although, that half curve of the 07 packaging was stylish as heck and it is missed here.

Ayup. I actually started this writeup thinking there'd be a lot to say, but as I was moving through the descriptions of the packaging I felt a weariness that I realized had been there since that time. Even back then, this just totally failed to capture my interest like the 2007 movie line's packaging did. This was even more felt after the line, of course, and certainly now, but even on first impressions it just did nothing for me. The weird cutout sides felt like a tryhard attempt at visual interest, and the Even More Red was DOA after the also-interminable Universe 2.0 line. The sand and cyberglyphics were at least a bit refreshing, and a good contrast to the red, but that's about it. The back of the packaging was also just serviceable, basically the same template for the 2007 movie and Universe 2.0, and this wouldn't change for a long time.

And then it just kept going; I was surprised to look back and see that NEST Global Alliance was so short, because half the stuff I (mis)remembered as NEST releases were in waves prior to that subline. And as mentioned the subline was basically identical on shelves, not even an Allspark Power application of a thematic color change.

It's interesting that Hasbro also seemed to try and course-correct (or at least change up significantly) by having the DOTM packaging hew much closer to the 2007 approach and color scheme (I'll try and remember this for that writeup, noting the similar visual anchors of space + Earth/moon).

 

[CoffeeHorse]

07 was also very red, but somehow I don't remember it that way. Allspark Power may have literally colored my memories a bit. ROTF on the other hand, I remember a sea of red. Then I look at these pictures and it's like, yep. There it is. That's all I feel.

 

[Sabrblade]

Movie 1, Animated, Universe 08, ROTF, PCC, Generations (pre-CW), Prime RID...

We really were swimming in a sea of red for a few years, there, weren't we?

 

[lastmaximal]

I think of those the ones that mainly qualify are Universe 2.0, ROTF, PCC and Generations. The others (Animated, Prime RID) had red as an abundant accent but the main color was white.

2007 movie I agree had a LOT of red, but for some reason my memory of it has the base color as black, for weird reasons I try to think aloud about below.

07 was also very red, but somehow I don't remember it that way. Allspark Power may have literally colored my memories a bit. ROTF on the other hand, I remember a sea of red. Then I look at these pictures and it's like, yep. There it is. That's all I feel.

Huh. You're right, it WAS very red. And I ALSO don't remember it that way, I had to Google it and was stunned at how much there was.

I guess the contrast helped. The red on it popped because it was in patches, offset by lots of black and silver? Including the silver (later blue) curve around the eye, which also breaks up the shape. Here it's red against darker red as a whole frame, with the bubble/window even just blending right into it with the shape. 2007 had red in strategic spots, this slapped it on almost uniformly, onto an unspiringly-shaped blob.

 

[LordGigaIce]

tbf there's no better way to attract boys ages 7-15 then with an XTREME black and red colour pallet

 

[lastmaximal]

Let's not discuss attracting boys ages 7-15

But yeah, I can see the marketing logic. Strong color, double down on what worked... It's just at the time they'd mashed the same button a few times already.

 

[Sabrblade]

I think of those the ones that mainly qualify are Universe 2.0, ROTF, PCC and Generations. The others (Animated, Prime RID) had red as an abundant accent but the main color was white.

Still, a lot of these lines overlapped with each other in terms of retail presence, so they all contributed in some way to the amount of red there was during those years, whether it was the primary packaging color or a prominent secondary.

 

[lastmaximal]

The impression you get from that chain of packaging designs, I'll not argue. But I maintain that for me, "there's red on it" is not the same thing, and I don't think of those as "red packaging". "In some way" is contributing more to that claim than the bits of red on Animated packaging do to a "sea of red".