Oh, I wasn't trying to throw shade! It's better than anything I can do, I just saw the texture, and...
...
...and it looks like I'm the only one who has that problem, huh?
Transformers: Age of the Primes Thread: ll First Post All Listings II Update : April 12th, 2027 Bonus Wave: Repaint fun, Beast Wars, G2, Machine Wars
- Thread starter TriBlurr
- Start date
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...and it looks like I'm the only one who has that problem, huh?
No, I'm also agreeing with you, the texture is not inviting. It doesn't even look dry, although it probably is.
Not to yuck anyone's yum, but it's interesting how much people are wanting MW homages now, noone really talked about them much back in the earlier days of the fandom (granted, we did get the Botcon figures). I guess it goes to show that every aspect of our youth can be mined for nostalgia.
There's a couple of reasons for that, I think. Number one is that it takes a while for things like that to marinate. When something wacky and different comes along, its judged (often negatively) at first by how different it is than what was expected, but given some time, the fandom often comes around to appreciating it for how far it wanders from the main trendline of the brand.
Number two is that I think a lot of people that enter the fandom late take a while to discover it. I myself was a Transformers nut as a kid, but then "outgrew" them around '89 or '90. I didn't start paying attention again until the early aughts, so I basically slept through G2, Beast Wars, Machine Wars, etc., so I only learned about MW later in bits and pieces.
At this point I'm just interested in seeing anything that's not the 84-86 designs with a few new hinges.
Discourse around a thing changes with time, due to a number of factors. The people talking grow and change, the media and the nature of the topic (characters, franchise, etc) changes. There was a time when THE prevailing opinion was that Daniel and Wheelie should be mocked at every turn, and it made sense to write into fiction only to kill them off because haha screw you annoying characters watering down my Geewun. Over time the shallowness of that became more apparent. Ditto "I can't deal with that now" and Magnus being a weak leader instead of, idk, trying to keep more people from getting killed, and so on.
Sometimes nostalgia goggles make something look better by default. Absolutely. But it's not necessarily just that.
Sometimes just having some distance from something allows for a bit less investment, a bit less reactionary rhetoric, and a bit more appreciation. Sometimes it's just having more space (after some time) to voice more diverse opinions. Because even in 1997, we weren't all chanting Boo at this. Some of us were (more quietly) chanting boo-urns.
I was chanting boo-urns.
Sometimes nostalgia goggles make something look better by default. Absolutely. But it's not necessarily just that.
Sometimes just having some distance from something allows for a bit less investment, a bit less reactionary rhetoric, and a bit more appreciation. Sometimes it's just having more space (after some time) to voice more diverse opinions. Because even in 1997, we weren't all chanting Boo at this. Some of us were (more quietly) chanting boo-urns.
I was chanting boo-urns.
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Off the top of my head, I recall the following:
Ninja Gaiden (NES)
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
G.I. Joe Snake Eyes (1985)
G. I. Joe Bazooka (1985)
G1 Rippersnapper
G1 Hun-Gurr
G1 Catilla
G2 Laser Optimus Prime
G2 Megatron
G2 Dreadwing
Megatron Megabolt
Oooh, tangential edit: I picked up G2 Dirt Bag from a Service Merchandise. That's right, an honest-to-god Service Merchandise. Let that sink in.
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Good lord. of all the hundreds of TFs I have bought, I have no hope of being able to tell you where I got half of them.
This speaks to something that I think is probably a big factor, which is that potential MW homages exist in a different context now. These days, getting mad that a new toy with the name of an A-list G1 character doesn't look the way you expect that character to look is like walking into the grocery store and getting mad that somebody already bought one of the soda 12-packs from the big display that had them arranged in a cube.
I generally remember when someone gives me a transformer, but blank on the ones I buy myself.
If the current Cyberworld figures had just a little bit more articulation, they would practically be a modern era Machine Wars.
Seriously, though, Deluxe-scale-based figures have been the gold standard for collectors for so long now that its understandable that fans would want updates of some older figures to match size with the modern ones.
Now, me, I would rather have figures in the MW Basic size range (which Cyberworld is a close approximation), with decent articulation (heads, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees) and without the auto-transforming spring-loaded features that don't seem to hold up over time. If the Cyberworld figures had just a little more articulation, I would be cool with a few Machine Wars-based figures thrown in there.
Seriously, though, Deluxe-scale-based figures have been the gold standard for collectors for so long now that its understandable that fans would want updates of some older figures to match size with the modern ones.
Now, me, I would rather have figures in the MW Basic size range (which Cyberworld is a close approximation), with decent articulation (heads, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees) and without the auto-transforming spring-loaded features that don't seem to hold up over time. If the Cyberworld figures had just a little more articulation, I would be cool with a few Machine Wars-based figures thrown in there.
I was able to pick up all the first year basics except Rattrap and Terrorsaur at our local KB's, well after all the other stores had moved on to the late '97 / early '98 waves. I also bought the complete Machine Wars line and a full set of G2 Cyberjets there. I used to love going there and seeing all the old and obscure toylines.
The only thing I specifically recall about collecting the MW line was hitting three or four KBs in the area trying to find Megatron and then coming across a bunch of them at a store near my college girlfriend's parent's house when we were visiting them for a weekend.
As far as KB in general, I didn't really have access to one until I went to college and there was one in the local mall, and I have a lot more memories of buying discounted Lego there than TFs.
As far as KB in general, I didn't really have access to one until I went to college and there was one in the local mall, and I have a lot more memories of buying discounted Lego there than TFs.
I find it interesting that MW used four of the Euro G1 molds for the larger figures, but unused G2 molds for the smaller figures, instead of any of the Predators or Turbomasters. Maybe they would have ended up being year 2, if the line had been more successful?
The molds they used were similar in functionality to the early BW basics, with the spring-loaded flip-change transformations and lots of ball joints. They probably picked them for some thematic continuity across the lines. But they didn't want to make bigger all-new molds for what was basically a shot in the dark capsule line, so they just stripped out the Predator missile launchers and called it a day.
I went to a Service Merchandise once, because a friend told me that they had seen Cheetor there. No luck whatsoever.
Anyone else want to mention chains that apparently don't exist anymore? Ames? Hills? Venture?
I remember picking things up from Ames, Bradley's, Benny's, Child World, and a few more half-remembered chains.
bring back benny's
Uh... there's still plenty of barbeque chicken?
Benny's was a small New England chain (might've just been Rhode Island? I forget) that went under a few years back. They were mainly a hardware store, but they had some other stuff too, including a toy section. It's an old joke among contractors that anyone in the 80s could be a carpenter by going to Benny's with fifty bucks.