"GME OIR!", indeed.
Sigh.
Okay, look: I'm not an idiot (despite all evidence on these forums to the contrary). Just as people have long made fun of the "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality" for being slapped on crappy games, I know that the "Transformers Authentics"/"Authentic Transformers" label hasn't always represented an especially high benchmark of quality in the Transformers brand. Heck, with the whole HasLab Omega Prime snafu that's occurred over the last several months, I'm not even sure what does anymore.
But that said, I feel like Hasbro has really lowered the bar when it comes to what qualifies for getting that red and white square slapped on it.
A new vendor has entered the fray to capitalize on the everlasting popularity of the robots in disguise, and their name is Mbilia Studios, a "luxury collectible studio" located in Dubai, who "believe art and imagination deserve more than admiration - they deserve to be experienced, preserved, and celebrated."
And that's why they're proud to let AI take over in producing a series of statues based on all your favorite characters -- well, provided that your favorite characters are from the usual stable of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, and special guest Soundwave, of course. You know, the usual.
Because no one is going to drop $3,800 USD on frickin' Ratbat, let alone 100 people.
The idea is, inherently, not awful. Whether it's $3,800 good, that's another matter, but price aside, a limited edition statue depicting an iconic character from the brand decked out in "automotive-grade paint" and decorated with panels from their appearances from the original Marvel The Transformers comic book series has some merit, at least on the face of it. At least until you see parts of a scene from what is probably Optimus's worst death of all time (with apologies to Bob Budiansky, but there's been a lot of Prime deaths since) haphazardly splayed across him.
But back to the main sticking point here: For the talk of "believing in art and imagination" to the point of preserving and celebrating it, they're ironically happy to take art and imagination out of the equation by handing it over to AI, and... well, just look at the results from their promo material:
Just... what?
Now, I know what you might be thinking: "Oh, that's just a promo image, it's not like that's what you're buying." And that's kind of a weird angle to take, but sure, fair play.
So let's look at their Soundwave:
Here I thought I was going to have to take my own carefully-timed screen captures from the rotating model to show what I'm talking about, but thankfully, their own images did all the work for me. If you know G1 Soundwave at all, then you know that this isn't right. So much of this isn't right.
And they want you to pay $3,800 for this.
I've little doubt there's any shortage of Transformers fans out there who are imaginative artists that would love to experience being a part of an official Transformers project by celebrating it with an animation of their own. And I'm sure it would actually look like Optimus transforming, too.
Oh, and before anyone suggests that maybe this is some fly-by-night operation who's just exploiting the Transformers brand to their own ends without Hasbro's knowledge or approval, well, you might be right. Mostly. Regardless of how true the rest may or may not be, Hasbro has been promoting these things on their social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, so it's not like they're in the dark about this. They've clearly approved this and given it their blessing.
If you want to see more of this, then feel free to check out their site, where they claim that "[t]hrough collaborations with iconic brands, visionary artists, and cultural movements, Mbilia has grown into a global luxury art brand - producing projects that resonate worldwide while remaining uniquely our own," yet show no proof of this anywhere in their portfolio:
Less than meets the AI.
Just be sure not to sign up for anything there, okay? As Ratbat might put it, "that would be a wasteful expenditure of resources."
And remember: All that glitters is not gold, all that's "Authentic" is not good, and Primus is dead.
Update: If this article doesn't have enough red flags for you, it looks like TFWiki has found many more, and have broken things down into even more detail. (Spoiler: It doesn't get better.)
So, what do you think? Tell us in the comments below, or... well, we don't really have a thread for this in our forums, and I'm not about to start one. But you can if you like!
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