Print

[normanb258]

From recent Hasbro Q/A session:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Preserve: Do you plan to continue the Robot Heroes line beyond the current movie figures?

Hasbro: We do not have any plans to continue with this expression of Transformers past the ROTF line.

Massively disappointed, to say the least.

Doesn't bode well for Combat Heroes either.

Taste the sad, Michael.

[Lobsterman]

Baaaaahhh! Curses. Guess I'm doing my own custom Wheeljack.

Jerks. 

[JesseVader08]

I've been tempted by this line multiple times, but now that I know it's a line with a finite number of figures to find, it might actually encourage me to go back and try and track them down. 

It's certainly bad news for active collectors of the line, but for me, it could be a cloud with a (very small) silver lining.  I don't mean to downplay the disappointment of others though. 

[really_rather_not_nice]

I get the feeling that the RotF Heroes haven't been selling all that well anyway, and that's probably the last nail in the coffin. I think they just overestimated the popularity of the movie and its characters, and admittedly, having Transformers that don't actually transform isn't the most fun thing for a kid to play with...

Plus the Robot Heroes line never seemed to be a stylized line, like the other Heroes lines. They look pretty much like the characters from the movies and cartoons without much really being changed or charicatured. I'm not suggesting that last part is what led to the fall of the line, it's just an observation.

I wonder if when the next movie comes out they'll consider doing more, with a more... conservative sales approach. Maybe just a few five packs, or 4 packs, or whatever. Or maybe this is the final true death knell of the Robot Heroes.

Who knows?

[jestergoblin]

I think a big problem for Robot Heroes is the simple fact that they aren't really compatible with other Heroes lines. Given the popularity of the movie, kids have a much better idea of how big Optimus Prime should be while those of us growing up in the 80s, we rarely saw Prime interact with humans (and that show was horribly inconsistent in scale).

I know kids don't care much about scale usually but they know a robot that transforms into a truck shouldn't be the same size as Spider-Man, so toys from the bigger line are getting used. At least that was my experience seeing people buying stuff at stores.

As a collector, I never bothered buying any of the movie Robot Heroes after the first wave, but made sure to pick up all the classic animated ones that got released. It just didn't seem to connect with other collectors much even. Kids wanted the movie styled figures while collectors wanted the animated ones and there didn't seem to be much overlap in those two segments.

[really_rather_not_nice]

I agree with everything you just said. I think the collectors WERE the ones after the animated style, and kids WERE the ones after the movie versions. Why not put out a few more characters in the animated style in an SHS style Collector's pack.

[Lobsterman]

Why not put out a few more characters in the animated style in an SHS style Collector's pack.

Because Hasbro hates us and wants us to cry.   

[clevernamehere]

It also doesn't help that Transformers have (from what I can tell) a fragmented fanbase. 

We've already talked about the movie/animated split, but then there's fans of the vehicle figures that probably couldn't care less about Beast Wars, or fans of one of Cartoon Network's latest Transformers cartoons and wanted to see more cartoon-styled (well, cartoon compatable) Bumblebees.

Then there's the inherent weirdness of a line of Transformers that doesn't actually transform.  It's been done before, but it doesn't make it less weird.

Having seen a number of these lines come out now, it looks like having a wide character base is one of the most important factors.  Lines like SHS and Galactic Heroes can do well, because you can invest in some unique sculpts, put out some repaints to keep the "named" characters (the Spider-Men and Lukes) available for casual consumers and use those to subsidize character depth.

Marvel has a ton of names they can use to subsidize new characters (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Hulk, and to a lesser extent Human Torch, Thing, Captain America, Thor) and so does Star Wars (Luke, Han, Leia, Darth, Chewie, Anakin, Obi-Wan) but for lines like Combat Heroes and Robot Heroes, if you get too far from Snake Eyes, Stormshadow, Cobra Commander, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Starscream and Megatron... you end up going picking a market at the exclusion of others.  Nostalgia buyers versus casual toy buyers versus movie fans versus long-time collectors of the individual properties or of a certain generation.

But I still think the Universe line deserves a second chance.  Balance movie, G1, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, versions based on cool unreleased Japanese stuff.  That way everyone gets something.

[JesseVader08]

That's an excellent point.  Personally, the G1 versions interest me the most, whereas other lines like Beast Wars and the movie figures don't.  It's hard for a line to survive when only portions of the figures have a chance to be sold.

[jestergoblin]

It also doesn't help that Transformers have (from what I can tell) a fragmented fanbase. 

But I still think the Universe line deserves a second chance.  Balance movie, G1, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, versions based on cool unreleased Japanese stuff.  That way everyone gets something.

I think you nailed it - I don't know many people who just outright collect transformers. In fact, only two come to mind: yo go re over at OAFE.net and David Willis, the author of Shortpacked. Everyone else I know is only interested in a single aspect of Transformers.

The biggest problem with the Transformers Universe line with the heroes style figures is that they represent characters, while the actual toys represent things. Any kid can get behind a toy that's both a truck and a robot but when the robot is Optimus Prime and just Optimus Prime, the play value is diminished.

I have friends who loved Beast Wars/Machines, but don't care at all for G1 and I know kids who only know them from the movies. People identify with Transformers the way they were exposed to them it seems.

I only bought the G1 figures as they came out, and something tells me I'm not alone in this.

[really_rather_not_nice]

Nope, not alone at all. I only collected the G1 figures, with the ONE exception of Cheetor and Tankor, just because I thought the Cheetor figure was kind of cool. If I could have gotten my hands on Dispensor I think he would have been my one Movie figure, and I was eyeballing Battle of the Fallen Cinema Scene for the big Fallen figure, but he's not worth it for that price.

And I agree completely. I think Transformers is just such a different thing to each individual that there is no longer one definitive version, which makes it a harder sell ultimately.

Me? I wish they had just put out a G1 Ratchet before they ended the line.
Sigh.
I may have mentioned this before.

[really_rather_not_nice]

Finally an explanation that makes sense from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Shortpacked

.

Although I tend to think there were other factors involved.

[Think]

Non-transforming Transformers and scale were two contributing issues that co-contributed to the main problem - most of the figures just looked like over-detailed, brightly-colored messes. Even Devastator, probably the best movie tie-in opportunity, is hard on the eyes.

Another problem is that the line, arguably, wasn't needed. Thanks to Transformers Animated, there are characters like You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Bulkhead

and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Lugnut

that fit the style, and offer a heroes-scale-compatible vehicle and robot.

Yes, that would be an expensive cross-over, but those concerned about cost are probably dedicated to the Leader or Scout sub-lines and would see Robot Heroes as size/price redundant.


I think Combat Heroes has some life left in it because it crosses over well. What Hasbro may want to consider doing is ditching the painted-on insignias and instead include a sticker sheet so kids can make their own Cobra and Joe teams.

[Clanure]

After pondering this for a while, I can't say that I'm surprised.  Disappointed to be sure, but not surprised.  Fortunately there weren't any prototype/unreleased figures out there to haunt my dreams (I'm lucky enough to have the unreleased Universe Wave 4).

I really wonder if this doesn't have more to do with the success/failure of the movie line than anything else.  I firmly believe that if they released this line as a straight up universe style (all generations) that they would have sold better.  Universe Wave 4 would probably have been the best (most successful) wave released.

The Megas came too late (My Predaking is dwarfed by my The Fallen), and while I understand the need for 40 different Bumblebees and OPs (much like 40 different S-Mans and Wolverines), it's much harder to make the Bumblebees and OPs unique enough to distinguish them.

Oh well, RIP.  I'm glad I stayed fairly caught up on this line.  Tracking down the last few stragglers won't be so bad.

[Think]

Just to reinforce my idea of Transformers Animated working well with the Heroes scale...