So...reading my reviews again...

[Knightdramon]

I just re-read my MP Starscream and Megatron review on this site out of curiosity about my thoughts of the figures back then.

Turns out I was off about my assumptions for their collector's value down the line. Starscream [green camo] can fetch almost twice his old retail price of 9800 yen whilst Megatron can be found dirt-cheap. I had to sell my Megatron for 80 USD shipped just to get rid of that POS.

Funnily enough, I like my MP Starscream [green] better than the wal-mart edition I have, aesthetically. Build-wise, the anime version is more playable and durable.

Having handled Buster Convoy from ROTF, MP Megatron does not seem as delicate when it comes to transformation. Though still, by far the most playable Megatron toys come from ROTF [leader] and animated [leader again].

Any toys you've handled\reviewed years before and have totally different opinions of at the moment?

[Cliffjumper]

No. I'm right about everything, and I don't stop being right.


Hah... no, some all of my old TF Database reviews were cringe-inducing anti-fanboy kneejerk dribble. I gave good reviews to pretty much the entire Armada line, and I don't think there's a single figure in the range I'd pay money for now. Actually, a good 85% of it I wouldn't take for free. I have a big problem with generally being delighted with anything new to me, which is why I now leave a nice big gap between getting toys and actually reviewing them, getting there first be damned.

Of course, by biggest about face has been the one from "I'm not bothering with Movie figures" to "Hey, are they going to do a toy of the tree Prime hits Megatron with?".

[Paul053]

Megatron can be found dirt-cheap. I had to sell my Megatron for 80 USD shipped just to get rid of that POS.

Blackjack gave him 11 out of 10. I am more interesting in knowing what he thinks now.

I used to be so treasured about my first movie '10 Camaro Bumblebee since I worked so hard to find him from the retail store couple years ago. Now with all the re-molds of the re-molds, it makes me feel like he is also a POS. He is actually out of my house now. I still keep Cliffjumper (I mean, the figure, not the person above....), at least they didn't re-mold the red repaint.

[Warcry]

I have a big problem with generally being delighted with anything new to me, which is why I now leave a nice big gap between getting toys and actually reviewing them, getting there first be damned.

This. Any new toys that I buy are, for the first month or so that I've got them, either the best thing ever or a total piece of crap. Afterwards my opinions of them tend to even out quite a bit.

As far as specific toys go...I can't believe I rated Universe Prowl so highly. I mean...yeah, he's fun to play around with and all, but he's a flawed toy and he's sorely lacking when it comes to paint apps. It didn't help that I reviewed him alongside Tankor, either (that piece of crap deserved the terrible score I gave him). Honestly I think the review had more to do with "Yay, new Classics!" than how good Prowl actually was.

Also, somehow I managed to give a good review to the fugly purple version of BW Silverbolt that came out in the first Universe line. I was still pretty new to collecting then, though, and I loved everything I could get my hands on.

[Paul053]

As far as specific toys go...I can't believe I rated Universe Prowl so highly.

Isn't that sad? I gave him a pretty good review also. Now with the sticky paint getting scratched away and got dirty, I pretty much gave him to my son to torture him.

[Warcry]

Isn't that sad? I gave him a pretty good review also. Now with the sticky paint getting scratched away and got dirty, I pretty much gave him to my son to torture him.

It's not even so much that that bothers me (although the paint on mine is starting to rot, too). He's just so...plain in robot mode, with so much white plastic uninterrupted by paint apps. If you stand him beside Bluestreak he looks like a knockoff. He's even worse than Smokescreen, and Smokescreen looks like a kid ate a box of crayons, then threw it up on him...

Bluestreak, on the other hand, looks great and actually makes you want to ignore all of the flaws inherent in the design. But that's another story altogether.

[Halfshell]

Part of why I don't do reviews is because, as part of sitting down and actually analysing a toy in enough depth to do a proper review, I'll find fault with absolutely every part of it and end up filled with burning hatred for the entire line.

Fact.

[Auntie Slag]

I was a total bitch to Freeway. I never hated him that much. I remember going out and paying good money for Goldbug too. The Throttlebots were fun and I refused to acknowledge that in my shoddy review.

I also quite liked Wreck-Gar, despite his awkward style he...

No, **** Wreck Gar. **** him in the nostrils, with his stupid Cy-kill bike arms and stiff horrid legs jutting out like a pair of bit fat, stiff legs in vehicle mode. I look more of a bike than he does.

Steady.

[Savannahtron]

I think writing reviews can be a lot of fun. I enjoy writing reviews for TFA and for my own site as well. Toy reviews are like writing about history or science. What is relevant at the time of the review may or may not be relevant at the time when the review is being read. A good example of this is when when I wrote the toy review for Armada Scavenger

"Savannahtron's review of: Scavenger
Generation: Armada
First cartoon appearance: ???
"Always rise to the command of duty"

"Some of you might think you know me. Others of you may have never heard of me before. None of that matters now. I have been summoned to Earth by the Autobot Leader Optimus Prime in order to quelsh Megatron and the Decepticons with their plans of universal domination. While it is true I was once the Decepticon leader of the Constructicons, I have been reformatted, and my spark has been set free of Megatron's tyranny, and I intend to have my revenge on him. I will never rest until Megatron has been taken offline. My minicon partner Rollbar has enabled me to use a newly fitted missile launching system, and when he and I combine, my strength grows 100 fold."

Here's my summary on the toy
"Summary: I rate this guy an 8 overall because he has an awesome vehicle mode, a cool little minicon, and in robot mode he has a couple of gimmicks and cool sounds. For nostalgia, the definitely got an A+ in my book for bringing back Scavenger in classic Devastator colors, although I wish it would have been as a Decepticon (but look at Laserbeak for Matrix' sake!). If you are into the Armada series, this is a definite must have!"

So, looking back, I would not give him an 8 now, but what I wrote still holds true because it was written in the context of the Armada line.

Would I give him an 8 today? Would I even trade or buy the toy today? No, but I still like having him in my collection and was looking at him the other day in his strange weird little robot fashion. He still slouches if the peg for his leg is not just so

[Clay]

I've noticed that I've gotten more objective over the years, most likely because my sample size has gotten larger. I think the first review I wrote was for this thing, which basically boils down to me loving it because it compared so well to the ones I had as a kid.

I see lots of people do the same thing when they find this site. They've just started collecting, and everything they get is just lovely for a while.

[Sades]

I still love RiD. In fact I love RiD even more now than I did back then.

I think I'd be a bit more objective now- I'd still try to look for a balance of good/bad in the toy, unless I absolutely hated the thing. Then no one could pay me money to find much in the positive. Toys I hate outright are few and far between however.

[Blackjack]

Blackjack gave him 11 out of 10. I am more interesting in knowing what he thinks now.

If I reviewed him now, he won't get 11. I wrote that review in all the excitement of a guy who's seen Masterpiece toys for the first time, so it's a little... well, you know. It's the spur of the moment. You spend lots of money on a hunk of plastic, and you'll either be very pleased or very disgusted at it for a while.

But then, I still like MP Megatron. Granted, he's got next to zero play value- you can't play with him without being afraid thar he'll break apart. Also, those metal things in his waist are seriously hampering him standing in robot mode. He's got lots of other little problems as well. Also, to top that, unlike MP Convoy who you could give to kids to play with without much fear of things snapping of, MP Megs is nothing but a glorified display piece. For me, at least. Coupled with his stupendous price, that'd probably get him around 5 or 6 if I reviewed him now.

As for other reviews go, I wished I had done things differently. Movie Overcast, Divebomb, Voy O.P. and some other Movie repaints got average/good reviews because my sample size was so small back then. (Some of said reviews are also very... eesh. Don't like them.) I also liked Animated Slag when I first got him. Not anymore. Also, I wished I'd given Ejector's review less marks.

[Detective Barricade]

To be honest, I'm a bit ashamed of my ROTF Scalpel and Animated Waspinator reviews. I don't hate them, but the former can't really do much and the latter is just meh.

[Savannahtron]

To be honest, I'm a bit ashamed of my ROTF Scalpel and Animated Waspinator reviews. I don't hate them, but the former can't really do much and the latter is just meh.

What? When I read your Scalpel review, I seriously thought hard about buying the good doctor...

Seriously guys, you guys are all good review writers, we all have our unique perspectives and the fan syndrome hits us all at one point or another...i mean come on, the word "fan" stems from "fanatic"...think about it.

[Knightdramon]

Seriously guys, you guys are all good review writers, we all have our unique perspectives and the fan syndrome hits us all at one point or another...i mean come on, the word "fan" stems from "fanatic"...think about it.

Very, very good point.

I believe it also has to do with how fast toys get better and better. What was aces back in 2005 is a moderately good figure right now and so on. Not many figures stand out in the test of time, the majority of Armada and Energon being good examples.

I gave BT Dead End a perfect score, which I probably wouldn't have in retrospect. Henkei Sunstreaker outclasses him in every aspect except vehicle mode, and there's a 40-30 USD price difference between them.

[Blackjack]

Nah, price's what makes things seem bad. With the same amount of money you could use to buy, say, Kickback or Blight during the Energon lines (which aren't bad figures per se), you could use to buy a much better figure nowadays. It's how much they improve in looks, if not in design.

Plus, there's the hype which comes with a new toy. Either it looks so amazingly wonderful during the first few minutes of play, or it looks like a waste of money. I gave some others some scores which are too high as well. The ROTF girl-bikes should've lost a mark or two due to their overcomplication, and I can't believe that I've been that generous in giving away marks. I must be stricter from now on...

[Cliffjumper]

I believe it also has to do with how fast toys get better and better. What was aces back in 2005 is a moderately good figure right now and so on. Not many figures stand out in the test of time, the majority of Armada and Energon being good examples.

I don't know, I find a lot of the early G1 figures still stand up quite nicely. Sure, the articulation and accuracy isn't there, but they're generally so well made (and relatively well detailed) that they're still easy to like. The best stuff from RiD has aged rather well too, as has a lot of the stuff from the last year of G2.

The Unicron Trilogy stuff I have no time for, though - ugly figures blatantly turned out on low budgets and to fill quotas, very few of them having any sort of personality, often using lurid colours (anyone who wants to pull a "LOL Neon <link to some strip of Shortpacked>" thing here can be my guest, I will ****ing destroy you; sometimes the fanboys are right) with a plasticky feel. There're bound to be a few idiots who'll claim a few balljoints make a figure better than something that's actually been designed properly, however many condoms you sell.

This is as much about the speed that toys come out, though - the Autobot cars, as Diaclones, were about 20 figures spread over two-three years, meaning the designers could take their time. Nowadays Hasbro put out, what, 15-20 new Deluxe figures a year? The Movie stuff gets off relatively lightly because ILM or whoever do the basic concept and all the designers have got to do is translate a transforming CG model into a viable transforming plastic toy - not simple, of course, but much easier than having to work from a blank sheet. I'd guess this is also why Classics/Universe scores so well - fewer figures + rough starting point (Starscream, Mirage, Prowl, Sideswipe, Inferno and Bumblebee have the same rough layout as their G1 counterparts for a start) = more time to make the toy not suck.

[Paul053]

What? When I read your Scalpel review, I seriously thought hard about buying the good doctor....

Same here. I actually went after Animated Ultra Magnus after I saw the review here, but then that figure just totally disappointed me.

The technology does change fast. Look at the Gundam model 10, 15 years ago and comparing to what they have now. Bandai has kept pushing to another level every time. But Sazabi and Hyaku Shiki are always my all time favorite. Something in the past if was really very good, it still has it's value now. Something even with most recent tech but a piece of crap, it will be on eBay very soon.

Keep up guys, this site is a very good source of values when I see something on eBay or any other places.

[Knightdramon]

Same here. I actually went after Animated Ultra Magnus after I saw the review here, but then that figure just totally disappointed me.

Still love that figure

Relative complexity of the figure doesn't have much to do with how many come out, I suppose. MP Megatron still sucks, even though there were only two other moulds in the line at the time.

I'm not really into G1 stuff because they don't do it for me as toys; they're not poseable and most of them have got better figures, ever since Binaltech was up and running.

There's still the occasional crap piece here and there [movie blazemaster, voyager starscream when compared to leader class SS] but it's much more scarce than say, 80% of the autobots back in Energon.

[Clay]

I don't know, I find a lot of the early G1 figures still stand up quite nicely. Sure, the articulation and accuracy isn't there, but they're generally so well made (and relatively well detailed) that they're still easy to like. The best stuff from RiD has aged rather well too, as has a lot of the stuff from the last year of G2.

Yeah, toy 'tech' isn't linear. All of the neat bits and design improvements of the movie toys compared to Armada have been around since G2.

The Unicron Trilogy stuff I have no time for, though - ugly figures blatantly turned out on low budgets and to fill quotas, very few of them having any sort of personality, often using lurid colours (anyone who wants to pull a "LOL Neon <link to some strip of Shortpacked>" thing here can be my guest, I will ****ing destroy you; sometimes the fanboys are right) with a plasticky feel. There're bound to be a few idiots who'll claim a few balljoints make a figure better than something that's actually been designed properly, however many condoms you sell.

Mostly disagree here, but not because I necessarily like the toy lines. The Unicron stuff, through the progression of Armada to Energon to Cybertron, seemed to be a really conscious effort to 'grow' another group of kids on the brand with the increasing relative complexity of the lines. I don't know the merits of idea or how well it may have worked, but I won't completely write off Armada just because I find them garish, blocky, and uninteresting. Simply put, they're not for me or you, y'know?

This is as much about the speed that toys come out, though - the Autobot cars, as Diaclones, were about 20 figures spread over two-three years, meaning the designers could take their time. Nowadays Hasbro put out, what, 15-20 new Deluxe figures a year?

That's a good point.