Waning Interest in the Mainline
There was once a time when I could easily explore a toy aisle and look for the newest stuff from a TV show or a movie that was coming out, especially when it was my birthday or I was saving up some of my allowances. Basically, everything a kid could do when there was no way I'd be able to get a job at the time. A new season of Power Rangers or a new version of a Transformers series with alternating movie sequels, what else could a kid be excited for? Years later, I became less and less interested in finding whatever was around for the mainline stuff as an older man. There was a brief period in time when I was in college and I could buy stuff with no problem, but that time has now long been gone thanks to the pandemic pushing my classes to virtual. It left me to buy things online, which was a little more convenient, but it didn't feel the same as when I went shopping in my college days. And it didn't help that stuff wasn't around as much or a lot of the stores near me were closed down.
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| 20 years separates when Star Wars hype was big vs when it felt dead |
And that doesn't help with how I began losing interest in newer iterations of these franchises. I mean, I was consistent with PR because I would always be interested in seeing what was around when Bandai America and now Hasbro would do with a Sentai season for their own shows and toys. Especially after being able to delve into Beast Morphers a lot more than any prior season as someone who stuck with collecting the figures and not wanting to miss out on a new season with Go-Busters aesthetics. Come to Dino Fury and I still was on board, but the slower wait for Cosmic Fury is making me want to be on hold for what's actually worth getting.
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| This isn't a jab at the seasons themselves but the toy quantity/representation on store shelves got worse over time. |
The Transformers series was also something I began to lose interest in with future iterations Still, while the slowdown of PR is because of that, Transformers instead has the problem where newer iterations would stick with the Evergreen aesthetics because of Hasbro's brand unification. I didn't mind this with Cyberverse in retrospect since it managed to have a stylized appearance while retaining that Geewun influence. Earthspark has an animation style entirely different from our own, but I couldn't help but feel conflicted with either liking Optimus Prime's new voice actor and the return of Elita-1 to not finding much interest in the rest of the Terrans past Thrash and Twitch. More on this later.
Increased focus on Marvel Legends, DC Multiverse, Star Wars: The Black Series, etc
Transformers and Power Rangers weren't my only massive interests based on pop culture. I bought stuff from other franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and other IPs with slightly less presence. Star Wars was a series I got into back in 2005 when Revenge of the Sith first hit theaters, and I loved both the Prequel and Original Trilogies. I was a fan of Spider-Man and plenty of Marvel heroes before I grew up with PR, SW, and TF; I'd later explore other series like Ninja Turtles and plenty of video game, movie, and TV show IPs that I don't buy as much merchandise of. But of late, after years of not being able to get a definitive idea of what kind of superhero and Star Wars displays I'd want, especially when I used to buy Lego, I eventually got myself into the 6-inch scale line, thus getting me various characters from these franchises and then some.
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| Some of the April 2023 purchases representing what I got from the aforementioned IPs |
3 3/4 inch figures from Marvel Universe and Star Wars, then Lego minifigures so they can scale with Transformers, I realized that the best way to own versions of these characters was in the 6-inch scale. And it's something I stuck with since most of the characters were made by Hasbro, at least in figure form. I spent a ton of money on the Marvel Legends based on the classic designs of various characters after making the Fox Kids Marvel Retrospective video, and I'd later do the same for the DC Universe Classics after finding out they're being sold for cheap. Black Series has been a bit easier to build a collection than Legends, as some characters were kind of pricy.
In addition to that, there were plenty of other franchises that I feel deserve some recognition in the 1:12 scale, with Figuarts making way for not just video game characters like the Mario Bros and Pac-Man, but also a bit of an anime itch (and a classic anime itch at that), with Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 taking up the spotlight. It'll only be a matter of time before Dragonball joins the collection. I have my sights on Figmas from Inuyasha and Urusei Yatsura, and with me owning figures from Sonic and Halo, Street Fighter and Mega Man of Capcom fame aren't too far behind.
Not Impressed With Earthspark
Earthspark is another reboot of the Transformers franchise, which I always like to see ever since I got into the franchise, the fact that the 2000s and early 2010s were able to give different identities from each iteration remained very memorable even to this day, making this franchise a success. Earthspark, on the other hand, ends up feeling less. It's when we go through the days of the Evergreen aesthetics being used for everything except the movies where things fall short. Cyberverse did seem like it was going to be a bland show at first, but its deep lore cuts and build-up to the main cast made it a memorable experience in comparison to what Earthspark has going for it.
There have been things that I liked about Earthspark, such as the post-war setting along with the fact that Optimus and Megatron don't always agree with each other or G.H.O.S.T, and hey, the first two Terrans were pretty cool in addition to adding a new idea to the lore as Transformers that were born from Earth's resources rather than being pure Cybertronian. The problem stems from how the rest of the show ends up feeling either interesting or lackluster. Half of the time, it does something that is really cool, such as when the Autobots are rounding up the Decepticons or when we get to understand how the Terrans work better, and other times, it feels like a really long series of short episodes that you'd find on the YouTube website.
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| Sometimes, I like this quartet of human/Terran allies. Other times, I see the human duo as your average kid characters in a Nick Jr show if I set aside the kind of show they're in. |
For the most part, I like seeing uncommon characters get more spotlight in a new show, as we saw with Hardtop joining Swindle as brothers, Breakdown getting a prominent role in addition to being Bumblebee's friend, Elita-1 being Prime's second in command, and Soundwave + his minions being resentful towards Megatron, but I just don't have the same excitement as I had with earlier shows, and I also can't help but feel other characters don't feel as interesting. Bumblebee's been-there-done-that apart from now being like the older brother to the Terrans, and honestly, the other Terrans past Twitch and Thrash are not as interesting; the only interesting things about the later 3 guys are Hashtag's wi-fi powers, Jawbreaker being a dinosaur Transformer that is NOT a Dinobot, and Nightshade turning into an owl. Even the designs are a bit mixed. Some like Elita and Megatron look cool. while others like Prime and Bee feel so bland for the latter and worse than Cyberverse for the former (even if I like Prime's new VA).
Rise of the Beasts Prioritized
Let's put it this way: Between 2018 and 2023, we got the entirety of Cyberverse along with their Netflix movies, Rescue Bots Academy, the Netflix War for Cybertron trilogy, Botbots, and now Earthspark. I'd add the Nehza Transformers crossover, but that was canceled given what happened with COVID and the relationships with the US and China getting worse. We had 5 shows almost yearly between this time gap. And we hadn't had a new movie for such a long time, too. First, we waited 2 years for a new Transformers movie to be released when it came to the original trilogy. After Dark of the Moon, we had 3-year-wait gaps for Age of Extinction and The Last Knight. The former honestly being kind of worth it even if I later grew to like AOE less than the first three movies. The Last Knight, on the other hand, I started to like much less than the previous four films. But that's besides the point. We got Bumblebee a year later, and it felt like a case of Hasbro really trying so hard to make a cinematic universe's spinoff approach with a solo movie, and I wasn't a fan of that. So thankfully, Hasbro turned Bumblebee 2 into the far superior Rise of the Beasts. It felt like a new mix between the old and the new, and it being set in 1994 was a nice way of making it a prequel.
But yes, Rise of the Beasts got my attention more than anything else that was popping up for the franchise in 2023. Earthspark was just like any other TV show that popped up since 2018, where it was either pretty good like Cyberverse or horrific like Netflix WFC, but not as memorable as the shows that were from the previous years (especially Prime, Animated, Beast Wars, and hot-take, the Unicron Trilogy). We hadn't had a new movie for so long, and I was thankful that it went back to the more traditional Bayhem while making it a bit more distinct with Caple being mentored by Michael himself. It was something that was missing from the otherwise safe, bland, and predictable Bumblebee movie. Better action, more interesting character moments, no major retreading of MV1 or even AOE, and we get to see new factions this time around with the Maximals and Terrorcons (no Predacons sadly apart from the Scorponoks and the insignias on Scourge's shoulders being hints to their existence).
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| Honestly best TF movie since DOTM and probably last good TF media for a while |
It was a great experience for fans who wanted something like the past movies while still being a bit more unique with a new director. And surprisingly, the ROTB toyline, despite being smaller than past movie lines, was actually not too bad. Like, it wasn't as liberal with repaints or almost every character having a different size class, but I did like the way we had less of the simplified Transformer bs that began with AOE. While we did claw back to having some traditional Transforming figures in the mainline, they didn't really have the same approach of being Deluxes, Voyagers, etc like in the past, and they also were either smaller figures, inconsistent with scale, or were only Deluxes. Rise of the Beasts at least gives the Battle Changers, Beast Weaponizers, and Beast Combiners articulation so they can be more competent as toys as they are action figures. And as small as it may seem (in addition to being confusing with which countries get which release methods), WE GET PROPER DELUXES AND VOYAGERS!!!!!! Granted, we're missing Arcee, Scourge, and Battletrap, but at least we get Core Deluxes & Voyagers to go with the Studio Series line. Good luck with distribution in the US, though!
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| Incoming ranking soon? |
Avoiding Buying Too Much Dino Fury
Getting into Beast Morphers' toyline was something I enjoyed doing in 2019, getting various mainline figures and even obtaining the Zords at the best of my ability. It was 2020 when things got worse for Season 2 of BM to then focus on MMPR. Like, I know that there was the Triple Dino Team-Up along with the then-upcoming release of Dino Fury, but why divert attention from your current series all the way to MMPR???? Okay, the triple-dino Ranger set did have Dino Thunder Blue and Dino Charge pink, and Hasbro did make a non-combining Rexy from Dino Charge, but the rest of their new subline focused solely on 12-inch figures of the MMPR team that replaced green with white (which is fine), 8-inch pre-posed figures that are missing Yellow (which makes no sense), and those 12 inch auto-morphins with chest armor that only did Red, Blue, and Pink. What was the point of all that? And we got another MMPR Megazord but no Beast-X King Zord???? At least make cheaper versions of Thundersaurus and Dino Charge Megazords. They'll be worse than the Bandai versions that people worship, but at least go all out with the dino-team-up!
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| I still miss you... |
Come Dino-Fury, I continued the trend of buying the Morpher-Ranger-Zord approach that was done with Beast Morphers, due to the Morphers working with keys that come with the Rangers, said Rangers being good in scale and articulation, and Zords being more poseable when combined. Seems reasonable, right? Well, 2021 seemed pretty good for Dino Fury in my opinion, and 2022 became a mixed bag. I was annoyed that Black and Green were only affordable in the basic-line with their arm-or, and I was not too thrilled to find out that the second Gold Ranger is basically the basic figure wearing a cape with a Skittles sword. I wish Hasbro did the Hero Mashers approach of swapping the arms and making the heads removable so you can make them recreate the gimmicks of the show where they had different arm and chest add-ons. Or you can make them Ranger-exclusive depending on who used a specific power the most. And remember the Super Samurai Red Ranger figure from 2011/2 that was nicely articulated and can turn into the Shogun mode with snap-on armor? Hasbro should have revisited that with Dino Knight Red! Maybe even give him lights and sounds because I don't think they did that with Shogun Mode Red.
I didn't care for too much of the roleplay stuff or the bikes, and I also didn't buy the last two Basic figures of armored versions for Green and Pink after being mad at Master Gold. I am still waiting for the Gold Ranger's morpher to go on discount, because I was okay spending $20 on the last three offerings, and I didn't want to spend an extra $10 here. While Beast Morphers Year 1 was strong in terms offerings apart from how the Zords were handled, the subsequent years ranged from muddy in clarity to doing alright to making me wish Hasbro handled their figures differently. I do hope we can get the remaining Zords from Cosmic Fury, and in a single swoop because spending $30 on the Dimetro Blaze Zord was a wee bit pricy...
Cosmic Fury Merchandise a Stepdown
You know how the Power Rangers fandom, and by extension, the Toku fanbase, can be extremely irritating of late, but let's actually look into something that I would actually agree with for once, even if the reasons I'm agreeing with them would be different. Now show-wise, Cosmic Fury might either be good or bad, especially given how we haven't seen any promotions for it in contrast to all of the behind-the-scenes stuff that Simon Bennett kept posting even after his Twitter died. Power Rangers promotion has been really poor, but we still don't know if the show will be any good or not. The toys? We damn know well that they suck. So far, we only have a Zenith Ranger role play set, the Cosmic Morpher, and the Megazord set that puts all five of the Kyuranger Zords into a single pack like with the past few sets from Dino Fury proper and Beast Morphers. Now what's wrong with the stuff we know so far? Well, the roleplay set is about what I'd expect. But the rest of the stuff is not looking too good...and no, there are no other signs of roleplay or figure merch to go with what already exists...now let's talk about these things.
Now just to let you guys know, I don't care if they don't adapt Kyuranger entirely. I don't care about the furry Blue Ranger or the numerous other Rangers we wouldn't get (though Bennett could have brought in past Rangers to join the fight rather without developing new characters...shrug), and hey, the Morpher prop itself looks cool. But that's the thing: I'm talking about the prop specifically, because it's detailed pretty well and also has some nice paint. The actual toy, on the other hand, is weak as piss. Sure, the sound effects are plentiful and we don't need to buy any keys or accessories from basic figures, but the appearance is a step down from what we previously got. Even the Beast-X King Morpher, an original creation, looked better! And it's cool that it could interact with sound effects from Dino Fury, Cosmic Fury (when is the promotion, Hasbro/Netflix?), and MMPR: Once and Always for some reason), but I could easily pull up my phone and have it play random sounds that unlock those sounds, I reckon. It's a mix between a cool feature and something needless.
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| This is the Halloween prop looking-aah Morpher that tried to succeed the Dino Fury ones... |
And then there's the Megazord itself. Now tbh, Kyurenoh kind of sucked. He was a light and sound brick with Zords that were basically kiddy ride-shaped, with the only interesting thing being they can act like G1 combiner limbs and act as either arms or legs on a torso. Hasbro's take on the design sucks for different reasons: its articulation is barely altered from the Japanese toy, which was fine for the Wrecker Zord from Beast Morphers because it added onto the Ultrazord, but a mainline Megazord could have benefitted from that range of movement, even if it meant altering the goofy ass design. And the fact that it's $70, the same price you'd pay for either the Dino Fury Warrior formation or the Primal Ultrazord, and its functionality is no different from the Bandai America Megazords. Yes, we're going back to the simpler Bandai America bricks rather than the more articulated Hasbrozords. Even that basic MMPR Megazord wasn't that expensive, and it was comparable to the Bandai Megazords (though in some ways it is worse than the 2010 version). If it was a bigger Megazord, or if there was more functionality than the Zord Link, I could probably see what they're going for.
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| Seriously not worth $70 |
And what else do we get apart from that set? Well, there is a roleplay set for the Zenith Ranger, which is fine, but where are the weapons? Hell, WHERE ARE THE FIGURES?! One of the main parts of any Power Rangers toyline, and we don't have anything from them? It's not like the Cosmic Fury suits are barely altered, because Zayto and Amelia get new colors altogether (Amelia succeeding as the Red Ranger, Zayto becoming the Zenith Ranger), and I don't like the suits for the most part (aside from probably the aforementioned Zenith Ranger because he is more original), but it would at least be appreciative if there was a wave of the main team, and we could get an additional wave with the Zenith and Orange Rangers along with other figures from the series. Maybe another Lord Zedd? His troopers themed after him? Solon getting a figure? Why not give one to Scrozzle after not getting one in Beast Morphers? No? Gg Hasbro.
Lightning Collection Prioritized
Alright, keep in mind that this blog was planned before we had the announcement that the Lightning Collection would have a temporary hiatus, something that was originally rumored before it was confirmed indirectly at SDCC...we'll see what that Hasbro Pulsecon 2023 event will have. But setting that aside, with how underwhelming Cosmic Fury seems so far, I thought it would be better to just stick with the Lightning Collection from here. And who knows if the reboot will make me want to get figures from the new series, because the aesthetics would either be something good or something I could care less for. I would love it if they made the suit designs look reminiscent of the Mega Modes from Power Rangers Samurai, but I would NOT want them to look like overly-CG-reliant Iron Man suits (cough Blue Beetle). But regardless of what the reboot will do, there will always be Lightning Collection figures worth getting to complete past teams.
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| This will be updated with Aquitar, better MMPR Helmets, Lost Galaxy, and Dino Thunder. |
Owning past pieces of PR merch before Ninja Storm as well as seeing the history video from Legacy of Power (the milestone episode of Dino Thunder) made me want to complete the teams, especially after seeing Gokaiger's Legend War. While Super Megaforce may have fewer teams due to them starting with MMPR, it was a display I'd like to have regardless, especially as someone who has no connection to the pre-Zyuranger teams and the unused Dairanger suits beyond going "neat" and moving on. But seriously, the past years of Power Rangers lore has made me really want to delve into the teams I never got figures of as a kid. I mean, I had a Battlizer version for Ninja Storm Red as well as a toy-only version with the Crimson Ranger, while Dino Thunder had some 5-inch figures of Black and Triassic Rangers for the mainline and two that are bike figures of Blue and White but Red was a weird combiner with the raptor. Almost all of them got lost through time, and I never had a Yellow Ranger. I do have old SPD figures of Red, Blue, and Green, but no one else beyond that. I got Red and Green Mystic Rangers but the Red Ranger's leg broke 10 years later. For Overdrive, only had Red and Black Rangers but no one else. Jungle Fury Blue Ranger with a spinning attack gimmick, none from RPM, but I did get some figures from MMPR 2010 but not a complete team. I got a basic 5-pack of regular Samurai Rangers and the Mega Modes of the trio of guys but not the girls. I never got any Rangers from Megaforce, but Super Megaforce gave me MMPR Red, Green, Titanium, and the Toys R Us exclusive Lord Zedd in the Action Hero line, but nothing from Dino Charge or Ninja Steel, 5-inch wise.
When Hasbro took over and we got 6-inch figures, my interest grew much more, as I went all out on getting figures from both Beast Morphers and Dino Fury. Not all of them were bought, as the ones that came with the Beast Bot armor and the bike sets along with the last two girl figures of Dino Fury were skipped. But the Lightning Collection meant I could get a much stronger chance of buying every Ranger team from Mighty Morphin up to Beast Morphers and now Dino Fury. Main villains as well as any extra figures I like would be purchased, so that explains why I got the Turtles as well as the Street Fighter collab but not the Cobra Kai sets (don't see this as me not liking CK). Not every figure was obtained as of this writing, as I don't have Psycho Black, Yellow, and Pink, nor do I have Lord Drakkon Evo III in my possession. And to be real with you, I never cared about the Ninjetti forms. They feel like needless pajamas that try to pass of as a cool part of the Ninja theming but it just comes off as a mid-intermediate mode (inter-mid-iate?); I prefer the attire found in Ninja Storm and, dare I say it, Ninja Steel, with the black and Ranger-color highlights being accents. But so far, I got MMPR, Aquitar, Zeo, In Space, Lost Galaxy, Dino Thunder, the main 7 of SPD, and the main 6 of Dino Charge complete. 8 teams in addition to the currently incomplete ones (Turbo, Time Force, Wild Force, Beast Morphers, and Dino Fury), making it up to 13 main teams getting represented, and why not, let's throw in Lightspeed Blue and RPM Yellow to represent the two newest teams to be added, making 15 out of the total 22 different teams we saw on TV (24 if you count Super Megaforce and Cosmic Fury). Contrast that to Bandai only making 6 teams with the Legacy Collection (though they did make Ninja Storm figures...)
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| I'll complete the Psychos... |
Unsure of Future Collecting Habit Changes
I've been consistently collecting toys since 2018, when I "rebooted" my collection from a somewhat presentable display to a much larger collection representing different franchises. Transformers, then Power Rangers, and Marvel/DC simultaneously, along with Star Wars and a bit of TMNT love. It first began with the Studio Series line getting the spotlight with miscellaneous figures from other lines along with some rep for Marvel, DC, and the occasional Black Series buy before they expanded of late, and with not just repeated Spider-Men or Batmen. Now, it's got some rep for gaming mascots and, after years of me doubting I'd explore the genre, anime franchises. And like I said, only good franchises like the aforementioned examples of Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, and Dragonball not too far away, and nothing that has one-note fanservice females or varying degrees of perverted or edgy males who get in the same style of Zelda clone realities with titles like "My Very Specific Story Where I Generated Moments as a Pervert". Maybe I should get a NECA Robocop to arrest them because dead or alive, they're coming with him!
But the truth is that at some point, I will no longer be able to collect for various reasons: firstly, the franchises I am a fan of will not always be ones I'd want to delve into as much later on. I already said I don't care about Cosmic Fury or Earthspark as of now, but it doesn't take a genius to realize this will also extend to the current line-up of toys from Marvel, DC, and Star Wars. I also don't feel like completing every single franchise the same way I am with the examples I mentioned for certain lines. Also, space is going to play a factor, and I dom't want to be seen as a hoarder the same way Sean Long was. I would love to have a bigger room, but that would probably happen if I was in a different house altogether. And I really don't feel like getting too many remakes of already remade characters. Like a Voyager Movie Ratchet would be cool, but I don't want a third Arcee after getting SS-86 (and making her a Voyager would probably make that one warm shelves).
And finally, responsibilities are growing for me. I need to help my family pay the bills, from the internet to the phone bill, and I also need to ensure that I pay for food and gas. Life isn't just about toys, especially if they aren't all being as good as they once were. And hell, I won't really complete certain lines if I lose interest. It'll be a matter of time when that happens. But whatever goes on, the blog site would probably be retooled into something else on the day I stop buying toys; even still, the posts shall remain no matter what.
Conclusion
And that wraps up my post regarding the lack of reviews for Earthspark and Cosmic Fury. One is a version of Transformers I lost interest in much sooner than any version in the past, even compared to RID15, while the other is a season of Power Rangers that offers far too little than the norm (and even still, a mediocre Morpher and an overpriced Bandai America Megazord are not good enough). I think I will stick with the Generations and Lightning stuff for now, which is perfect for another post coming soon as it covers the Top 100 Studio Series figures! See you then!
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