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It’s funny that this sort of offhanded reference to a fairly standard nontroversy has sparked so much discussion. I can’t remember the last time there were over 50 comments about anything. XD Not that I mind, it’s just funny how bad IO am at guessing what will get people talking. Anyway, I’ve watched so many youtube videos about star wars, comics, and everything else that’s a topic in the culture war we’re going through right now. From Magic the gathering on down the line everything is either under attack or being infiltrated, depending on where you stand. I’m always stuck somewhere near the center, which, in our culture now, is the same as not being involved at all because both sides disown you. I’ve always been a fan of Transformers, so I hear stuff about the deeper fandom delving into more social issues as Hasbro pushes its inclusivity agenda across all its brands. I’m actually a fan of this because we’re finally getting toys of the “female” transformers, and new “female” characters. (I put female in quotes because technically Cybertronians are genderless, but some present themselves in ways we understand as male or female. Although that may be old information because I think they may be delving in to the idea of them actually having genders as humans understand them now.) Strongarm was a delight in the RID cartoon. They’ve also had “gay” relationships represented although, as previously discussed, genderless. Basically they’re writing in the idea of love between robots, which is a fun idea on a lot of levels. They are an alien race that reproduce asexually. They have souls that can be handled, transferred, seen, and reborn. Anyway, what I’m saying is that I like the inclusion of more types of characters because it expands my enjoyment & draws in others, which maintains interest in supporting something I want to continue.

On the other hand, G.I. Joe seems to be struggling with its identity right now and looks to be at odds with its own fandom in a big way. Sometimes you swing and miss. Although eventually the franchise will finds where it needs to go it’s having a struggle right now that’s got people cranky. I like G.I.joe, but I’m glad I’m outside of it enough that I don’t have to be in the middle of it with the die hard fans. Being in the Star Wars fandom is hard enough right now, even though I’m not bothered by where the franchise is going in particular. The non movie stuff usually manages to fix the dumb shit the films do, so I expect that will keep happening. Especially since they brought Clone Wars back for another season. Also the rebellion cartoon looks like it might fill in a lot of the much needed character development for the new movies, at least as far as Poe Dameron is concerned. Hopefully that will extend to other movie characters as well.

I totally forgot where I was going with all of this. I started thinking about transformers in the back of my head and now I want to look up some stuff about Vector Sigma…

Okay, I know this is David Willis’s “thing” but right now Transformers is just having this nostalgia orgasm in the toy lines. We’ve been getting really good versions of so many classic characters. Like, we finally, after 3 decades, got a perfect Brawn figure. He’s one of my absolute favorite characters and I’ve waited so long… Since he shared a mold with Outback we also got a figure of him too, who was also one of my favorites. They also have done almost every combiner team with a new system that actually makes the combined form hold together like a toy on its own. Additionally they made a lot of characters compatible with combining that never were before, but that had the bonus effect of allowing more freedom to retrofit more character into the line. SO we finally got Ironhide & Ratchet in relatively show accurate designs. They also did all 5 Dinobots in one set. So now there’s a stylistically cohesive version of the entire classic team, which hasn’t happened since gen 2 I guess. Unfortunately quality has slipped noticeably with some of the figures. Elita 1, for example is a hot mess. So is Starscream since they share a mold. It’s very hit and miss. Some figures are nearly perfect while others are wildly bad. On the whole everything is better though, and the travesty of the movies isn’t infringing on the generations line in any noticeable way.