Transformer Toy of the Year - 2016

[banzait...@gmail.com]

Transformer Toy of the Year - 2015

ATT,

It's the holiday tradition that EVERYBODY looks forward to, the "Official" ATT Announcement of the Transformer Toy of the Year Award - 2015. First a review of the rules:

1.) No ties. You have to pick one (Feel free to name as many honorable mentions as you wish!)
2.) No molds. If you pick a mold that has been redeco'd a zillion times (pretty much any CW figure), you have to declare which of the redecos you are picking.
3.) No third party toys
4.) Released in 2016, as defined by tfu.info (http://www.tfu.info/year/16index.htm) NOTE: They have not yet updated this link for 2016
5.) Cost is a factor in selection. The more expensive, the more "awesome" the toy has to be to win.

So, 2016 was yet another great year for the franchise. As great as the Combiner Wars toys tuned out to be, we all got redeco tired head towards the end of 2015. While Hasbro is STILL cranking out remolds of these toys from now two years ago, we got introduced to the improved line called Titan Masters. Why improved? No major reason other than they have definitely tamped down the number of remolds/redecos. The ones that they have done have been very well executed.
Looking ahead, there are two key challenges I see in 2017. One, as has been discussed on this group extensively is that they are starting to scrape the barrel of characters that are worth re-issuing. Second, we are about to experience a deluge of Bayverse toys. While many of these toys have been excellent, I am not ready for another round of movie toys now, and possibly never).

Anywys, back to the 2016 ATT Toy of the Year. First, let me announce who I thought was a very close runner up. Titans Return Galvatron. Here is arguably one of the most important Decepticon characters, but he has never been given a serious treatment by Hasbro since his initial 1986 release. He has mostly been relegated to cash-grab repaints of Megatron molds. He's been given every conceivable alt-mode (INCLUDING A PIG!!! WTF) but his legendary cannon. I can't tell you how excited I was to see this toy made. It was loooonnng over due. This toy was not without issues. (head doesn't turn, cannon blocks elbow bending, etc. But none of these are what I consider serious. There is so much other stuff going on that is perfectly executed. The deal breaker for me is the decision to make this toy a voyager class. Galvatron was the LEADER of the Decepticons. He should have been leader class.

Drum roll please...

The ATT 2016 Toy of the year is Titans Return Blaster! This toy pretty much has it all. He's hands down the best Blaster toy yet to be made. Fully poseable, G1 retro mode (They didn't try to make him an ipod or armored carrier), movable head (sorry Galvatron), perfect color scheme, etc. I really don't have any complaints with this toy (yeah yeah, his legs are somewhat hollow). Given that Blaster's G1 toy was one of the tallest of the line, it makes perfect sense that he was molded in the leader class. He has the added bonus of holding cassettes, and I also like that they incorporated one of his cannons into a cassette that he can neatly store (I also love that his handgun can double as an antenna in radio mode!). Finally, they gave him a rather nifty base mode, which makes up for his marginally useful radio mode. This toy is as close to perfection as I have seen in some time. Well done Hasbro.
TR Blaster was not a cheap toy, and I certainly don't want to trivialize this point. However, given that he is executed so well, and allows for building upon with a cassette army, I think his price is justified.

Note: You might be wondering why I didn't pick Soundwave. I personally find his radio mode appalling. It's incredibly ugly.

So there you have it... Would love to here what everyone thinks was the best toy of 2016.

-Banzaitron

[Zobovor]

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 12:26:42 PM UTC-7, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:

> 4.) Released in 2016, as defined by tfu.info

I can't get their site to load right now. Also, it's really hard to distinguish the tail-end 2016 product from the 2017 product. (Technically, Triggerhappy and Twinferno are 2017 product according to Hasbro.) It stands to reason that if already I own the toy, and it's the last day of the year, then it must be a 2016 release, yes?

> Looking ahead, there are two key challenges I see in 2017. One, as has
> been discussed on this group extensively is that they are starting to scrape
> the barrel of characters that are worth re-issuing.

Which characters are and are not worth reissuing is kind of subjective. Back in 2006 I would have wanted to see core characters and first-string favorites, but now I'm excited to see what they're going to do with characters like Searchlight and Pointblank. At this point, any lesser-known character they produce will have the same marketplace effect as an all-new character when it comes to the younger target audience. For the collectors, though, it's world-building. It's the same as releasing an obscure Batman villain or a random background alien from Star Wars. There are fans who gobble up stuff like that.

Of course, it's the well-known characters who have the most public recognition and sales potential, so I am absolutely certain that, just as we continue to get Batman and Darth Vader, we'll continue to get new versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron and Starscream and Bumblebee.

> Second, we are about to experience a deluge of Bayverse toys. While many of
> these toys have been excellent, I am not ready for another round of movie

> toys now, and possibly never.

They'll continue to sell Generations toys alongside of them, whatever form the new movie toys take.

> The deal breaker for me is the decision to make this toy a voyager class.
> Galvatron was the LEADER of the Decepticons. He should have been leader
> class.

I think they were probably also looking at keeping the toy to scale with the other Decepticons. The G1 Galvatron toy was the height of Ultra Magnus and as a result he towered over Cyclonus and Scourge. He should be slightly bigger, not absurdly so.

> The ATT 2016 Toy of the year is Titans Return Blaster!

Blaster is very good. I'm not sure he's my absolute favorite, though. The tightness of all those ratcheting joints interferes with playing with him and posing him, and his angry Perceptor face is just weird.

> (I also love that his handgun can double as an antenna in radio mode!).

I think this was a holdover from the Microman/G1 toy. It's the reason his weapon is shaped the way it is!

> So there you have it... Would love to here what everyone thinks was the
> best toy of 2016.

There were so many amazing toys this year. Galvatron, Blurr, Scourge, Mindwipe, Highbrow... all impressive and hugely successful updates. I think the 2016 product year will go down in history as one of my absolute favorites ever. So many great tributes to classic characters.

We also got a whole slew of Masterpiece toys this year, too. Takara released Ironhide, Hot Rod, Shockwave, Ratchet, Delta Magnus, Optimus Primal, Inferno, Ramjet, cartoon Red Alert, Loudpedal, and Thrust, plus Hasbro release Masterpiece Bumblebee and Shattered Glass Optimus Prime. I think that's an unprecedented (or maybe I should say "unpresidented") number of Masterpiece releases for a single year. More than one toy for every month of the year!

The only Masterpiece toys I actually own from this year, though, are Hot Rod and Bumblebee. I've seen photos of the others, of course, but it's hard to form an informed opinion without seeing them up close. I like Hot Rod a lot, and he's one of my favorite Masterpiece toys, but he's got some major flaws. He loses big points for not being able to roll as a vehicle, and while his huge backpack is forgivable and understandable given the limitations of the cartoon design, it's still an aspect of the toy I dislike. It would be unsanctionable of me to vote for him.

A month ago I would have said Powermaster Optimus Prime. Unfortunately, having seen photos, and having confirmed that it's been released in Japan, my vote has to go to the TakaraTomy Legends LG-35 Super Ginrai. The fact that he got a sculpt overhaul makes him clearly superior to the Hasbro version. He's got a faux Hi-Q engine in his chest, and his entire truck cab was redone to make him much more Optimus-ish (or Convoy-esque, I suppose would be the proper term). I love the look of the toy so much that I'm actually seriously considering spending the $100 or so to import him despite already owning the domestic edition. He's so damn beautiful. He takes all the things I like about the Titans Return toy and cranks them up to 11. I want him even more than I want Legends Blurr, and I want Legends Blurr even more than I (still) want Henkei Smokescreen.


Zob (put away all the Christmas decorations in four hours today... I think that's a new record)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 11:26:42 AM UTC-8, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> It's the holiday tradition that EVERYBODY looks forward to, the "Official" ATT Announcement of the Transformer Toy of the Year Award

I've been looking forward to it enough that I had mine written up ages ago!

> So, 2016 was yet another great year for the franchise. As great as the Combiner Wars toys tuned out to be, we all got redeco tired head towards the end of 2015.

So long as the redecos are good, I don't mind them. The gimmick makes them work, and I can accept a certain level of repetition that we have somehow not reached.

> Anywys, back to the 2016 ATT Toy of the Year. First, let me announce who I thought was a very close runner up. Titans Return Galvatron.

The little gray strut for his cannon mode keeps popping off. Or is it the tail of his vehicle? I forget. I keep having to dig it out of the bottom of the toy bin.

> The ATT 2016 Toy of the year is Titans Return Blaster!

Huh.


With the tail end of Combiner Wars, and the start of Titans Returns, plus PrimeRID and a large number of Masterpiece toys, this has been the best year in a few years.

Toys that really stand out for me:

- PrimeRID Legion Bisk
- Titans Return Hardhead
- Titans Return Chromedome
- Titans Return Megatron
- Combiner Wars G2 Bruticus
- Unite Warriors Computron
- Masterpiece Inferno
- Masterpiece Ironhide

There is a wide assortment of size classes and toylines and countries of origin there -- there was something great in nearly every line, and many good things (PrimeRID Warrior Line lacked anything that went above very good). Hasbro seems to have learned how to work with the Great Cheapening to produce excellent toys, of the quality that we were getting in the last few waves of Pre-Cheapening. They are different, but great.

PRIMERID LEGION BISK is a tiny perfect toy. He's not very ambitious, but he adds lobster features to a well-trod design. Bright orange, with claws. He adorable, and his name is a pun. He's cheap, he's cute, he's pleasing, and he has been readily available. Unfortunately, the Warrior class toy for the character has a manufacturing defect that prevents him from holding tightly together in vehicle mode, or he would also be on this list.

TITANS RETURN HARDHEAD is a great update to a G1 toy, and probably the best Titan Master Deluxe that we have gotten so far. The main cannon's hidden cockpit for a Titan Master is really well done, so he doesn't look unmanned without another Titan Master helping out. Also, the main cannon is very posable in robot mode -- it can stick up so Hardhead isn't threatening to kill anyone he is speaking to, and it slides slightly to one side so give his head a bit of clearance when it is on his shoulder. There are no actual flaws in the toy, as near as I can see.

TITANS RETURN CHROMEDOME is the other great Titan Master Deluxe. He copies a lot from existing toys for his design (CW Dead End and Energon Hot Shot), but he's a solid, fun toy with great styling. I find myself picking him up and fiddling with him incessantly, so there's something special about him that I have trouble placing.

TITANS RETURN MEGATRON is a premold of Blitzwing, and although that is entirely clear, he works amazingly well as Megatron. Megatron hasn't had a truly definitive toy in the mass market in ages, in large part because his original alt-mode has been banned, and he switches designs for nearly every toy. Sometimes he is a Cybertronian plane or tank, sometimes an Earth bomber, helicopter or tank. Colors have changed countless times -- gray, green, purple, blue (Machine Wars), black, silver... A very G1 Anime color scheme on an Earth Plane/Tank just feels like the obvious conclusion. The stickers really feel cheap though.

CW G2 BRUTICUS is G2riffic. Unlike a lot of people, I haven't hit mold fatigue, and still love these toys even if we have seen them a dozen times before. And, since the Combaticons are sold as a unit, it allows us to get an entire CW team as a Toy of the Year, which we didn't get the option of last year. (Menasor was 2015, apparently, so we had that chance and just missed it?)

UNITE WARRIORS COMPUTRON has many of the advantages of CW G2 Bruticus as being five toys, plus he has a lot of nifty remolds, and the fancy dancy Strafe from the Japanese Blast Off. He's got novelty going for him, but some of the remolds are awkward -- Nosecone and Strafe can really only be arms because of the amount of kibble. On the other hand, Lightspeed shows that the CW Wheeljack mold can be excellent with a better color scheme. Availability and cost tend to go against this choice.

MASTERPIECE IRONHIDE accomplishes the impossible: he goes from a realistic Vanette to a reasonable approximation of his animation model. There are lots of details that don't quite hit the model -- hip kibble, and a bit of a gut (which seems to fit the character, if not the animation model), windows on the bottoms of his arms, tires on his butt, and the sides of his chest are entirely different. But, it is closer than any other version of the character, and closer than I would have thought possible. He comes with a huge number of accessories, including the battle platform that acts as an accessory stand. He is a complicated toy to transform, and I almost always have trouble remembering or figuring out how to get the chest together. He's expensive, and he's more of a puzzle toy than a play-with-me toy.

MASTERPIECE INFERNO is a more successful representation of the character, and a very nice upsizing and enhancement of the original design. I'm not saying that the mold has been upsized, just that it borrows so heavily from the original design that it feels familiar. There are some major changes to the design, to hide the ladder and expose the head, but the legs and arms and chest are all where you would expect them to be if you ever had the original. A nice set of accessories, including some that are insane (the chestpiece to support cradling Red Alert, for instance, the hose that Lord Chumley used to capture him, and an excellently sculpted stream of water). Again, he's expensive, and more of a puzzle-toy than a play-with-me toy.

There were other excellent toys this year, such as PrimeRID Scorponok (odd claws as shoulder pads), TR Blurr (icky colors), and doubtless others. This has really felt like the strongest year in a long time.

But, despite the domestic lines having hit their stride again, Ironhide gets the nod.

Typically, one factors cost into the Toy Of The Year equations, and end up with a domestic release and not too expensive (Legions can win), and in a year with other excellent toys, a Masterpiece wouldn't generally get the nod. But, with Ironhide, Takara managed the impossible -- they created a toy that strongly resembles the G1 character model for robot and vehicle modes, somehow. It was impossible, but they managed it.

And, typically, I would go with play value over puzzle value, but Ironhide is such a pleasing puzzle. Complicated, but not frustrating. Well, not too frustrating -- a fun level of frustration.

BUT WAIT! There is a last minute entry...

TITANS RETURN TRIGGERHAPPY is a toy in every right as excellent as Hardhead or Chromedome. Robot and Vehicle modes are both very distinctive and very believable. Everything pegs tightly together, with no signs of engineering issues (curse you, Warrior Bisk, and your engineering issues!). There's a hard, firm plastic used here, so the fins seem like they might break -- I like that! Great deco, including a truly beautiful blue that has just the right hint of purple to make him a Decepticon. His transformation, however, is pretty unique (borrows a little from Generations Cyclonus for the shoulders, but the spin needed for the chest is all new). He feels new, where Chromedome and Hardhead feel a little bit unambitious.

Fists fold away and cannons flip down, giving him the option for massive weapons rather than hands, which is just fun. Lots more weapons, from molded guns on the tips of the wings to handguns.

I have six different versions of the BM Deluxe Jetstorm mold, and don't regret them at all. 8 versions of the Classics Seeker mold. If this mold got similar reuse, I would have as many of it, and no regrets.

He's a perfect representative of what Titans Return could be. And, he costs deluxe prices, which can be anywhere from $10-20 these days.

Overall, I have to say he's a better toy-value than Ironhide. He doesn't achieve the impossible, the way Ironhide does, but he's a lot more fun and is a better representation of the year as a whole. And that blue is really very nice.


(And now off to a party for Triggerhappy or something...)

[banzait...@gmail.com]

> It stands to reason that if already I own the toy, and it's the last day of the year, then it must be a 2016 release, yes?

I agree. However, a few years back someone got "upset" that a toy was disqualified even though they believed it was released in that year. I never saw it in stores. Long story short, someone on this group suggested I use the tfu site list to make it less subjective. After all, people do have different toy availability by region.

> They'll continue to sell Generations toys alongside of them, whatever form the new movie toys take.

I hope so. I suppose they will can the RID line (no big loss). I just don't see how they will even get the shelf space at retail for all their product. It seems there shelf real estate is progressively shrinking to oblivion.

> There were so many amazing toys this year. Galvatron, Blurr, Scourge, Mindwipe, Highbrow... all impressive and hugely successful updates. I think the 2016 product year will go down in history as one of my absolute favorites ever. So many great tributes to classic characters.

I agree. This was a standout year. Hasbro definitely deserves some kudos. Hopefully, I will be proven wrong, but I don't see how they top this next year.

> We also got a whole slew of Masterpiece toys this year, too. Takara released Ironhide, Hot Rod, Shockwave, Ratchet, Delta Magnus, Optimus Primal, Inferno, Ramjet, cartoon Red Alert, Loudpedal, and Thrust, plus Hasbro release Masterpiece Bumblebee and Shattered Glass Optimus Prime. I think that's an unprecedented (or maybe I should say "unpresidented") number of Masterpiece releases for a single year. More than one toy for every month of the year!

This is going to sound weird, but I think I like the idea of masterpiece toys better than I like them in the flesh. I find myself buying them, transforming them once, and then putting them on display. My brain just treats them differently, largely because of the cost, but also because of their complexity. They are amazing in their own right, but I just don't think I will ever "love" one, simply because I am too scared to fiddle with them more than once. Maybe I need to see a therapist?

> A month ago I would have said Powermaster Optimus Prime.

He was on my short list. But I chose CW Ultra Magnus last year... Also, cuz Prime.

> Zob (put away all the Christmas decorations in four hours today... I think that's a new record)

Haven't. Even. Started.

-Banzaitron

[banzait...@gmail.com]

> I've been looking forward to it enough that I had mine written up ages ago!

I am flattered! Really!

> So long as the redecos are good, I don't mind them. The gimmick makes them work, and I can accept a certain level of repetition that we have somehow not reached.

I agree, within reason. I haven't counted, so this is a guess. but I bet some of those stunticon CW molds have been reused 10 times. I think that is just absurd. Even Hasbro publically admitted at Botcon 2016 they went a bit overboard, and promised the TR line would use far less.

> > The ATT 2016 Toy of the year is Titans Return Blaster!
>
> Huh.

Guess you are not a fan of this Toy? ;-) Curious what you dislike.

>> PRIMERID LEGION BISK is a tiny perfect toy. He's not very ambitious, but he adds lobster features to a well-trod design. Bright orange, with claws. He adorable, and his name is a pun. He's cheap, he's cute, he's pleasing, and he has been readily available. Unfortunately, the Warrior class toy for the character has a manufacturing defect that prevents him from holding tightly together in vehicle mode, or he would also be on this list.

I was totally unaware this toy even existed. I googled him and he looks rather cool. His car mode and head especially. I will admit to pretty much ignoring the RID line. I own maybe one or two, and was not happy with any of them. I'm tempted to track this little guy down now.

> TITANS RETURN HARDHEAD is a great update to a G1 toy, and probably the best Titan Master Deluxe that we have gotten so far. The main cannon's hidden cockpit for a Titan Master is really well done, so he doesn't look unmanned without another Titan Master helping out. Also, the main cannon is very posable in robot mode -- it can stick up so Hardhead isn't threatening to kill anyone he is speaking to, and it slides slightly to one side so give his head a bit of clearance when it is on his shoulder. There are no actual flaws in the toy, as near as I can see.

Agreed. This toy is great. My only complaint is that I like the G1 better, which is kinda unheard of. Since hardhead is a tank, it kinda makes sense that he is bulky unflexible.

> TITANS RETURN CHROMEDOME is the other great Titan Master Deluxe. He copies a lot from existing toys for his design (CW Dead End and Energon Hot Shot), but he's a solid, fun toy with great styling. I find myself picking him up and fiddling with him incessantly, so there's something special about him that I have trouble placing.

Great toy. Chromedome was always boring to me (brown generic car), even as a kid. It also always bothered me that he didn't have a chrome head. He should have looked like Destro.

> TITANS RETURN MEGATRON is a premold of Blitzwing, and although that is entirely clear, he works amazingly well as Megatron. Megatron hasn't had a truly definitive toy in the mass market in ages, in large part because his original alt-mode has been banned, and he switches designs for nearly every toy. Sometimes he is a Cybertronian plane or tank, sometimes an Earth bomber, helicopter or tank. Colors have changed countless times -- gray, green, purple, blue (Machine Wars), black, silver... A very G1 Anime color scheme on an Earth Plane/Tank just feels like the obvious conclusion. The stickers really feel cheap though.

Luck you! I haven't gotten my hands on this yet.

> CW G2 BRUTICUS is G2riffic. Unlike a lot of people, I haven't hit mold fatigue, and still love these toys even if we have seen them a dozen times before. And, since the Combaticons are sold as a unit, it allows us to get an entire CW team as a Toy of the Year, which we didn't get the option of last year. (Menasor was 2015, apparently, so we had that chance and just missed it?)

I don't have the G2 incarnation, but I love the G1 version.

> UNITE WARRIORS COMPUTRON has many of the advantages of CW G2 Bruticus as being five toys, plus he has a lot of nifty remolds, and the fancy dancy Strafe from the Japanese Blast Off. He's got novelty going for him, but some of the remolds are awkward -- Nosecone and Strafe can really only be arms because of the amount of kibble. On the other hand, Lightspeed shows that the CW Wheeljack mold can be excellent with a better color scheme. Availability and cost tend to go against this choice.

Wait... what about Scrounge??? Poor scrounge.

> TITANS RETURN TRIGGERHAPPY is a toy in every right as excellent as Hardhead or Chromedome. Robot and Vehicle modes are both very distinctive and very believable. Everything pegs tightly together, with no signs of engineering issues (curse you, Warrior Bisk, and your engineering issues!). There's a hard, firm plastic used here, so the fins seem like they might break -- I like that! Great deco, including a truly beautiful blue that has just the right hint of purple to make him a Decepticon. His transformation, however, is pretty unique (borrows a little from Generations Cyclonus for the shoulders, but the spin needed for the chest is all new). He feels new, where Chromedome and Hardhead feel a little bit unambitious.

No argument here. TriggerHappy is an amazing toy. He was on my short list for sure.

-Banzaitron

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:03:51 AM UTC-7, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:

> After all, people do have different toy availability by region.

Well, sure, but that doesn't mean Titans Return Screwloose is a 2016 release for people who bought the toy before Christmas but it's a 2017 release for the people who haven't found it yet. Either the toy is released or it's not. Barring unofficial toys like review copies or stolen factory samples, if it's been found at retail somewhere in the world, then it counts as released. My opinion, anyway.

> I hope so. I suppose they will can the RID line (no big loss). I just don't
> see how they will even get the shelf space at retail for all their product.
> It seems there shelf real estate is progressively shrinking to oblivion.

I believe that each individual manufacturer pays for the shelf space that their toys get. It's not uncommon to have two different styles of toys from the same company right next to each other (for example, regular wresting figures and "zombie" wresting characters, or Nickelodeon TMNT and movie TMNT) so I have ever expectation that this year's Transformers movie toys will be their own assortment that's separate from the Generations offering, and will get their own allotted space.

> Hopefully, I will be proven wrong, but I don't see how they top this next
> year.

Well, now that they're delving into the more obscure characters, as long as they stay faithful to the spirit of the characters, I'm on board. I wouldn't count Skullcruncher or Highbrow or Triggerhappy among my top 50 favorite Transformers characters, or even my top 100, but I was still blown away by the new toys. I don't have strong sentimental attachments to a lot of the individual characters coming this year (the Throttlebots, the Horrorcons, etc.) but I'm still prepared to be impressed by the toys on their own merits. And the fact that they're still G1 in origin will make them special.

> My brain just treats them differently, largely because of the cost, but also
> because of their complexity.

No, I agree. They're definitely on a H.N.L. than the regular toys (hole 'nother level). Gustavo Wombat makes a clear distinction between play-with-me toys (Titans Return, RiD2) and collect-me-and-admire-me toys (BotCon exclusives, Masterpiece) and I'm hard pressed to disagree.

My biggest problem related to this is that my brain is old and inelastic and does not retain new information as well as it once did. I will retain the G1 transformations until the day I die (and if you placed a toy in my cadaver's hands I could probably still transform it from muscle memory) but I forget a Masterpiece toy a month after I've bought it.

Case in point: I had to rearrange my Masterpiece shelf this week to make room for my new acquisitions. I switched Grimlock to robot mode after a long stint in dinosaur mode, perhaps several years, and I literally didn't remember the first thing about the toy. I spent several minutes trying to figure out how to unlock his dinosaur head and upper body halves. I found his LED trigger by accident and totally forgot the toy could light up. Just about the only thing I remembered was that his eyes could change color, and I think that stuck in my brain just because it's such a novel gimmick.

Now, part of it is just because the Masterpiece toys are insanely complex. I would probably have trouble with Robots in Disguise Ultra Magnus right now, and he was released 15 years ago when my 25-year-old brain was arguably more elastic and retained much more. I'm seriously at a point now, though, where Takara could just stop producing Masterpiece toys and all you'd have to do was regift me one I got, say, five years ago, and it would be a totally novel toy experience all over again.


Zob (wow, Grimlock can dance!)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:57:50 AM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:03:51 AM UTC-7, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > After all, people do have different toy availability by region.
>
> Well, sure, but that doesn't mean Titans Return Screwloose is a 2016 release for people who bought the toy before Christmas but it's a 2017 release for the people who haven't found it yet. Either the toy is released or it's not. Barring unofficial toys like review copies or stolen factory samples, if it's been found at retail somewhere in the world, then it counts as released. My opinion, anyway.

If this was a larger, broader thing, and votes were tallied, and the toy was re-released in commemorative ATT Toy Of The Year packaging, then I think strict rules would be required. And careful auditing.

But for a small, lighthearted, fun thing... I'm not going to tell someone that Screwloose is disqualified for 2016 because a small number of cases were put out in Bumfuck, Arkansas on December 23rd 2015. It's not fair to the person who only discovered Screwloose (with Loose Screw Gimmick!) and it's not fair to Screwloose.

If we can accept a presidential election where voters in Wyoming have three times the influence on the outcome as voters in California, we can accept a certain fuzziness in Toy Of The Year. I don't need to see Screwloose's long form birth certificate to accept his qualifications for one year or another.

> > My brain just treats them differently, largely because of the cost, but also
> > because of their complexity.
>
> No, I agree. They're definitely on a H.N.L. than the regular toys (hole 'nother level). Gustavo Wombat makes a clear distinction between play-with-me toys (Titans Return, RiD2) and collect-me-and-admire-me toys (BotCon exclusives, Masterpiece) and I'm hard pressed to disagree.

I make a stronger distinction between puzzle-toys and play-with-me-toys. I have some Botcon toys, I play with them, and dump them in the same plastic bins as the rest of the toys.

> Now, part of it is just because the Masterpiece toys are insanely complex. I would probably have trouble with Robots in Disguise Ultra Magnus right now, and he was released 15 years ago when my 25-year-old brain was arguably more elastic and retained much more.

And, I shove Sideburn, RID Ultra Magnus, ROTF Mixmaster and Alternators into the puzzle-toy category, rather than the play-with-me category, just as I put Botcon Razorclaw and MegaZarek into the play-with-me category.

> I'm seriously at a point now, though, where Takara could just stop producing Masterpiece toys and all you'd have to do was regift me one I got, say, five years ago, and it would be a totally novel toy experience all over again.

That's one of the things I like about them.

> Zob (wow, Grimlock can dance!)

I love that they built Grimlock around gimmicks, and were still able to make a complex, interesting toy. I don't think anything was sacrificed for the gimmicks.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 1:26:42 PM UTC-6, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> Transformer Toy of the Year - 2015

2016....

SDCC Tablet Soundwave gets my vote. It's a convention exclusive, sure, but Hasbro put it on their site for $40 and it's worth it to me. I have been playing around with it constantly. It's a very new very good looking design, it's not just another car or jet with arms strapped to the underside, unlike the TR "spy tablets" it actually looks like a tablet.

SDCC Ft Max is currently seated reading SDCC Soundwave in tablet mode to all of my TR Deluxes seated around in a circle. Yes, I made story-time.

> Well, sure, but that doesn't mean Titans Return Screwloose is a 2016 release for people who bought the toy before Christmas but it's a 2017 release for the people who haven't found it yet.

I still haven't seen screwloose...
The name seems taken up by Ninja Turtles and My Little Pony....though it makes more sense with transformers.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 10:22:19 AM UTC-8, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> > I've been looking forward to it enough that I had mine written up ages ago!
>
> I am flattered! Really!

It's a fun celebration of everything good with Transformers, except in the sad years...

> > So long as the redecos are good, I don't mind them. The gimmick makes them work, and I can accept a certain level of repetition that we have somehow not reached.
>
> I agree, within reason. I haven't counted, so this is a guess. but I bet some of those stunticon CW molds have been reused 10 times. I think that is just absurd. Even Hasbro publically admitted at Botcon 2016 they went a bit overboard, and promised the TR line would use far less.

I agree and disagree simultaneously. If they didn't combine, it would be massive overkill. But, since they do combine, and they are interchangeable, more toys and characters means more possible combinations.

> > > The ATT 2016 Toy of the year is Titans Return Blaster!
> >
> > Huh.
>
> Guess you are not a fan of this Toy? ;-) Curious what you dislike.

I have the G1 toy (SDCC reissue), and think it does a better job of representing the character, and like it's boom box mode better (no weird gaps, the door doesn't stick way out..).

Titans Returns Blaster does add better articulation, and a base mode that is a discotech for severed heads.

It just doesn't seem compelling to me -- but I have a bit of a hard time with Headmasters as it is, since the headbots are Transformers that don't transform into anything interesting. The notion that they leave their bodies parked outside and come into Blaster's Disco doesn't do it for me.

If we had Micromasters, Targetmasters, and perhaps a line of Earth Defense Force (piloted, transforming mecha, with tiny human action figures on the scale of the Titan Masters), and they all came together to Blaster's Disco, I could probably accept it better.

I really like the idea of play sets, but the only ones I have really liked are G1 Metroplex and Fort Max, and DOTM Cyberverse Ark (which had no robot mode). And both Metroplex and Fort Max require ignoring the word "City" and assuming they are mobile command centers or scientific research centers. "City" probably means different things to robots.

> >> PRIMERID LEGION BISK is a tiny perfect toy. He's not very ambitious, but he adds lobster features to a well-trod design. Bright orange, with claws. He adorable, and his name is a pun. He's cheap, he's cute, he's pleasing, and he has been readily available. Unfortunately, the Warrior class toy for the character has a manufacturing defect that prevents him from holding tightly together in vehicle mode, or he would also be on this list.
>
> I was totally unaware this toy even existed. I googled him and he looks rather cool. His car mode and head especially. I will admit to pretty much ignoring the RID line. I own maybe one or two, and was not happy with any of them. I'm tempted to track this little guy down now.

I've really enjoyed the PrimeRID line -- the legends are excellent, and most of the warriors are a lot of fun. I love the general color patterns -- one color and black, for the most part -- and don't mind the silliness.

> > TITANS RETURN HARDHEAD

>
> Agreed. This toy is great. My only complaint is that I like the G1 better, which is kinda unheard of. Since hardhead is a tank, it kinda makes sense that he is bulky unflexible.

I've never had the original, or I might think the same thing.

> > TITANS RETURN MEGATRON

> Luck you! I haven't gotten my hands on this yet.

I ordered him off Amazon and overpaid a bit. (I work too many hours and get paid a lot, so my time/money calculations differ from a lot of people. I would much rather work less and get paid less.)

> > UNITE WARRIORS COMPUTRON ... Availability and cost tend to go against this choice.

>
> Wait... what about Scrounge??? Poor scrounge.

He's very yellow?

> > TITANS RETURN TRIGGERHAPPY

>
> No argument here. TriggerHappy is an amazing toy. He was on my short list for sure.

Zob will claim he is a 2017 toy though...

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 4:12:30 PM UTC-8, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 1:26:42 PM UTC-6, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Transformer Toy of the Year - 2015
>
> 2016....
>
> SDCC Tablet Soundwave gets my vote. It's a convention exclusive, sure, but Hasbro put it on their site for $40 and it's worth it to me. I have been playing around with it constantly. It's a very new very good looking design, it's not just another car or jet with arms strapped to the underside, unlike the TR "spy tablets" it actually looks like a tablet.

Still available on their ebay store. I might buy one.
http://www.ebay.com/p/Hasbro-SDCC-2016-Transformers-Evolution-Soundwave-Tablet-Action-Figure/1567347030

> SDCC Ft Max is currently seated reading SDCC Soundwave in tablet mode to all of my TR Deluxes seated around in a circle. Yes, I made story-time.

That's hysterical. Pics?

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 5:16:40 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

>> No argument here. Triggerhappy is an amazing toy. He was on my short list

>> for sure.
>
> Zob will claim he is a 2017 toy though...

Your words invective. And your ship defective!

That's actually the exact opposite of my position. I bought Triggerhappy on the 6th of December, much earlier than I expected to find him, but even if I hadn't seen him until yesterday, I'd still consider him a 2016 toy.

I agree that being incredibly strict probably doesn't do anybody any good and makes this less fun. That's why I wouldn't take issue with anybody who found, say, Kickback or Gnaw even though Hasbro intended them to be 2017 product (and I personally haven't seen them yet).

Shrug. It's one thing to question whether G1 Jetfire and the Dinobots and Shockwave and Skids were 1984 toys or 1985 toys. It's hard to make that determination this long after the fact. Fuzzy memories and such. We've got a lot more electronic documentation of events these days, though. It shouldn't even be an issue now. And yet.


Zob (we'll probably argue about this next year, too)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 4:27:42 PM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 5:16:40 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> >> No argument here. Triggerhappy is an amazing toy. He was on my short list
> >> for sure.
> >
> > Zob will claim he is a 2017 toy though...
>
> Your words invective. And your ship defective!
>
> That's actually the exact opposite of my position. I bought Triggerhappy on the 6th of December, much earlier than I expected to find him, but even if I hadn't seen him until yesterday, I'd still consider him a 2016 toy.

Fine, fine, when people claim him as Toy Of The Year in 2017 you'll object then...

Hmm. If you include all the toys that you have first gotten in 2016, regardless of release, would your choice change? Mine wouldn't this year. I mean, obviously that wouldn't be toy of the year, but toy experience of the year.

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 5:43:01 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Fine, fine, when people claim him as Toy Of The Year in 2017 you'll object
> then...

Triggerhappy is a fine toy, but if he's the best thing that 2017 has to offer, then we're in trouble.

> Hmm. If you include all the toys that you have first gotten in 2016,
> regardless of release, would your choice change? Mine wouldn't this year. I
> mean, obviously that wouldn't be toy of the year, but toy experience of the
> year.

Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, then. He's one of my favorite Transformers toys I own, and I'm not even that fond of the character.


Zob (he's been sitting on the computer desk since Christmas... I put him on the display shelf in the den yesterday and I already miss him)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 6:58:07 PM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 5:43:01 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> > Fine, fine, when people claim him as Toy Of The Year in 2017 you'll object
> > then...
>
> Triggerhappy is a fine toy, but if he's the best thing that 2017 has to offer, then we're in trouble.

Unless I am unnaturally enamored, I can think of entire toylines that have no toys that surpass Triggerhappy on a unit-awesomeness/dollar basis. RID, PrimeRID, pre-TM Beast Wars, TM2 Beast Wars, ROTF, DOTM, AoE...

Failing to surpass an exceptionally high bar is not necessarily bad.

> > Hmm. If you include all the toys that you have first gotten in 2016,
> > regardless of release, would your choice change? Mine wouldn't this year. I
> > mean, obviously that wouldn't be toy of the year, but toy experience of the
> > year.
>
> Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, then. He's one of my favorite Transformers toys I own, and I'm not even that fond of the character.

An exceptional toy.

I like the character -- thrust into a leadership position a bit over his head, he now is more comfortable one level lower. He's a middle-aged man who has stretched himself, and decided "meh, let someone else do it" and then resumed his previous role without a loss of confidence. A lot of people could learn a lot from him, about knowing and accepting their limitations, and understanding that their limitations also have limitations.

I've been reading a lot of books about mindfulness lately, and a few on Buddhism. I'm not going to say that Ultra Magnus embodies any particular philosophy, but he is more comfortable in his skin than any of the Season 3 Autobots.

> Zob (he's been sitting on the computer desk since Christmas... I put him on the display shelf in the den yesterday and I already miss him)

Just bring him back -- you're not done with him.

Gustavo! (who would happily buy a Nemesis Magnus toy... he's evil, but he's not great at it)

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:41:56 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> I like the character -- thrust into a leadership position a bit over his
> head, he now is more comfortable one level lower. He's a middle-aged man who
> has stretched himself, and decided "meh, let someone else do it" and then
> resumed his previous role without a loss of confidence.

This season I ran the toy department during Christmas single handedly for the fourth year in a row. It wasn't beyond my capability by any means, but it occurred to me that I probably couldn't do this in ten years' time. I'll have to step down and leave the department manager duties to somebody else.

So, one day I'm sure there will be somebody younger and bolder to take over the job from me. I'll be Ultra Magnus and that annoying young punk will be Rodimus Prime.

It's funny how Transformers had kid-identification characters inserted into the show specifically to allow the target audience to see the world through the eyes of those characters. And yet today I have more in common with Ultra Magnus and Sparkplug Witwicky. One day I'll identify most strongly with Alpha Trion and Ironhide and Kup. And will tell crazy made-up stories just because I can.


Zob (when I'm ancient and demented I want so badly to have the presence of mind to be able to say "I'm sorry, I'm old and forgetful and have no idea what you mean" instead of just pretending like I understand what everyone is saying to me)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 10:58:28 PM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:41:56 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> > I like the character -- thrust into a leadership position a bit over his
> > head, he now is more comfortable one level lower. He's a middle-aged man who
> > has stretched himself, and decided "meh, let someone else do it" and then
> > resumed his previous role without a loss of confidence.
>
> This season I ran the toy department during Christmas single handedly for the fourth year in a row. It wasn't beyond my capability by any means, but it occurred to me that I probably couldn't do this in ten years' time. I'll have to step down and leave the department manager duties to somebody else.
>
> So, one day I'm sure there will be somebody younger and bolder to take over the job from me. I'll be Ultra Magnus and that annoying young punk will be Rodimus Prime.

Don't be so defeatest/optimistic. Do you really think you will identify when you're no longer able to do the job? And do you really think there will be someone qualified to take over?

> It's funny how Transformers had kid-identification characters inserted into the show specifically to allow the target audience to see the world through the eyes of those characters. And yet today I have more in common with Ultra Magnus and Sparkplug Witwicky. One day I'll identify most strongly with Alpha Trion and Ironhide and Kup. And will tell crazy made-up stories just because I can.

I already identify most with Kup. If Kup were more of an obvious coward... I would be a complete wreck in combat.

> Zob (when I'm ancient and demented I want so badly to have the presence of mind to be able to say "I'm sorry, I'm old and forgetful and have no idea what you mean" instead of just pretending like I understand what everyone is saying to me)

I work with children. I don't mean 12 year olds, I mean 25-30 year olds. Children who don't realize they are children. I already go straight for the "I'm old, I don't know about those fancy web servers" line. That and things like "Back in my day, we just rebooted our servers every few hours rather than fix our memory leaks", "You remind me of a young Ernest Borgnine" and "When I was your age, I couldn't program for shit either"

[banzait...@gmail.com]

> So, one day I'm sure there will be somebody younger and bolder to take over the job from me. I'll be Ultra Magnus and that annoying young punk will be Rodimus Prime.

I think it's much more likely that they rotate you to another department or promote you to "learn the entire value stream". Where I work, if you stay in one job for more than 3-4 years, you are damaged goods. They really push job rotation to build you skills and exposure.

> And do you really think there will be someone qualified to take over?

Yes, and it will do Zob's job in a quarter of the time it takes him and for 1/10th the cost. It's name will be "toy-bot 3000". We are all doomed to massive unemployment from robots. (Oh, and the trucks that deliver the toys for toy-bot 3000 to stock will also be driven by "truck-bot 3000")

> I work with children. I don't mean 12 year olds, I mean 25-30 year olds. Children who don't realize they are children. I already go straight for the "I'm old, I don't know about those fancy web servers" line. That and things like "Back in my day, we just rebooted our servers every few hours rather than fix our memory leaks", "You remind me of a young Ernest Borgnine" and "When I was your age, I couldn't program for shit either"

Don't get me started on these millennials...

- Banzaitron

[Optim_1]

On Sunday, 1 January 2017 18:40:10 UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

>
> If we can accept a presidential election where voters in Wyoming have three times the influence on the outcome as voters in California,

If you are insinuating that the 2016 US election was unfair and that Clinton should have won, I disagree. If you are not, then I apologize.

By the numbers, Wyoming may be the most advantageous state in the USA but they only have 3 electoral college votes and 1 representative in the House of Representatives while California has 55 electoral votes and 53 representatives. So, Wyoming's influence is negligible.

Furthermore, California is not the most disadvantageous state in the USA in terms of electoral influence. That is Texas which is a state that largely voted for Trump. California has 12.8% of the US population and gets 55 electoral votes while Texas is second at 8.55% but gets a smaller share of electoral votes and House Representatives at 34 and 36 respectively.

As for the popular vote, Clinton won by 3 million. But another way of looking at it is that most of it was concentrated in California whereas Trump won mostly in the rest of the USA. So, Trump could claim more broad support across the USA than Clinton. After all, they are trying to be the President of the United States, not the President of California.

Both Trump and Clinton knew the rules before the election. It is not good for the country if some people keep rejecting the results of the election. They need to move on and accept that Trump was legally elected president. They will have another opportunity to vote Trump out in only four years if Trump turned out badly as they claim.

[Gustavo Wombat]

Optim_1 <laveri...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sunday, 1 January 2017 18:40:10 UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>>
>> If we can accept a presidential election where voters in Wyoming have
>> three times the influence on the outcome as voters in California,
>
> If you are insinuating that the 2016 US election was unfair and that
> Clinton should have won, I disagree. If you are not, then I apologize.

I am not insinuating anything. I will state it plainly -- the electoral
college dilutes the power of votes in some areas, and increases the power
of votes in other areas. This is a distortion of democracy.

If we were to create a system today where we allowed such a difference in
individual voting power, we would not accept it -- for instance, if vote
strength decreased as you got further away from an opera house, or if we
weighted the votes by county or state GDP.

> Furthermore, California is not the most disadvantageous state in the USA
> in terms of electoral influence. That is Texas which is a state that
> largely voted for Trump. California has 12.8% of the US population and
> gets 55 electoral votes while Texas is second at 8.55% but gets a smaller
> share of electoral votes and House Representatives at 34 and 36 respectively.

The people of Texas are also disadvantaged.

> As for the popular vote, Clinton won by 3 million. But another way of
> looking at it is that most of it was concentrated in California whereas
> Trump won mostly in the rest of the USA. So, Trump could claim more broad
> support across the USA than Clinton. After all, they are trying to be the
> President of the United States, not the President of California.

This is an argument that I find repugnant. Land does not vote, people vote.
They are not trying to be the president of land, but of people.

Are you saying that people are less valuable to the country when
concentrated into a small area?

The history of civil rights and elections in this country has been a slow
progress towards universal enfranchisement. We started with property owners
(increasing the voting strength in states where people were held as
property), extended that to all men, and then extended it to women. We've
removed large numbers of poll taxes and tests designed to ensure minorities
could not vote.

> Both Trump and Clinton knew the rules before the election.

This is true. It is also true that if the rules were different, they would
have campaigned differently.

> It is not good for the country if some people keep rejecting the results of the election.

This is false.

In the past five elections, two have gone to the loser of the popular vote.
When you have distortions to the will of the people on a regular basis,
that is degrading faith in our democracy. The house has been gerrymandered
to the point where less than 5% of the districts are competitive -- that is
degrading faith in our democracy.

Fun fact: In the past seven elections, no candidate has gotten a majority
of the popular vote four of those times.

I think that our democracy is no longer functioning, and that the
distortions in the system are currently larger than the difference in vote
counts. You might as well flip a coin. Or startle a squirrel and see
whether it runs towards a photo of one candidate or another.

>They need to move on and accept that Trump was legally elected president.

Legally, but not legitimately.

>They will have another opportunity to vote Trump out in only four years if
> Trump turned out badly as they claim.

Assuming we are not vaporized when he gets into a twitter fight with a 14
year old claiming to be ISIS and then attempts to nuke him.



--
I wish I was a mole in the ground.

[Zobovor]

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 2:58:54 AM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Do you really think you will identify when you're no longer able to do the
> job? And do you really think there will be someone qualified to take over?

I imagine a scenario when my physical limitations will eventually catch up to me. Right now I can spend an eight-hour shift running around, throwing freight, climbing ladders, etc. and it doesn't faze me much. Sometimes my muscles ache when I get home, but that's about it. I don't know if I'll still be able to do that when I'm 50. I've already had issues with a bad knee and ringing in my left ear. Who knows what other physical maladies I'll be stuck with.

And, no, I don't think anybody who replaced me would be half as good. But they will one day replace me nonetheless. Whether it's because I've chosen to leave or whether they kick me out of the job is ultimately irrelevant.

> I work with children. I don't mean 12 year olds, I mean 25-30 year olds.
> Children who don't realize they are children.

It's funny. I've always been very ageist. When I was in my 20's, I secretly believed that old people weren't worth listening to because they didn't really know what they were talking about most of the time. Now, as I've aged and I find myself more and more frequently working with people much younger than me, I realize that they're the ones who don't know what they're talking about.


Zob (so, basically, everyone at the workplace is an idiot 'cept me)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 3:13:31 PM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:
> On Monday, January 2, 2017 at 2:58:54 AM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> > Do you really think you will identify when you're no longer able to do the
> > job? And do you really think there will be someone qualified to take over?
>
> I imagine a scenario when my physical limitations will eventually catch up to me. Right now I can spend an eight-hour shift running around, throwing freight, climbing ladders, etc. and it doesn't faze me much. Sometimes my muscles ache when I get home, but that's about it. I don't know if I'll still be able to do that when I'm 50. I've already had issues with a bad knee and ringing in my left ear. Who knows what other physical maladies I'll be stuck with.

The mind will go first. Imagine Kup stocking toys at Wal-Mart... On the plus side, you won't even notice.

> And, no, I don't think anybody who replaced me would be half as good. But they will one day replace me nonetheless. Whether it's because I've chosen to leave or whether they kick me out of the job is ultimately irrelevant.

My advice to you: learn to fail upwards. I don't know how to do it, but if you can manage, you are golden.

I think it starts with not telling people what you actually think.

> > I work with children. I don't mean 12 year olds, I mean 25-30 year olds.
> > Children who don't realize they are children.
>
> It's funny. I've always been very ageist. When I was in my 20's, I secretly believed that old people weren't worth listening to because they didn't really know what they were talking about most of the time. Now, as I've aged and I find myself more and more frequently working with people much younger than me, I realize that they're the ones who don't know what they're talking about.
>
> Zob (so, basically, everyone at the workplace is an idiot 'cept me)

We have a complicated performance rating system where I work now, and we fill out self-evaluations, and then peer evaluations (which we only see snippets of), and then our boss writes up a giant evaluation incorporating bits of each as well as his own observations. People spend weeks on this shit. And then the boss assigns a secret number to us which matters more than all the transparent parts.

This is all going to change this year, to performance review tweets -- 140 characters max, answer the question "What is your/her/her super power?". I am not kidding.

I'm sure millennials are responsible for this. Fucking millennials. They take a tried and tested pointless process and just completely upend it. Where is the respect for tradition? Do they not realize how much the previous process hurt the company with wasted man hours? Do they not want to hurt the company?

Gustavo! (Superpower: Putting up with this shit)

[Optim_1]

On Monday, 2 January 2017 14:06:57 UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> I am not insinuating anything. I will state it plainly -- the electoral
> college dilutes the power of votes in some areas, and increases the power
> of votes in other areas. This is a distortion of democracy.
>
> If we were to create a system today where we allowed such a difference in
> individual voting power, we would not accept it -- for instance, if vote
> strength decreased as you got further away from an opera house, or if we
> weighted the votes by county or state GDP.

Yes we would. Your reductionist argument that individual rights should be absolute, this "one person, one vote" mantra is not shared by most constitutional experts because it would lead to civil strife and to fractured countries, jealously guarding their territories. Economists would be horrified at the prospect of more countries existing and with likely more tariffs and duties on foreign goods being implemented and striking collusion deals with other countries. A veritable economic disaster.

That is why most constitutional experts say this "one person, one vote", which is called direct democracy, would be a terrible idea. They pejoratively call it "tyranny of the majority". The United States is a representative democracy, the most healthy form of government. Every other democracy in the world since the time of the Ancient Greeks are also representative democracies. There is not one direct democracy in the world and for good reason.

> > Furthermore, California is not the most disadvantageous state in the USA
> > in terms of electoral influence. That is Texas which is a state that
> > largely voted for Trump. California has 12.8% of the US population and
> > gets 55 electoral votes while Texas is second at 8.55% but gets a smaller
> > share of electoral votes and House Representatives at 34 and 36 respectively.
>
> The people of Texas are also disadvantaged.

The "people" of Texas? You seem to respect state rights here but the rest of your post says "screw the states!".

Furthermore, Texas still has the second most electoral votes and second most representatives as befits the second most populous state. So, the Electoral College seems fair to me.

>
> > As for the popular vote, Clinton won by 3 million. But another way of
> > looking at it is that most of it was concentrated in California whereas
> > Trump won mostly in the rest of the USA. So, Trump could claim more broad
> > support across the USA than Clinton. After all, they are trying to be the
> > President of the United States, not the President of California.
>
> This is an argument that I find repugnant. Land does not vote, people vote.
> They are not trying to be the president of land, but of people.

They are trying to represent the 50 peoples of 50 states, not just the people of the State of California. You know, state rights.

And land matters. Every election proves that people are influenced by where they live, whether by environmental, social and cultural factors. What is in the water in California that makes people there vote overwhelmingly Democrat and what is in the water in Wyoming that make people there vote overwhelming Republican?

So, if people are people no matter where they live, then why don't California and Wyoming vote in the same pattern? Because land matters since it has an impact on how people vote. People are impressionable. So, the people living in this or that land need to have a voice in government. For an healthy big country like the United States to remain united, collective rights has to be taken into account alongside individual rights. Individual rights should not be absolute.

>
> Are you saying that people are less valuable to the country when
> concentrated into a small area?

I am saying that no matter where you live, you get some representation. That is the only way to keep the country together. Otherwise, why would Wyoming want to remain in the USA if only California gets to call the shots in running the country?

>
> The history of civil rights and elections in this country has been a slow
> progress towards universal enfranchisement. We started with property owners
> (increasing the voting strength in states where people were held as
> property), extended that to all men, and then extended it to women. We've
> removed large numbers of poll taxes and tests designed to ensure minorities
> could not vote.
>

So? That is progress.

>
> > It is not good for the country if some people keep rejecting the results of the election.
>
> This is false.
>
> In the past five elections, two have gone to the loser of the popular vote.
> When you have distortions to the will of the people on a regular basis,
> that is degrading faith in our democracy. The house has been gerrymandered
> to the point where less than 5% of the districts are competitive -- that is
> degrading faith in our democracy.

Can you elaborate more on why you think the House has been gerrymandered? I see no evidence. The Electoral College seems to me to strike a perfect balance between majority and minority rights. California, as the most populous state, gets by far the most electoral votes and the most representatives. Texas, second most populous state, gets the second most electoral votes and representatives. And so on. That sees fair to me. Perfectly proportional.

Since more than 200 years and counting, the United States is the oldest modern democracy in the world. A great success story thanks to the Electoral College.

> Fun fact: In the past seven elections, no candidate has gotten a majority
> of the popular vote four of those times.

Fun fact: Trump won the majority of the 50 popular vote totals. And so did Bush in 2000. So, all seven elections had the winning candidate win the majority of the 50 popular votes.

Excellent system. And I am not being sarcastic.

>
> I think that our democracy is no longer functioning, and that the
> distortions in the system are currently larger than the difference in vote
> counts. You might as well flip a coin. Or startle a squirrel and see
> whether it runs towards a photo of one candidate or another.
>

Imagine the alternative. If the election is based on the nation-wide popular vote, Trump and Clinton would be thumping their noses on all states except California, Texas and a few other big populous states. The liberal and conservative media would be moving to these states like packs of wolves trying to influence the people there to vote their way. Unscrupulous people would try to game the system there like gerrymandering, double-voting etc. Before long, states like California and Texas would be corrupt with dire consequences for the rest of the country because the nation-wide population means these corrupt states get to run the rest of the county whether the rest of the country likes it or not.

> >They need to move on and accept that Trump was legally elected president.
>
> Legally, but not legitimately.

If we are getting into semantics, then "legit" is another word for "legal". This aphorism: "one person one vote" that you worship is not an universal truth. Most constitutional experts don't believe in this aphorism. There are no universal truths, just opinions.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

It's getting to the point that the rural areas get to make the laws for the population centers. Yes land matters, but there needs to be some balance too, and the balance has been tipping the last 20 years.

> >
> > Are you saying that people are less valuable to the country when
> > concentrated into a small area?
>
> I am saying that no matter where you live, you get some representation. That is the only way to keep the country together. Otherwise, why would Wyoming want to remain in the USA if only California gets to call the shots in running the country?
>

My vote was with about 38% of the rest of my state, but since the other side got 55% in my state, all electoral college votes from my state go to the opposition, and my vote is negated. What happened to my representation?

> >
> > The history of civil rights and elections in this country has been a slow
> > progress towards universal enfranchisement. We started with property owners
> > (increasing the voting strength in states where people were held as
> > property), extended that to all men, and then extended it to women. We've
> > removed large numbers of poll taxes and tests designed to ensure minorities
> > could not vote.
> >
>
> So? That is progress.
>
> >
> > > It is not good for the country if some people keep rejecting the results of the election.
> >
> > This is false.
> >
> > In the past five elections, two have gone to the loser of the popular vote.
> > When you have distortions to the will of the people on a regular basis,
> > that is degrading faith in our democracy. The house has been gerrymandered
> > to the point where less than 5% of the districts are competitive -- that is
> > degrading faith in our democracy.
>
> Can you elaborate more on why you think the House has been gerrymandered? I see no evidence. The Electoral College seems to me to strike a perfect balance between majority and minority rights. California, as the most populous state, gets by far the most electoral votes and the most representatives. Texas, second most populous state, gets the second most electoral votes and representatives. And so on. That sees fair to me. Perfectly proportional.
>

You're simplifying it. Yes, California has more electoral college votes, but it's not proportional. Wyoming gets 3 votes because that's the minimum, and California gets 55. But population-wise, California has more than 30 times more people than Wyoming, yet gets 18 times more electoral college votes. The large population centers have so many more people, but not a proportional increase in electoral college votes. This lets rural areas essentially decide the vote.

> Since more than 200 years and counting, the United States is the oldest modern democracy in the world. A great success story thanks to the Electoral College.
>
>
> > Fun fact: In the past seven elections, no candidate has gotten a majority
> > of the popular vote four of those times.
>
> Fun fact: Trump won the majority of the 50 popular vote totals. And so did Bush in 2000. So, all seven elections had the winning candidate win the majority of the 50 popular votes.
>

Yup, because of a few key states and policies like inter-state cross-check, preventing people from voting.

> Excellent system. And I am not being sarcastic.
>
> >
> > I think that our democracy is no longer functioning, and that the
> > distortions in the system are currently larger than the difference in vote
> > counts. You might as well flip a coin. Or startle a squirrel and see
> > whether it runs towards a photo of one candidate or another.
> >
>
> Imagine the alternative. If the election is based on the nation-wide popular vote, Trump and Clinton would be thumping their noses on all states except California, Texas and a few other big populous states. The liberal and conservative media would be moving to these states like packs of wolves trying to influence the people there to vote their way. Unscrupulous people would try to game the system there like gerrymandering, double-voting etc. Before long, states like California and Texas would be corrupt with dire consequences for the rest of the country because the nation-wide population means these corrupt states get to run the rest of the county whether the rest of the country likes it or not.
>

Instead they thumb their noses at California and New York and just pay attention to a few swing states. So Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan elect the president, all of which were corrupted by Republican governors and election officials throwing out voter registration of voters in higher population areas, who were likely to vote for the other side. Denying people the right to vote should be illegal.

>
> > >They need to move on and accept that Trump was legally elected president.
> >
> > Legally, but not legitimately.
>
> If we are getting into semantics, then "legit" is another word for "legal". This aphorism: "one person one vote" that you worship is not an universal truth. Most constitutional experts don't believe in this aphorism. There are no universal truths, just opinions.

The electoral college was originally designed to try and prevent demagogues. They are representatives of their states. The electors of the state voting with the majority of the state was not a rule set out, it just became a tradition over time. Electors were instructed from the beginning to "vote their conscience" as to their feelings what would be best for their states. Now though electors are punished and threatened with legal action if they try to do this and instead just let the state majority decide. The original electoral college didn't operate the same as it does today.

[banzait...@gmail.com]

What does any of this have to do with toy of the year, or even transformers?

If you voted for trump, "congratulations". You Won, for the next four years anyway.

If you voted for Hillary, shut up and get over it. You get to try again in four years.

If you want to continue this discussion, please respect the newsgroup and go to a damn CNN message board or Fox News comments section. Sorry, but I am so tired of this pointless argument about the election. Politics and Transformers don't mix... Geeze guys...

-Banzaitron

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

I didn't vote for Rodimus, but he did defeat Unicron.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Tuesday, January 3, 2017 at 8:51:01 AM UTC-8, Optim_1 wrote:
> On Monday, 2 January 2017 14:06:57 UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> >
> > I am not insinuating anything. I will state it plainly -- the electoral
> > college dilutes the power of votes in some areas, and increases the power
> > of votes in other areas. This is a distortion of democracy.
> >
> > If we were to create a system today where we allowed such a difference in
> > individual voting power, we would not accept it -- for instance, if vote
> > strength decreased as you got further away from an opera house, or if we
> > weighted the votes by county or state GDP.
>
> Yes we would. Your reductionist argument that individual rights should be absolute, this "one person, one vote" mantra is not shared by most constitutional experts because it would lead to civil strife and to fractured countries

Nonsense. Every country other than the US that has an executive elected separately from the legislature has direct election of the executive.

> That is why most constitutional experts say this "one person, one vote", which is called direct democracy, would be a terrible idea. They pejoratively call it "tyranny of the majority".

The protection of minority rights has nothing to do with whether the executive is elected by direct vote or not.

The current system could be just as easily called a "tyranny of the minority".

> > > Furthermore, California is not the most disadvantageous state in the USA
> > > in terms of electoral influence. That is Texas which is a state that
> > > largely voted for Trump. California has 12.8% of the US population and
> > > gets 55 electoral votes while Texas is second at 8.55% but gets a smaller
> > > share of electoral votes and House Representatives at 34 and 36 respectively.
> >
> > The people of Texas are also disadvantaged.
>
> The "people" of Texas? You seem to respect state rights here but the rest of your post says "screw the states!".

Screw the states. We fought a civil war over state rights, and the states lost. I said the people of Texas, not Texas.

What value does having both North and South Dakota give us? Is there a distinction between the cultures and the peoples of North and South Dakota? Or was someone just assuming that lots of land would eventually be filled with lots of people, and that never panned out?

(Hint: It's the second one)

Now, someone thought, based on anomalous wet weather for a decade in the 1800s, that the Dakotas would be so fertile that they would support so many people that the territory needed to be split so it wouldn't be a dominant state. It turns out, its a dry state except for that one decade, and no one wants to live there. This historical error propagates forward, distorting democracy.

> > > As for the popular vote, Clinton won by 3 million. But another way of
> > > looking at it is that most of it was concentrated in California whereas
> > > Trump won mostly in the rest of the USA. So, Trump could claim more broad
> > > support across the USA than Clinton. After all, they are trying to be the
> > > President of the United States, not the President of California.
> >
> > This is an argument that I find repugnant. Land does not vote, people vote.
> > They are not trying to be the president of land, but of people.
>
> They are trying to represent the 50 peoples of 50 states, not just the people of the State of California. You know, state rights.

The country is not the land or the states, it is the people.

> And land matters. Every election proves that people are influenced by where they live, whether by environmental, social and cultural factors. What is in the water in California that makes people there vote overwhelmingly Democrat and what is in the water in Wyoming that make people there vote overwhelming Republican?

I have a theory that Americans go crazy if they are not by a large body of water, or if they live in a (former) slave state. It seems to hold up.

> So, if people are people no matter where they live, then why don't California and Wyoming vote in the same pattern? Because land matters since it has an impact on how people vote.

If the land cannot support people, should the land count that much? Wyoming is a desolate wasteland that supports roughly 12 people.

> > Are you saying that people are less valuable to the country when
> > concentrated into a small area?
>
> I am saying that no matter where you live, you get some representation. That is the only way to keep the country together. Otherwise, why would Wyoming want to remain in the USA if only California gets to call the shots in running the country?

Why would California want to remain if they get less than their proportional share of representation?

> > The history of civil rights and elections in this country has been a slow
> > progress towards universal enfranchisement. We started with property owners
> > (increasing the voting strength in states where people were held as
> > property), extended that to all men, and then extended it to women. We've
> > removed large numbers of poll taxes and tests designed to ensure minorities
> > could not vote.
> >
> So? That is progress.

It's progress towards expanding the franchise to all people, and counting them equally.

> > > It is not good for the country if some people keep rejecting the results of the election.
> >
> > This is false.
> >
> > In the past five elections, two have gone to the loser of the popular vote.
> > When you have distortions to the will of the people on a regular basis,
> > that is degrading faith in our democracy. The house has been gerrymandered
> > to the point where less than 5% of the districts are competitive -- that is
> > degrading faith in our democracy.
>
> Can you elaborate more on why you think the House has been gerrymandered? I see no evidence.

Are you willfully ignorant, or just naturally ignorant?

> > I think that our democracy is no longer functioning, and that the
> > distortions in the system are currently larger than the difference in vote
> > counts. You might as well flip a coin. Or startle a squirrel and see
> > whether it runs towards a photo of one candidate or another.
> >
>
> Imagine the alternative. If the election is based on the nation-wide popular vote, Trump and Clinton would be thumping their noses on all states except California, Texas and a few other big populous states.

Right now, you have the two parties competing only in a small number of swing states. Why is that better?

> > >They need to move on and accept that Trump was legally elected president.
> >
> > Legally, but not legitimately.
>
> If we are getting into semantics, then "legit" is another word for "legal".

It is not. Legitimate has far broader meaning than simply legal.

[Zobovor]

On Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 5:37:27 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Are you willfully ignorant, or just naturally ignorant?

Dude. Not cool.


Zob (I'm with Banzaitron... doesn't belong here)

[David Connell]

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 2:26:42 PM UTC-5, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> Transformer Toy of the Year - 2015

> So there you have it... Would love to here what everyone thinks was the best toy of 2016.
>
> -Banzaitron

Runners up:

Apeface - awesome little monkey

Crashbash - the way the Titan Master integrates into his dinosaur mode is brilliant.

Teslor, just for being a reference to Nikola Tesla, and Brainstorm.

Galvatron - the best Galvatron toy we've ever gotten, with a true-to-G1 cannon mode, a passable spaceship mode, and a bonus "man-able" cannon mode. The only real flaw is how his flip-up crown works.

PMOP - I've been wanting a good update for years, and this delivers. He looks the part in both modes, manages to be dramatically different from the original version of the mold, and finally allows Hi-Q/Apex to drive him. Loses points for the lackluster official base mode, but the fanmode bases are quite good.

The winner: Voyager TR Prime - just an amazingly fun toy - stable and cool in all altmodes, and just an amazing LOP homage. Ordered him on a whim from Amazon when I learned about him, and I was not disappointed.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

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