Grave Considerations: Does Size Really Matter?

A few days ago I tried to get my thoughts together on this, and failed, producing a rambling and strange thinkpiece on why I keep this blog. In pursuit of a do-over, here’s what I was actually wanting to talk about: the future of my Third Party collecting, in terms of scale.

It seems that the era of 3P figures being essentially Voyager or Masterpiece scaled toys is reaching its end, to be replaced with figures that will either come in the Legends scale (like Iron Factory and DX9 figures) or continue in the Masterpiece scale (which has essentially come to mean Voyager, but there’s a twist). There are issues for me with both of these directions. If the scene goes Legends scaled, it would mean that I’d to some extent be starting my collecting all over again, as the Coffin shelves are very light on figures of that size. If the scene were to go full Masterpiece scale, that would present an issue when it comes to one of my favorite things about Transformers: combiner teams.

Over the last three or so years, I have assembled a collection of all the G1 combiners, with few exceptions, be they official or unofficial products. I’ve even traded out official combiners for 3P versions. But now, if the scene grows more and more focused on producing Masterpiece scaled figures that combine into a Masterpiece scaled (read: huge) combiner, what am I to do?

We won’t really spend any time on this until 2019 rolls in, but one of my Black Friday gets was Jai Jiang’s Jet Commander set, a team of oversized Combiner Wars Aerialbots, which combine into an oversized Superion. Each of the limb figures are slightly taller than a Masterpiece Autobot car, and slightly shorter than a Masterpiece Seeker. Superion is going to be huge. This Masterpiece sized combiner has also already appeared in the guises of Bruticus and Menasor, with at least one more Menasor and Superion on the way. We saw one of these large new Superions at TFCon this year, and while I know Jet Commander is going to be a pretty large combined mode, whatever Superion was in that case at TFCon was the size of like, a two or three year old child.

I have repeatedly said at this point in time that my collection does not want or need combiners of that size. I don’t want or need combiners of that size standing around my apartment, and I know my wife doesn’t, and I don’t even pretend to know where I’d store them. They’d need about half a detolf each. That’s a display headache I don’t want or need either. Larger figures also means larger price tags, and that’s not a thing I’m super excited about either. There are already some super pricey figures on my shopping list that, were I to find better prices for them, I’d snatch extra fast, but I’m not actively looking to increase my toy spending.

So I guess this all comes down to what I want to do with my collection going forward, a query that pops up around these parts every so often, I know. But a collection is a living thing, always changing and growing and developing, learning from experiences and reflecting something about the collector. The 3P scene seems to really love combiners, retreating to them whenever there’s need for a soft reset or way to ensnare collectors for a few releases over the course of a year or more. Combiners, while expensive to collect and no doubt expensive to develop and produce, often share engineering and design elements, possibly making them good investments for companies which can then produce five or six figures in a similar fashion and execution amongst them. Like, I’d suppose it’s easier and more cost effective in the long run to design and build a Swindle, knowing that he’s going to be literally part of something larger, thus able to cut a corner here and there, or go light on this element or that, than it is to design and build a Hound, who would be a single use, independent, standalone figure. We generally get Grapples and Infernos in pairs, and obviously the Seekers and Datsuns; whereas you could produce one of the best single figures in a persons’ collection, but due to its uniqueness as a character and look, don’t reuse a mold that doesn’t exactly easily fit in with the general pop.

Admittedly, some of my tepid response to the Masterpiece scaled combiner is that, thus far, options are limited to a couple bunches of Combaticons, Stunticons, and Aerialbots. But what would I do if a set of Masterpiece scaled Terrorcons or Seacons or Breastforce were revealed? Surely I’d add them to my shopping list, and then, as I’ve come to do so frequently over the last year and a half or so, part with the existent version. Right?

I like the idea of the 4” scale, the Iron Factories and DX9’s of the 3P world, but am not real onboard with the cost to product ratio, which I see as being real expensive for real small toys. A while back, when talking about the DX9 Seeker trio, I’d postulated that, for the price of the trio, since they come as a set, there is some solid value present; but at the individual costs of some of those sized toys, that value ends up diminished. Sure, things like War Giant/Catastrophe look outstanding, and are very tempting buys; but Catastrophe is available online now for just under $200 for the set. I’ve gotten entire 3P combiners for that amount, and find it hard to swallow that I could do so again, but end up with five Legends-sized figures instead. There have been Iron Factory reveals over the last two weeks that have gotten me very interested, like their Beast Wars Transmetal II Megatron, named Heat Death, and my super active preorder clicking finger has almost applied pressure to the order button for that a few times already, until I see that it’s $70, and then I back away.

Of course, other options exist. If these movements towards smaller and larger figures is what the 3P scene is truly pursuing, then it may be the case that current 3P figures will end up being easier and cheaper to come by. That would be pretty great. Maybe, but probably unlikely, Takara will try to focus the official Masterpiece line on combiners, but I don’t honestly see that happening at this point. 3Ps have demonstrated that it is possible, but Takara isn’t taking the bait, and is moving in the most-screen-accurate direction. And, while this writing may not make it abundantly clear, combiners in both the Legends and Masterpiece scales are still fairly new developments, still being limited to only a few examples of each, and I’m not fully comfortable in calling that a fully realized direction; more of a trend that is certainly gripping the scene for the present. I think the Legends scale toys are here to stay, as entire companies have devoted themselves to their production, but the large scale combiners may not be things that really stick, which could account for their basically being only three team offerings at present. If this were really something that the pulse of the collector market was clamoring for, wouldn’t there be at least talk of others?

I suppose that, in thinking this through, I’ve really only managed to arrive at that most horrible of conclusions: that “we’ll see how we feel about this as more information becomes available” conclusion, the one that never really answers anything. I think, as I look around me at some of the pieces of my collection I’m surrounded by presently, I really like my transforming robot action figures in that Voyager/Masterpiece scale, as they look good and pose well (despite my best efforts at being horrible at posing toys), they feel good in-hand and are easily manipulated. The Legends scale shares many of these traits, adding to what feels like more and more complicated of a decision to eventually need to make. Of course, it is also totally possible that this is just a momentary trend in the scene, and that’s why Third Party companies have gone in on Aerialbots and Combaticons and Stunticons: jets and cars and tanks are fairly easy to design, and realistically, the Aerialbots as individual figures sorta all do the exact same thing in terms of transformation. Everyone likes tanks and helicopters, so the Combaticons are probably a safe bet in general terms. Rad looking cars in the Masterpiece scale seem like an almost sure-fire thing, given the current version of Masterpiece being so devoted to officially licensed car modes. There are no indications of Masterpiece scaled lions or two headed dragons or ambulances presently, to indicate future infant-sized Defensors and whatnot. Similarly, there have been no indications of Legends sized Superions or Menasors. Maybe much ado about nothing, sure, as my current frame of mind makes me feel that these words trend closer and closer to having been pointless all along.

I’m not a scale collector. I don’t need figures to be accurately sized in relation to each other; I don’t care if Blast Off and Groove are the same size as Swindle and Blades. I don’t really want a Megatron who has to lean over to chide Starscream, but that never seems to be a thing necessitated by a lack of viable options. I’m also not really looking to have this regular or constant state of turn over in my collection: I don’t want to buy Combiner Wars Computron to then sell it off after acquiring MakeToys Quantron, only to flip that a few years down the road for some newer version. But, I am a toy collector, and that is a hobby that never really concludes. So naturally I start looking down the path at what is coming next, or soon, or where the winds of the hobby seem to be blowing for the future. Were the scene to go full on Masterpiece scale for combiners, I’d adapt and/or do what I always do. Were the Legends scale to become the thing that really revved my engine, I’d adapt, like I always do. I can’t honestly commit to either option, presently, and that’s probably fine. Regardless of what happens, it’s not like there’s a dearth of Third Party products that have my attention or desire already. Maybe the best decision really is to just wait and see.