>>6735343>>6735355>>6735363Consider the following:
The first half of Thrilling 30 and the Generations lines before it gave us new, updated designs for G1 characters as well as figures based on fan-favorite IDW characters, with transformations that at least attempted to be involved and complex. At some point during that line Aaron Archer gets sick of fighting the corporate push for smaller budgets(or that's what he says) and turns in his future resignation.
Hasbro picks yes-man John Warden to take Archer's place and he joins the design team for the transitional period before he gets promoted. Every figure he had a hand in that year, barring Shrapnel(Legends are his strong suit), turned out to be incredibly mediocre or cheaply made. Sky-Byte was just a worse version of his 2000 toy, Roadbuster had incredibly shitty joints, proportions, and weapon connections, Whirl was just the G1 design with an IDW-ish head and reversible knees added in, and Jetfire was as hollow and lightweight as a wasp nest.
Warden gets full control and Combiner Wars rolls around. Everything is hollow and lightweight now, with minimal articulation and parts counts. I'm not going to complain about transformations at this point because yes, keeping it simple for stability WAS a good idea. Then we got Devastator, with missing elbows and awkward breakaway swinging joints. The line progresses and gets packed full of bad repaints and remolds like Brown Slingshot and Sunstreaker simply because those molds are largely paid for and the profit margins are higher.
Continued...
