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Gimmicks have been around as long as the brand, what really killed quality was the 2007 movie.
Remember around that time petroleum prices were up, so plastic became more expensive, and they started using cheaper plastics as well, leading to lots of stress marks and new issues.
But Hasbro realized they could raise prices and people would still pay it, and just never lowered them.A habit they have continued with every possible excuse to the present day.
Add to that the movie figures were highly detailed and engineered to a complexity that the Hasbro factories simply couldn't maintain the necessary QC. Animated, Prime, and everything past it has been mediocre compared to the quality pre-2007. With AEC I never had to cherry pick for a figure that didn't look like shit in the package.
They have only gotten worse as the engineering gets more ambitious, plastic quality keeps getting cheaper, parts counts and paint apps keep dropping, at the same time proces keep going up, so now we have $50 deluxe scale "voyager" figures with pop on wheels.
Kids don't care about G1 throwbacks, only diehards are still buying this shit. Who needs another Optimus Prime and another Bumblebee month after month, year after year?
