>>6735526Titans Return had some really good figures from the beginning, but at the same time we started getting some really awkward gimmick compromises in Galvatron, Scourge, Astrotrain, Blaster, and so on. Foil stickers began plaguing the voyagers and eventually Overlord in place of tampographs and certain paint apps. Perceptor, Kup, Hot Rod, and others are just greebled G1 designs with a headmaster gimmick slapped on.
Now we're on Power of the Primes, and the worst parts of TR are its defining traits. The Dinobots are just the G1 designs, but with added suffering for the combining gimmick. Voyager Starscream looks like crap for the torso mode and it's coated in peeling stickers that don't fit the surfaces they go on. Dreadwind looks and feels piss-poor, for being an Air Raid remold for some reason, and Darkwing probably won't be much better. Moonracer is so slavishly G1 that her alt mode is a molded-on shell that's hanging off everywhere. Hun-Grrr is a remodeled Silverbolt with a dragon mode that won't stop disappointing. Rodimus is just full of bad ideas in practice.
So tl;dr: Hasbro corporate hand-picked Warden for his eagerness to please them by cutting corners wherever possible and increasing product turnout with simple designs. Archer wasn't perfect, but him leaving the brand clearly removed some kind of check and balance as evidenced by how quickly the line declined in quality and effort.
