That's one of the things that turned me off of core it was like half good legends class figures and then half accessories for other figures. It never felt like anything that was worth ten too TWELVE DOLLARS in some areas
The thing that always put me off to Core class was the price point. For $10 I felt like I would get so little value out of them. Which is the main reason I would collect a Core figure-budget addition to the collection. But now I just would much rather save up for something I know I’ll enjoy much more and feels like a more worthwhile purchase.
@@CarRobots and that's the low price. Some stores have them for 20, or even 25. That's deluxe class price! I've seen similar prices and london and rome as well. (I traveled a lot these past 2 years) Everytime i see some random american saying things like "Guys I got f-ing haslab unicron fro a chewed gum and 2 paper clips!" I lose my shit. Meanwhile me an european I have to pay this much for midgets. It's no wonder this class is dead. Outside US only morons bought them. ME , I'M A MORON. I paid 20$ to get Energon Megatron. I paid less for an armada unicron from 20 years ago.
@@returnedtomonkey8886Now that’s just straight up vile. These figures are about the same size of a 2010’s Legends class figure, and only have marginally better engineering. I simply cannot bring myself to get one for $10, let alone $17.
@@Cdr2002 Metalhawk is grossly oversized compared to Bomb Burst it's not even funny. Core was ideal scale for God Masterforce Pretenders, since it was the size class of exosuits.
@@Boltscrap he’s a squad leader character, I can understand why they did him at Voyager, especially since in western media Bludgeon is often given the role of Decepticon pretender leader over the cabal of Bomb-Burst, Skullgrin, and Sub-Marauder seen in Masterforce. I like the Core pretender figures but I personally wouldn’t have wanted every last Pretender character to be that small. Imagine if for instance Thunderwing and Black Shadow had been done at Core. That just wouldn’t feel right imo.
Damn this actually sucks. I really loved a lot of the offerings we got. Im not strapped financially and don't have a lot of space, so these little dudes have been scratching my Transformers itch for the past 4 years.
The problem with “size” class is that it doesn’t always account for engineering. Maybe they could bring back difficulty levels and factor that into the price.
They were probably still too pricey, and didn’t live up to the greats that were the revenge of the fallen Scout class I still think they should’ve at least made one playset for your core class scale figures…
One big problem with the cores is that they were really hard to find depending on where you lived. In my region, most stores didn't stock up on them, and the ones that did had a baren selection. Also, having to pay inflated prices from online sellers really killed any desire to actively hunt these toys down.
I think Core Class should've been this: Characters like Rattrap who have to be small, and just G1 characters. The line should've been smaller, affordable versions of classic characters to get new kids interested. You could sell them in multi-packs, too. It could also work for collectors who just want cheaper versions of the classic characters that are still cartoon-accurate.
@@Cdr2002 I know, but they sure weren't doing it well. Stuff like Skywarp's weird fork and the limited number of molds and inconsistent releases attest to that.
@@matthewelliott7294 I feel like Transmetal Rattrap would’ve been a deluxe regardless of if Core continued or not, the design just has a lot of bulk to it
They sold poorly in New Zealand because they were $20. We only ever saw the first Studio Series wave because Ravage just would not move until he was like $5, and even then he didn't want to move. Releasing the Dinobots individually across different waves was bad since as literally anyone could have predicted very few areas got every Dinobot wave, so that just made it hard for collectors and impossible for kids to complete Volcanicus. New Zealand only saw Sludge and Slug, the two worst ones, and then that's literally it, no limbs for them.
also, whenever you have a combiner team, there's always gonna be alot of people waiting for the boxset to release instead of colelcting them individually.
Two things: charging $12 for cassettes that should be $5 at minimum and an unwillingness to do actual small characters. I’d’ve taken Red Rumble and Blue Frenzy as a two-pack minus their pile-drivers and a Sari Sumdac over Rock Lords that look like fecal matter and Gatorade green-not Fossilizers.
I've never seen Rumble or Frenzy in my area. I got the blue one on a trip out of state, and I'm gonna have to just bite the bullet and buy the red one secondhand. Hasbro's distribution blows
You forgot to mention how Core Class figures are the easiest ones to steal. My target had literally one Frenzy and that one was the only one that was stolen and it's been sitting on the post for weeks at this point.
I think this wasn't profitable for Hasbro and retailers is because a lot of them got stolen. Them are small enough to put in your pocket and walk out without paying for it. A lot of those retailers probably still have it in their systems even though there are none on the pegs. A stolen item screws up a retailer's inventory.
Hasbro got greedy? Yeah, inflation IS most indubitably a factor, but some recent reports about a few grocery store chains inflating their prices in order to get more money out of their customers have me thinking that Hasbro’s higher-ups might’ve taken a page out of their playbook.
It's a common practice of many corporations. phone companies petitioned the goverment by showing them a graph of their yearly cumulative expenses. So that graph went pretty high by the end. but it's cumulative. it adds the previous year on. it's always going to go up. the actual non cumulative graph showed their expenses were actually going down.
Half of the cause of inflation were corporate profits. They were just raising prices wildly to see what they could get away with until the next inflation event.
16:58 This product shot is so hilariously unflattering. Someone enabled backface culling on Grimlock's legs. As for the core price point... I feel like a key factor in this is that the Core Class was not said to be selling poorly. It "wasn't selling the way hasbro would like it." Which is often code for "They overhyped themselves on something and kept hypercorrecting and repurposing as a knee-jerk reaction rather than just letting it be." Heck, we saw that with how the "Energon Monsters" got repurposed into the Core Pretenders and Infernac denizens. It's an all-too common pattern in bigger corporations nowadays. They expect more money the less they put into something until it just stops being sustainable, then they blame it on everything but the people who underfunded and overestimated the project then rushed it out the door. Core Class was fine in its isolated iterations. It's their attitude towards it that screwed it over.
I'd agree that what killed Core Class is the lack of a cohesive direction for the size class. Like, with Deluxes we have the car bots, with Voyagers we have tall characters like Silverbolt, Soundwave, and with Leaders we start to get into the big boys, but it wasn't the case with Cores. On one hand: we had small characters like Mohawk, Arcee, Ravage, Wheelie, Rattrap, Tazmania Kid, and Laserbeak as pink Bumblebee. On another hand: we had pocket sized offerings of big characters like Optimus, Megatron, Soundwave, the Dinobots, Ironhide, Ratchet, Hot Rod. And on the other we had the cassettes and minions, which were way too small to ask for $10 dollars each.
It's definitely important to provide some kind of "affordable" version of big name/big league characters, so that's a good aspect of the size class. But I also like the usage of the size class for "smaller" characters, like Rattrap (though he might have worked better as a smaller deluxe like Bumblebee/Cliffjumper). I think it was also used as a low-cost way to test the waters for some of the less popular franchise elements -- Energon Galvatron and BMach Cheetor -- as you point out just before I type this. All of which suggest a strong lack of focus.
I just miss the days of full wave of characters as cores. Like the entire prime cast in cybververse. If they did core class prime characters like then we would've got 1, maybe 2
But pricing out customers and eliminating affordable products is the American way! Core Class Transformers have become Hasbro’s “Starter Home”: they’re done. Pretty soon Hasbro will charge an arm and a leg to rent Transformers ($24.99/mo. + restocking fee). Elderly collectors will gather the grandkids ‘round and reminisce about purchasing their first Transformer back in the 20th century.
I really think they should take some notes from the old Cyberverse lines for DOTM and Prime. Make a subline for smaller more affordable versions of your main characters. Make them simple but satisfying to transform. Give them their own packaging so they stand out on shelves. Put a paper insert that shows kids what other toys are available. Make playsets like the Ark that kids will want to save their money for and ask their Grandparents for their birthday. I don't know if it would save the core class but I do know I bought very little of the DOTM mainline but I did buy most of it's Cyberverse line.
Honestly... Mini-Bots, Cassettes, Basic Class, Spy Changers, Mini-con pack, The Omni-Bots and Terrorcons from Energon, Scout class, Legends Class, Legion Class, Core Class, they're all basically the same thing. Hasbro changes the name every few years but there's always been some kind of small cheap line of figures under the Deluxe price point. They're not really going to stop making them they're just not going to be called Core Class anymore. That's what I really think it is.
The lack of variety in the assortments really hurt Cores. Only 2 new toys per wave. In a shipping case of 8. Deluxes meanwhile, get 4 new characters. 2 copies of each per case of 8. So when a new case is opened at the store, people can come in, grab 1 of each figure and clear out the case. Do that with cores. This same 2 people grab 1 each of the new guys. And leave 6 behind to rot on the pegs. So Cores either need to ship in smaller cases with faster turnaround, or pump more variety into each wave. We had the exact same problem with Micromasters and Battlemasters beforehand. And whatever comes after Core will likely face the same issue.
The problem with core class was distribution. Because of the way they were released some figures “seemed” to sit on shelves because they were the end of wave one and beginning of the next wave. So these stores had a surplus. While the middle of the waves were impossible to find on shelves.
I live in Las Cruces New Mexico and I was told that Walmart and target won't be carrying core class transformers anymore, some employees said that they heard that they are getting discontinued for it doesn't apply on their systems, the tags have been removed in some locations. The Dinobots were the last ones added to shelves but they were there for like 2 weeks, they just now added legacy united silverbolt and animated Optimus Prime. And the G2 repaints
I absolutely hate that core class is ending. It was my way of getting the whole cast of characters without having to sell organs... and it's ending before the full case exists?! $10 was a good price, for what they are, and I gladly bought every single release I've seen!
I would say skywarp tunefork accessory was a bolty idea. Not only not giving us skywarp's weapons that's not exclusive but making a double dip or high price upgrade kit. It was a AWFUL IDEA! Hasbro sure loves killing our bank account, murdering our wallets.
They weren't even released in the UK. But I think they were too expensive for how small they looked. They did not look value for money. I imagine most people would rather put that money towards a bigger, better looking deluxe.
My problems - too expesnive for what you get - most core figures had terrible qa - most of their designs are heavily flawed, nearly every time one mode is guaranteed to look horrible/off
If Core class is on its way out, I’d imagine a new size class of small Transformers toys will take its place, like how Core replaced Legends. I still think small Transformers have their place, for multiple reasons.
The biggest thing that hurt it was that certain Deluxes were literally the size of Legends class now. So they needed a new low end simplistic type...hence Cores.
It sucks how Core Class was handled, because could you imagine how cool it would be to get other combiner teams in the core class size range? Would've been a really cool and affordable way for people to get a full combiner without having to pay into the triple digits.
I feel like a $15 price point would be far superior, like you said. It could be a good price point for all those smaller figures, but I also think it’s a good way to get minicons out by releasing them in 2 packs without having so much extra budget like they did in core class
Thats too bad, core class scale really well with the titan class figs. I was hoping for more G1 characters to come out for me to display with Metroplex and Trypticon.
13:44 That would never happen because the Minicons we have are literally HALF the size of Core Class. As for the size discrepancy, Scout Class used to exist, but at that point Hasbro would have made another price point at about $15 for something like Earthrise Cliffjumper. One other thing that came to mind was how complicated some of the transformations became. The Pretenders, Seekers, the Soundwaves, and Vertibreak are examples of simple transformations that work as an entry point. Meanwhile you have examples like G1 Megatron, Bumblebee, movie Ravage, and Hotrod who were too complicated for something that's an entry level. As for the scale being "unified," I have to disagree that they weren't. A vast majority of the scaled down characters were G1, which (aside from the Dinobots) were unified and didn't stick out that much. As for characters at that scale, Rattrap was a proof of concept that the Core Class could pull double duty with having characters who were smaller find an existing price point.
I am not really a collector, but a few weeks ago, I bought a Core class Soundwave, and I ordered a Starscream, so he has a friend. I find them perfect for what they are, and scratch a childhood itch. Sad to see them go.
As a fan of 4"-ish figures and also being able to quickly transform a robot into a car without referencing a sheet of instructions, I liked this line. Sad to see it go but at least I got Hot Rod
Dang, core is one of my favorite size classes. There was fun collecting an army of these tiny representations of TF characters, despite how compromised some were. Admittedly though, the line did seem somewhat misguided at times. Rattrap definitely should've been a small deluxe (like deluxe minibots). The G1 lineup was nice, but then here comes Bumblebee movie Shockwave randomly who doesn't fit thematically with any previous release and also doesn't scale with anything from the movie he's from.
All of the Walmart stores in my area, have nothing but Iguanus, and Studio Series Ravage. Otherwise, it's all Gen 2 repaint shelf warmers. I have to drive more than a hundred miles, to Portland, Oregon for any current Walmart exclusives.
Ahhh finally got to see your show. I have been to your store. Nice to see you on here. Regarding core class. While I enjoyed it, I'm excited to see whats next. Personally I would like to see a proper minicon and target master line. Fully articulated minicons and target masters would be sweet. Aspecially because we have alot of Armada characters starting to be produced with no minicons included. -Big Bot Bodega
I’d absolutely love if the minibots were in a 15 dollar price point. Theyd have better engineering and size than core, but struggle less to justify their price than a deluxe minibot. I’d hope if they do minicons. It’s a 2 pack and they have unique engineering instead of the repetition from siege micromasters
Price was probably the main factor. Sure, they are inexpensive compared to deluxe and voyager, but they still seem overpriced for the size. AJ picked up on the scale issue. It feels very random when some characters in that class were minions that scaled properly with deluxe and voyager, yet the same wave included characters that would normally be deluxe or voyager, not to mention leader class on their own. But also, look at the engineering. Yes they're small, but that doesn't excuse the level of simplicity. Look at the comparably sized figures (I think they were referred to as scout class) around the time of the 2007 movie and Revenge of the Fallen. Going forward, I think minion characters and mini-cons, or anything along those lines will have to be either accessories or boxed sets. If they really want to do a core class, it needs to be its own distinct line.
Personally preferred the old "Legends" class figures, they had some clever repaints, came in creative multi packs and created a nice option for larger characters at smaller price points.
At the end of the day, I feel like this is just going to be a temporary hiatus of the size class. Core class is gunna come back, but under a new branding, as it has with Scout class, Legends class, even Legion class arguably. As for WHY it failed, it always felt like it was just trickling out either G1 characters when the focus was on other series (See: right now with sales tanking because of focus on Animated and Unicron Trilogy) to still get money from the "main" consumerbase (which didn't work because those nostalgia collectors want more complete toys than that), OR it was random stuff to bandaid satisfy the whims of the "secondary" consumerbase whenever the primary focus was on early-era series (G1/BM)
I love legend scale transformers. But I'm a girl who just like the small ones so getting small versions of characters I like ie Soundwave, bee, prime like old school cyberverse were great since I miss when we got whole waves of core class instead of 2 to 1 per wave
At least we can remember that from Core Class, Hasbro did they version of pocket Soundwave which has usually been 3rd Party's magic trick. IMO, I would have liked Core Class G1 Hound or G1 Sideswipe. I admit that UT Mini-Cons could have been made in Core Class scale.
Core class is/was mainly the reason I got back into collecting, and I'm really sad to see it go. I know it had a couple poop figures along the way, but it brought back the feeling of buying g2 mini bots at K.B. toys in the 90s
Its a shame because other than Legacy United. The Core class selection has been on point so far, small characters e.g. cassettes and Rattrap as you said for the collectors of the other sizes. And cheaper versions of the well known characters for younger/ less disposable income collecters or as stocking stuffers and presents for little nephews/nieces. Their attempt at dipping into the other shows (BM Cheetor and Ener Megs) were a bad choice i think. Imagine if they continued with more g1 cast or SS doing more core of their characters. A major issue (in the UK anyway) is our major toy retailer for transformers Smyths, doesn't stock core class. We can only get it from independent stores
Core class sizes were all over the place. You'd have the large Iguanus and then the very tiny Frenzy/Rumble and upcoming Steeljaw whose sizes are compensated with accessories. The inconsistency is too much. There should be a split back between Scout class (unique robots of the appropriate small size) and Legends class (large robots put into a tinier size category).
I thought the first few core classes they did were good, but man they started going downhill. Toys got gappier and gappier, less paint, and worse of all, more quality control issues. Core G1 Shockwave is a really cool toy from a design perspective and it does a lot right, but I've owned two of him and both had such loose joints that he can't even stand. A $2 price increase isn't the worst thing in the world, but when the toy gets more expensive at the exact same time the quality nosedives, that's something that makes people stop wanting them. I gave up collecting Cores for a while, decided to give them another shot with Bouldercrash, then quit again when I got it in-hand. Feels like something that was only halfway finished in terms of actual design, the transformation is so unpleasant, he has a huge rod sticking out of his butt, and his vehicle mode doesn't even look like anything someone could ride. It's just a vague slab with wheels that you have to really use your imagination to see as a motorcycle.
it's a common American Corporation problem. a lot of people making it to the top by cutting costs or raising prices. instead of people who know how to grow the business. a major (though not the only) reason why the economy sucks so much.
Honestly it’s kind of retailers fault for not cutting their losses on Legacy wave 1 cores like Iguanus and Skywarp. 0/5 Walmarts in my area had Evolution cores, but you bet your sweet bippy I can still go buy an Iguanus and Skywarp at full price!
A couple problems I think plagued Core Class: -Scale. The other Generations size classes display well together. You can put Deluxe Needlenose next to Voyager Bludgeon and it looks great. If you try to put Core Grimlock next to Deluxe Bee, it looks weird. There were some exceptions like the cassettes or Tasmania Kid, but the core versions of larger characters only look good next to some of the Titans. - Competition. I feel like they only cater to a niche audience because other figures of the same characters exist. The mainline toys based on current shows compete for kids’ attention, and adult collectors would prefer the larger versions of characters like Optimus or Ironhide if they have the money for it. I only ever bought as many as I did to put them on my desk at work. All in all, I agree that I don’t know what they wanted the size class to be since it always felt like the odd one out. It may be dead, but JT’s mention of multipacks for small figures gives me hope for the return of Mini-Con teams. The two we’ve gotten so far are too small to be cores, so they would be perfect for multipacks (like better versions of the Micromasters)
I cared next to nothing about the Core-scale, but cared VERY MUCH for the 'little dudes' in CHUG scale that Core class gave us. Voted YES on Rattrap and weird tiny dinosaur skeleton, NO on mini Skywarp.
Rattrap was too small especially as they made Blackarachnia deluxe size. Looking at the sizr charts the mini vehicles deluxe are actually decent scale.
I always felt there should have been two core classes that were $5 and $10 for the small and larger sized ones, seeing as they got rid of the $5 ones when core class came out. They should have come out with a smaller class where all the transformers that come out are sized to go with titan class figures. It would be around a Dr Wu scale. That would have been a cool way to go with core class. Shrinking the larger transformers to fit them with mainline titan class figures.
There wasn't enough to make a collection of. You couldn't just get core class you would end up with odd characters from different shows and some cassettes.
IMHO the best era of smaller than Deluxe Class Transformers was the Cyberverse lines for Transformers Prime and Dark of the Moon. Having the 2 sizes & transforming playsets was such a great gimmick. I just wished they didn't use the gummy clear plastic on them. Pretty sure my collection of them in a storage box somewhere are unplayable now.
Not surprised to be honest, like the micromasters before them, they shelf warmed alot ( hell there where still some wave 2 legacy cores still at my local toy store and last year). Hasbro most likely are looking at this and thinking the small size figures are not wanted. Generally suprised people also thought that they where going to do minicons. The only way I would have seen them do that is a 2 pack like the micromasters
Bring back Cyberverse! (The small scale line) I didn't love how Core was a catch all for small scale figures and in-scale figures of small characters. So we ended up with pretty arbitrary small scale teams and characters made too small or forced into the pricepoint by being bundled with unnecessary accessories. We've seen how good small deluxes can be, (Gears and Beachcomber) and as long as the engineering and accessories make it worth it, I'm okay with smaller characters be at the deluxe pricepoint. But some people want small representations of figures so they take up less space or more affordable to collect. Its a great entrypoint for kids in that way. I know so many people that go into Transformers because they got a legends class toy during the movie lines or something. I don't know how successful Cyberverse scale was, but i sure enjoyed it and thought it had a lot of promise.
I've always thought core class was a stupid scale unless you're dealing with the cassettes or Minibots of some kind. I don't buy main characters in miniature. The only core class I've bought are Spike Rumble and the other cassettes. It's just a waste of time and money for them to put it out. Unless it's a pardon the pun core character like the cassettes
Kinda glad Core class is cancelled before we all get price gouged on individually packed Core class minicons for $11.99 each.
That's one of the things that turned me off of core it was like half good legends class figures and then half accessories for other figures. It never felt like anything that was worth ten too TWELVE DOLLARS in some areas
I think the best way to do the Mini-Cons would be multipacks at the Deluxe price point.
RIP Core class, you were always there for us who wanted transformers but only had $3
3?
In what universe Core are $3? I'm Canadian and Core is $15 here and even if you go "lol not real money" In American it's like $12 still.
@@lanocheImagine having "money" called loonies and toonies 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The thing that always put me off to Core class was the price point. For $10 I felt like I would get so little value out of them. Which is the main reason I would collect a Core figure-budget addition to the collection. But now I just would much rather save up for something I know I’ll enjoy much more and feels like a more worthwhile purchase.
10$? In my country they were 17$!
@@returnedtomonkey8886 That is straight up theft
@@CarRobots and that's the low price. Some stores have them for 20, or even 25. That's deluxe class price!
I've seen similar prices and london and rome as well. (I traveled a lot these past 2 years)
Everytime i see some random american saying things like "Guys I got f-ing haslab unicron fro a chewed gum and 2 paper clips!" I lose my shit. Meanwhile me an european I have to pay this much for midgets. It's no wonder this class is dead.
Outside US only morons bought them. ME , I'M A MORON. I paid 20$ to get Energon Megatron. I paid less for an armada unicron from 20 years ago.
@@returnedtomonkey8886Now that’s just straight up vile. These figures are about the same size of a 2010’s Legends class figure, and only have marginally better engineering. I simply cannot bring myself to get one for $10, let alone $17.
@@jonathandelgado3755 And in many parts of europe i found them for 20 to 25.
Deluxe class price!
I don't think Hasbro knows what they themselves want, nor understands what their customers want.
I really wanted some more core pretenders. Bomb Burst was one of my favorite toys of that year.
On the bright side, maybe future Pretenders will be deluxes and voyagers like Skullgrin, Bludgeon, and Metalhawk
@@Cdr2002 Metalhawk is grossly oversized compared to Bomb Burst it's not even funny. Core was ideal scale for God Masterforce Pretenders, since it was the size class of exosuits.
@@Boltscrap he’s a squad leader character, I can understand why they did him at Voyager, especially since in western media Bludgeon is often given the role of Decepticon pretender leader over the cabal of Bomb-Burst, Skullgrin, and Sub-Marauder seen in Masterforce. I like the Core pretender figures but I personally wouldn’t have wanted every last Pretender character to be that small. Imagine if for instance Thunderwing and Black Shadow had been done at Core. That just wouldn’t feel right imo.
Damn this actually sucks. I really loved a lot of the offerings we got. Im not strapped financially and don't have a lot of space, so these little dudes have been scratching my Transformers itch for the past 4 years.
It was fun to build up a tiny G1 army.
They should bring Basic Class back.
It will just be replaced with something else. The same way we’ve had Scout Class and Legends Class and Micro Masters revival, ect.
We do, it's called Deluxe...
A Basic Class figure is actually smaller than a Deluxe Class figure.
@@StevenDolce With how much smaller they are these days, I find that increasingly hard to believe...
Back then, a basic class figure would cost $5 and a deluxe class figure would cost $10.
Ultimateely core class couldn't decide if it wanted to be Legends or Scout Class.
The problem with “size” class is that it doesn’t always account for engineering. Maybe they could bring back difficulty levels and factor that into the price.
They were probably still too pricey, and didn’t live up to the greats that were the revenge of the fallen Scout class
I still think they should’ve at least made one playset for your core class scale figures…
they tried. with the modulizers-leader-titan base modes. that was as much od an unfocussed approach as everything else they did
One big problem with the cores is that they were really hard to find depending on where you lived.
In my region, most stores didn't stock up on them, and the ones that did had a baren selection.
Also, having to pay inflated prices from online sellers really killed any desire to actively hunt these toys down.
I haven't seen any Cores in my area for quite while now.
I think Core Class should've been this: Characters like Rattrap who have to be small, and just G1 characters. The line should've been smaller, affordable versions of classic characters to get new kids interested. You could sell them in multi-packs, too. It could also work for collectors who just want cheaper versions of the classic characters that are still cartoon-accurate.
This is basically what they were already doing
@@Cdr2002 I know, but they sure weren't doing it well. Stuff like Skywarp's weird fork and the limited number of molds and inconsistent releases attest to that.
If Hasbro does do Transmetal Rattrap, I think deluxe class will do that figure better than Core Class.
@@matthewelliott7294 Agreed.
@@matthewelliott7294 I feel like Transmetal Rattrap would’ve been a deluxe regardless of if Core continued or not, the design just has a lot of bulk to it
They sold poorly in New Zealand because they were $20. We only ever saw the first Studio Series wave because Ravage just would not move until he was like $5, and even then he didn't want to move. Releasing the Dinobots individually across different waves was bad since as literally anyone could have predicted very few areas got every Dinobot wave, so that just made it hard for collectors and impossible for kids to complete Volcanicus. New Zealand only saw Sludge and Slug, the two worst ones, and then that's literally it, no limbs for them.
Oh man to be able to walk into a kmart and buy a transformer. Things we cant do in the states no more 🥲
also, whenever you have a combiner team, there's always gonna be alot of people waiting for the boxset to release instead of colelcting them individually.
As a kiwi ive had to resort to buying core swoop online and am still yet to get core snarl
Two things: charging $12 for cassettes that should be $5 at minimum and an unwillingness to do actual small characters. I’d’ve taken Red Rumble and Blue Frenzy as a two-pack minus their pile-drivers and a Sari Sumdac over Rock Lords that look like fecal matter and Gatorade green-not Fossilizers.
It’s so annoying how every “izer” core hasn’t even fit the subline it was made for.
Even when Core class was still being produced, the distribution was just as awful as the regular figures.
I can’t find Core Mohawk anywhere🤦♂️
Something Hasbro STILL hasn't gotten around to solving. Sounds like they just don't want to solve it... considering they've ignored it so long.
I've never seen Rumble or Frenzy in my area. I got the blue one on a trip out of state, and I'm gonna have to just bite the bullet and buy the red one secondhand. Hasbro's distribution blows
What you mean you don't want 15 exo-suit Spikes?
@@GladDestronger they opened a few hasbro pulse centers. like they expected the main bulk of buyers, the retail goers, to use that and be on point.
Well not everyone has decent internet and cash to shell out for stuff.
You forgot to mention how Core Class figures are the easiest ones to steal. My target had literally one Frenzy and that one was the only one that was stolen and it's been sitting on the post for weeks at this point.
Farewell core class. Welcome Alpha Class and Omega Class.
I think this wasn't profitable for Hasbro and retailers is because a lot of them got stolen. Them are small enough to put in your pocket and walk out without paying for it. A lot of those retailers probably still have it in their systems even though there are none on the pegs. A stolen item screws up a retailer's inventory.
Damn that’s too bad. I would have loved a core-class Lifeline.
Core class should've been for something specific or specific characters such as the tapes etc...
Hasbro got greedy? Yeah, inflation IS most indubitably a factor, but some recent reports about a few grocery store chains inflating their prices in order to get more money out of their customers have me thinking that Hasbro’s higher-ups might’ve taken a page out of their playbook.
It's a common practice of many corporations. phone companies petitioned the goverment by showing them a graph of their yearly cumulative expenses. So that graph went pretty high by the end. but it's cumulative. it adds the previous year on. it's always going to go up. the actual non cumulative graph showed their expenses were actually going down.
If we get rid of inflation (don’t ask me how, I’m no economist) corporations won’t be able to hide behind it.
Half of the cause of inflation were corporate profits. They were just raising prices wildly to see what they could get away with until the next inflation event.
If we get rid of inflation (don't ask me how we'd do that, I'm not an economy expert), the companies won't be able to hide behind that excuse.
Hasbro is also trying to recover from the failed investment (due to their mishandling) of Power Rangers.
Wheelie and Brains already have Studio Series "figures." They're little pack-in accessories with DOTM Shockwave
Except no possibility no transformation
@@luci_1152 hence why I put figures in quotes
16:58
This product shot is so hilariously unflattering. Someone enabled backface culling on Grimlock's legs.
As for the core price point... I feel like a key factor in this is that the Core Class was not said to be selling poorly. It "wasn't selling the way hasbro would like it."
Which is often code for "They overhyped themselves on something and kept hypercorrecting and repurposing as a knee-jerk reaction rather than just letting it be."
Heck, we saw that with how the "Energon Monsters" got repurposed into the Core Pretenders and Infernac denizens.
It's an all-too common pattern in bigger corporations nowadays. They expect more money the less they put into something until it just stops being sustainable, then they blame it on everything but the people who underfunded and overestimated the project then rushed it out the door.
Core Class was fine in its isolated iterations. It's their attitude towards it that screwed it over.
I'd agree that what killed Core Class is the lack of a cohesive direction for the size class. Like, with Deluxes we have the car bots, with Voyagers we have tall characters like Silverbolt, Soundwave, and with Leaders we start to get into the big boys, but it wasn't the case with Cores.
On one hand: we had small characters like Mohawk, Arcee, Ravage, Wheelie, Rattrap, Tazmania Kid, and Laserbeak as pink Bumblebee. On another hand: we had pocket sized offerings of big characters like Optimus, Megatron, Soundwave, the Dinobots, Ironhide, Ratchet, Hot Rod. And on the other we had the cassettes and minions, which were way too small to ask for $10 dollars each.
It's definitely important to provide some kind of "affordable" version of big name/big league characters, so that's a good aspect of the size class. But I also like the usage of the size class for "smaller" characters, like Rattrap (though he might have worked better as a smaller deluxe like Bumblebee/Cliffjumper).
I think it was also used as a low-cost way to test the waters for some of the less popular franchise elements -- Energon Galvatron and BMach Cheetor -- as you point out just before I type this.
All of which suggest a strong lack of focus.
I just miss the days of full wave of characters as cores. Like the entire prime cast in cybververse. If they did core class prime characters like then we would've got 1, maybe 2
The Core Class Wheelie was way too small.
That is a wild take to have.
i honestly might buy a deluxe class wheelie to go with the other minibots if they made one
But pricing out customers and eliminating affordable products is the American way! Core Class Transformers have become Hasbro’s “Starter Home”: they’re done. Pretty soon Hasbro will charge an arm and a leg to rent Transformers ($24.99/mo. + restocking fee). Elderly collectors will gather the grandkids ‘round and reminisce about purchasing their first Transformer back in the 20th century.
I bet core class will be replaced with mini-cons in two packs like the micromasters were
Or 3 pack.
I want to add the fact that over in Indonesia, Core class is 17 USD, which is absurd.
I really think they should take some notes from the old Cyberverse lines for DOTM and Prime. Make a subline for smaller more affordable versions of your main characters. Make them simple but satisfying to transform. Give them their own packaging so they stand out on shelves. Put a paper insert that shows kids what other toys are available. Make playsets like the Ark that kids will want to save their money for and ask their Grandparents for their birthday. I don't know if it would save the core class but I do know I bought very little of the DOTM mainline but I did buy most of it's Cyberverse line.
Honestly... Mini-Bots, Cassettes, Basic Class, Spy Changers, Mini-con pack, The Omni-Bots and Terrorcons from Energon, Scout class, Legends Class, Legion Class, Core Class, they're all basically the same thing. Hasbro changes the name every few years but there's always been some kind of small cheap line of figures under the Deluxe price point. They're not really going to stop making them they're just not going to be called Core Class anymore. That's what I really think it is.
For me, Core and the prior Legends scale were a fun way to accessorize the city-bots, when they weren't the mini-bots or cassettes.
The lack of variety in the assortments really hurt Cores.
Only 2 new toys per wave.
In a shipping case of 8.
Deluxes meanwhile, get 4 new characters. 2 copies of each per case of 8.
So when a new case is opened at the store, people can come in, grab 1 of each figure and clear out the case.
Do that with cores. This same 2 people grab 1 each of the new guys. And leave 6 behind to rot on the pegs.
So Cores either need to ship in smaller cases with faster turnaround, or pump more variety into each wave.
We had the exact same problem with Micromasters and Battlemasters beforehand. And whatever comes after Core will likely face the same issue.
The problem with core class was distribution. Because of the way they were released some figures “seemed” to sit on shelves because they were the end of wave one and beginning of the next wave. So these stores had a surplus. While the middle of the waves were impossible to find on shelves.
Yikes. 😢
It's time to find Tasmania Kid before he disappears.
I live in Las Cruces New Mexico and I was told that Walmart and target won't be carrying core class transformers anymore, some employees said that they heard that they are getting discontinued for it doesn't apply on their systems, the tags have been removed in some locations. The Dinobots were the last ones added to shelves but they were there for like 2 weeks, they just now added legacy united silverbolt and animated Optimus Prime. And the G2 repaints
Up here in Canada, the core class sold for $18 at many stores. No wonder they don’t sell.
These are sad news, Core class and third party legends singlehandedly brought me back into collecting Transformers
I absolutely hate that core class is ending. It was my way of getting the whole cast of characters without having to sell organs... and it's ending before the full case exists?! $10 was a good price, for what they are, and I gladly bought every single release I've seen!
I would say skywarp tunefork accessory was a bolty idea. Not only not giving us skywarp's weapons that's not exclusive but making a double dip or high price upgrade kit. It was a AWFUL IDEA! Hasbro sure loves killing our bank account, murdering our wallets.
They weren't even released in the UK. But I think they were too expensive for how small they looked. They did not look value for money. I imagine most people would rather put that money towards a bigger, better looking deluxe.
My problems
- too expesnive for what you get
- most core figures had terrible qa
- most of their designs are heavily flawed, nearly every time one mode is guaranteed to look horrible/off
If Core class is on its way out, I’d imagine a new size class of small Transformers toys will take its place, like how Core replaced Legends. I still think small Transformers have their place, for multiple reasons.
Plus they are cheeper then dr wu and other 3rd party legends.
The biggest thing that hurt it was that certain Deluxes were literally the size of Legends class now. So they needed a new low end simplistic type...hence Cores.
I'm glad I'm not a 'Collector'. I only have about two-hundre.... Aw, Crap!
20:22 I have literally been playing with Energon Universe Megatron this whole video lol!
Since we are no longer getting Core Class in Transformers, Hasbro should bring back Robot Heroes.
Or they can continue to dk One Step Changers for Transformers.
It sucks how Core Class was handled, because could you imagine how cool it would be to get other combiner teams in the core class size range? Would've been a really cool and affordable way for people to get a full combiner without having to pay into the triple digits.
I feel like a $15 price point would be far superior, like you said. It could be a good price point for all those smaller figures, but I also think it’s a good way to get minicons out by releasing them in 2 packs without having so much extra budget like they did in core class
Rest in Pieces, Core Class. You were always an inconsistent pain in the rear.
Thats too bad, core class scale really well with the titan class figs. I was hoping for more G1 characters to come out for me to display with Metroplex and Trypticon.
A majority of them shelf warm. Rise of the Beast cores have clogged aisles all year.
5:21 “from time to time” is unfair. They did this build a figure weapon thing once. It wasn’t a good idea but it was a fluke
13:44
That would never happen because the Minicons we have are literally HALF the size of Core Class.
As for the size discrepancy, Scout Class used to exist, but at that point Hasbro would have made another price point at about $15 for something like Earthrise Cliffjumper.
One other thing that came to mind was how complicated some of the transformations became. The Pretenders, Seekers, the Soundwaves, and Vertibreak are examples of simple transformations that work as an entry point. Meanwhile you have examples like G1 Megatron, Bumblebee, movie Ravage, and Hotrod who were too complicated for something that's an entry level.
As for the scale being "unified," I have to disagree that they weren't. A vast majority of the scaled down characters were G1, which (aside from the Dinobots) were unified and didn't stick out that much.
As for characters at that scale, Rattrap was a proof of concept that the Core Class could pull double duty with having characters who were smaller find an existing price point.
I am not really a collector, but a few weeks ago, I bought a Core class Soundwave, and I ordered a Starscream, so he has a friend. I find them perfect for what they are, and scratch a childhood itch. Sad to see them go.
Kinda hate that these died
Was hoping for core class last knight characters to scale better with the leader Dinobots
Every target I’ve been to has studio series ROTB arcee on clearance, and its always full of
As a fan of 4"-ish figures and also being able to quickly transform a robot into a car without referencing a sheet of instructions, I liked this line. Sad to see it go but at least I got Hot Rod
Dang, core is one of my favorite size classes. There was fun collecting an army of these tiny representations of TF characters, despite how compromised some were. Admittedly though, the line did seem somewhat misguided at times. Rattrap definitely should've been a small deluxe (like deluxe minibots). The G1 lineup was nice, but then here comes Bumblebee movie Shockwave randomly who doesn't fit thematically with any previous release and also doesn't scale with anything from the movie he's from.
Exactly plus no other bbm core class characters that scaled with Shockwave came out apart from maybe Starscream?
All of the Walmart stores in my area, have nothing but Iguanus, and Studio Series Ravage. Otherwise, it's all Gen 2 repaint shelf warmers. I have to drive more than a hundred miles, to Portland, Oregon for any current Walmart exclusives.
Skipped the core class Dinobots. I'm collecting the SS leader Dinobots, and I figured I'd be getting the molds as Dinoking anyway.
Ahhh finally got to see your show. I have been to your store. Nice to see you on here. Regarding core class. While I enjoyed it, I'm excited to see whats next. Personally I would like to see a proper minicon and target master line. Fully articulated minicons and target masters would be sweet. Aspecially because we have alot of Armada characters starting to be produced with no minicons included. -Big Bot Bodega
I’d absolutely love if the minibots were in a 15 dollar price point. Theyd have better engineering and size than core, but struggle less to justify their price than a deluxe minibot. I’d hope if they do minicons. It’s a 2 pack and they have unique engineering instead of the repetition from siege micromasters
Price was probably the main factor. Sure, they are inexpensive compared to deluxe and voyager, but they still seem overpriced for the size.
AJ picked up on the scale issue. It feels very random when some characters in that class were minions that scaled properly with deluxe and voyager, yet the same wave included characters that would normally be deluxe or voyager, not to mention leader class on their own.
But also, look at the engineering. Yes they're small, but that doesn't excuse the level of simplicity. Look at the comparably sized figures (I think they were referred to as scout class) around the time of the 2007 movie and Revenge of the Fallen.
Going forward, I think minion characters and mini-cons, or anything along those lines will have to be either accessories or boxed sets. If they really want to do a core class, it needs to be its own distinct line.
I know we have rewritten beast machines and machine wars. But what about beast wars, tfa, or prime?
Well, maybe if they started putting out minicons, the line wouldn't be dead
Personally preferred the old "Legends" class figures, they had some clever repaints, came in creative multi packs and created a nice option for larger characters at smaller price points.
$12 for basically miniscale figures ain’t it chief
Rip Core class And all the Other core class characters who could have been made
We need more Core class figures for the studio series 86 line
The cassette tapes used to actually come with cool little plastic cassette cases like a real cassette (pre-Transformers brand name).
Very sad, hope they release similar 3.5 inch figures that will line up well with core class
At the end of the day, I feel like this is just going to be a temporary hiatus of the size class. Core class is gunna come back, but under a new branding, as it has with Scout class, Legends class, even Legion class arguably.
As for WHY it failed, it always felt like it was just trickling out either G1 characters when the focus was on other series (See: right now with sales tanking because of focus on Animated and Unicron Trilogy) to still get money from the "main" consumerbase (which didn't work because those nostalgia collectors want more complete toys than that), OR it was random stuff to bandaid satisfy the whims of the "secondary" consumerbase whenever the primary focus was on early-era series (G1/BM)
I want a Deluxe price point set of
1 Micromaster
1 Battle Master
1 Core
I love legend scale transformers. But I'm a girl who just like the small ones so getting small versions of characters I like ie Soundwave, bee, prime like old school cyberverse were great since I miss when we got whole waves of core class instead of 2 to 1 per wave
Just going off my own buying history, I wasn't buying any core class I had in larger sizes. Barely bought any Legacy Evolution core class.
At least we can remember that from Core Class, Hasbro did they version of pocket Soundwave which has usually been 3rd Party's magic trick.
IMO, I would have liked Core Class G1 Hound or G1 Sideswipe.
I admit that UT Mini-Cons could have been made in Core Class scale.
Core class is/was mainly the reason I got back into collecting, and I'm really sad to see it go. I know it had a couple poop figures along the way, but it brought back the feeling of buying g2 mini bots at K.B. toys in the 90s
Its a shame because other than Legacy United. The Core class selection has been on point so far, small characters e.g. cassettes and Rattrap as you said for the collectors of the other sizes. And cheaper versions of the well known characters for younger/ less disposable income collecters or as stocking stuffers and presents for little nephews/nieces.
Their attempt at dipping into the other shows (BM Cheetor and Ener Megs) were a bad choice i think. Imagine if they continued with more g1 cast or SS doing more core of their characters.
A major issue (in the UK anyway) is our major toy retailer for transformers Smyths, doesn't stock core class. We can only get it from independent stores
Core class sizes were all over the place. You'd have the large Iguanus and then the very tiny Frenzy/Rumble and upcoming Steeljaw whose sizes are compensated with accessories. The inconsistency is too much. There should be a split back between Scout class (unique robots of the appropriate small size) and Legends class (large robots put into a tinier size category).
I thought the first few core classes they did were good, but man they started going downhill. Toys got gappier and gappier, less paint, and worse of all, more quality control issues. Core G1 Shockwave is a really cool toy from a design perspective and it does a lot right, but I've owned two of him and both had such loose joints that he can't even stand. A $2 price increase isn't the worst thing in the world, but when the toy gets more expensive at the exact same time the quality nosedives, that's something that makes people stop wanting them. I gave up collecting Cores for a while, decided to give them another shot with Bouldercrash, then quit again when I got it in-hand. Feels like something that was only halfway finished in terms of actual design, the transformation is so unpleasant, he has a huge rod sticking out of his butt, and his vehicle mode doesn't even look like anything someone could ride. It's just a vague slab with wheels that you have to really use your imagination to see as a motorcycle.
it's a common American Corporation problem. a lot of people making it to the top by cutting costs or raising prices. instead of people who know how to grow the business. a major (though not the only) reason why the economy sucks so much.
Honestly it’s kind of retailers fault for not cutting their losses on Legacy wave 1 cores like Iguanus and Skywarp. 0/5 Walmarts in my area had Evolution cores, but you bet your sweet bippy I can still go buy an Iguanus and Skywarp at full price!
A couple problems I think plagued Core Class:
-Scale. The other Generations size classes display well together. You can put Deluxe Needlenose next to Voyager Bludgeon and it looks great. If you try to put Core Grimlock next to Deluxe Bee, it looks weird. There were some exceptions like the cassettes or Tasmania Kid, but the core versions of larger characters only look good next to some of the Titans.
- Competition. I feel like they only cater to a niche audience because other figures of the same characters exist. The mainline toys based on current shows compete for kids’ attention, and adult collectors would prefer the larger versions of characters like Optimus or Ironhide if they have the money for it. I only ever bought as many as I did to put them on my desk at work.
All in all, I agree that I don’t know what they wanted the size class to be since it always felt like the odd one out. It may be dead, but JT’s mention of multipacks for small figures gives me hope for the return of Mini-Con teams. The two we’ve gotten so far are too small to be cores, so they would be perfect for multipacks (like better versions of the Micromasters)
For me I always prefer smaller characters since they are fun to fiddle with and just a cute fun vibe.
I cared next to nothing about the Core-scale, but cared VERY MUCH for the 'little dudes' in CHUG scale that Core class gave us. Voted YES on Rattrap and weird tiny dinosaur skeleton, NO on mini Skywarp.
Rattrap was too small especially as they made Blackarachnia deluxe size.
Looking at the sizr charts the mini vehicles deluxe are actually decent scale.
I always felt there should have been two core classes that were $5 and $10 for the small and larger sized ones, seeing as they got rid of the $5 ones when core class came out. They should have come out with a smaller class where all the transformers that come out are sized to go with titan class figures. It would be around a Dr Wu scale. That would have been a cool way to go with core class. Shrinking the larger transformers to fit them with mainline titan class figures.
There wasn't enough to make a collection of. You couldn't just get core class you would end up with odd characters from different shows and some cassettes.
It’s one of two things, either Hasbro doesn’t know it’s customer base or they do and just don’t care and are incompetent. It’s a rudderless ship
IMHO the best era of smaller than Deluxe Class Transformers was the Cyberverse lines for Transformers Prime and Dark of the Moon. Having the 2 sizes & transforming playsets was such a great gimmick.
I just wished they didn't use the gummy clear plastic on them. Pretty sure my collection of them in a storage box somewhere are unplayable now.
If they'd taken the same approach with the core class that they did with the ROTF Legends Class, I think that would have been perfect.
My first transformers was core sound wave(beside the random pack in wheelie i found)
Not surprised to be honest, like the micromasters before them, they shelf warmed alot ( hell there where still some wave 2 legacy cores still at my local toy store and last year). Hasbro most likely are looking at this and thinking the small size figures are not wanted. Generally suprised people also thought that they where going to do minicons. The only way I would have seen them do that is a 2 pack like the micromasters
Bring back Cyberverse! (The small scale line)
I didn't love how Core was a catch all for small scale figures and in-scale figures of small characters. So we ended up with pretty arbitrary small scale teams and characters made too small or forced into the pricepoint by being bundled with unnecessary accessories.
We've seen how good small deluxes can be, (Gears and Beachcomber) and as long as the engineering and accessories make it worth it, I'm okay with smaller characters be at the deluxe pricepoint.
But some people want small representations of figures so they take up less space or more affordable to collect. Its a great entrypoint for kids in that way. I know so many people that go into Transformers because they got a legends class toy during the movie lines or something. I don't know how successful Cyberverse scale was, but i sure enjoyed it and thought it had a lot of promise.
Core class also scaled really great with titan class figs. They look great on display with Metroplex and Trypticon.
it's a shame. They could've done a lot of combiners or army builders like mini Insecticons.
They cost too much for the small size. 12 for a small small figure? Nope 👎 👎 👎
RIP both Core Class and actually affordable Transformers. This brand is so screwed.
I heard LEGO is doing something similar with cutting back on low-price items and focusing more on larger sets that are more profitable.
Damn we're really being priced out of our hobbies holy fuck
RIP Core Class. 😢
I hope they replace this size class with something similar.
I've always thought core class was a stupid scale unless you're dealing with the cassettes or Minibots of some kind. I don't buy main characters in miniature. The only core class I've bought are Spike Rumble and the other cassettes. It's just a waste of time and money for them to put it out. Unless it's a pardon the pun core character like the cassettes
The mini bots are not way too big. They're what they should be instead of tiny. I can't wait for the new Windcharger, Powerglide, and Seaspray.