Toy Fair 2019 – Transformers Masterpiece Images

RetroElectro

Haha yeah. It's kind of a stretch and a tangent all rolled into one. Long story short, kibble is a fan created term like Seekers, but unlike Seekers, we don't seem to have a common agreement of what it really means. Also doesn't help that the term just keeps morphing and gets overloaded anytime the designers come up with something new. But when does something like kibble stop being kibble and starts being artistic intent?

Here's another attempt to push an accepted usage of the term. G1 Jazz with the door wings out is part of the toy's design and what we see in the boxart. But Sunbow's version of Jazz doesn't have the door wings out. Going by a Sunbow reference, car doors that can't be hidden or folded away in bot mode becomes kibble. I don't think anyone thinks of those doors as kibble in either configuration though. To me this stuff is linked to design & aesthetics but the word kibble may mean different things to people based on the engineering available when you're buying the toys. Now Prime's got us scratching our heads trying to describe things we're seeing that fits within the Sunbow shapes.
Since it's a fan created term that keeps evolving over time I would've thought it'd be more of a lightning rod topic than some of the other stuff.  

I always defined kibble as: robot bits in alt mode or alt mode bits in bot mode. Some kibble just happens to be acceptable because it makes the character look cooler, like the Cheetah head on Cheetor's chest or Starscream's wings. Some examples of bad kibble: visible fists or faces in alt mode, figures with their entire alt mode on their back (like Armada Blurr), shellformers (see: a lot of BW figures). Kibble is anything in one mode leftover from the other mode that keeps a mode from being a convincing depiction of whatever it's trying to depict. In some cases, kibble from a toy just becomes an accepted part of a character design, it usually only becomes an issue when a toy deviates from a show.

Digger

Right yeah. But you’re getting very different things in that specific example.

Exactly, they look to accomplish 2 different goals. In such a competitive market everyone has to have their own thing. The thing is the baseline are articulation,accessories, and accuracy, everything else is what your shtick is to attract customers. In this case, not only is it Evangelion it's premium as hell down to the coating. With Transformers it's all that other stuff with innovative and fun transformation.

RetroElectro

Haha yeah. It's kind of a stretch and a tangent all rolled into one. Long story short, kibble is a fan created term like Seekers, but unlike Seekers, we don't seem to have a common agreement of what it really means. Also doesn't help that the term just keeps morphing and gets overloaded anytime the designers come up with something new. But when does something like kibble stop being kibble and starts being artistic intent?

Here's another attempt to push an accepted usage of the term. G1 Jazz with the door wings out is part of the toy's design and what we see in the boxart. But Sunbow's version of Jazz doesn't have the door wings out. Going by a Sunbow reference, car doors that can't be hidden or folded away in bot mode becomes kibble. I don't think anyone thinks of those doors as kibble in either configuration though. To me this stuff is linked to design & aesthetics but the word kibble may mean different things to people based on the engineering available when you're buying the toys. Now Prime's got us scratching our heads trying to describe things we're seeing that fits within the Sunbow shapes.
Since it's a fan created term that keeps evolving over time I would've thought it'd be more of a lightning rod topic than some of the other stuff.  

See that's the opposite of how I understand it. "kibble" (which is a phrase that I believe was coined by Dave Van Domelen back in the Alt.Toys.Transformers days) refers to any pieces of obvious altmode on the robot. It doesn't have anything to do with whether it should be there or not, just whether it is. (I suspect that's why it has never become much of a lighting rod as a phrase)

So the door-wings of Jazz, Prowl, etc. are unequivocally kibble… the questions of whether ithe kibble looks good or is accurate are totally separate. Many fans prefer TF aesthetics that incorporate kibble tastefully but prominently so the character's altmode is suggested in their vehicle mode; others like 'magic' transformations (like some of the 3rd party versions of latter Bayverse movie characters) where pretty much every identifying characteristic of the vehicle mode disappears in robot mode. Both approaches have their merits.

God Orion

Excuse me?

Booster Gold

He saying it's not a completly fair comparison.i think? Which in some way it isn't and in some ways it is. I'd argue that Eva figure, although expensive, is more reasonably priced than MP-44 but I've already done so to some extent, many of my reasons are subjective and those that are objective will fall on deaf ears.

God Orion

Oh didn't know the expression sorry.

Booster Gold

He's paraphrasing the expression "comparing apples with oranges" but choosing things that are more similar, implying that it's a close comparison but not quite the same thing….I think?

God Orion

Ok, got it now!

Lol yeah I just made it up. They’re just kinda similar but not really comparable.

Booster Gold

He's paraphrasing the expression "comparing apples with oranges" but choosing things that are more similar, implying that it's a close comparison but not quite the same thing….I think?

Ok, got it now!

Booster Gold

He saying it's not a fair comparison…which in some way it isn't and in some ways it is. I'd argue that Eva figure, although expensive, is more reasonably priced than MP-44 but I've already done so to some extent, many of my reasons are subjective and those that are objective will fall on deaf ears.

Oh didn't know the expression sorry.

God Orion

Excuse me?

He saying it's not a completly fair comparison.i think? Which in some way it isn't and in some ways it is. I'd argue that Eva figure, although expensive, is more reasonably priced than MP-44 but I've already done so to some extent, many of my reasons are subjective and those that are objective will fall on deaf ears.

Waters wet, the night is dark, and collecting Japanese lines is expensive. Think that covers it 

oku

Evangelion Metal Build EVA-01 Test Type

Voyager size
Can't transform
muh diecast
$240

This is Japanese collecting culture.

Wow, I guess MP44 is just a start and it's quite a deal-breaker then!