Hama has mentioned in other interviews that the big H forced him to intertwine new characters and vehicles to sell toys for them. The cartoon had the same motive (tell a story, move a lot of product).

After a while of fighting the corporate bigwigs, I'm sure the strain of paycheck versus creativity took its toll.

I really like his stories and will give them a chance. But I agree, the 90's brought a genuine decline to the series. I can't pinpoint an issue, since there were some odd single issue stories that popped up.

For a research project, someone should look up how many issues out of the 155 were titled after a character or a vehicle or a playset. I am sure there are quite a few.

I like Hama's style, and I am hoping for the best. I think it may be better than the movie, and I'll keep my fingers crossed. So mark me as tentatively optimistic, but not foolishly following...