Hasbro Q&A/December 2008: Question submission

Transformers Wiki is now participating in Hasbro's every-other-month Question & Answer session. Our site will be allowed to submit five questions to Hasbro's Transformers team for answering. If you're a registered user at our site, please add your question below!

Keep in mind that Hasbro is not likely to tell us about future product they are not ready to reveal, so keep those sorts of questions to a minimum. Questions about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen are also not allowed at this time. Please be as thoughtful about your question as possible! We will similarly reject questions like, "Hasbro, why do you suck so much?" The better and more useful the question, the more likely the admins will choose it to be one of the five submitted. We also reserve the right to edit your question for clarity if need be.

Each registered user can ask one question at this time. Please bullet and sign your question. The deadline for your questions is November 30, 2008, and questions will be sent in on December 1. If you're a registered member and for some reason you can't edit this page, ask your question on the discussion page, and I'll move it here.

Thanks! --ItsWalky 17:05, 21 November 2008 (EST)

December 2008 questions

• Is there any consideration for more post-86 G1 homages in the Universe line beyond Micromaster characters? --Detour 17:42, 21 November 2008 (EST)

• The original Universe line saw several previously Japanese-only molds released (albeit as store exclusives). Are there any plans to release more of those sorts of molds for the first time in the American market? --Rosicrucian^Talk 17:28, 21 November 2008 (EST)

• Robots in Disguise Bruticus was designed for the tail-end of Beast Machines, but the line was canceled before the toy could be released. As a late Beast Machines toy, he was designed to have a gimmick activated by pressing his Spark Crystal, but the gimmick was removed from the final release. What would this gimmick have done? --FortMax 17:30, 21 November 2008 (EST)

• Can you explain some of the apparently non-functional features on Universe Galvatron, i.e. why his wheels are molded from orange plastic and then painted orange on top of that; why he has an articulated hook mechanism in his left shoulder; why he has more articulated hooks in the front of his tank mode; and why the tank mode has those "feet"? --Thylacine 2000 17:40, 21 November 2008 (EST)

• Is there any chance of comic original characters, ex: Scrounge, getting toys in the future? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Antimatter (talk • contribs).

• What is the official policy on what's considered canon for the various series/storylines/continuities/Transformers fiction in general? --Jeysie 17:48, 21 November 2008 (EST)

• Do you have any plans to release any more "Gobots" homages similar to the likes of Movie Line's Fracture? Protoman 01:00, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• Are we likely to see the Pretender Monsters in the Universe line? - Semysane 05:33, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• What are the official titles of all the Hasbro team members involved with the Transformers brand? --Monzo 10:40, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• The Marvel Crossovers Transformers don't feel like they use Takara engineering. Can you confirm who works on them? --Jhiaxus 10:51, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• How do you determine the demographic spread of past purchases? That is to say, how can you tell what percentage of sales were parents buying for their children vs. adult collectors buying for themselves? - Jackpot 12:20, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• DOOD WHEN ARE U BRINGENG BACK ALTEARNETORS THOS WERE - wait, no. Are you guys at any liberty to disclose info about the cancelled second expansion for the CCG? Any idea who or what it might have included? (also, what in the world is the deal with the "Sky Lynx" character in the first expansion - he's a bright pink Decepticon with "movie" design aesthetic. So weird!) -hx 12:28, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• The recent Target-exclusive comic packs (Springer vs Ratbat and Roadbuster vs Dirge) have an amazing number of paint applications, with many many parts that are completley covered in paint. Are these parts using the same "mask and overspray" method, just several times over (one spray for the flat part of the tire, two or three more to get the rounded side, etc), or is there some other process that doesn't take up more spaces in the allotment of paint applications? --M Sipher 19:11, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• How strongly, and in what aspects, do you expect the current domestic and global economic situations to impact you? (E.g., is it likely slow down production and/or delivery or reduce consumer turnout?)--Apcog 19:49, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• Do you foresee any cost-efficient means to increase the production of original toys and cut down on retail-market redecos/retools in the next 10 years? - Zadok Rox 21:43, 22 November 2008 (EST)

• What female Transformer characters are due to have toys released in the next year or so, in either the Animated or Universe lines? Also, will there ever be a subline of Transformers marketed to girls? --Nightshade83 14:58, 23 November 2008 (EST)

• During the Energon and Cybertron, it was revealed at one point that freelancer artists were brought on to design one or both modes of a toy, and sometimes to flesh out the mechanical detailing of some designs. Is this practice still in use, or have things been consolidated under Hasbro's roof since the design work on the 2007 movie toys began?--MCRG 17:00, 23 November 2008 (EST)

• What is the name of the voice actor who portrayed the narrator/Optimus Prime in the recent Action Blast cartoon, and has he done voices for you before? --ItsWalky 18:16, 23 November 2008 (EST)

• Of all the Transformer toy projects of 2008, both produced and non, what do you feel was the most ambitious, and how, if you can say, do you plan to raise the bar in 2009? ~ SteamFan42 23:04, 24 November 2008 (EST)

• Is there any possibility of Hasbro releasing a definitive list of G1 toys for whom the mould has been lost or damaged (e.g. Mirage) or would never pass modern drop-tests (uh... Fortress Maximus?), other safety laws (Megatron, in the U.S.) or legal entaglements (Jetfire) and thus can be pretty much guaranteed to never be reissued? If possible, noting cases where the U.S. and Japanes markets would differ on this (e.g. Megatron) would be wonderful. --User:Rattrap 02:25, 25 November 2008 (EST)

• When do you think you will realese more toys from Animated? --User:E-Bot 02:00, 26 November 2008(EST)

• Have official names been given to Animated Starscream's "Liar" and "Female" clones? --Donut Prime

• My question: When designing the toys, which takes precedence: A good looking robot mode, a good looking vehicle mode, ease of transformation, or fufilling a niche in the current line? --Tindalos 20:27, 26 November 2008 (EST)

• Is any thought being given to doing Premium format Animated toys like there were for the movie, which might have the clear plastic portions made opaque/painted over and other paint changes to better fit the cartoon styling of the toys? -Dash Dynamic 20:18, 30 November 2008 (EST)

December 2008 answers

• Hasbro Q&A December 2008: Answers