Hasbro Q&A/July 2009

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A question archive of, and links to the answers from, the July 2009 Hasbro Q&As. Note that these answers were delayed, and thus actually released around August 11th, and that there was an actual August round which followed, with answers released around August 24th.

Questions

ActionFigs.com

What is the philosophy behind which characters get turned into leader-class figures? Why do Starscream and Brawl get leader-class figures while stuff like Bonecrusher, Blackout/Grindor, or The Fallen do not? What does the decision-making process there look like? And what can fans who want some of those to get made do to persuade Hasbro to go for it?
While we have now heard and understand why Hasbro didn't produce ROTF Constructicons that both combined and transformed (although there are still fans who disagree with your reasons), there still remains other questions being asked about these guys. Why produce only 4 of the significant ROTF Constructicons as individual figures yet leave out others like Scrapper and Hightower? And how did such seemingly non-toyetic robot designs like one with only a head and arms and wheels with no body or another with a 'jackhammer' uni-leg come about when, even for the movie aesthetic, they are pretty far out there for a movie basically about a toy line?
Comparing the 2007 movie line's "Automorph" concept to the ROTF line's "Mech Alive" concept, it seems like Mech Alive comes up pretty short. Not only does Mech Alive seem not as dynamic or fun, but largely there is a sense that the whole thing doesn't even fully deliver on the concept except on 1 figure (voyager-class Starscream), either because of underwhelming features (Breakaway's spinning gatling gun, Skids & Mudflap's moving chest panels and head-bobbing, Rampage's moving jackhammer pistons Sideswipe's knee armor, Wheelie's faction logos, The Fallen's slide-out energy panels, Megatron's spinning gears), or Mech Alive gimmicks that get packaging mentions but were dropped from the final toys (Sideways' spinning blade and untold left arm gimmick, Chromia's non-existent spinning gears, Starscream's pop-out missile launchers). What does the TF team feel about the matter, do they agree this was a bit of a dropped ball, or are fans not really "getting it"? Will we see Mech Alive continue into TF's future the way Automorph has been carried forward beyond the '07 movie line?

ActionFigs.com answers. (archive copy)

Action Figure Insider

I read a while ago that the Henkei versions of Thrust and Dirge will be used for the Classics 2.0 line in the future. Is this still in the works or has the idea been shelved?
My big questions is "Since Transformers Animated has it’s last season on the Cartoon Network, Is there any chance it gets picked up on the channel that Hasbro/Discovery have formed?"
Will any of the Titanium prototypes in 2007 like Bumble Bee (War Within), Cosmos, Arcee or Shockwave ever be used? For example the Target exclusive Titanium line or the Universe Classics line?

Action Figure Insider answers.

AllSpark.com

How many Human Alliance figures are scheduled for the Revenge of the Fallen toy line? And when you decide to end the Revenge of the Fallen toy line, is there any chance that this fan-popular sub-line will continue? There are still plenty of human and not-so human characters that could use toys. Like Daniel with Arcee, Spike with Hot Rod, or Una and Chak with Transmetal Cheetor!
After Perceptor and the Insecticons, how many other reissues are planned? Or if there are currently no plans for more reissues, but it's something that you'd like to look into in the future, which figures would you personally like to see reissued in the US market?
"Revenge of the Fallen" has brought with it a more adult-aimed Transformers, both in terms of toy complexity and the adult humor sprinkled generously throughout the movie. What will this mean for any future toys and fiction—including comics, toy bios and cartoons—that Hasbro may have planned for the movie continuity? Would a movie continuity cartoon revert back to the more child friendly stories as we've seen with the past few years, or would it keep a flavoring of the adult themes that Michael Bay brought to the films?

AllSpark.com answers.

ASMZine.com

This is for the entire Transformers team: Who are your most and least favorite characters from TF history? (Be honest! It's okay if you hate Grapple.)
At the BotCon 2007 Hasbro tour, there was a booth filled with artwork, including very striking posters of Transformers subjects in propaganda- and tattoo-style. Bits of those pieces have shown up on scattered merchandise, such as the Finger Boards and the Shout! Factory DVD packaging, but are there any plans to sell them as posters or prints unto themselves?
Considering the recent reacquisition of the Generation 1 cartoon series, does Hasbro currently own the rights to the Beast Wars and Beast Machines cartoon shows in the United States? And if not, are you pursuing them?

ASMZine.com answers

Cool Toy Review

Will we ever get a Leader Class Blackout and Bonecrusher? I REALLY want them, definitely Blackout. He should be in scale with the rest of the line, so a little bit bigger than Prime and Megs.
In the new line of movie figures, I know we see more toys in the line that are not in the movie. There were 2 different sets of constructicons. One of them was a bulldozer that was red, which had the parents, similar to Rampage who was yellow, any chance of seeing him? We got a small glimpse (if any) of High Tower, Scrapper and Hook, any chance of seen them in the line? Any change of seeing the whole group in Classic Green/Purple as a Special/Limited Edition? I like the new look I do, but alot of us would like to see the original Devastator as in G1, any chance to see him, 6 pieces in either Voyager or Deluxe class, maybe in the Universe series?
Does the controversy surrounding Skids and Mudflap from ROTF have any effect on your marketing strategy?

Cool Toy Review answers

Parry Game Preserve

Does Hasbro play test Transformers movie figures in their "Funlab" facility or do these figures bypass kid testing because the designs come from the movie producers and cannot be altered even if kids would like to see changes?
Will you be making a version of Devastator that includes his "Wrecking Balls"?
The Doc mail away for the 25th anniversary GI Joe line was an excellent way to get a fan favorite into the hands of collectors. Any plans for a Transformers mail away?

Parry Game Preserve answers

Raving Toy Maniac

It seems strange that Skids is getting a release in the Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance series and Mudflap, his twin, is not. Since Skids and Mudflap are always together and approximately the same size in the movie, it seems odd to release ONLY Skids in the larger Human Alliance size toy series. Is there any chance of seeing Mudflap made in the same scale to complement Skids, perhaps with an Agent Simmons human figure?
Will there be any attempt at an ROTF Alice toy?
In a recent Star Wars Q&A, Their team stated that setting up an online exclusive store like your competitors did with Matty Collector "doesn't work" for their business model... But what about Transformers? As it stands, all the Masters of the Universe Classics line is is a series of retools and repaints over the same base bodies. Isn't that what's already being done for Transformers at the mass market scale, especially with Universe? It would be a great way for fans to get the repaints they want (Animated Starscream Clones that haven't been released in Voyager size yet for example) that would've otherwise never seen release and would be a great way to guarantee that the last of the unreleased Animated figures have an outlet to be sold at.

Raving Toy Maniac answers

Seibertron.com

Are there plans to release toys from the video game such as Protectobot, Aerialbot and Seeker?
Will we every see the third Arcee sister as a toy and will she come with instructions on how to transform the three toys together to make a bigger robot? If we are not going to see the instructions officially, can we please see them unofficially?

Plus, is it true that Skidz and Mudflap can transform together to form a bigger robot?

Will you ever be making toys for the other Constructicons in ROTF? The ones that we have not seen a transforming toy for such as Scrapper, Hightower, etc.

Seibertron.com answers

TFormers.com

With the release of 3 of the individually transformable Constructicons and Long Haul coming out next, will we see the remaining Constructicons (e.g., Scrapper, Hightower) released?
What kind of exciting figures can we expect from the Transformers Universe line?
After a 25 year long toy and animated series run and with the current popularity of the comic books and live action movies, do you think that the seemingly obvious morals of good versus evil, compassion, respect, and understanding that Optimus Prime (and thus Hasbro) established starting in Generation 1 have changed due to the popularity and demand of an increase in sexual related content, violence and vulgar language such as that displayed in the current movie?

TFormers.com answers

TFViews.com

While many of us understand the need for Hasbro to tighten up on its intellectual property, there are some lingering questions about the ramifications it may have. We get that someone making money off your IP is unacceptable, and we see the difference between that and individuals making their own personal stuff for fun. What about sellers that have sold items with semi-official sanction, such as the Lukis Brothers, will they be grandfathered in based on past precedent (example: the Vector Sigma accessories)? Will Hasbro attempt to fill the void left by now banned fan-company items? Clearly the demand for these items is high enough in collector circles to create the unlicensed cottage industry which Hasbro reasonably feels goes too far, yet you’ve also made clear that there’s no room in the Hasbro market plan for those sorts of collector-oriented extras. So might Hasbro be willing to actively find an appropriate licensee who will be able fit those sorts of complimentary pieces into their own business model?
With some Transformers figures there are specific elements obviously designed into the item, yet go un-noted in the the marketing materials such as packaging, photos, and instructions - the “undocumented features”. Sometimes these are unfinished and thus understandably left out (such as Universe Galavatron’s walking tank mode). However, others are inexplicably complete and yet go unsaid, such as ROTF Knock-Out’s “wings” (from his removable cowling panels), 2007 Leader-class Brawl’s 2 sound fx buttons, Universe Cyclonus being able to have Nightstick plug onto his forearm in place of his hand, Animated Ratchet designed to accept Lockdown’s EMP Generator accessory, Universe Sideswipe/Sunstreaker’s gun being able to plug into holes on their shoulders, even proper transformations like the backpack height and triangular panels flanking ROTF Sideways’ head. How does the development team feel about these designed features going undocumented? Has Hasbro considered a possible official outlet for ‘correct’ transformations and undocumented features? And does Hasbro keep track of this sort of thing?
In the current team’s experience, would you discuss any figures that have turned out significantly better or worse than expected? We mean those standout items that the team just wasn’t expecting to succeed or fail for whatever reasons, maybe going from the prototype to production stages something went very wrong or came out ahead of expectations, perhaps a figure that fans were supposed to love but didn’t or that you didn’t think they’d love but they did. And what TF toys for you guys would you revise if you could, and what ones do you consider utterly perfect as their finished products went?

TFViews.com answers.

Transformers Wiki

At one point near the end of the Alternators sub-line, a major retailer's computer system listed several toys that never saw the light of day. One of these was a Cadillac XLR, later revealed at BotCon 2006 to have been intended to be Megatron, but two additional listings - for versions of the Scion XB (Skids) and Ford Mustang (Grimlock/Wheeljack) molds that were to come out alongside it - remain mysteries. What characters were these apparent redecos of the Scion XB and Mustang intended to be, if they even got to that stage of development?
There has been some confusion about the Revenge of the Fallen character Grindor and whatever relationship he may have with Blackout from the previous line. Further confusion has arisen due to a Robot Heroes release featuring Blackout for the Revenge of the Fallen toyline. Can you please clarify if it was definitively Grindor who appeared in Revenge of the Fallen, and if so, what is his relationship to Blackout?
Hasbro copy writer Forest Lee stated at BotCon 2009 that The Fallen is a multiversal singularity, meaning that there is only one of him across all Transformers stories, and there are no variant or alternate universe versions of him. How is this reconciled with the version of The Fallen from the live-action film? After all, there are umpteen versions and adaptations of the events of the live-action film, from storybooks to comic books to coloring books, all which are different and conflict in various ways. Does The Fallen experience each of these universes in sequence, reappearing in a new universe every time he is defeated in the previous universe? What about the Decepticon campaign happy endings in the Revenge of the Fallen video games, where The Fallen is victorious? Is there an in-house theory on this, and if there is can we hear about it, or should we just assume it all works out somehow and the details aren't important at the moment?

Transformers Wiki answers

Hasbro Q&A/July 2009

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Questions

ActionFigs.com

Action Figure Insider

AllSpark.com

ASMZine.com

Cool Toy Review

Parry Game Preserve

Raving Toy Maniac

Seibertron.com

TFormers.com

TFViews.com

Transformers Wiki

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Hasbro Q&A/July 2009

Questions

ActionFigs.com

Action Figure Insider

AllSpark.com

ASMZine.com

Cool Toy Review

Parry Game Preserve

Raving Toy Maniac

Seibertron.com

TFormers.com

TFViews.com

Transformers Wiki

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