Hasbro Q&A/March 2009: Answers
1. Hasbro's online instructions archive has a PDF of "movie"-style instructions for "Backtrack", a redeco of the Cybertron-series Lugnutz motorcycle mold ( http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/83964.pdf ). Furthermore, Hasbro's online Transformers Action Figure Checklist lists Backtrack as a Target "movie" line exclusive, alongside toys called "Gunbarrel" and "Reverb". However, none of these figures came out during the run of the original movie toyline. Are they still slated for release?
- Unfortunately, these toys are not slated for release in 2009.
2. What was the thought process behind the decision to not give the components of the $100 Revenge of the Fallen Constructicon Devastator individual robot modes?
- When we examined all of the options for designing this toy, the best way to recreate the movie magic as well as provide maximum playability for a character that composed of six different vehicles was to limit the conversion to two modes for each vehicle.
3. What are typical ballpark production run numbers for a "main line" toy, say Deluxe Animated Bumblebee? Have these numbers changed much over the years?
- Unfortunately, we do not discuss production runs or volumes of any of our toy lines.
Additionally, we received this belated answer from a question from last round:
4. 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?
- The voice actor's name is Ron Hayden and has done work for Hasbro across multiple brands. We will be using him for several Action Blast Cartoons in the future.