Hasbro Q&A/October 2009

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A question archive of, and links to the answers from, the October 2009 Hasbro Q&As, released on 10/22/09 or shortly thereafter.

Questions

ActionFigs.com

1. How is the Human Alliance Assortment performing for Hasbro? Good enough to see more Decepticons like Rampage with Ron Witwicky and Ravage, or Sideways with Alice? When can we expect to see the Human Alliance Figures for Mudflap with Simmons and Barricade with Frenzy sets on shelves?
2. How is Hasbro feeling now about releasing more Leader-class ROTF figures like the upcoming Starscream? And how do they feel about making more Leader-class figures like Blackout / Grindor?
3. Will Bonecrusher ever get an update to Voyager or Leader Class?

• ActionFigs.com answers

Action Figure Insider

1. What is the status of the G1 Robot heroes wave with Laserbeak? Can we still expect to see it after the Christmas Movie push??
2. Can we expect Transformers Universe Classics to reappear in 2010?? There are so many G1 Transformers left to redo.
3. What other masterpiece Transformers will be available in the US after the Skywarp Walmart Exclusive?

• Action Figure Insider answers

AllSpark.com

1. G.B.Blackrock asked - Why do none of the "Generation Two" homages released in the past year or so (Universe Inferno, Legends Green Tank Megatron) have the distinctive Generation Two faction symbols? Especially in the case of Inferno, that's almost the only thing that made G2 Inferno distinct from G1 Inferno. (Noting the Universe Inferno was explicitly part of the "25th Anniversary" line that was especially supposed to honor the franchise's past)
2. NightViper asked - How do the 7 Primes in Revenge of the Fallen relate to the original 13 Transformers? Are they a part of that number, leaving 6 as non-Primes? Or are they a separate group entirely?
3. Mecheon asked - The deco artist comments on various exclusive items released during the original movie line, and the comments on the first wave of Universe toys, were well liked by the various fan communities, as well as giving an insight into the development process that goes towards making Transformers. Would it be possible to get some more of this developer commentary in the future?

• AllSpark.com answers

Parry Game Preserve

1. Figure variants, like the black vs. grey Timber packed with Snake Eyes in the GI Joe line, make for exciting chase toy hunting in stores. Have you considered introducing that concept into the Transformers line?
2. How will the recently announced accelerated time table of the third Transformers movie effect your design efforts for upcoming movie products?
3. Does the team have any favorite figures, in particular, as we enter the next phase of the Revenge of the Fallen line?

• Parry Game Preserve answers

Raving Toy Maniac

1. With Freeway Jazz and Electro Sdwave in the release pipeline, when can you announce release schedules for the remaining animated figures?
2. Is a better movie Jazz a possibility at this point for the ROTF line?
3. In the target titanium line, any chance we will see shockwave, arcee etc?

• Raving Toy Maniac answers

TFormers.com

1. Over the past 25 years the Transformers' list of characters and figures has evolved exponentially, with so many characters to chose from how does Hasbro chose which ones will be made into actual figures and what is the process Hasbro goes through with the current figures that are out to decide which ones will get repaint and which ones will not?
2. When creating the Star Wars / Transformers Crossovers line, why were the figures made out of the Star Wars characters, and not Cybertronian Robots with character pilots?
3. The Universe line is on hiatus for now, but Hasbro has said it wants to continue "reimagining our heritage figures." Could you describe how you determine which "heritage figures" to revisit? Who typically originates the ideas, and what process do they go through before winding up on shelves?

• TFormers.com answers

TFViews.com

1. Does Hasbro consider Animated a successful line? We’ve heard that the figures themselves met and surpassed expectations from a design standpoint, but did the line as a whole, including the animated show itself, meet with the commercial success that Hasbro hoped for? And does the success in translating the figures into the animated style mean that other art styles that could depart from “traditional” Transformer aesthetics are being considered?
2. How does prioritization work when it comes to unfortunate cost-cutting measures that scale back the scope of a figure’s design? Obviously, we know the design team wants to deliver the best figure within the budget they are allocated, but what goes into the decision-making process to make those “Sophie’s Choice” cuts? Why take out, say, ROTF Starscream’s pop-out missile launcher gimmick but leave moving gears? Or why remove Optimus Prime’s much-needed side window paint apps and hand articulation, but leave the sliding switch activation swords?
3. Recently Hasbro was quoted as saying about these Q&As that the questions asked should be not about specific future items so much as about policy and other “behind-the-scenes” stuff, otherwise it’s a waste of time, which we largely agree with. The thing is though, we believe our questions over the last six rounds have been excellent examples of trying to get that very “behind the scenes” type stuff revealed, and yet lately those questions have been largely met with short, shallow, PR-style answers that aren’t even always complete or on-topic. We’ve tried to ask about hypothetical scenarios such as “what would Hasbro have done if the 2007 movie line had tanked?” to gain a greater understanding of Hasbro TF policy is formed, yet have been told hypotheticals are off the table. These Q&As are fan-oriented rather than casual consumer-oriented, we hardcore collectors are excitedly trying to get detailed understandings from the source about how our favored brand works, so we’re really looking forward to those meaty answers and try to write strong, substantial questions to meet them. We don’t want to be the fans who just go “when will you make X?”, but with all due respect, why should we write deep, hard-hitting questions only to get brushed off? Is the problem that there’s only a relatively-brief, two-week turnaround, and if so, would you think extending that to three weeks would help improve the quality of the answers? What can be done to avoid being caught between the proverbial “rock & a hard place” of risking either PR non answers or PR shallow answers?

• TFViews.com answers

TFWiki.net

1. Are any of the Thirteen original Transformers (like The Fallen and Vector Prime) female?
2. In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, there is a red bulldozer Constructicon that Starscream ( refers to as "Rampage". However, in the credits, this red bulldozer is identified as "Skipjack," while the toyline has consistently featured a yellow bulldozer named Rampage. Are there actually two Rampages, or was Starscream's line in error?
3. Is the Universe/Revenge of the Fallen character "Airazor" (part of the Superion combiner set, which was released under different banners in different countries) a female character like Beast Wars Airazor, or a male character like Slingshot, who Airazor seems to have replaced on the Aerialbot team?

• TFWiki.net answers

Unicron.com

1. Over the last few months, we have seen more 'appearances' of characters in their 'Classics/Universe' toy forms appearing in IDW comics (such as Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, etc...). Is this a coincidence or is Hasbro making a deliberate attempt to integrate the comics storytelling with toys that are/were/will be available? I guess what we'd like to know is if the G1 characters appearing with a more movie-like aesthetic that we have seen, is any possible indication of what we may expect to see in toy form in the future?
2. We are still trying to reconcile the Revenge of the Fallen Constructicons. There have been several theories: a.) There are only one construction vehicle that turns into one component robot and unites with fellow team members to form Devastator. This is the G1-paradigm. For this to be true, we must assume events in the movie are depicted out of order, that Devastator took his tumble off the pyramid, then each component transformed, off-screen back to robot form and rejoined the Autobot vs. Decepticon battle... b.) There are fictionally, more than one Decepticon with identical construction vehicle alternate modes. Fans should assume that the Mixmaster that go gutted by Jetfire is a different, non-related character to the cement mixer Decepticon component of Devastator. c.) There are fictionally only 1 construction vehicle that turns into a robot. But, Devastator, like the toy, is one entity comprised of 6 vehicles that don't turn into component robots. One could suppose that Scavenger, a different individual than Demolisher, could be controlling all the rest -non sentient vehicles? d.) Something else we haven't thought of???? Please provide us an official explanation?!
3. Can you share any estimated release dates/store-locations for Transformers Animated items such as Season 3 on DVD, and/or toys like hydrodive Bumblebee, Blackout, Hot Rod and Arcee?
4. Will there be a Universe 3.0, with any new-mold homages to the Unicron Trilogy, like Hot Shot? Also wondering, was the announcement of a ROTF Bludgeon and Mindwipe an intentional homage to The Chaos Trinity from The War Within, and if so, are there any plans to release a Bugly toy to complete the trio?

• Unicron.com answers