You asked, they answered. Here is the March 2009 batch of Q&A from Hasbro’s Transformers Team.
ASM
- Will be posted when Hasbro provides an answer to ASM.
- Have you determined how Devastator will be packaged? Will he be in robot mode or vehicle mode? — Baltmatrix
Devastator will be packed out in his combined robot mode. - Not sure if you guys know anything about this at all, but are you at liberty to discuss the announced and immediately canceled third wave of the 3-D Battle Card Game? If so, can you give us any info whatsoever? If not, is there someone at Wizards who would be able to discuss it with us? — Hooper X
Unfortunately, we do not have any information regarding the 3-D battle game as it is not associated with the Transformers brand.
Here are questions that other websites asked this month.
ActionFigs.com
- As fans of Hasbro’s lines, we’ve seen this for years: official Hasbro images for retailers and on packaging that employ a dark look as if photoshopped to enhance shadows, surfaces and edges. This gives the overall look of the toy increased realism, but often the production deco of the toy can’t really live up to that. While there is a fine-print proviso on the packaging about such things, it’s still a little unusual. Why does Hasbro employ this tactic so often with their official photography, and why not simply give each toy a subtle, simple paint wash to actually bring those lines out and give them the realistic look which the packaging shows could be possible?
- This may be the biggest long shot of all long shot questions, but there are a few collectors who would give their special left arm for a Circuit Breaker figure, even if she’s not in scale with the rest of the Transformers toys. As Hasbro now has the rights to produce Marvel toys, is there even a slim chance that she could possibly be made? Even if it was just a convention exclusive or something?
- For Transformers’ 25th anniversary, Hasbro decided to celebrate multiple eras in the Classics 2.0 line, and a couple of those entries came from Beast Wars. Cheetor and Dinobot are some of the better known characters from the series, and both seem quite deserving of upgrades. However, when the figures hit the market, it seemed like neither design lived up to its potential with multiple issues in both bot and beast modes, unfortunately taking interesting ideas and cutting them off at the knees. There are a lot of theories as to what happened with those 2, ranging from budget issues to rushed designs to even a team design philosophy that doesn’t “get” beast-bots. Fans appreciate the desire to pay homage and update these designs, but candidly speaking, there is a general feeling that these went wrong, and fans want to know: what happened with these Cheetor & Dinobot figures?
Click here to read the answers!
ActionFigureCollector.com
- Are we going to see more Universe figures similar to Hound, Cheetor, Cyclonus, etc throughout 2009? There weren’t any on display at Toy Fair and there has been some concern that these figures will be put on the shelf during movie time.
- Will Hasbro produce Robot Replica figures beyond the movie characters?
- We saw the Devastator figure at Toy Fair, awesome stuff. We also saw the individual Constructicon figures which transform. Looking down the line a little ways, will there ever be a version of Devastator that comes with transformable individual robots which still combine to form the larger Devastator robot?
Click here to read the answers!
Action Figure Insider
- Can we expect to see Universe Classics Jazz, Soundwave and especially Wheeljack? TFUC seems like the perfect line to debut a true Wheeljack figure since he hasn.t really been given the proper treatment since G1. It also seems like a tease getting Ravage with Hound without a Soundwave out there!
- In your Toy Fair presentation, you mention doing super-sized Robot Heroes this year. I.m assuming that means a Devestator with the Revenge of the Fallen line.
- Will there be super-sized Robot Heroes for the G1 Transformers too? A cartoon Devestator or Omega Supreme? Other combiners?
Click here to read the answers!
AllSpark.com
- The press release posted on Hasbro.com just prior to Toy Fair indicated that there would be 10 Deluxe figures for Universe in 2009. 8 of those figures have been made public (Cheetor, Cyclonus, Hound, Starscream, Dinobot, Smokescreen, Hot Shot and Ratchet), leaving 2 unknown figures. Is there any chance that you can elaborate what these two figures are, or if one of them will be Red Alert, similar to Takara Tomy’s release schedule with Henkei?
- What are your plans for the Legends and Robot Heroes sublines? Will we see additional lower-tier/obscure characters, old favorites, etc in the future? Also, will Mighty Muggs be back after the TF2 movie line?
- Several characters who were a big part of the classic Marvel TF comics have (for a variety of reasons) ended up with their rights belonging to Marvel rather than Hasbro. The original Death’s Head (a major player in many of the best UK stories) and Circuit Breaker (a major player in the US comics run) being prime examples. It’s just recently been announced that Hasbro has secured the Marvel liscense for the next few years and you’ve just launched the great looking 3 3/4 Marvel Universe figure line. Is there any chance you could put your heads together for a few toys of these classic TF fan favorite characters, now that they are legally possible at long last? Or at least pass their names along to the Marvel-team folks as possibillities?
Click here to read the answers!
Cool Toy Review
- Thank you so much for making a Targetmaster figure! It’s so great to see such a feature return. Can we hope to see a Headmaster and/or Powermaster appear this year as well? It would be awesome to see Chromedome or Hardhead, or Dreadwind and Darkwing with their actual Powermaster/combiner functions.
- Having had the original, I must say that the 25th Anniversary version update of Hot Shot is a HUGE improvement over its predecessor. You had already said during the convention season that the cumbersome spring-loaded Minicon action feature would be removed from this version, but will the rear axle of the car still be able to transform in some way to Hot Shot’s cannon?
- When can we expect an animated Omega Supreme as a supreme class figure?
Click here to read the answers!
Cybertron.CA
- In follow up to last round’s “Why are toys being released in Canada that say ‘comic inside’ but include no comic?”
- Before the recession we were told Universe 2.0 would be put on hiatus, what are the chances of it returning in the future at this point?
- What date will Animated Season 3 debut in Canada?
Click here to read the answers!
Official Transformers Fan Club
- Are the last two waves of TF Universe Robot Heroes being released in the US? (RID Megs/Prime, Victory Sabre/Dezaras, Tigatron/Inferno, Prowl/Laserbeak, Beast Machines Primal/Jetstorm) We’ve had pictures of them for a while now, but no further indications that they are going to be released, such as online stores putting them up for pre-order.
- A lot of signs seem to be pointing towards the end of Animated. What brought about the demise of such a great series? Were sales not high enough, TV ratings too low, or did other, more internal factors play a major part in the decision? If indeed it is ending, do you have any plans yet for a new TV show or continuing the Animated toy line past 2009?
- Will we see any homages to Machines Wars, Beast Machines or Energon in the main Universe line or the Legends line? (because Legends-class Beast Wars/Beast Machines characters would be the perfect scale for Autobot and Decepticons!)
Click here to read the answers! (login required)
Parry Game Preserve
- Are future Transformers Mighty Muggs waves (wave 2 and beyond) going to be Toys R Us Exclusives?
- Any plans to release Masterpiece Grimlock in the US?
- If consumers can only get one toy from the movie line, which one should it be (other than Devestator) – which is your favorite?
Click here to read the answers!
Seibertron.com
- Can we expect more store exclusive Generation 1 repaints of movie figures like the new Corvette Sideswipe into Generation 1 colors? Any hints to drop for us on which characters will receive Generation 1 style repaints (Devastator?). Can we expect premium style repaints with the ROTF line of figures as well?
- Recent confusion with IDW’s and HASBRO’s answers gives us conflicting information. Will IDW’s character Drift be getting his own toy, or not? Would it be a part of UNIVERSE or some other special line? How about other comic original characters getting toys like Impactor or Jhiaxus, which are not repaints? In the back of the Transformers Spotlight Vol 2 Graphic Novel, there is a great design for Nova Prime, which could be made as a toy, any chance of it being made?
- Will there be toys of these new Season 3 TF: Animated Characters? What of the rumor that Season 3 is the last season of Animated? Any hints on what is the next on tap after the ROTF line is done, with the supposed end to Transformers Animated?
Click here to read the answers!
TFviews.com
- What roles do mythology and symbolism play in character design? As a character.s personality is designed right into the toy, features such as spikes and horns obviously help shape the character. What sources do the design team turn to for this, and how does the team go about this process?
- Given that many of the recent toy designs in Transformers are planned with potential reuses in mind (repaints or partial retoolings), are there steps being taken to preserve the original tooling for those designs? For example, the “Classics” Starscream mold has been reused thrice more at retail in the US, plus several times for conventions and the foreign market. In an effort to ensure a reusable figure design for years to come, is Hasbro (or TakaraTomy) keeping a master mold for figures such as this, or might there come a point in years to come where the tools of today wear down so far or suffer significant breakage that they become completely unusable and thus are forever lost?
- The use of a prefix “Autobot-” or “Decepticon-” in front of otherwise unobtainable character names is a great solution that allows a character to retain its original name in some form. I.e., since “Jazz” cannot be used on its own, “Autobot Jazz” is a good compromise. That being said, why is the approach used for some characters but not others? For example, why “Insecticon” rather than “Decepticon Shrapnel”, or “Tankor” instead of “Decepticon Octane”?
Click here to read the answers!
Transformers Wiki
- 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?
- 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?
- What are typical ballpark production run numbers for a “main line” toy, say Deluxe Animated Bumblebee? Have these numbers changed much over the years?