Hasbro has responded to your questions! Read on for the info!
- It’s understood that Hasbro now owns much of intellectual property related to the Tonka GoBots, with the original cartoon left out due to rights issues. Seeing as M.A.S.K. was revived with Matt Trakker appearing in the GI Joe line, and Fracture was an homage to a GoBots character, is it possible that the GoBots stories and concepts (again, leaving out the cartoon proper) could one day be retroactively integrated into TF continuity?
The Transformers universe is already so vast and complex that we don.t
think it would make much sense to integrate another set of characters and
story into it . I think it will only cause more confusion. Go-Bots as a
brand name has been kept separate from the Transformers IP (like the
pre-school line) and will likely continue to remain separate. - At BotCon 2005, photos were shown of an unreleased redeco of Generation 2 “Laser” Optimus Prime as a new character called Toxitron; Toxitron was shown again later on the BotCon 2007 Hasbro tour. Meanwhile, artwork of a cancelled redeco of Machine Wars Optimus Prime called “Menasor” surfaced, as did an unpainted test shot. How far along did these two redecos actually get? Were they both meant for the original Universe toyline? Would we be able to see their stock photography or deco sheets?
These concepts did reach a point where there was actual deco sheets
produced, however, they were never intended to be used within our Universe
line.As for images/deco sheets, those will have to remain in our secret vault. ;)
- We know that because toy safety laws have changed, we will never get certain items again, such as a realistic gun mode for Megatron. What about other gimmicks that worked well in the 80’s and 90’s but may not meet requirements today? We’ve heard that the “spark-shooting” action might be a similar impossibility — can you confirm this?
While you are correct on the fact that toy safety laws have changed over
the years, we do not want to get into the specifics of what we can/cannot
do. Many of these “gimmicks” certainly remain viable options (of course
updated to meet toy safety standards), but we also would not want to tip
our hand to any of our competitors in this forum as to what we may/may not
be planning!