Hasbro (Round 9) Q and A

[Dominic]

Based on questioned mostly submitted by Synjo:


1. In light of rumours about a Voyager scale Rhinox figure being considered for TFU, were the designers thinking of releasing future BW Classics figures in scale to how they were in the cartoon?

2. What is the thinking behind the design team making toys in reference to obscure characters such as RiD Bruticus (recolored from "Cybertron" Scourge)? Are these in-house favorites? Or, is it a question of using names for copyright reasons, and wanting to use characters consistently with certain names?

3. With Star Wars and Marvel having their own Transformers lines, what other franchises has Hasbro considered doing a Transformers crossover line with?

4. The BWN Unicron prototype, Cybertron Primus, and the Death Star/Darth Vader Star Wars Transformer all have a perfect spherical shape for their planet modes, but Armada Unicron doesn't. Why is this?

5. What was the reason behind the second "Alternators" Ravage figure? Was it done to appease any of the fan complaints? It seems like it, considering it fulfills all of the known arguments against the original (not being a Jaguar car, not having a jaguar robot mode, etc). It is rather odd to see two toys of one character in a line like "Alternators'.

[Dominic]

Bump.

[JediTricks]

I have a question about why Animated leader-class figs had 3 voice actor lines each, while movie lc figs only had 1 line (even on Jetfire who wasn't the movie actor), and why the movie lc lines are always just the actor introducing the character "I am optimus prime" "Jetfire's my name", "I am megatron!" and even upcoming screamer has a variation on the theme with "nobody defeats starscream!". However, wording a question right now is beyond me, I caught a cold from one of my 11 family members last night. If you guys think this question is a little too basic for us, I'll use it over at actionfigs.

[onslaught86]

I have a question about why Animated leader-class figs had 3 voice actor lines each, while movie lc figs only had 1 line (even on Jetfire who wasn't the movie actor), and why the movie lc lines are always just the actor introducing the character "I am optimus prime" "Jetfire's my name", "I am megatron!" and even upcoming screamer has a variation on the theme with "nobody defeats starscream!". However, wording a question right now is beyond me, I caught a cold from one of my 11 family members last night. If you guys think this question is a little too basic for us, I'll use it over at actionfigs.

I like that, good call. I suspect the answer is along the lines of "these are flagship toys for the movie line and will be released as widely as possible, and we want to reduce costs by limiting English-language speech". But then, the European Megatron says "Hahahaha, Megatron!" rather than "I am Megatron!" Or "ERRR AHH MEGATLAAAN!" as it sounds like to me.

Also, those sound effects all totally suck, I really wish the leader class figures had the soundchips from the Power Bots.

[Dominic]

Bump.

[andersonh1]

What can Hasbro tell us about Universe for 2010? Will the line return, or will the only focus of the year remain the ROTF line?

That may be too close to the 'will you give us figure X' type question. Hopefully it's broad enough that they would be willing to answer it.

[Dominic]

I am fine with this question, but I think it may have been addressed.

Any help guys?

Dom

[Onslaught Six]

Hasbro's been all WINK WINK, HARRY, WINK WINK lately about Universe continuing in some format. Who knows. Toyfair will probably happen before we get the answers to these (or right around the same time) and we're likely to find out then.

[andersonh1]

Hasbro's been all WINK WINK, HARRY, WINK WINK lately about Universe continuing in some format. Who knows. Toyfair will probably happen before we get the answers to these (or right around the same time) and we're likely to find out then.

So when is Toyfair? No point in wasting a question if we're likely to get answers soon anyway.

[Onslaught Six]

Mid-February. Always is.