Questions for Hasbro, round 3

[Dominic]

There may be other parties holding those names. Of course, adding some kind of adjective, such as "Autobot", to the name is a good fix.

On the subject of trademarked vehicles, what kind of case could really be made on the basis of an infraction, (albeit such a naked one), from 25 years back?

Dom
-is pretty sure Hasbro will not be answering this one.

[Onslaught Six]

Are we even asking this one? I don't even care that much.

I do have a question, though--who decides the case assortments, and why? For example, Tankor/Octane was the shortpacked figure in the first wave, and he was relatively hard to find. Was it planned that way from the beginning, or did it work out that way? Are any figures ever planned to be shortpacked during the design phase?

[Dominic]

Excellent question.

I second this one.

Dom

[Onslaught Six]

It can be worded better, though, I'm sure. JT?

[SynjoDeonecros]

I have one question for Hasbro that's been nagging me for quite some time: Now that Beast Wars-inspired figures are being made for the Classics line, is there a chance of seeing a possible Beast Wars Ravage figure, in the future? I remember a representative saying they had plans to release the Beast Wars Metals Jaguar X-9 figure in the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary line, that fell through because they lost the mold, so I was just curious if there are any plans of using Classics to finally get the toy out.

[Onslaught Six]

I have one question for Hasbro that's been nagging me for quite some time: Now that Beast Wars-inspired figures are being made for the Classics line, is there a chance of seeing a possible Beast Wars Ravage figure, in the future? I remember a representative saying they had plans to release the Beast Wars Metals Jaguar X-9 figure in the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary line, that fell through because they lost the mold, so I was just curious if there are any plans of using Classics to finally get the toy out.

I thought we agreed there weren't gonna be any entirely random "ARE YOU GOING TO DO [X MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER] TOY ANYTIME SOON?"

Mostly because the answer is usually "No, shut the hell up," and there's better, more inneresting questions to ask. I mean, I could easily throw in "HAY ARE WE GONNA GET A NEW BLUDGEON? WHAT ABOUT POLAR CLAW? HEY DO A NEW TITLE WAVE! FINISH THE COMBATICONS THAT WOULD RULE! DO A NEW SHOCKWAVE!" but nobody except me wants to know that. Instead, we try to come up with actual useful and interesting questions that will actually answer stuff.

[Dominic]

Syn is new, so he may not know the rule.


The problem is that Hasbro only answers a limited number of questions (3 I think) from a few pages, every few months. We are lucky to have the chance to ask any questions, so we try to be extremely selective in what we ask. (I have had a few of my questions shot down as well, so do not take it personally.)

If not for the good relationship JT has with Hasbro, (owing to his work at SSG), we may not even have the chance to ask they questions we are allowed to ask.

We are coming up on the deadline, so if somebody wants to compile the list, we can edit the questions as best we can.

Dom
-checking back in a day or so.

[Onslaught Six]

JT:
As fans of Hasbro's lines, we've seen this for years: official Hasbro images for retailers and on packaging that have been photoshopped to enhance shadows, surfaces and edges, giving the overall look of the toy increased realism. Often, the production deco of the toy can't really live up to that, and while there is a 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 paint wash to actually bring those lines out and give them the realistic look the packaging shows could be possible?

Anderson:
The use of "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. For example, since "Jazz" cannot be trademarked on its own, "Autobot Jazz" is a good compromise. That being said, why is that approach not used for certain characters? For example, why "Silverstreak" rather than "Autobot Bluestreak", or "Insecticon" rather than "Decepticon Shrapnel"?

[I think we decided not to do this one, but whatever.]

Why was "firepower" replaced with "fireblast" a few years back?

[Same.]

86:
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?

[I support This.]

Me:
Who decides the case assortments, and why? For example, Tankor/Octane was the shortpacked figure in the first wave, and he was relatively hard to find. Was it planned that way from the beginning, or did it work out that way? Are any figures ever planned to be shortpacked during the design phase?

And Synjo's, even though we have better questions:
Now that Beast Wars-inspired figures are being made for the Classics line, is there a chance of seeing a possible Beast Wars Ravage figure, in the future? I remember a representative saying they had plans to release the Beast Wars Metals Jaguar X-9 figure in the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary line, that fell through because they lost the mold, so I was just curious if there are any plans of using Classics to finally get the toy out.

I'd go with JT's, 86's and mine, but that's me.

[SynjoDeonecros]

I'm sorry if my question seemed like a normal "Can you make X character, please?" question; I didn't mean it to sound like that (and I kinda figured those kinds of questions weren't allowed), but I do remember Hasbro saying they wanted to release BW Metals Jaguar in the BW 10th Anniversary, but lost the mold, so this is less a fanboy asking for their favorite character, and more asking if they plan on reviving an old project of theirs in a new one.

Perhaps if I rephrased the question: "During the release of the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary line, I remember a news article stating plans to release the Jaguar X-9 mold from Takara's Beast Wars Metals line in it as Beast Wars Ravage, that fell through because the mold was lost after it was used to make Timelines Tigatron. Were those molds ever found? And, now that Beast Wars is being revisited in the Classics Line, is there any plans to release the mold or a new version of it as originally intended?"

[Onslaught Six]

...But it still boils down to "i can has ravage plz?" You're just using the fact that three years ago they maybe kind of had an idea to use an existing mould to release when it was actually relevant to try and use it.

I'm sure if Hasbro had any plans to make a new Ravage toy, or had found the mould (Which, by the way, usually 'does not ever happen ever,' because it's not like they pay people to go looking for them) we would already know about it. We don't, so we aren't, and we already have better questions anyway. Maybe in April, if we don't think of anything vaguely more inneresting.