Hasbro Question and Answer, round 5.

[Onslaught Six]

Nah, Gigs is just Gigs. I'm thinking more along the lines of, say, Sideways' undocumented neck fiddly bits, just to use something recent. RID Bruticus's extra arms. Universe Sideswipe's handgun has a special peg to fit into special holes on his shoulders to form G1esque shoulder launchers, but this is entirely unmentioned in his instructions. (Though to be fair, his instructions are Sunstreaker's and wrong anyway.)

[Dominic]

Done.

Dom

[JediTricks]

So, um... here it is, "the 11th hour deadline" and I have not received questions.

Nah, Gigs is just Gigs. I'm thinking more along the lines of, say, Sideways' undocumented neck fiddly bits, just to use something recent. RID Bruticus's extra arms. Universe Sideswipe's handgun has a special peg to fit into special holes on his shoulders to form G1esque shoulder launchers, but this is entirely unmentioned in his instructions. (Though to be fair, his instructions are Sunstreaker's and wrong anyway.)

I really was hoping for something more noteworthy than that. "Sideways' neck fiddly bits", is kinda hard to parse. Bruticus has 3 heads, you really think an extra set of arms is a "feature" when it's made up of alt mode legs? The secondary button on Leader-class Brawl, that is an undocumented feature. Universe Cyclonus being able to plug Nightstick onto his hand-stump, that's an undocumented feature of note. TFA Ratchet being able to hold the EMP generator from Lockdown, that's an undocumented feature.

I wish I had put more time into this, I really need to be more conscious of that, I should have worked with you guys sooner rather than wait until the last minute.

Here's the questions I'm sending out right now:

- While many of us understand the need for Hasbro to tighten up on its intellectual property, there are some lingering questions about the ramifications it may have. We get that someone making money off your IP is unacceptable, and we see the difference between that and individuals making their own personal stuff for fun. What about sellers that have sold items with semi-official sanction, such as the Lukis Brothers, will they be grandfathered in based on past precedent (example: the Vector Sigma accessories)? Will Hasbro attempt to fill the void left by now banned fan-company items? Clearly the demand for these items is high enough in collector circles to create the unlicensed cottage industry which Hasbro reasonably feels goes too far, yet you've also made clear that there's no room in the Hasbro market plan for those sorts of collector-oriented extras. So might Hasbro be willing to actively find an appropriate licensee who will be able fit those sorts of complimentary pieces into their own business model?

- With some Transformers figures there are specific elements obviously designed into the item, yet go un-noted in the the marketing materials such as packaging, photos, and instructions - the "undocumented features". Sometimes these are unfinished and thus understandably left out (such as Universe Galavatron's walking tank mode). However, others are inexplicably complete and yet go unsaid, such as ROTF Knock-Out's "wings" (from his removable cowling panels), 2007 Leader-class Brawl's 2 sound fx buttons, Universe Cyclonus being able to have Nightstick plug onto his forearm in place of his hand, Animated Ratchet designed to accept Lockdown's EMP Generator accessory, Universe Sideswipe/Sunstreaker's gun being able to plug into holes on their shoulders, even proper transformations like the backpack height and triangular panels flanking ROTF Sideways' head. How does the development team feel about these designed features going undocumented? Has Hasbro considered a possible official outlet for 'correct' transformations and undocumented features? And does Hasbro keep track of this sort of thing?
(I bet you guys think that one is a whale of a question, just way too big. To me, doing the SW one for so long, it's rather moderate, 1,103 words is paltry. )

- In the current team's experience, would you discuss any figures that have turned out significantly better or worse than expected? We mean those standout items that the team just wasn't expecting to succeed or fail for whatever reasons, maybe going from the prototype to production stages something went very wrong or came out ahead of expectations, perhaps a figure that fans were supposed to love but didn't or that you didn't think they'd love but they did. And what TF toys for you guys would you revise if you could, and what ones do you consider utterly perfect as their finished products went?

... And they are outta here!

[Dominic]

No worries on the undocumented features examples. Like I said earlier, the harder we tried to come up with great examples, the worse we did.

Dom
-rather liked Gigatron's chicken mode.

[JediTricks]

Check out the questions the gang and I over at ActionFigs.com are asking, try to figure out which one is mine ...

What is the philosophy behind which characters get turned into leader-class figures? Why do Starscream and Brawl get leader-class figures while stuff like Bonecrusher, Blackout/Grindor, or The Fallen do not? What does the decision-making process there look like? And what can fans who want some of those to get made do to persuade Hasbro to go for it?

While we have now heard and understand why Hasbro didn't produce ROTF Constructions that both combined and transformed (although there are still fans who disagree with your reasons), there still remains other questions being asked about these guys. Why produce only 4 of the significant ROTF Constructicons as individual figures yet leave out others like Scrapper and Hightower? And how did such seemingly non-toyetic robot designs like one with only a head and arms and wheels with no body or another with a 'jackhammer' uni-leg come about when, even for the movie aesthetic, they are pretty far out there for a movie basically about a toy line?

Comparing the 2007 movie line's "Automorph" concept to the ROTF line's "Mech Alive" concept, it seems like Mech Alive comes up pretty short. Not only does Mech Alive seem not as dynamic or fun, but largely there is a sense that the whole thing doesn't even fully deliver on the concept except on 1 figure (voyager-class Starscream), either because of underwhelming features (Breakaway's spinning gatling gun, Skids & Mudflap's moving chest panels and head-bobbing, Rampage's moving jackhammer pistons Sideswipe's knee armor, Wheelie's faction logos, The Fallen's slide-out energy panels, Megatron's spinning gears), or Mech Alive gimmicks that get packaging mentions but were dropped from the final toys (Sideways' spinning blade and untold left arm gimmick, Chromia's non-existent spinning gears, Starscream's pop-out missile launchers). What does the TF team feel about the matter, do they agree this was a bit of a dropped ball, or are fans not really "getting it"? Will we see Mech Alive continue into TF's future the way Automorph has been carried forward beyond the '07 movie line?

[Dominic]

I know it was the Mech-Alive question. But, really, any of those could have been yours.

Dom

[Onslaught Six]

Bruticus has 3 heads, you really think an extra set of arms is a "feature" when it's made up of alt mode legs?

Do you own RID Bruticus? He has hands there, grasping weapons and everything. They are unquestionably extra arms.

Universe Cyclonus being able to plug Nightstick onto his hand-stump, that's an undocumented feature of note. TFA Ratchet being able to hold the EMP generator from Lockdown, that's an undocumented feature.

Nightstick's one I totally forgot about, good catch.

(I bet you guys think that one is a whale of a question, just way too big. To me, doing the SW one for so long, it's rather moderate, 1,103 words is paltry. )

Most of the bulk is in examples, and it's better to give more of those than less.

- In the current team's experience, would you discuss any figures that have turned out significantly better or worse than expected? We mean those standout items that the team just wasn't expecting to succeed or fail for whatever reasons, maybe going from the prototype to production stages something went very wrong or came out ahead of expectations, perhaps a figure that fans were supposed to love but didn't or that you didn't think they'd love but they did. And what TF toys for you guys would you revise if you could, and what ones do you consider utterly perfect as their finished products went?

I like it! Step up. (Ten points if you name the movie.)

[JediTricks]

I know it was the Mech-Alive question. But, really, any of those could have been yours.

Dom

I rewrote the other 2 based on single-sentence short questions. They're both Tycho's, actually, because the other forumites over there asked questions that were answerable already.

Do you own RID Bruticus? He has hands there, grasping weapons and everything. They are unquestionably extra arms.

I do, and I regret buying him because he's just so clumsy-looking in robot mode. I am not arguing that they aren't arms, I'm arguing that he's a 3-headed dog guy, so extra arms are not a huge surprise.

Nightstick's one I totally forgot about, good catch.

Thanks! I pissed away about 30 minutes trying to come up with that stuff last night around 1am.

I like it! Step up. (Ten points if you name the movie.)

I am grateful that I don't know that's from one of the TMNT movies.

[Onslaught Six]

What is the philosophy behind which characters get turned into leader-class figures? Why do Starscream and Brawl get leader-class figures while stuff like Bonecrusher, Blackout/Grindor, or The Fallen do not? What does the decision-making process there look like? And what can fans who want some of those to get made do to persuade Hasbro to go for it?

86 and I asked ourselves this question when Brawl was first announced. "Really? 'Brawl?' Why? He's not even that big. Why not Starscream or Blackout, especially since Blackout really needs it?"

What it came down to is Hasbro probably gave a group of playtest kids the existing Decepticon toys (or facsimiles of) and tried to determine which vehicle or toy would be received the best. And, given a choice between Jet, Helicopter or Tank, Huge Tank will probably win most of the time.

I do, and I regret buying him because he's just so clumsy-looking in robot mode. I am not arguing that they aren't arms, I'm arguing that he's a 3-headed dog guy, so extra arms are not a huge surprise.

Bruty's a toy we're never going to agree about, so I won't bother arguing--but the idea isn't so much that Bruty's extra arms are *surprising,* but the fact that he has them, and they're not documented anywhere. Regardless, the question has been asked, with a lot of other, better examples, so.

I like it! Step up. (Ten points if you name the movie.)

I am grateful that I don't know that's from one of the TMNT movies.

The first. Donatello says it during the last fight with the Foot Clan. Michaelangelo is trying out various different puns with Shell. ("I guess we can really shell it out!" "It was a shell of a good hit!") Donny finally picks one and says that line.

I have seen this movie entirely too many times. My friend Alan used to think he was the undisputed king of quoting that movie. Then he met me.

[onslaught86]

Oooh, some very good ones there. Looking forward to those answers, we're finally getting some meaty stuff underway now movie questions aren't taboo, and "Devastator is a horrible horrible idea" has been pretty clearly voiced to Hasbro. Heh. I almost expect Animated to be cited as something fans were meant to like from the start, and didn't.

Also, yeah, RID Bruty's bonus arms and extra heads are completely undocumented. I suspect the toy was left unfinished, as it was clearly intended to have a Battle for the Spark style gimmick.

I'm tempted to ask what the designers would like to tackle for TF3, since ROTF gave them such unorthodox robot designs. Suspect it'd just be a stock answer of "We hope to make even better crap in the future".