Questions for Hasbro, round 3

[SynjoDeonecros]

What makes that question more acceptable than mine?

It doesn't mention any specific character.

and now that they're making new BW molds for Classics - and getting some good reviews for it

I laughed so hard at this it's not even funny. The new BW toys are horrible.

Maybe Cheetor, but I HAVE heard people give good ratings for Dinobot. They've also given hints about releasing a Voyager-class Rhinox for the line, so obviously the initial BW figures are successful enough to have them consider making more.

And Question #6 DOES mention "rare" and "popular" characters, which is the same thing; just because it doesn't name names, doesn't mean that it doesn't follow the same principle of "Get me this toy! I want this toy! WAAAH!!!" Like I said, my question is NOT MEANT to be referred to that; it's meant to be referred to as just as it asks - whether they have plans on revisiting, in a current or future line, an idea that they had but couldn't implement in a previous line. That IS a viable question; we all know how much Takaratomy and Hasbro likes to recycle old ideas, reissue old molds as new characters, and this question fits perfectly into that practice of theirs.

[andersonh1]

Question 6:
Are there any plans to release popular or rare molds from previous lines as part of the 25th Anniversary? Along similar lines, what are the prospects for releasing toys case from popular international molds, (not coomonly available in the US), or cancelled molds from previous lines, as part of the 25th Anniversary?

I think the question is sufficiently broad enough to avoid the 'are you going to release X toy' mistake, but shouldn't we expect the answer to be just as broad and non-specific? Hasbro's not going to be forthcoming about future releases that we don't already know about through one means or another, and a general 'yes' or 'no' answer to this question doesn't really tell us much.

If there were some way to incorporate the question about the Ravage mold into another general question, that would probably be a better approach.

[Onslaught Six]

Maybe Cheetor, but I HAVE heard people give good ratings for Dinobot. They've also given hints about releasing a Voyager-class Rhinox for the line, so obviously the initial BW figures are successful enough to have them consider making more.

Dinobot sucks equally so--he has shitty colours and his weapons suck. And this is the first I've heard of Rhinox, and there's been nothing further on it regardless--official or unofficial--so bleah.

And Question #6 DOES mention "rare" and "popular" characters, which is the same thing; just because it doesn't name names, doesn't mean that it doesn't follow the same principle of "Get me this toy! I want this toy! WAAAH!!!" Like I said, my question is NOT MEANT to be referred to that; it's meant to be referred to as just as it asks - whether they have plans on revisiting, in a current or future line, an idea that they had but couldn't implement in a previous line. That IS a viable question; we all know how much Takaratomy and Hasbro likes to recycle old ideas, reissue old molds as new characters, and this question fits perfectly into that practice of theirs.

Except that question doesn't specifically mention one single figure--it mentions a much vaguer approximation of "rare and popular" characters. This means they could answer it with "Yes, in fact we're planning on releasing a repaint of Inferno as Artfire," whereas your question would just make them say "No, what the hell, we just have you a new Ravage with Hound."

Hasbro's not going to be forthcoming about future releases that we don't already know about through one means or another, and a general 'yes' or 'no' answer to this question doesn't really tell us much.

Exactly. Hasbro's not going to tell us anything new that they weren't planning on revealing anyway.

[SynjoDeonecros]

Question 6:
Are there any plans to release popular or rare molds from previous lines as part of the 25th Anniversary? Along similar lines, what are the prospects for releasing toys case from popular international molds, (not coomonly available in the US), or cancelled molds from previous lines, as part of the 25th Anniversary?

I think the question is sufficiently broad enough to avoid the 'are you going to release X toy' mistake, but shouldn't we expect the answer to be just as broad and non-specific? Hasbro's not going to be forthcoming about future releases that we don't already know about through one means or another, and a general 'yes' or 'no' answer to this question doesn't really tell us much.

If there were some way to incorporate the question about the Ravage mold into another general question, that would probably be a better approach.

If we're going to do that, I think I know of a way: Remember the Cosmos design that was leaked back in 2006? Same concept, except they DID release a version of it for the new Classics line. Perhaps we can use that to reword the question:

"Back in 2006, a concept sketch of Classics Cosmos was leaked, but never made at the time. Now that it has been made, is there a chance we'll see more unused figure concepts released in the future (like the unused BW 10th Anniversary Ravage figure or the Transtech figures)?"

[Dominic]

The TFU beasts go in the category of "good effort, but bad execution".

Whatever; I don't understand what "standards" you feel the questions need to hold up to that are different to those of Seibertron, but this isn't the place to talk about that.

What O6 is saying is that some other pages waste their questions. I do not know how often Seibertron does that, as I do not specifically read the Q/A sections to see who posted what question. But, in general principle, O6 is right. Unless there is over-whelming call for a toy, (beyond what one woudl see in a Q/A column), Hasbro is not going to respond to sporadic, and specific, questions from fans.

If we had more questions, or Hasbro did more frequent Q/A sessions, I would be more okay with asking a question about a specific toy. But, as of now, we need to milk this as much as possible.

Okay, unless JT says different, we should probably have this wrapped up over the weekend.

Dom
-making this a global thread.

[andersonh1]

If we're going to do that, I think I know of a way: Remember the Cosmos design that was leaked back in 2006? Same concept, except they DID release a version of it for the new Classics line. Perhaps we can use that to reword the question:

"Back in 2006, a concept sketch of Classics Cosmos was leaked, but never made at the time. Now that it has been made, is there a chance we'll see more unused figure concepts released in the future (like the unused BW 10th Anniversary Ravage figure or the Transtech figures)?"

We got a tiny Legends Cosmos instead of a full size version, but I do think the question works fairly well phrased this way as a general inquiry about unused/redesigned figures.

Since we've got our list of questions for this round, why not hang on to this and throw it into the mix for the next round?

[JediTricks]

So, we're gonna be asking questions in a few weeks, which means it's time to knuckle down and get working on our next set of questions. You guys already have been, I see, so my absence has only exacerbated the situation.

No, that's my argument, that names like Hound and Jazz could have very well been trademarked if names like Prowl and Mirage were. Obviously they aren't 'now' and the only reason Hasbro has Prowl and Mirage is because they trademarked them, presumably in the 90s.

They were using them actively, which gave them the window to do so. Being the holder of both prior art and a currently-recognized copyright is much more powerful.

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?

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

Proving prior art requires pointing to something you've done, but if opposition points out that the previous thing you did also violated similar copyright laws, it weakens your position in the eyes of the court.

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

Well, I don't know if we'll be asking it, but I also don't care that much about what you don't care that much about.

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?

I am pretty sure that case assts are set by the brand manager based on production levels first and character popularity second. They can only make so much of a new item at a time, and that amount controls how many you can put in a case.

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

Let's see, how's something like this?
When it comes to case assortments, what factors go into deciding things like figure breakdowns, and who makes those decisions? How much is about production levels, and how much is about character or even faction popularity? Are there ever conscious choices to intentionally shortpack a figure, and if so, what reasons would those be?

I'll be honest, this is an area that is heavily mined with the Star Wars Q&A, but the nuance in differences in answers may prove valuable here. If I was sure Hasbro would give the TF brand the ability to give us a rich, full answer, I would think this question could get pretty darned detailed, but I fear Hasbro is going to go with a shorter, stock answer.

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.

Sidestepping the issue of being too specific or not, with Classics going on hiatus there's no reason to ask this at this time. I might be inclined to ask this in the future as there has been some interest from the fans, but at this time the answer's gonna be "not at this time" so there's no reason to ask. I'm also not sure how much of a history lesson we really want on the old molds that they were gonna use but didn't, especially when they have to work with another company to get the vendor (factory) to produce anyway.

Please ignore O6's douchery though, he's just incredibly abrasive.

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.)

Yeah, it's 3 questions now. Good thing you said that Dom, I let it slip my mind.

I am pretty sure that the change from "Fire Power" to "Fire Blast" was due to the assumed (il)literacy of the market, and as O6 pointed out, as a sop to parents.

I would not be satiated by that answer if it was the official one.

We try not to choose questions by editorial/moderator decree. Nobody wants that. Our main goals are to ask questions that other boards are not asking and that Hasbro is likely to answer.

... he said, avoiding including the new guy's second question.

The TFU beasts go in the category of "good effort, but bad execution".

Whatever; I don't understand what "standards" you feel the questions need to hold up to that are different to those of Seibertron, but this isn't the place to talk about that.

What O6 is saying is that some other pages waste their questions. I do not know how often Seibertron does that, as I do not specifically read the Q/A sections to see who posted what question. But, in general principle, O6 is right. Unless there is over-whelming call for a toy, (beyond what one woudl see in a Q/A column), Hasbro is not going to respond to sporadic, and specific, questions from fans.

If we had more questions, or Hasbro did more frequent Q/A sessions, I would be more okay with asking a question about a specific toy. But, as of now, we need to milk this as much as possible.

Okay, unless JT says different, we should probably have this wrapped up over the weekend.

Dom
-making this a global thread.

Wrapped up over the weekend? Hardly. The deadline is Feb 23rd, let's wait until THAT weekend to wrap this all up. Or am I misunderstanding you?

[Onslaught Six]

Wrapped up over the weekend? Hardly. The deadline is Feb 23rd, let's wait until THAT weekend to wrap this all up. Or am I misunderstanding you?

We had no idea when the questions were due, I believe we were just told a vague date of "February!" and left with that, so.

That said, I'd also be more inclined to include Synjo's rather specific question if we were allowed more questions; it's just that I see this thing 'all too often.' There's one oldschool Action Force (80s UK GI Joe, for those unaware) site called Blood For The Baron who was allowed to ask some questions for a GI Joe Q&A several moons ago, but they basically yelled "WE LIKE ACTION FORCE TOYS YOU GUYS GONNA HOMAGE ACTION FORCE TOYS YOU SHOULD DO THAT WE WOULD BUY IT." It just struck me as...ridiculously self-indulgent and disrespectful to the current Hasbro team.

[JediTricks]

Wrapped up over the weekend? Hardly. The deadline is Feb 23rd, let's wait until THAT weekend to wrap this all up. Or am I misunderstanding you?

We had no idea when the questions were due, I believe we were just told a vague date of "February!" and left with that, so.

That said, I'd also be more inclined to include Synjo's rather specific question if we were allowed more questions; it's just that I see this thing 'all too often.' There's one oldschool Action Force (80s UK GI Joe, for those unaware) site called Blood For The Baron who was allowed to ask some questions for a GI Joe Q&A several moons ago, but they basically yelled "WE LIKE ACTION FORCE TOYS YOU GUYS GONNA HOMAGE ACTION FORCE TOYS YOU SHOULD DO THAT WE WOULD BUY IT." It just struck me as...ridiculously self-indulgent and disrespectful to the current Hasbro team.

Oh, I didn't realize I hadn't posted the exact date before. Sorry about that. Feb 23rd.

We are making a list of potential questions, there is absolutely no harm in including Synjo's question at this point, we certainly aren't suffering an overload of potential questions anyway. We should have some level of criteria for what makes the list, but when it comes to something as talked about by the TF audience as BW Ravage, I don't think there's a huge harm in adding it to the list. Whether we ask it or not is a totally different matter though. The current Hasbro team knows there's an interest in revisiting touchstones from TF's past right now, and BW Ravage is absolutely one of those touchstones, so I don't at all think it's disrespecful to make that question available.

[Onslaught Six]

The thing that amuses me the most, though, is, like...We just 'got' a new Ravage toy. I can't see them having any kind of plans for 'another' one.