SDCC TF team interview

[JediTricks]

A friend of mine says he's willing to read our questions for the Hasbro Transformers interview at SDCC, which means I need questions that someone who isn't terribly familiar with the current state of Transformers could read. And I need them fast because the con starts Wednesday.

He already has a question about adding Hector Ramirez to the GI Joe/Transformers figures, which I think is absolutely fine since we already have Marissa and Old Snake.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[Almighty Unicron]

Will we see a continued trend of the collector oriented figures and figures based on TV shows and movies (like the current Transformers: Robots in disguise show) splitting in design goals, methodology and aesthetic?

Will future collector oriented lines like Generations have a unified theme or gimmick like Combiner Wars?

Has the technology behind and/or design process changed between figures in the Generations line and lines like Robots in Disguise? What about the shipping and distribution models?

With the 10th Anniversary of Beast Wars, will we see an increased amount of homages and callbacks to other series besides Generation 1 going forward? When Armada is 10 years old, can we expect to see Masterpiece Hot Shot?

[andersonh1]

Any chance of Terrorcons and Technobots as part of Combiner Wars?

[Almighty Unicron]

Any chance of Terrorcons and Technobots as part of Combiner Wars?

Or any other animal alt modes besides Sky-Linx? Perhaps the Terrorcons could be repainted or remolded Predacons?

[Sparky Prime]

[quote="Almighty Unicron"

With the 10th Anniversary of Beast Wars, will we see an increased amount of homages and callbacks to other series besides Generation 1 going forward? When Armada is 10 years old, can we expect to see Masterpiece Hot Shot?

Kinda going along with this question...
Seeing the tease of a Masterpiece Optimus Primal from Taraka-Tomy at the Tokyo Toy Show.... Does Hasbro have any plans to mark the 20th Anniversary of Beast Wars as well, or to release any Masterpiece Beast Wars figures?

[JediTricks]

We still need more questions, gang.

Will we see a continued trend of the collector oriented figures and figures based on TV shows and movies (like the current Transformers: Robots in disguise show) splitting in design goals, methodology and aesthetic?

I had a very hard time understanding what you meant by this question until I realized you were splitting ideas with that "and", so you mean "collector-oriented figures separately from figures based on tv shows and movies", right?

Will future collector oriented lines like Generations have a unified theme or gimmick like Combiner Wars?

I'll save questions about the future for last since they're unlikely to get answered.

Has the technology behind and/or design process changed between figures in the Generations line and lines like Robots in Disguise? What about the shipping and distribution models?

I think this is different from the "and" issue above, but I am not sure. Could you clarify?



I have a question about why they moved manufacturing from China to Vietnam that I'm mulling about in my head.

[andersonh1]

If any of this information is already out there, then just ignore the question, but I'm curious about the collaborative process between Hasbro and IDW. Specifically:

- how are the comics chosen for the toy pack-ins, considering a number of them barely feature the figure they're included with?
- Are the comic storylines, such as Combiner Wars, solely dictated by Hasbro and the toyline they want to promote, or do the IDW writers get a say in the process?
- Considering the relatively small size of the comic book reading audience compared to a television series or certainly the live action movies, has the cross-promotion of figures with comics produced higher sales for both?
- Sales aside, are the comics considered an "IP farm" that produces new designs and new takes on old characters that can then be used to produce a new version of a toy (such as Ultra Magnus coming with the Minimus Ambus mini-figure)? In other words, are they useful for the concepts they produce as much as they are for marketing and sales?

[JediTricks]

Unless a question is exceptionally good, I think our cutoff date has to be tonight around midnight because I won't have power tomorrow to email them to Maradona, the guy who will be at the con asking them for us. (No power because they're changing a transformer! )

With the 10th Anniversary of Beast Wars, will we see an increased amount of homages and callbacks to other series besides Generation 1 going forward? When Armada is 10 years old, can we expect to see Masterpiece Hot Shot?

Almost got me with that one, it's the 20th anniversary of Beast Wars, and Armada is 13 years old.

- Are the comic storylines, such as Combiner Wars, solely dictated by Hasbro and the toyline they want to promote, or do the IDW writers get a say in the process?

Pretty sure this was covered at Botcon as it being a planned thing between them, Hasbro and IDW threw out ideas around a table at a planning meeting.


So here's what I've thrown together so far:

Recently, Hasbro's GI Joe and Transformers divisions worked together to produce cross-brand packs through the official fan club for Marissa Faireborn and Old Snake as GI Joe figures, characters that have direct connections in one form or another to both the Transformers cartoon and the GI Joe cartoon. Have you considered also tackling Hector Ramirez, the cartoon's version of Geraldo Rivera, for this line? He crossed over on Hasbro cartoons for GI Joe, Transformers, Jem, and Inhumanoids, and would make a great addition.

Combiner Wars seems to have marked a change in Transformers Generations production facilities from China to Vietnam. Why the change, and what benefits and challenges have you had from changing manufacturing to a different country?

With the current "Transformers: Robots in Disguise" line and the "Transformers: Generations: Combiner Wars" line, there seems like a significant difference in design and aesthetic, with "Robots in Disguise" having simpler product aiming more for a kid style. Will this trend continue into the future, splitting how the brands are developed?

Will future collector-focused lines like Generations have unified themes the way we've had with Combiner Wars this year?

With the 20th anniversary of Beast Wars coming up next year and Takara suggesting they will do a Beast Wars Masterpiece figure from Optimus Primal, will Hasbro be tackling the anniversary in any way as well?

Similarly, will we see more homage and celebrations of other series beyond Generation 1 in the future? For example, when Transformers Armada is 15 years old in 2017, might we see something like Masterpiece Hot Shot?

Might Hasbro develop Combiner Wars beyond just modern-day vehicles? The Technobots forming Computron from futuristic vehicles or the Terrorcons (the monster-bots forming Abominus) who could perhaps be remolded into the Predacons (forming Predaking) would be prime examples.

On the Combiner Wars Deluxe figures, the IDW comic book pack-in issues are taken from the IDW Transformers book before the Combiner Wars crossover, so they don't correspond to the characters they come with, some don't even have combiners in them at all. So how are the comic books chosen for the pack-ins?

Considering the relatively small size of the comic book reading audience (around 10,000 a month) compared to a television series (a couple million an episode) or certainly the live action movies (hundreds of millions of people), has packing in comics with the deluxe figures produced higher sales for either or both figures and comics?

Does Hasbro view the IDW comics as an idea-generator for the toy brand, an entity that produces new designs and updated takes on existing characters that can then be used to produce a new version of a toy -- such as Ultra Magnus coming with the Minimus Ambus mini-figure, or creating demand for Swerve?

With Devastator, why did the design for Mixmaster change so the vehicle is essentially backwards to traditional cement mixers and thus the G1 original?

Why does Devastator not have 5mm holes in his hands to hold other Transformers weapons? He's the only Combiner Wars figure who doesn't have them in one way or another.

[andersonh1]

I think you've worded my questions better than I did. After re-reading them, I think I came across a bit negative, which wasn't my intention at all.

[Almighty Unicron]

Almost got me with that one, it's the 20th anniversary of Beast Wars, and Armada is 13 years old.

I'm not ready to accept the present. I'm gonna kick back with my straight ironed hair and my Fall Out Boy records and pretend Hayden Panettier is still relevant and was ever attractive.