The turn-in date is August 9th, so I'll need questions by August 8th.
I scrambled partway through the last thread and only found this question so far, please remind me of others, or add new ones! And don't forget to vote.
- - Several recent Transformers have come with sword accessories. However the plastic used to make these swords tends to warp and bend easily. Examples include Vector Prime from the Cybertron line and Bludgeon from Revenge of the Fallen. Obviously, Hasbro's concerns for consumer safety is a chief criteria for choosing the type of plastic used for accessories like these, but in the specific examples we cited, why is the plastic so much softer than other Transformers' swords? Is it possible to use something less prone to warping and still meet safety standards? And could future scabbards for these sword accessories be designed with a little more clearance so as to not warp the production versions of those accessories?
- - With another Transformers movie line coming up, the line will almost certainly be bolstered by characters not appearing in TF3, just as the first 2 movies' toy lines had extra characters. There are many Revenge of the Fallen and even Movie 1 characters still in demand for figure updates/upgrades, such as Voyager-class Bonecrusher, Scrapmetal and Scrapper figures for fans of the movie Constructicons, leader-class Blackout, and more great ideas that fans want. What are the odds that we'll see those TYPES of movie-universe characters added the TF3 toy line, even if not those specific examples? (Though we'd like to see those examples of course.)
- - Some collectors have expressed concern that the main TF lines such as the Movie lines and Universe/Generations might be getting too complicated for key target audiences, specifically casual consumers and kids. We've heard things along the lines of "I'm a grown man and had problems with ROTF Leader Prime, how is my kid supposed to figure it out?" to "I gave 2008's New Camaro Bumblebee to a nephew and it still sits, half-transformed, at the bottom of a toy box." Obviously, sub-lines like Fast Action Battlers and Activators are supposed to address this problem, but they only appeal to specific younger audiences, not generally to the larger casual consumer base. How much of a concern is this for Hasbro? What does Hasbro do to combat these issues in the main lines without simplifying them to the point of alienating the core fanbase?
- - Repaints have been a built-in aspect to the Transformers brand since the beginning of the line. Really, it's a line of thinking that's been a key part of Hasbro's business model since Mr. Potato-head and the original GI Joe. Fans know that if there's a new-mold figure, they can almost count on it getting repainted somewhere down the line, or even retooled into a new character. Whether it's the same character with a new deco, an existing character with new accessories, or a second all-new character from the mold, most figures get this treatment eventually. Has there been a figure that someone on the team really wanted to do a redeco/retool of, but it never made it to market, that is especially noteworthy, and why it didn't end up coming out?
