TF4 & 5... details from Hasbro, & speculation

[griffin]

Hasbro will want to spit out more movies as quickly as possible... as I think they are probably generating more profit (and income) from the movies now than the toys. (in the past, the TFs cartoons that sell toylines were probably not expected to make any money, as the toys were their primary revenue source... but now with the Hub and their partnership with Paramount & Marvel, revenue from non-toy sources must be pretty significant now)

It could also be why they aren't as fussed about getting the rest of the DotM Cast character toys out to stores, because the toys are now the gravy (instead of the other way around with the cartoons).
But seriously, Hasbro Head Office must be employing monkeys these days - they should have had the new characters out in the first waves, instead of "new" moulds of the characters that haven't changed over the last 2-4 years. It's no wonder their sales dropped with this movie, with kids who already have the character toys from last year, wanting to buy a new character instead this year.
By the time Mirage, Soundwave, Wheeljack and even Dlx Leadfoot are released, the DVD might help move them, but the main surge of interest is now long gone.

[griffin]

With the Dinobots in WFC2... it'd be the perfect time to cash in on that resurged concept and include them in the Movie-verse.

[5FDP]

I'm actually quite impressed how civil this thread is. I expected to come in here reading the usual comments 'Michael Bay ruined my... blah, blah, blah'. Well done everyone

What I'm not surprised about is hearing they're going ahead with a fourth movie. I mean come on, Transformers 3 is the fourth highest grossing movie of all time. They're gonna keep milking this until it goes direct to DVD

[Hursticon]

What I'm not surprised about is hearing they're going ahead with a fourth movie. I mean come on, Transformers 3 is the fourth highest grossing movie of all time. They're gonna keep milking this until it goes direct to DVD

And I am still going to buy them and enjoy them when they do.

[jena]

HECK YES! I love those stupid movies, I just love seeing the TFs as big lifelike hulks roaming around on screen. Nothing else matters to me. I couldn't care less about Shia, all he does in these movies is scream anyway, but I agree with Arcee, bring back Lennox! Keep the female fans happy, bring back that eye candy.

[5FDP]

no no no NO NO

That's my best impersonation of Shia

[Hursticon]

HECK YES! I love those stupid movies, I just love seeing the TFs as big lifelike hulks roaming around on screen. Nothing else matters to me. I couldn't care less about Shia, all he does in these movies is scream anyway, but I agree with Arcee, bring back Lennox! Keep the female fans happy, bring back that eye candy.

Aww, no love for Simmons?

I agree though, just the fact that we had giant transforming robots on screen was a miracle to me and the fact that they were baring the name Transformers only helped to seal the deal; I honestly hope this has opened the doors for other Giant Robot movies into the future, transforming or not as with the case of Real Steel, and if any of them happen to be also labelled 'Transformers'?, then I'll be just thankful.

[griffin]

I'm just not sure now if there has been an official announcement of a convertible Mirage/Dino from Hasbro. If there hasn't, I wouldn't expect one within 4-6 months of an announcement.

[GoktimusPrime]

Could be Hasbro doing the good ol' tease and making its fans wait for ages for a release of a Dino. Kind of like what they did with the Classics toys and slowly releasing the beloved G1 characters. However I don't see how this sort of marketing would work, the longer it takes to get out the more likely kids will just lose interest in TFs in general and Dino especially.

I agree - totally stoopid move because a lot of the movie hype will have fizzled out by then. Hasbro needs to strike while the iron's hot and releasing it like a year after the movie? Iron's stone cold by then...

They made the same mistake with Devastator - which I reckon is why even toys like Legends Devastator shelf warmed. Had they released that toy around the time the film came out, or shortly after (as TOMY did) then I suspect it would have sold better. It took aaages for them to clear the shelves of Legends Devastators. Combiner Class Devastator would probably still shelfwarm if it had been released around the time of the film because it's so expensive and... crap... but I still think it wouldn't have shelf warmed as bad as it has (is) if it had been released sooner, cos you'd have people impulse buying it as they're riding off the movie hype.

*sigh* They release toys like DotM Mudflap and Skids (even though they appeared so briefly in the movie you wouldn't even notice them) and Jolt (who didn't even appear in the film) and various versions of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee... but no Soundwave, Mirage or Wheeljack yet?

no no no NO NO

That's my best impersonation of Shia

trolololol.

[GoktimusPrime]

It's no wonder their sales dropped with this movie, with kids who already have the character toys from last year, wanting to buy a new character instead this year.
By the time Mirage, Soundwave, Wheeljack and even Dlx Leadfoot are released, the DVD might help move them, but the main surge of interest is now long gone.

Sadly this isn't the first time it's happened... ROTF Devastator anyone? And we STILL don't have above-Legends Class toys for Scrapper, Hightower or Overload... but at least we did get Legends for them, which is more than what can be said for Soundwave, Mirage and Wheeljack.

Edit: just remembered, there are Soundwave and Wheeljack toys scheduled for release (hopefully)... no plans for any Mirage toys though AFAIK.