Upcoming Generations Figures 2013-2014

[Cat]

You're assuming that all BW fans are exclusively fans of the show, but this isn't true for everyone. Many of us are also fans of the toyline - remember that the toys did come first (oh the interesting 'continuities' I used to create with the toys before the show came out! ). Remember that the toys already boast impressive sales - becoming the 3rd best selling boys' toy within its first year. A lot of G1 characters are still popular with fans even if they never appeared in the G1 cartoon, e.g. Whirl, Roadbuster, Top Spin, Twin Twist, Deluxe Insecticons etc. Yes, many of those characters did appear in the G1 comics, and Buzz Saw did appear in the BW comics too.

And keep in mind that a redeco is a low-investment cost for Hasbro since they've already developed the mould for Waspinator. They'd just be trying to milk more money out of that mould.



It's not done just out of greed -- repaints help to keep the cost of toys down. If Hasbro don't do repaints, then the cost of toys would go up. Redecos help Hasbro to milk more money out of the same mould which goes to offset the cost of R&D in developing these moulds. Also you have retailers like Wal*Mart demanding new product from Hasbro all the time, and redecos are a cheap and easy way to satiate that retailer demand without expending more money on R&D new moulds all the time (which would further drive up costs). Redecos are a "necessary evil" unless you're prepared to pay $50 for a Deluxe.

And I'll take Waspinator redecoed as Buzz Saw any day over another random repaint of Bumblebee! Heck, I wouldn't even mind seeing Waspinator redecoed with a G1 Bumblebee style head and called "Bumblebee" (seriously, it's a name that totally suits Beast Wars, and if they ever did Generations K-9/Wolfang, I'd like to see a redeco called "Hound" -- I've heard that Hasbro had lost the rights to those names at the time that BW came out which is why they didn't use them).

They couldn't/can't do a yellow bee and name it Bumblebee, or a dog named Hound. It's too generic, so isn't covered. I've read theories that that is what made them pass over the names, and then that's what lead to Bumblebee being snapped up by another company.

A yellow car named Bumblebee = fine.
A yellow bee named Bumblebee is not protected, as that's a common term for it.

It makes a lot of sense.

[Quickstrike]

I reeeeally wish they had given Doubledealer a bird mode. Just make the wings feathery looking and make the nose cone/cockpit part into a bird head. It would've been great!

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

You must have read my mind, Griff --a shot of Rhinox's back!

It looks like that entire back section is one big piece.

Glad to see I am not the only one excited to see a rhinos arse! Thanks Griff.

That Rhinox just looks better and better.

I agree there Quickstrike. Some feathers, or something to differentiate him a little more. Like a %&#($^ huge missile would make him a lot more shmexy

[doublespy]

That is a very anatomically correct rhinoceros there.

[Autocon]

May have to purchase my first tfs in years!!

Do we know how taktom will paint these?

Rhinox and waspy cant wait to get them

[King Atlas]

Awesome!! But i'll wait for TT version of Rhinox and Waspy

[1AZRAEL1]

Surely they've just misstransformed cosmos and his head pops down inside the ufo? And doubledealer has his turret in a precarious place in robot mode...

Thanks griff, makes me want these figures more. I'm actually excited to buy more transformers.

[GoktimusPrime]

They couldn't/can't do a yellow bee and name it Bumblebee, or a dog named Hound. It's too generic, so isn't covered. I've read theories that that is what made them pass over the names, and then that's what lead to Bumblebee being snapped up by another company.

A yellow car named Bumblebee = fine.
A yellow bee named Bumblebee is not protected, as that's a common term for it.

It makes a lot of sense.

So how did they get away with using the name "Tarantulas"? Because that's an accepted plural for "tarantula."* Would simply pluralising the noun make it passable? Bumblebees and Hounds... hmmm... or maybe they could modify the spelling. They might not be able to have a toy iguana called Iguana, but they could call it "Iguanus." Maybe they could do "Bumbelbee"... not sure how they could modify Hound... Hownd looks dumb (though arguably not much worse than Bumbelbee or Grappel ). I wonder if they could get away with "Maximal Bumblebee" and "Maximal Hound"... that could be tricky... I know that Hasbro wasn't able to use "Autobot Jazz" with the Alternator version of Binaltech Meister, so the Alternator toy was also called "Meister" (IIRC it was because Alternators fell under the domain of being replica/model cars and not action figures, and they wouldn't allow a Mazda RX8 to be called Jazz at all since it would infringe on Honda's trademark).

Also... now that Doctor Who has become a revitalised franchise since BW came out, I wonder if Hasbro can still get away with using the name K-9. They might have to call him Kay-Nine... or just go with the original Latin "Canis."

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*Although some would argue that the proper plural should be "tarantulae," but English being the "ye wut-eva" random language that it is, "tarantulas" has become an accepted plural (much like how "octopus" can be pluralised as "octopi" or "octopuses"). Interestingly enough, this board's automatic spell check is telling me that "tarantulae" and "octopi" are wrong, but "tarantulas" and "octopuses" is correct, even though from a linguistic traditionalist POV it should be the other way around

[Zommael]

So how did they get away with using the name "Tarantulas"? Because that's an accepted plural for "tarantula."* Would simply pluralising the noun make it passable? Bumblebees and Hounds... hmmm... or maybe they could do the "Grappel" thing and make it Bumbelbee or Hownd. Okay, I'll admit that looks stupid (just as "Grappel" does).

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*Although some would argue that the proper plural should be "tarantulae," but English being the "ye wut-eva" random language that it is, "tarantulas" has become an accepted plural (much like how "octopus" can be pluralised as "octopi" or "octopuses"). Interestingly enough, this board's automatic spell check is telling me that "tarantulae" and "octopi" are wrong, but "tarantulas" and "octopuses" is correct, even though from a linguistic traditionalist POV it should be the other way around

Actually, the correct plural is "octopodes", as the origin of the word is Greek, not Latin.

[GoktimusPrime]

Actually, the correct plural is "octopodes", as the origin of the word is Greek, not Latin.

Octopodes is also another accepted English plural for "octopus"! As far as Latin is concerned, "octopodes" is used as the plural for octopus in the nominative, accusative and vocative plural, but "octopi" is the plural in the second and third declension. Octopi is more widely used in English because while the word is Greek in origin, it came to English via Latin.