SDCC Transformers RID & MISC News and reveals

[Starscream77]

Where are the Decepticon toys in RID!!

This ^

[Handsprime]

Where are the Decepticon toys in RID!!

It's not just RID.

Age of Extinction only had 7 decepticons released as toys, only 2 of them were released as Generations toys! (3 if you include breakout battle and 4 if you include Movie Advanced Series Stinger). How many autobots were released? Well the toyline more felt like "buy a bunch of Autobots to fight barely any Decepticons"

That and the Robots In Disguise toylines are jokes. Why bring out all the Autobots but no Decepticons? Who are the Autobots to fight? Just a few guys? Doesn't seem like a fair fight.
And while you can say "oh but there were barely any decepticons in 1984". Yes there weren't much, but in AOE and RID, there are plenty of Decepticons, and how many of them get toys? Not much.

TLR, We need more Decepticons.

[griffin]

Us fans might buy evil characters as collectors over the long term and of multiple toys... but we are supposed to be a very small portion of Hasbro sales.

Parents on the otherhand, who make up the bulk of Hasbro sales, prefer to buy hero toys... so if there were equal number of good and evil toys, then the evil ones will shelfwarm and clog the shelves.

If you were a parent or relative of a kid and are buying a random action figure toy as a gift, you will more likely get something you are familiar with that you think they are interested in or could be interested in... and most kids want the hero toys, so parents are more likely to buy them for them.
After all, how many kids want a Lex Luthor toy before they get a Superman toy, or a Joker toy before a Batman toy... which is why there are at least a dozen super hero toys to every villain toy in a toyline.
Anything more balanced to the ratio and Retailers are stuck with toys and it kills off the toyline for not being re-stocked by stores.

[griffin]

On the second day of SDCC there was the IDW panel (yet to be posted), and the Women of Transformers panel (which continues the recent theme in the regular media of the heavy Female element in Transformers this year)

Panelists: Mairghread Scott (writer on Windblade, Combiner Wars, Combiner Hunters, Prime, and Robots in Disguise), Corin Howell (artist on Windblade and Combiner Wars), Georgia Ball (writer on Robots in Disguise), Sarah Carrol (Hasbro Transformers Global Brand Marketing), Sara Pitre-Durocher (artist on Combiner Hunters), moderated by Roaslind Morehead
• Windblade Volume 2 is ending with issue #7
• New ongoing series announcement! - TRANSFORMERS TILL ALL ARE ONE - Coming March 2016
• Written by Mairghread Scott, Art by Sara Pitre-Durocher
• Will still feature Windblade
• Takes place on Cybertron, Some characters will return, Will be set in an iconic city
• Panelists were introduced to Transformes by watching/reading the older fiction
• Windblade was intended to be a “gateway series” for newer fans
• Character designs are intended to reflect who they are as a character and where they come from
• Victorion – they see it as an opportunity to expand the universe - will feature in different things
• Windblade series was focused on Windblade herself, didn’t have time to feature the rest of the cast that much
• Emphasis on gender in the franchise is to help the audience relate to the characters
• Talking about the gender debate in the fandom, and the use of pronouns. Again, they’re used to help the audience relate to the characters
• A new female Decepticon will be introduced in the future
• Fans requesting the gender to be female – happened with Windblade and now Victorion, fathers have been asking for more female Transformers to appeal to their daughters
• Victorion is a big, strong bot with many sides to her personality
• Says it’s a challenge to get diversity into the brand, but the TF franchise in its current state has a lot more diversity compared to other franchises
• Says Barber took a chance putting the ladies on the comics
• Beast Wars issue/designs by Howell – Cheetor, Dinobot, Manta Ray, Sonar, Airazor, Tigatron, possibly Blackarachnia (might be part of a faction if she appears), will also be water buffalo/dragonfly beastformers
• Talking about relationships – Ironhide/Chromia, Tigatron/Airazor
• May be partly inspired by Jurassic World, as Howell saw the movie before working on the script
• Alien planet, so the beast modes may look a bit different

And a couple of the licensed products news...

3A statues.

Loyal Subjects.

[griffin]

Details from the IDW panel at SDCC... which is extra interesting because they weren't at BotCon this year.
Photos of the slide show are at that link.

Panel hosted by John Barber, Mairghread Scott, Carlos Guzman, Bobby Curnow, Agnes Garbowska, Michael Kelly, Jeremy Whitely on panel
• TF RID comic hits next week, based on show
• Will focus on stories not in TV show but that were implied
• Explaining CW story
• Prime will struggle with what it means to be a Prime
• Sara Pitre-Durocher will draw
• Issue 50 will be the biggest thing done in TFs in a while
• MTMTE - Next issue will be the most bizarre issue you’ve ever read
• Scavengers will return soon, Grimlock is with them
• Rise of Decepticon Justice Division War Against Megatron storyline will come to a head by 50
• Windblade - Discussing Velocitron planet, recap of story thus far
• Elita One
• Windblade ends at 7
• Restarts as Till All Are One
• Will jump forward in time
• Focus on colony worlds and different factions like beasts versus Velocitrons
• Art by Sara Pitre-Durocher
• August incentive covers
• Chibi, drawn by Agnes (MLP artist)
• New book - Transformers Redemption
• Drawn by Livio
• 1 shot, 40 pages. Dinobots, going into rust sea to repopulate
• Victorion will be there and more new characters
• NOV 2015
• SINS OF THE WRECKERS
• 5 ISSUES, DRAWN AND WRITTEN BY NICK ROCHE
• Continues Prowl’s story
• VERITY there too!
• Big repercussions from this
• TF vs Joe story continues

[griffin]

Soon after the IDW presentation, writer Nick Roche has released cover images of Issue 1 of the new "Sins of the Wreckers" mini-series.

[griffin]

Speaking of artwork, a new Devastation mini-poster was being handed out at SDCC, featuring a battle scene with Devastator and Menasor... so maybe more combiners are in the game after you fight Devastator, because I think I saw "Stage 2" on one of the game-play videos, which would be a bit early to have the main boss of the game show up to be defeated.

[Paulbot]

In the interviews about the game the developers have said Devastator isn't the main boss of the game.

[griffin]

In the interviews about the game the developers have said Devastator isn't the main boss of the game.

I thought they said that "Megatron" wasn't the main boss of the game?

[Paulbot]

I'm not sure where I read it, but I recall the tone of the comments was suggesting that the main boss hasn't been seen yet.

The videos so far make it look like the daytime city scenes are an early part of the game, and all the other "name" Decepticons appear in various other locations.