How much of G1 would you like to see done as CHUG toys?

[nalops]

Volkswagen had issues with toys portraying war for a while. Same with Porsche I believe. It's why Alternity Bumblebee's planned Beetle alt mode had to be changed to a Suzuki Swift. Things have changed recently since the MP Bumblebee was able to come out though.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Honestly, I've got a Takara United Bumblebee (i.e. the shiny gold repaint of the old deluxe Classics mold) with one of those upgrade kits to make him a Classics Goldbug, and it's still a really solid toy even now. Being a little generic hatchback-type car suits the character pretty well IMO.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

The masses of Camaro/generic-muscle-car Bumblebees would be because that's what the Movie/Bayverse Bumblebee was. Hasbro's main market is towards kids, and for most kids nowadays Bumblebee is a mute sports car rather than a chibi VW Beetle. I'm not sure how old you are, but I've got a few friends with kids and their kids all have their 'default' character images in/from more recent series than an old 80s cartoon. I even lent one of said friends some old-school G1 DVDs and his kids apparently told him that they wanted 'real Transformers, dad!', not those weird old retro cartoons.

Presumably after many years of trying Hasbro/Takara managed to get permission to use the Beetle car model for the Bumblebee movie, but licensing isn't an either/or deal generally speaking. Usually licensing deals are 'You can use the likeness for a, b, and c purpose, in x, y, and z way' rather than just 'here you go, you have the license now'. Major companies tend to be pretty image-conscious nowadays, albeit maybe not 100% knowledgeable about the intricacies of Transformers characterisations.

[nalops]

It's hard to imagine a VW bug like vehicle without being an actual bug, the front end and boot are fairly distinctive.
So it's Volkswagen we should be holding responsible for all the Swift and Camero Bumblebees?
Because they won't Hasbro make him what he should be?

And if they didn't want a Beetle Bee anymore, how did this toy get approved?

When you think of war though, Bumblebee isn't the one who springs to mind immediately, he's normally the non-combative scout or the unofficial emissary.

Well, yes. If they don't have the licence for it, not much they can do without risking a lawsuit. If the company doesn't want to work with them or they have exclusive rights with another toy manufacturer, like Ferrari and Mattel, then tough luck. It's why weren't able to get a Ferrari mode Dino from Dark of the Moon.

The fact that the Beetle is so distinctive didn't help either since they couldn't even try get close without VW presumably getting angry.

The Swift ones would pretty much be VWs fault but the Camaros were more than likely their attempt to appeal to kids (and general public) who'd seen the live action movie.

As I said, things changed with the Masterpiece Bumblebee released in 2016, 2 years before MPM-7. Seems VW is much more willing to slap their logo on Transformers nowadays since the G1 reissue even has one on the card back.

Could be wrong but pretty sure that even if Bumblebee was canonically the biggest pacifist, they still would've disallowed it because the whole toyline is associated with guns and war. I have to imagine they wanted to distance themselves from war because of their founding.

[GoktimusPrime]

As pointed out before, other CHUGs aren't the same make/model as their G1 counterparts. Doesn't make much sense to only get miffed about Bumblebee not being a VW while Cliffjumper and Jazz aren't Porsches, Megatron isn't a Walther, Hoist isn't a Toyota Hilux etc. Also don't forget that Hasbro didn't have the VW licence when CHUG started, so it wasn't even possible to make Bumblebee a VW. This has only become a recent possibility. You could repurpose MP Bumblebee as a CHUG as it scales the same as a Deluxe.

Alternatively, you could log onto TakaraTOMY's online poll and explicitly submit your request, or request it on any of Hasbro's official social media platforms.

[GoktimusPrime]

So to me, Bumblebee was always a VW Bug.
This Camaro thing is just some fad they never get rid of!

A bit more than "just a fad." After the mid 1990s VW/Porsche decided to drastically change their licensing deal and Hasbro even lost the rights to the trademark name "Bumblebee." This was why the hornet moded Transformer in Beast Wars was called "Buzz Saw," and also why Armada Optimus Prime's Mini-Con, which is clearly meant to be Bumblebee, was named "Sparkplug" instead. It wasn't until 2006 when CHUG started that Hasbro reclaimed the rights to the name "Bumblebee." But when the live action movie franchise started, the VW licence thing hadn't changed so they literally could not acquire the rights to use the VW Beetle or Porsche, which is why Bayformers Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and Jazz aren't VW/Porsches. And although VW finally allowed their property to be associated with war again (thus allowing Bumblebee to be a VW again) in 2014, Bumblebee was already established as a Camaro in the Movieverse (and had been for seven years by then) - although they did make him a VW Beetle in the prequelboot.

I thought Earthrise's basic premise was updating the classic G1 toys with more articulation, so it wouldn't make sense to make toys that were not reasonable approximations of the original versions.

That's never really been what CHUG has been about. CHUG is really about updating G1 (and other TF line) toys with new designs. As mentioned before, very few CHUGs actually sport the same make and model of their original incarnations.
Dead End is not a Porsche 928S
Windcharger and Tailgate are not Pontiac Firebirds
Prowl, Bluestreak and Smokescreen are not Datsun Fairladies.
Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Red Alert and Breakdown are not Lamborghini Countach (there's no plural)
Barricade is not a Formula-1 race car
Battleslash and Spinister are not AH64 Apache helicopters
Fellbat is not a Dassault Rafale jet fighter
Firefly and the jet component of Skytread are not F4 Phantoms
Nightflight and Overair are not F14 Tomcats
Dreadwind and Skydive are not F16 Falcons
Killbison (Ironbison?) is not a Flakpanzer Gepard tank
Tracks is not a Chevrolet Corvette
Wildrider (Brake-Neck) is not a Ferrari 308 GTB
Skids and Crosscut are not Honda City Turbos
Warpath is not a General Motors M551A1 Sheridan ARAAV tank
Optimus Prime is not a Freightliner FLT (Earthrise is an approximation but not exact like MP)
etc.

It seems highly inconsistent to only single out Bumblebee when the vast majority of CHUG toys don't transform into their original alt modes. Yeah sure, there are some notable exceptions.
RTS Megatron does transform into a Walther P38
Universe and Combiner Wars Powerglide both transform into A10 Thunderbolts
The Seekers do transform into F15 Eagles
...but these are the exception rather than the standard.

If you want licensed vehicle modes then MP is your thing. CHUG has never really been about source-accurate alt modes.

Even many of the Cybertronian modes from the War For Cybertron series aren't G1 accurate.
Siege Optimus Prime's Cybertronian truck mode doesn't resemble either G1 OP's truck or tank mode.
Bluestreak's Cybertronian car mode looks nothing like his G1 Cybertronian car mode (which was the same model as Jazz's hovercar).

Gun Mode Megatron isn't legal in Australia.

Hasbro has released two gun moded Megatrons in Australia in CHUG. As mentioned before there's RTS Megatron who's even a Walther P38 and can be held by MP Seekers. The other one is the original Classics Megatron who transforms into a Nerf N-Strike Maverick pistol. Sure, it's a fictitious gun, but for obvious legal reasons they cannot do a realistic gun (unless it's ridiculously undersized like the Legends Class RTS toy). Smallest TF Megatron is also perfectly legal (although it was never sold here; but you can own that toy without a permit or safe storage requirements). Also bear in mind that the law varies in different states/territories; e.g. in SA and WA gunformers of any kind are perfectly legal. TF fans in places like Adelaide or Perth can happily purchase and own these toys with i

They had to sneak Shockwave's gun mode in stealthily.

That wasn't a legal requirement but rather to appease parents (in fear of them making complaints). It's more to do with protecting Hasbro's corporate image (which is a big deal to them). Toy companies hate receiving complaints from parents. It's the same reason why Classics and RTS Megatron have orange barrel tips. It's not a legal requirement but just something done to mark them as toy guns to appease parents (a common practice with toy guns in general in Western countries). But yeah, there's nothing wrong with fictitious guns... they just do it to stop the complaints. Even Star Wars guns have bright colours and orange tips on them.


P.S.: I don't know about you, but in 2006 I was just super delighted that CHUG existed! Forget alt mode fidelity, I was just stoked that we finally had classic G1 characters with post-Beast Wars level design and engineering! I was so excited that I even went and made this silly music video using the first 3 CHUG toys that I'd purchased (and were all I owned at the time).

[DELTAprime]

According to Australian gun laws, if a toy resembles a realistic existing gun, it must have the orange cap so police officers don't mistake it for an actual gun.

That's not true. It's an American law that requires orange caps.

Australian law varies by state and ranges from no restrictions on toy guns to realistic toy guns being almost impossible to own.

Check this thread for the actual laws.

http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showth...-for-Australia

[GoktimusPrime]

Oh, Bumblebee is not the only one that I am miffed about.
There have been others.

Combiner Wars Blades - not a Bell UH-1V Iroquois (Huey).
Combiner Wars Streetwise - not a Nissan 300ZX Turbo.
Warpath - not a Sheridan.

But generally, I am only concerned about figures they intend to release and ones I am going to purchase, if neither of those criteria apply, then I am not concerned.

So long as you're not cherry-picking your preference for source-accurate moded CHUG toys. It would be rather silly (and unrealistic) to expect Hasbro to cater for one fan's seemingly inconsistent standard.

[Autocon]

Bumblebee is a camero in the movies coz Bay thought it looked cooler.

[GoktimusPrime]

Bumblebee is a camero in the movies coz Bay thought it looked cooler.

And also because it wasn't legally possible to make him a VW Beetle in 2007.

Fun Fact: Bumblebee has been a Camaro longer than Bumblebee was a VW Beetle in the entire G1 run!

Bumblebee was a VW Beetle in G1 from 1984 to 1989 (or 1990 if you count Action Master Bumblebee, who didn't transform into anything but he did have VW Beetle alt mode kibble). So at best you're looking at 6 years. Bumblebee has been a Camaro from 2007 until now (re: Studio Series), so that's 13 years, more than double the time that Bumblebee was a VW in G1. Kids today would be more familiar with Bumblebee as a muscle car than as a Beetle. Even the Bumblebee movie ended with Bumblebee becoming a Camaro. Bumblebee as a sports car isn't an entirely new thing either. Generation 2 first gave us a sports car Bumblebee in 1995.