Hasbro Q&A December 2008 answers.

[jacksplatt11]

tl:dr

[Hereticpoo]

The team thought it was better to make Powerglide primarily silver with characteristic red highlights as a bright red plane would not be very realistic.

Really? As opposed to a bright green F-15? Thanks to hasbro for answering the questions. I only got halfway through all of the Q & A because to me it sounds like fans are a burden to Hasbro.

One guy asked if Hasbro would give the licences to McFarlane and other third party manufactures to get more 'adult' collector figures. Hasbro's answer ..."thats what the Official Collectors Club is for"...

I thought the OCC was for repaints. Sigh, thank god there's a TakTom.

[griffin]

Just been checking to see if the remaining 4 fansites had their answers sent to them yet, but none have. Not sure what that means, especially with one being a major site (TFW2005.com). I think it would be a good punishment to sites that do something wrong, but aside from their promotion of KOs, I haven't heard of any reason why they wouldn't still be involved. Plus, their sister site (owned and operated by the same person, as it was actually split from the main board about a year ago) Cybertron.ca got their answers - if Hasbro were punishing TFW2005, they wouldn't be responding to the sister site (unless they aren't aware of it being linked).

A big surprise is the sudden appearance in just the last few days, of another toy-site that was involved in the October Q&A, and the December round. Must be such a small remote toy-site, that none of the major TFs fan-sites knew about it before now. It took 2 months for TFs fan-sites to find out that they had done the October round, and yet that site appears to have been around since February 2006!

Since it is more convenient for me, and to read, to have both of their Q&As listed here, I will make note of which one was the October round.

Site is called Parry Game Preserve (???)
October Q&A
http://www.parrygamepreserve.com/newsDetail.php?jID=736

1) As with the designer of the old and new Millennium Falcon, are any original members of the Transformers team still working on the 25th anniversary?
Nobody on the Hasbro Transformers team. There is some continuity at Takara but there are not any "original" TF project members still working at Hasbro.

2) Does Hasbro have any plans in the works for a new release of Kup, perhaps as a contemporary pickup truck or other modern vehicle? He is seldom seen in toy form, and a new version of this gruffly likable old warrior is long due, in recognition of his fan favorite status, and the high regard of voice actor and movie legend Lionel Stander!
Agree Kup and a few other classic characters should be redone/updated. As we have done over the years when there is a good place to do a classic character we will. Stay tuned.

3) Will there be any other g1 re-releases beyond Optimus Prime?
We have a couple others in mind that we are not ready to announce yet as they will likely be retailer exclusives in the fall if they happen. But they won't come with DVD, comic, etc.

4) The mercenary Decepticon Lockdown has been a big hit with we fans of the Transformers : Animated showline. Is there any chance of seeing a "realistic" version of this cunning bounty hunter in another Transformers toyline?
The TF team really likes that character too. We don't have any current plans to do Lockdown in a realistic version yet, but that would be pretty cool so consider it on our list!

5) Will the character of Wheelie be included in the 25th anniversary celebration?
Wheelie will be included in the 25th Anniversary line. He will be one of several Legends figures and is certainly a nod to his fan following!

December Q&A
http://www.parrygamepreserve.com/newsDetail.php?jID=808

Preserve: In the Gi Joe line, there was a recent figure homage to Matt Trakker from M.A.S.K.. Is there any chance of a homage to a classic M.A.S.K. vehicle in the Transformers line? Thunderhawk would make a great flying Autobot car...

Hasbro: One of our designers was a big M.A.S.K. fan as a kid and Matt Tracker teamed up with the Transformers in his toybox all the time. He thought the GI Joe figure was a great nod but nothing is currently planned for a T-Bob crossover though.

Preserve: Target has had exclusive "Ultimate Battle Packs" of Gi Joe and Star Wars in recent years, which have been awesome. Is there any chance of a Transformers set of this size and quality?

Hasbro: Everything is certainly always on the table when we are discussing possible exclusives for our retail partners. Each exclusive needs to meet that specific retailers plans, so when the time is right we hope to be able to do some great things like that. Needless to say, I would keep your eyes open for some great exclusives next year.

Preserve: With the 25th Anniversary figures announced so far, we have two of the seven classic Beast Wars Maximal crew coming. Any chance of seeing any more of them in the 25th line, or perhaps some of the Predacons? Note: we need a new, non-Transmetal Rattrap!

Hasbro: The 25th Anniversary is meant to celebrate the many eras and fantastic spectrum of characters that Transformers has had in the last 25 years. We were only able of pull a few Beast Wars characters from that era for the 25th Anniversary. Cheetor makes sense because he's a popular character and our design team wanted to create a more realistic Cheetor. Dinobot was another good choice because kids love dinosaurs and fans seem to really like Dinobot as a character. But we currently have no plans on adding more Beast Wars to the line.

Preserve: Why did Universe Sunstreaker and Sideswipe not get chromed spoilers and engines? Is it a cost issue or does Hasbro think kids don't like chrome?

Hasbro: Overall, the decision to or not to vaccum metalize or ""chrome"" an item comes down to a couple of things. First, plastic does not take well to vacuum metalizing. When a piece of plastic begins to flex, the metalized pieces can begin to flake taking away from the aesthetic of the toy. Additionally, in certain cases the vacuum metalized process can actually weaken the plastic leading to higher breakage of certain pieces.

As a result, in those instances where we feel it makes sense to add the vacuum metalized pieces without compromising the aesthetic or safety of the product we will certainly do so.

Preserve: There have been a number of updates already announced for the 25th line to concepts which have long been extinct - Targetmasters, cassette alt-modes. What are the chances of trying to make a cool Pretender figure in the 25th?

Hasbro: I would have to say not good for the Pretenders in the 25th Anniversary line. While Pretenders are certainly a cool part of the heritage of the brand, we felt that there were other eras that were better suited to celebrate in the 25th Anniversary.

I liked the first question in the October round. And the BW question for the 25th line answers a couple questions members here posted.
And a definitive answer as to why Hasbro don't put chrome parts on their Classics.
Actually, the December round of answers is quite informative. Not as vague as Hasbro have been in most other Q&A submissions.

And yet another interesting thing to notice, is that they mention that the next round is in 3 months time, not the 2 months first mentioned in the initial rollout of the program. Maybe they have their Toyfair around the beginning of that month, so had to postpone the submission until after.

[Kyle]

A little sad that none of the original TF project members are still working on TF at Hasbro. (But then again it's been 25 years. ) A subtle tribute to M.A.S.K. in a TF toy would have been fun. I also wish they'd release more BW characters in Universe. The answer on chrome is interesting.

[GoktimusPrime]

Given the colours that they decided to go with on Powerglide, I don't see why they couldn't have called it Hot House.

Sigh, thank god there's a TakTom.

+1

[FFN]

Chrome thing is pretty well known. It's the reason why a bunch of reissues had unchromed parts (if the parts were small thin objects, or were missiles) and why Prime has short stacks if they're chromed.

The team thought it was better to make Powerglide primarily silver with characteristic red highlights as a bright red plane would not be very realistic.

Really? As opposed to a bright green F-15?

Acid Storm is bright green? Since when? While the colour scheme isn't one that was used by real-world F-15s to my knowledge, it's not unusual for planes to use a similar colour scheme with a camouflage pattern, though camouflage on planes is less relevant now as pilots typically rely on their instruments to detect enemy fighters, rather than the naked eye.

Thanks to hasbro for answering the questions. I only got halfway through all of the Q & A because to me it sounds like fans are a burden to Hasbro.

One guy asked if Hasbro would give the licences to McFarlane and other third party manufactures to get more 'adult' collector figures. Hasbro's answer ..."thats what the Official Collectors Club is for"...

I thought the OCC was for repaints. Sigh, thank god there's a TakTom.

Hasbro probably doesn't like licensing it's flagship toyline brand to competitors, even if the the competitor is significantly smaller and sells "ADULT COLLECTIBLES" in a different target market.

Thank God Hasbro is a company that generally knows how to make a profit from Transformers. I don't give a tinker's damn about the reasons why Transformers doesn't do so well in Japan. The point is the brand's sustainability (YOU GETTING NEW TOYS) relies upon the companies involved making money off of it. It's just business.

[Hereticpoo]

Acid Storm is bright green? Since when? While the colour scheme isn't one that was used by real-world F-15s to my knowledge, it's not unusual for planes to use a similar colour scheme with a camouflage pattern, though camouflage on planes is less relevant now as pilots typically rely on their instruments to detect enemy fighters, rather than the naked eye.

Is this a trick question? I don't understand your point? I haven't seen any BRIGHT GREEN fighters, interceptors, bombers or AWACS aircraft. Yes Acid Storm green on an F-15 would look out of place. I have seem Matt, Camoflage Green on aircraft. They're TF's anyway, I didn't think realism was the point.

Hasbro probably doesn't like licensing it's flagship toyline brand to competitors, even if the the competitor is significantly smaller and sells "ADULT COLLECTIBLES" in a different target market.

Thank God Hasbro is a company that generally knows how to make a profit from Transformers. I don't give a tinker's damn about the reasons why Transformers doesn't do so well in Japan. The point is the brand's sustainability (YOU GETTING NEW TOYS) relies upon the companies involved making money off of it. It's just business.

Um the point I was making was that rather than giving us an answer like,

"NO TF belongs to Hasbro and it will never happen"

They say

"Thats what the OFCC is for"

My point here is that rather than giving a direct answer to this question, we get a condesending PR Spin.

Yes we all know Hasbro needs to make money and its a business etc etc, but third party licencing works. For want of a better example look at Macross with Bandai and Yamato. Some of those figures while pricey, are pretty dam sweet and there's no mistaking that catering to adult collectors can make money. Because if its good enough collectors will pay....eg MP Grimlock is going to be defiling my wallet in March, as he will be defiling many other collectors wallets in March.

[GoktimusPrime]

They're TF's anyway, I didn't think realism was the point.

That's right, it's not as if Transformers are meant to robots in disguise or something, right?

[Hereticpoo]

That's right, it's not as if Transformers are meant to robots in disguise or something, right?

You know exactly what I mean Mr Pot Stirer!

If realism was such a big deal to transformers designers and writers then there's no way toys like Gun Mode Megatron would have been released.

[STL]

Given the colours that they decided to go with on Powerglide, I don't see why they couldn't have called it Hot House.


+1

I've already renamed my one Hot House. Gonna need a few paint applications but I'll get there. Also renaming the Dropshot and Overload too to the Micromaster military team.

A subtle tribute to M.A.S.K. in a TF toy would have been fun.

+1!