New Movie toy perhaps? (yes, B*******e)

[griffin]

A Deluxe sized Transformers toy has been posted up on tfw2005 website, and appears to have a movie styled head, but transforms into an Audi R8. Unless General Motors owns Audi, or has a partnership with them, I would have expected their contract with the movie to not have any rival car models in the movie. Barricade was the only non-GM car in the first movie, but it was such an insignificant (modified) brand of car, GM probably allowed its inclusion. Then again, maybe it's in GM's contract to have all their cars as Autobots, and other car companies be relegated to Decepticons.

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-...deluxe-166621/

[Sky Shadow]

Then again, maybe it's in GM's contract to have all their cars as Autobots, and other car companies be relegated to Decepticons.

That makes sense - kind of like the way the bad guys drive Mercedes-Benzes in the James Bond films.

[jaydisc]

Barricade was a Ford Mustang, one of the move famous brands of cars in the USA ever. Hardly insignificant. Have i misunderstood?

Interestingly, the R8 toy is not correctly replicating the Audi grille, and based on their strong affiliation with VW, I am surprised to see Audi allow their IP being shown as a "war machine".

[griffin]

I was trying to emphasise the modified Saleen 'result' - not really aware of what the original version was. Reading up on Barricade's alt mode leading up to TF1, it sounded like it was a type of car that was either a rebadging or modification of an existing model, that was produced by some small 'insignificant' company. I guess if the original form was a Ford, it would be even more reason why GM would want it as a Decepticon, but only if it wasn't showing off a Ford logo as it would still be product placement for their rival (hence the 'insignificant' modification and rebranding that was probably okay with them).
So Transformers movies are going to be degenerating into GM vs Ford/Crysler/etc car wars... And with the current car industry collapse in America, I wouldn't be surprised if they are putting a lot of pressure on the movie producers to really plug their products in TF2 with closeups on logos and drooling comments on the vehicle modes.

[Sky Shadow]

Barricade was a Ford Mustang, one of the move famous brands of cars in the USA ever. Hardly insignificant. Have i misunderstood?

Since General Motors and Ford have been competing for a hundred years, I think that was the 'gag' in the first film - it was the heroic GMs versus the evil Ford. (That was why I brought up James Bond films - he drives Aston Martins and BMWs while the bad guys drive Mercedes Benzes.)

[G1Optimal]

If they ever do make a GM Competitor vehicles as Autobots...

I can clearly see a scene, where the Autobots are confused over why humans are fussing over there chosen vehicle modes and at the same time "probably" have some form of reference to the fans reaction to the vehicle modes they chose for the first movie.

[FFN]

This car is unlicensed, as in Audi evidently did not grant Hasbro/TakaraTomy and Paramount permission to make official Audi R8 Transformers merchandise, or there was some other reason preventing an official Audi R8 toy. The design of the car for this toy has been changed to be slightly different from the R8, and there are no Audi logos anywhere.

For perspective in Transformers history, Audi is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, which in turn is majority-owned by Porsche Automobil Holding, who is known to be hostile towards Transformers during the Alternators era.

[griffin]

Now on ebay, the toy is being called Barricade (still just a guess though), but is being classed as a Movie toy at the very least.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280303675260
Pics mirrored here if they disappear off ebay:
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-...pticon-166623/

[jacksplatt11]

Interesting, the head looks similar to Barricade, and the overall design is very close to how he looked in the first movie, apart from being a different car of course. I wonder why the car change though, considering Bumblebee, Prime etc (the toys we've seen anyway) are all expected to be the same with only minor detail changes (body kits etc)

Even though I loved the Saleen Mustang in the first film (Read: Ford fan), I'd love an Audi R8 more

[King Atlas]

Before the movie, the only model from saleen I was aware of was the s7. Ford and saleen are seperate companies, are they not?