I don't need a Dinobot combiner, but I do want seperate Slag and Snarls with the correct G1 alt modes.

I was speaking of the specific questions and answers from these Q&A sections. Was there a single fan request that they responded with "Yes, we will do that."?

BTW - Never cared much for adding a head to Ironhide. I always considered him an animation error. My toy didn't have a head, Ironhide doesn't need a head! Then again I still often think of him as being black, and Trailbreaker blue, because I collected Diaclones before Hasbro came by and removed the drivers and recolored all the my toys into Autobots.

Some people equate answers they don't like with receiving no answer at all. It's the "fingers in their ears" method of discussion.




I can't get behind the idea that the people who bought the convention exclusives would be "ripped off." The characters didn't exist at the time, there was no guarantee they'd ever be released, the people paid their money, and got to enjoy exclusive toys for a couple years. I think Hasbro has reasonably considered their feelings, and now it's time to make those popular characters available to a larger audience than the comparatively small convention circuit.




Not disputing your point, but wouldn't Omega Supreme be fourth? Megatron, Bulkhead, Ultra Magnus....

They can't give definite answers because plans change all the time.
And do you REALLY think that Hasbro doesn't care about us?

I mean we're getting a Cosmos toy For Primus's sake.

Of course the hell not. You shouldn't ASK those questions from the outset, because they can't answer those questions until they're able. That should be obvious to everyone involved, especially when time after time, these Q&As end up with questions like those and they're always answered accordingly. You shouldn't EXPECT those kinds of things to be answered, and if you are, then I have no pity for you.

We can ask anything of Hasbro under the sun, but for some reason the only thing we care about is "when do we get X?" Is that the only thing we care about in Transformers? What's next? We don't want to know more about the things we already HAVE? Of course not. What a wasted opportunity for everyone involved.

Fans - Will yo make XXX?

Hasbro - No

Fans - Did you plan to do XXX but went with YYY instead when designing characters ZZZ?

Hasbro - I don't remember.

Fans - Will you make this toy line next year?

Hasbro - A little.

Fans - Why do all the toys fall apart out of the box lately?

Hasbro - We know they fall apart.

Fans - Who designs XXX toy line?

Hasbro - People

Fans - Why aren't you answering the things I want to hear?

Walky - How dare you ask!

blah blah blah

that about sums it up. Like I said, worthless information.

Lighten up. You say that as if they don't EVER EVER plan to do it again.

Just as long as we don't get some truly inane questions like "When will we get Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts/Disney Crossovers Transformers and will I be able to have sex with them?"

Wow, it's true that your fake Q&A you made up aligns perfectly with you've been saying! I guess I was wrong.

It's worse with comic book interviews.

"So is Tony Stark a Skrull?"

"You'll have to keep reading. But what I can talk about is--"

"Ah, dammit, what a gyp! They never answer anything, why do they even bother doing these interviews!?!"

I'm cool with all those responses. I don't want combining dinobots, don't like the deluxe Galvy from a design standpoint so wouldn't want it bigger, like animated, think Universe is a better thing to shelve than Animated to keep it from turning out like the last Universe line, etc., etc.

The only thing I dislike is that there isn't an immediate positive response to the question of an Animated Omega Supreme.

It was positive. They're positively not doing it before next Fall.

Wow. That was a masterfully bad bit of punnery. I was going to say "Apparently, Galvatron can't be any size he wants", but you've clearly got me beat.

I'm not sure how these questions are selected. Does Hasbro decide which questions to answer? If so then shouldn't they pick questions they give answers to?

Here's hoping for round two. It would be nice if Hasbro pulled a fast one on us, and someone actually asked a question like "Will you make toy for character XXX." and Hasbro said "Yep, he'll be out in summer 2009. Hope you like it." That would be a nice scoop for whatever board got that sorta answer.

I don't know how the other sites handled it, but TFW made a topic for people to ask there questions.
And after the deadline they chose what they thought to be the best five questions.

The specifically avoided the "when will x come out" type questions.

Also questions relating to the movie were forbidden. Under Hasbro's orders.

The Hasbro response was specifically about wanting to avoid 'devaluing' the convention toys as a collectible. This seems reasonable, though I don't much care myself. If they release Classics versions of Dirge, Thundercracker, and Thrust, they'll do it because it's likely to be profitable. Fan interest figures into that as an indicator of overall demand, but it's not as though fan interest produces a moral imperative.

As far as it goes, while I own the Botcon figures, I'd actually be fine with different versions of those three characters seeing a wider release, whether as store exclusives or general releases. If or when they do, they'll probably have better decos (I wasn't really impressed with any of the three, deco-wise), and I'll most likely be able to put two or more of the Botcon figures back in the box, or sell them, or whatever. But I really, really get tired of 'they must release these characters because some people missed out, and by some people I mean me.'

I really want them to plan these things better, so that more important characters take priority over less important characters. I mean, unless marketing was like "hey, you guys. results say that Dropshot and Onslaught are going to sell SO WELL to kids, but they don't care about Galvatron, so drop everything to get on those first two."
Just a little more planning so they don't shoot themselves in the foot or paint themselves into a corner, or whatever another more appropriate analogy there is. I mean, they still do well, it's just that we get some really cool stuff that get's shot down by really mediocre stuff.

Do you really think kids will even recognize Galvatron?.
Especially if he's not a repaint of Megatron.

people they are toys....Let it go

For Dirge and Thrust, even if they use the Classics body, they'd have to be somewhat different from the Botcon versions if just because Hasbro can't/won't use the wing toolings from the FP set. While I think their answer was heavily implying that they won't use the existing Classics frame to release those characters, I can see ways that Hasbro *could* and still make them easily visually distinguishable from the Botcon toys. Not using paint app reproductions of the G1 toys' stickers would be a good first step there...

Dirge had no retoolings. He was a straight redeco of Ramjet.

My bad.


As goes Galvatron, I think the story we got is simplified compared to the real line of events and may only represent the barest essence of reality. I'm sure the designer wanted Galvatron to be a large toy. Whether that ever had a chance of really happening is another matter. Odds are Galvatron was on the drawing board and a little ways into the physical process before Dropshot or any of the first Voyager recolors had been added into the figuring, unless a recolor takes the same year or so from start to finish as a wholly new toy. I don't think it's a fair or accurate interpretation to say that Dropshot or any Voyager recolor forced Galvatron into being smaller. It seems like that decision would have been made very early on. I can't say with any certainty why it happened. Maybe Galvatron would have been a Voyager, except their original stance was to not use Voyagers in Universe. So, uh... oops?

Probably they would recognize him about 10 times as much as they recognize Dropshot and Onslaught.

If they did do a retooling of Ramjet to make Dirge then it would be sufficiently different from the Botcon toy - it would be better. :-)

Presumably, although the response made it sound like they'd like to release them, but their hands are tied. If the response was more along the lines of "We don't think people would buy a blue-and-black Ramjet," that'd be something different.




Jeepers, imagine that. It's almost like the first part has something to do with the second part.

I think this new Q&A is a great idea. The gears in my head are beginning to turn again....

No new Dinobots? Bah!

On the other hand, they really couldn't do anything about Scattorshot's mold being a voyager, and well...if you made me choose the universe with Deluxe Onslaught and Ultra Galvatron, I'd take what we got, since the "scale" works a lot better when Galvatron doesn't tower over every toy like he tends to...

and Onslaught's figure really uses size well for that "brooding giant in the back" look.

Then again, I do enjoy the notion that the leaders aren't always the biggest guys (like how it was in Beast Wars/Machines).

Since you set eyes on that crazy old man?

This is HISSTAnks, in collaboration with the IDW Forum.

http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.p...91d8467a21ffefa

Nice...reference to...whatever that was.

Oh the things that I can and will come up with....

*Hums You Will Remember by Ember*

Good thing those questions are picked and sent to Hasbro by the forum moderators.


And huh, a running change on Ironhide. Interesting.

Fortunately for us, I already know the answers to all your questions!

Hasbro: NO.

Yeah, the Ironhide thing was the big one for me.

Definitely will be picking up a second one.

Beauty and the Beast. Part of Gaston's Villain Song.

I'm still going with the Henkei. Better windows and yellow stripe FTW.

And also, people who want to know about upcoming releases really need to make their questions more vague to get a straighter answer from Hasbro. For example, if you want Armada Starscream or something, you need to ask something like "With Hot Shot being part of the 25th anniversary line, what might the chances be that other characters from the Unicron Trilogy join him?". Or if you want a Jackpot, you need to say "With Micromasters and other later-years characters showing up in Universe, is there any chance we might see characters that existed solely as Action Masters appear as transforming toys in the new line?".

That's pretty cool of them to fix the mistake rather than just deciding to live with it.

Once I quit this hobby for the third time and come back to it 10 years from now, I expect to see "rare blue-faced Ironhide" listings on eBay.




Yeah, I'm going with Henkei as well, because...I have no choice, I already ordered it.

Seriously, though, I like all the paint apps better on the Henkei one, including the shoulders/forearms.

You seem to be overlooking how his name has been used IN NEARLY EVERY SERIES SINCE ARMADA. Plus, the Energon version has a resemblance built in.

So, f*** yeah, they'll recognize Galvatron more than Onslaught or Dropshot.

I really didn't get that impression at all. Seemed more like it was a question of working up decos that were sufficiently different while being suitable for the characters, and timing to avoid having fifteen different versions of the exact same toy on the shelves all at once. Given the upcoming movie, I don't think I'd expect any of the characters discussed (Thundercracker, Thrust, Dirge, Sunstorm) prior to Universe 3, but it sounds like they're high priorities once timing and other details are sorted out. Which should be nice, once it finally happens.

Look, I don't mind that you'd have preferred those characters be released in a more general fashion at the time. I sincerely doubt anyone who's not an bunghole disagrees. But, enough 'we was robbed'. It's been hashed and rehashed at least ten times in the last year and a half. It was a reasonable decision at the time the decision was made. Further grumbling only makes you look like bitter and persuades no-one.

That's cool. When that "I" comes up, to whom exactly are we speaking? Eric Seibenaler?


Um... But it was a paint change, not a plastic change. In other words, it's going to look exactly like the last one we saw in package.


Sounds like a subtle denial of HIGHLIGHT to view:
the combining Revenge Of The Fallen Constructicons rumor.


Judging from Hasbro's record of 1 out of 3 (gray to black gun on 20th Prime, Red Armada Powerlinx Thrust, and Armada Wheeljack switching from gray and yellow to Micron Legend Rampage's black and blue) on promised running changes actually happening, I don't put faith in this. When and if it happens, I'd likely have the Henkei version anyway.


Uh, wait, more Headmasters?

Universe is the only line I care about. So of course that's the one that goes on hiatus. AGAIN!!!

I'm gonna be more picky with the movie line this time & I wish Animated would just GO AWAY!

Club Nightbeat?

Or he meant Targetmasters.

Or hey, we'll be getting some Headmasters.

Fair enough. I just got the impression that because of the added difficulty of making them different enough from the Botcon releases, the idea had been relegated to the back burner, but you could be exactly right. Hell, I hope you are.





Excellent. I wish we could have started off that way instead of you telling me how tired I was making you.




There was never any "we was robbed" from me. Quite the opposite; I was just arguing someone's choice of the phrase "ripped off" in relation to people who'd bought the Botcon toys.




And I understand why that might make you a little punchy, but you shouldn't let it irritate you so when the subject comes up naturally in the context of the discussion.

And the people who like them, what, screw 'em?

Okay, has anyone figured out how that "TFviews" page got a Q&A? I've combed their forums some, and they're not exactly the most active or notable one out there. I'd have expected, I don't know, TFans or something to get one. Better yet, how did the Allspark get skipped over?

I can honestly say I'd never heard of TFViews before today.

The fact that they're not promising this for the future, but are talking like this is currently in progress leads me to put a bit more stock in their statement.


I swear, with all the cynicism in this thread, you'd think people didn't care about the fact that Hasbro is why any of us have Transformers at all.

Me neither, which is why I'm so confused about it.

Wait a minute, I thought we were supposed to abuse the things we love? Y'know, to let them know we love them.

We're not?

Hoooly crap, I owe my girlfriend an apology.

Yeah, it's mindboggling isn't it?