Botcon 2012 : The Nail in the Coffin to the Classics / G1 Collector. Outside of MP-10 we got nothing as far as Classics / G1 collectors go here in the USA from Hasbro. Also the Movie series is DEAD. Our choices now are to import figures from Overseas.

Japan-Takara is going to fill the G1 void a little with Masterpieces and a few Encore releases.

Masterpiece:
MP-11 Starscream
MP-11S Sunstorm
MP-12 Sideswipe

Encore:
Sixshot

Asia-Hasbro Asia fills the Classics collector void the most with retools and repaints of existing molds.


Classics (Asia Exclusive):

Legends / Legion Class (all with new weapons):
Bluestreak (Reveal the Shield Legends Prowl Redeco)
Hoist (Reveal the Shield Legends Trailcutter Redeco)
Motormaster (Reveal the Shield Legends Optimus Prime Redeco)
Thundercracker (Reveal the Shield Legends Starscream Redeco)

Scout Class:
Sandstorm (Revenge of the Fallen Dune Runner Redeco)
Laserbeak (Revenge of the Fallen Skystalker Redeco)
Dead End (Revenge of the Fallen Breakdown Redeco)
Brawl (Hunt for the Decepticons Breacher Redeco)

Deluxe Class:
Springer (Hunt for the Decepticons Tomahawk with new head)
Cliffjumper (Prime First Edition Cliffjumper Redeco with G1 style head)
Wheelie (Reveal the Shield Jazz redeco with new head)
Swerve (Generations Sergeant Kup with new head, previously seen on Kup's instruction sheet)

Voyager Class:
Brawn (Prime First Edition Bulkhead with new head)
Power Dive (Hunt for the Decepticons Highbrow with new head)
Hot Spot (Universe Inferno with new head)
Generation 2 Megatron (Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon with new head)

Movie Trilogy Series Deluxe Class:
Ratchet-White Repaint
Soundwave-Repaint
Bumblebee-Redeco
Que-Repaint

Movie Series Leader Class:
Starscream (Hunt for the Decepticons Leader Starscream in G1 Colors)
Ironhide (Dark of the Moon Leader Ironhide in G1 Colors)


I for one will be importing all of these figures to extend my Classics / Movie collection as far as it will go. It is a damn shame none of this will hit the States this year even if none of it is new molds outside of the Masterpiece stuff.

 

I dunno, seems like we are jumping to conclusions. I'm sure Hasbro will continue to do more stuff in the future. Plus, we still need to see the reveals at SDCC.

Could change your opinion drastically.

 

I agree completely. It's a little too soon to declare classics "dead". We'll see more of the Generations line at SDCC, and I'm sure they'll reveal more G1 updates as part of the line.

 

dude, why the pessimism? should be back to normal for Hasbro to churn out some nice G1 style homages and maybe a few Commemorative series' re-releases!  

 

No worries!! Things will come back around!

 

While yes, the Movies will be dead for the next year (hopefully, maybe even Transformers 4 is cancelled) and Hasbro is shifting their attention to the Aligned Continuity Family, they would be making a stupid decision in cancelling Toys who are clearly G1 characters and it was also confirmed that there would still be Toys based on IDW and Novels, and characters such as Trailbreaker or Gears have been in the comics.

 

See what happens at SDCC. We only know a few of what the "40" planned for 2013 are, so there may be some good surprises in store.

 

2013 is not 2012

I am talking about 2012 in general. I am sure they will show some G1 homages at SDCC but those are not hitting the shelves until the end of the year or next year.

All we have is Prime and Fall of Cybertron stuff to look forward to.

 

I see no reason for them to cancel the classics line.

I think they just focused on the FoC line since it was a success the last time around. They are expecting the game to be huge and hence they are doing the tie ins.

I bet this time next year, we'll see a whole bunch of new classics.

 

Well then, in that case, you're probably right. Unless of course they pull a Skyshadow/Black Shadow and a Junkheap on us.

 

I will agree that Movie is dead (until TF4), but why Classics? What about all those Generations toys? Even if you don't count the FOC ones, some of which, like Shockwave and Soundwave, could easily be used as Classics figures, they did say that there will be more non-FOC figures later in the line.

 

I agree that Shockwave's Bot mode will fit in perfect on my Classics G1 shelf but most of the figures in the FOC line do not. I am not hating on the FOC line or Prime line in fact I have every case pre ordered of each assortment or have already purchased. I for one wish they would get around to making a official Arcee , Voyager Ultra Magnus (Cartoon Accurate) , Voyager Rodimus Prime , Springer , Hoist , Deluxe Trailbreaker and whoever else has been left out of the Classics Cartoon loop so far.

 

They are focusing on FOC because its a "gateway drug".

WfC sold amazingly well, but most of those gamers didn't turn into Transformers fans... they turned into Transformers games fans. It didn't help that they only had a handful of characters from the game to buy. I know a ton of people who loved the game but never bought any of the figures, or even realized figures came out.

With FOC, Hasbro wants to make Transformers games fans into Transformers fans and they are going to do that with a huge Transformers FOC figure push. You better believe all the big gaming sites like Kotaku, Joystiq and Destructoid are going to plaster images all over their site of "those Transformers figures from the game".

They then go from being Transformers games fans, to Transforemers FOC toy fans, to straight up Transformers fans. More people buying the figures is more revenue for Hasbro.

So Hasbro is going to push FOC the same way they push the movies -- with toys. It makes perfect sense now that the game series is a really big deal, as no one knew how the first game would sell.

Classics figures sells to already established fans who will buy Transformers regardless... Hasbro wants the new blood.

 

Yeah, 2012 sucks for Classics, but 2013 will be better, once Hasbro phases out FOC.

 

But why should we have to wait for a comic book convention to get reveals, when they could just as easily showed them at Botcon, their actual convention.

 

Bigger audience at SDCC, more exposure, more chances to hook people who aren't Transformers fans.

Hasbro doesn't need to market to the fans, we're buying the stuff regardless. The fact they announce stuff at Botcon at all is just them being nice and throwing fans a bone.

 

Toys not ready to be shown then? It's part of a marketing thing...you don't blow your entire load at one venue, instead you want to spread 'em out over the major ones so you've got something for people to look forward to...hype up people with new reveals at each con.

Anyways, I don't understand this thread, and those like it. What part of Generations 2013 STARTS with FoC, then we'll get some Classicsverse characters do people not understand? Has high school reading comprehension gone down the drain again on TFW2005?  

 

This is called why such a long gap in classics figures? Since March of last year I have had only 2 new classics figures. Sky shadow and junk heap and those are old molds. Warpath is the last new mold and came out early last year.

2 figures in 2 years is not enough.

 

Let's say you're right for a moment, OP.

There's one area in which you're wrong.

G1/Classics? Perhaps. (We have nothing definitive, yet.)
But movie? Completely. Wrong, maybe not this year, but we all know when 2014 rolls around and the next movie is due, everything else will be put on the back burner in favor of it.

I wouldn't doubt we'll see repainted Soundwaves, Ques, and first time Dino, then. Does that help us now? No. But your words, while incredibly negative, were also wrong. Think ahead, not everything happens in this moment.

 

What part of 2012 do you not understand?

I know there will be more toys for the next movie. The movie line got screwed and now the classics line is screwed.

I am talking about this drought of classics and movie figures for 2012.