Something that I don't understand...

Hasbro is horrible at thinking ahead. Have been for years.

funnily enough...there hasn't been a mold of Shockwave yet! & he HAS appeared on the show + no sign of a mold for him in the Beast Hunters toyline yet either

I'm thinking the FoC Shockwave is supposed to cover both Prime and FoC. The AM Shockwave is the same mold as Hasbro's FoC Shockwave.

Originally Posted by grimlock1972 I felt a great disturbance in the force as if millions of nerds cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

It's an industry-wide phenomenon, a consequence of nobody actually manufacturing their own products compounded by too many people making decisions with no understanding of the market(s) in question.

I hope not it looks nothing like his prime self, and this all makes it hard to complete the show cast which youd think shouldnt be a problem at all but it is, There is no sign of a prime insecticon, or shockwave . I do think we will get them eventually tho.

Um, WHY would they not bring out new moulds for new characters? BW didn't have more than 7 bots on each side at any time, yet the toyline was big enough. BM was even worse, with around 5 bots on each faction.

The only bots really missing from the toyline was Breakdown and Smokescreen, and I'm pretty sure Smokescreen will get a toy in the BH toyline. He was only on the show for what, two months? During which, I think the solicitations for the final waves had come out way earlier.

Sooner or later we'll see an Insection, especially since the BH line seems beast oriented.

People seem to forget that we didn't get lots of bots who appeared on Animated. And ROTF and DOTM had their "losses" as well.

And by the way, Shockwave appears only for one episode with about 6 minutes of air time. When do you think Hasbro should promote him, at the 6 minutes of air time or half a year later when he joints the main cast [assuming that from the S3 trailer]?

Well, this wasn't a complaint, more of a head scratcher on my part.

So the basic question is not really answered here. You just mentioned 3 or 4 characters that were on the show, for maybe a second. But were on the show.

But then we have 3 or 4 completely non show characters that appeared. That's the head scratcher.

I am just thinking my son would want something that he knows the character for, then someone else that doesn't exist in what he has seen. That's all I am saying.

Not taking away the fact that UM looks totally bad ass, but still.

That's a good question that I don't seem to understand either...

There's a saturation point in terms of variants of single characters, and an equilibrium point between benefits of a wide product range in a toyline and the costs involved in promoting various characters. "Off the shelf" and "gotta have them all" impulse mechanics are still powerful purchasing factors.

There are also factors in terms of adapting certain characters to toys, such as engineering, safety, scale, etc. which can make some figures unsuitable for release in certain markets.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of factors that go on at once, and decisions are often made months (or years) in advance, meaning those in charge have to make educated guesses and either risky/conservative gambles.

Ultra Magnus technically appeared on the show as the hologram Megatron masquerades as the Autobot leader in Ep 1 and 2 of S2, but Magnus wasn't solicited at that point.

There's time we're underestimating the minds of children as well. When I was younger sure I wanted the show cast from BW, but when I got a different figure, I sure as hell played with it and imagined stories with it until I got the bot I wanted, if I got it. Can't tell you how often my Ultra Primal spent time folded down with cannons overhead as Rampage, for example.

In my opinion, by spicing the waves up like that with non show characters as well, Hasbro it out to make more money. The chances of, say, buying Kup if you had a full cast would be lower than buying him before even the main cast is complete, in your collection. Might seem like a dumb move but the more I think about it the more I understand hasbro's logic behind that one.