TFCon Toronto Hasbro Questions and Answers Panel Coverage

TFCon Hasbro Panel

Slides were mainly the same as at Botcon – nothing new or shocking seen, but lots of good news, especially for our Canadian friends.

- Hasbro Canada will be starting up a quarterly Q&A through Cybertron.CA
- There is a big push to get more exclusives out in Canada – aiming for near to 100% in the next two years. Keep watching Cybertron.CA for release news.
- Specific exclusive news – the Universe comic two packs will be coming to Zellers. Zellers and TRU will be getting the Minicon 12 pack. Zellers will also be getting the Deep Space Starscream very soon. Unfortunately though Movie Ultras Jetstorm and Wingblade will not be making it to Canada.
- More bad news – due to licensing issues, the Canadian release of the 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime will not include the DVD with More than Meets the Eye.
- Some good news – the generic packaging, such as on the first wave of Universe, will be superseded by the individualized packaging around about wave 3 or 4 of Universe.
- Hasbro Toy Store is making progress with setting up shipping to Canada, but it is not quite ready yet.

The rest of the Q&A session related to broader questions about Hasbro releases in general.

- Masterpiece Thundercracker and Skywarp at domestic retail – there are no firm plans to do these two yet, but they are being kept in mind, possibly for 2009 store exclusive releases.
- Reviving Alternators – there are no plans in the short term, as it was deemed that Universe would have the broader appeal since Alternators was far more narrowly focused on collectors. It was not completely ruled out, though.
- Computer games – Activision has two in the works, an Animated game for late this year, and a Movie game for next year.
- G1 DVDs – it’s still too early to announce any plans, but Hasbro stated they bought back the rights with the intention of using them so watch this space.
- The Marvel and Star Wars Transformers will not feature Transformers characters as the team do not want to mix the fantasies. So no Iron Man that turns into Starscream, for example.
- 6 inch Titaniums – the finished tools will get released. The unfinished ones unfortunately will not. The finished tools referred to are the War Within Grimlock and Prowl who will be TRU exclusives in the US.
- Transformers Animated – there are no specific plans for guest or one shot characters, however it was stated that the design team like to try to make 100% of the characters who appear in the show.
- Animated Legends – no dedicated line, however, some may be done as Universe Legends.
- No plans to make Animated humans as toys.
- There are no specific plans for a dedicated Universe ficition, although you might see some cameos in the comics or other media.
- There is the possibility for some overlap on the Universe and Animated lines, where the two characters are different – Prowl was cited as an example, one being a black motorbike and the other a white police car.
- When the question of combiners was brought up, the reply was “potentially”. 
- Hasbro could not comment on the possibility of getting more Dinobots or Sunstorm in Universe.
- They have no current plans to release the black Arcee repaint from the Japanese movie line domestically.
- Robot Heroes Dispensor is the only version of the Mountain Dewbot that is getting released. There are no plans for Leader Blackout or Voyager Bonecrusher.

More Dinobots with Grimlock.

Sweet! The question I asked got answered! I asked if we would see Universe in media like comics or direct to DVD movies. Lame that the answer is basically "no'. Haha

Isn't Hasbro gonna show some new product today?

I find this to be the most interesting.
A legends class Lockdown would be nice, but any legends class animated would b e cool.

No more Alts/6" Titaniums...

Sounds like a lot of what was already said at Botcon. Hopefully they'll have some new news available for us at SDCC's panel.

On a side note I'm kind of surprised that no one asked about when we could expect to see the Ratchet remold that Takara showed off this weekend domestically.

All the questions were submitted before hand, but just talking to them at the booth I think by the sounds of it Ratchet is going to be an early 09 release.

BTW Just to add as it kinda stuck out in my mind, Hasbro Canada also mentioned that legends figures for some reason do a lot better in Canada then the US, why we don't know but I thought that was an interesting tidbit they mentioned.

I wished somebody asked about Alternity, such as if Hasbro has any intention of releasing them as plastic toys. Of course, the time might have been inconvienient if the questions had to be submitted before the panel started.

Unnecessary trolling and flaming will not be tolerated - TFW2005 Staff dude i dident swear i ranted i see people who swear all the time. i actually disguised mine. what gives?

Ah, I see. Wonder why they did it that way instead of the way they do it at Botcon? Early 09 is when I figured Ratchet would get a release (seems convenient given their not wanting to cross characters too much between the two lines). It would just be nice to get an official date.

This was Hasbro Canada doing it and they wanted to have well thought out answers so the RI Hasbro team also looked at them as well so they could provide the best responses possible

No Deluxe/Voyager Dispensor= Guess I'll have to pick up the RH version if I'm lucky enough to see him again.

I've always held out hope that the 6" Ti line would continue, at least to get Cosmos and Arcee. Ah well, I guess I kinda new already.

When I was at the Hasbro booth later in the afternoon checking out the Ironhide I asked if they knew about the Ratchet but they weren't able to comment. Might be one of those things where Takara has basically leaked the info before Hasbro was ready to announce?

Yay!

Nice!

Sweet.

As long as we get comic two-packs, I'm fine.

Poo.

Crap, I like generic packaging. It means I get to save the inserts and only need to save one card.

Neat.


Sweet! MP SW & TC are MINE! Just hope they're more durable than SS was.

Hah they used my question!

Well, there's still hope for Cliffjumper!

Yay!

'Watch this space!'

Did they give prepared answers again? I recall somebody saying they asked at BotCon's Hasbro panel if it was possible for Hasbro to release Music Label Soundwave without the expensive mp3 electronics in Universe, but Archer alledgedly gave a seemingly prepared answer that mentioned how MiniSDs weren't a popular format in North America (which is true, but the answer is pointless as the question was about a non-electronic figure).

That sucks about the DVD, but glad to hear about the packaging.

it might have to do for the fact that you can never find ledgend class figures anywhere in america usually....hell the movie line was the first time i ever saw a ledgend class figure in my life

If they do any more Classics/Universe Dinobots, they should do an ultra-class Sludge. Why? For his sauropod alt mode, he'd be appropriately bigger than Classics Grimlock. He also hasn't gotten ANY homage after G1 (unlike Swoop and Slag), and he's not being featured in animated. I also think it would just be cooler to have a new sauropod alt mode rather than a stegosaur (i.e. G1 Snarl).

There is some fairly bad news here, though...mostly in the form of NO plans for Animated humans. I truly have no idea why Hasbro hasn't come up with some Animated human Robot Heroes, or Animated Robot Heroes in general. It's like the line is now exclusively for Universe/25th characters. I thought last year's formula worked well, with some RHs being G1 and others being the then-current Movie line.

Man, they SHOULD make a Leader Blackout and Voyager Bonecrusher. I loved the design of Blackout, and I hated when they came out with a voyager that one of the smallest yet! He IS the biggest Decepticon in the movie. Ah well, maybe if they return in TF2, they can make them then. Can't wait for Soundwave tho.

awesome I hope they have plans for Universe Sunstorm and Universe Dinobots, would really help my collection.

I really don't get why every one want an ultra class sludge? I mean the dinobots were never in scale with each other, no animal tf's have ever been, I'm not having ago I just have trouble seeing the logic.

Personally I hope universe goes like the movie and animated and we get charicters more than once in different size class's. I'd love all the dino as voyagers, a bigger galvatron and smaller pg silverbolt and onslught, maybe a good voyager tank mega to replace that nerf gun peace of junk we got in classic 1.0 as well.

We all want Sludge cuz he was pure win. I'd rather him be an voyager though, wouldn't an ultra be the size of Unicron or primus?

Combiners!!!
Did they ever say which line would it most likely to appear under?
Potentially isn't No

Ultra is between Voyager and leader.
Unicron and Primus were supreme class.

Your posts fills me with relief, but your signature leaves me with doubts

I'd love just to have the rest of the dinobots released as deluxe, except for Sludge who'd be a voyager. Hasbro should come out with a Transformers Beast line which encompasses all the Generations of TF Beast Bots. From Blaster and Soundwaves beast tapes, to the Dinobots and the Decepticon beast to the Beast Wars era beasts. I buy into that line, especially since Predaking fits into it.

I would like to know if the Marvel toys could be remolded into Transformers characters - i.e. give Hulk a new head and recolor him into Demolishor for example. But this wouldn't be the same as a Demolishor toy transforming into a Hulk robot.

Sorry to hear that no Animated humans will get released. I don't see why they couldn't include some with certain bot figures as a bonus.

Glad to hear that there may be some Animated legends. I hope they do smaller characters like Prowl and Bumblebee. A transforming Headmaster head would also be cool with me.

I don't understand what is meant here.

Do they mean they won't make toys for one-shot characters, or there won't be one-shot characters on the show( as in every character makes repeat appearances)? Do the mean the Hasbro design team, or the Animated design team? How can they make 100% of the characters when they don't plan to make human characters or one-shot characters?

These toys have to be planned very far in advance. I guarantee you they're already working on the TF2 toys, since the movie is less than a year away. And they're still saying that there are no plans for those size upgrades, so...you can pretty much write them off.

Besides, making Blackout a Leader would most likely not solve his size problem. If you notice, his vehicle mode is just fine for Voyager size; it's only the robot that's small, since it only accounts for about half of the toy's total mass. I think the designers would be very hard-pressed to come up with a transformation scheme that integrates the back end of the helicopter, because the tail is just too long and too narrow a piece.

Mucho appreciation to Hasbro Canada for finally stepping up to the level of the US team. They were really friendly people to talk to.

Gotta say though...in terms of Transformers (not GI Joe), I actually prefer that we get the bios on the backs of the instruction books.

I think they mean cameo people like Cliffjumper won't get a toy, considering when I sent 'em the question I asked "guest characters like Cliffjumper".

Nothing really knew. It's good to know that Hasbro is considering releasing the other two Seekers. Hopefully if they do Skywarp isn't a Walmart exclusive. I'd much rather him be a Target Exclusive, as I no longer shop at Walmart. Here's hoping that they decide to at least release Grimlock at some point. He's going to be awesome. Also, here's hoping that SDCC gives the rest of us a chance to take a look at some of the figures that were shown at Botcon during the one panel where people weren't aloud to take pictures. Especially Hound, Ravage, Cyclonus, Nightstick, and some of the Animated stuff shown.

considering it's such a simple repaint, I don't see why not. I'd be very surprised if they didn't do one at some point, especially given how many exclusives and general repaints they like to do.

Yeah, that would make a lot of sense really. At Botcon the Hasbro guys kind of skimmed around it at the panel with a 'maybe later once Animated Ratchet isn't on shelves' kind of answer... so it wouldn't surprise me. And, unless they follow every bit of TF info, they may not know yet that Takara has already shown us that hand.

Ah. Okay, I can understand why they'd want to do that as Hasbro Canada isn't as in touch with the design process and everything I'm sure.

Me to honestly. I think most of the characters will eventually get done at some point... cameo or not. Simply because, as you say, Hasbro never turns down easy repaints. Not to mention they're even attempting to give us Arcee and she's only been in one episode so far.

Of course when they say they have no plans for something, that doesn't necessarily mean it's not going to happen.

Doing a Cliffjumper repaint probably doesn't exactly require much planning. I'd say t's the sort of thing they could put out at short notice.

The whole one shot characters answer makes no sense which i guess is appropriate as a proper answer would perhaps be giving too much away. I mean at this point Swindle, Wreck Gar, Wasp and Arcee are all 'one shot' characters and they intend to do toys for all of these.

Im going to take it that they meant that no characters are designed specifically to be 'one shot' which is why characters like Swindle, Wreck Gar and Soundwave arent destroyed their fates are left open so they can be used again. And that they are attempting to produce toys of 100% of the characters who do appear.

MP seekers, sunstorm, and dinobots... make it happen!

Aw, nothing really new here at all. Guess we'll have to wait for SDCC to see some new stuff shown.

Did anybody ask about the Nissan GT-R mould from Takara?