Hasbro Answers Your Transformers Questions 2009 Part 4

1) Will we see a Transformers series in the vein of GI Joe Resolute? With the recent announcement of the Hasbro and Discovery Kids joint venture there will likely be great opportunities for new Transformers animation.
Unfortunately, it is a little bit too early to make any announcement on what this may or may not be.

2) How does Hasbro view custom fan-produced upgrade kits (City Commander Armor, Shadow Commander Armor, etc) and add-ons (Another War God Sword, Aerial Team Appendages, etc) for Transformers figures? Particularly with FansProject apparently moving into producing full, transforming figures that are based heavily on Transformers characters, is Hasbro largely accepting of these projects or might they be vulnerable to legal action in the future?
Hasbro takes its Intellectual Properties very seriously. As we¹ve stated in the past, Hasbro does not condone the unauthorized production and sales of our toy designs or intellectual property. Simply put, the manufacture, distribution and any resale of fake Transformers products is illegal. Customized figures have historically been a result of our fans¹ passion for the brand. While we love the passion and this form of artistic expression, when customization becomes a business without being an official licensee, it infringes on the Transformers IP.

3) Is it possible that Universe (or something like it celebrating characters from all of Transformers' history) will return down the road? If so will any Transformers Animated characters be incorporated into the line?
We certainly appreciate all of the interest that the Animated and Universe lines have received! It is still too early to speculate what the future of Transformers will be post Revenge of the Fallen as we are gearing up for what will hopefully be a groundbreaking year for Transformers!


You can also check out more answers here:

• Hasbro's June Transformers Q&A Answers for Cybertron.ca.
• Hasbro Transformers Answers 6/09

not to many answers but oh well

All I got from this was that fan-produced figures and accessories will have the wrath of Hasbro's Lawyers brought down upon them until they cease to exist.

And we already know from BotCon that Animated and Universe toylines will return.

I used Q&A dodge! *Fwoosh!* Take that, obsessive fanbase! We can give you any kind of vague answers we want!

In all seriousness, the only good answer was the FP one, although it was already sort of answered at BotCon. :/

It would be nice if we could have asked questions post-con, so there aren't so many already answered q's.

For all the people that will inevitably bitch about how Hasbro just dodged questions, maybe you should take a look at our last question submission thread. It was basically only rehashes of the following-
1. Questions Hasbro answered in the past.
2. Questions the staff said we would not get answers to (is Animated canceled?!).
3. Can we have this or that toy?
4. Will Universe/Animated/Alternators/etc. be coming back?

Maybe if we made an EFFORT to ask decent questions, we'd get some decent answers.

I didn't learn anything new from that, they just said a bunch of maybe's...and to add to that, it sounds like Fansproject is going to be facing some big problems in the future...All I can hope for is Hasbro see's the potential of a partnership with them.

I'd swear #2 is worded exactly the same way that Greg Lombardo delivered the answer to that question at Botcon. o_O

Remember that this is Hasbros official legal position - it isn't necesarily the same as what they will actually do (although I expect they'll do something about the full figures)

<hasbro> grrrrrr, whe hate anyone who's better at what we do than we are.
this seems to be the vibe that they give off.

I thought the second half of the answer for the second question was interesting.
Wondering if Hasbro is gonna start going after folks like Frenzy-Rumble or Jim Saotome

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turns out he answers these Q&As himself. He's the marketing maestro, after all.

I don't understand why hasbro does what they do. Perahps i'm not looking at the big pitcure and reports they see but they seem not to really care about the fans and what the fans think and sometimes as fans we take what they give us because we think thats all there is. I'm tired of getting into one thing spending all this money and then something else pops out. it's because of this reason I have not collected on everything hasbro brings out. aI didn't like armada, thought energon was decent, nothing of cybertron. I finally get into animated and classics and they drop em like bad habbit because of the movie figures which are crap except for the human alliance which is the only thing that will get my attention cuz i loved alternators which i understand why they canceled that one. it was only for collectors and thats not where hasbro makes it's money.

When I read it, I thought the same thing. The way it was worded implied that anyone that makes a living customizing Transformers may be hearing from Hasbro in the future.

Hopefully it doesn't trickle down to F_R as he is more of a one off customizer. I love his work, could never afford any of it but I love to look at it.

Mark

Well, more of the same old same old from Hasbro. Of course... we keep asking the same darned questions so...

how can hasbro say we are making unauthorized productions of their designs? did they have a city commander in the works>? did they have abattle roller in the works? legally they havent a leg to stand on....all the 3rd parties have to do is rename their products to something else, and the fact they happen to fit with transformers is purely coincidence... so urge you makers of great third party toys that after you make your products, when you display them, use paper models or SOME OTHER MEDIUM other than a hasbro or takara transformer to display and sell your work...problem solved. but honestly those greedy bastards are turning me off to their brand.... they are producing crap...and any good line they make they cancel....isnt it the fans that pay their bills....so if you make something we like....shouldnt you keep it? listen to your bill payers ....

I couldn't agree with you more

Fans project is making things that fans want to see and collect. hasbro does but they only make what they want to make not what the fans want to see. I mean how long have we been asking for a decent RC figure and just now is when they will give us an animated one. and how long have we been asking for an ultra magnus that isn't a repaint of prime. Hasbro you pi$$ me off

Oh and there are a lot of great creative people out there who come up with some really cool ideas and the reason hasbro doesn;t use em is because they don;t want to pay em out. hasbro wants all the money to themselves. instead of appreciating thos creative people and being honored they would take the time to improve on the crap they make, they just leave em in the dark and keep taking there money.

ok i have to breath now. sorry if i got that was too much. I just had to get it off my chest.

I love these Q&A's. Everytime I read them I get this image of someone asking Hasbro a question, and Hasbro throwing a smoke bomb down on the ground and disappearing like a Ninja.

*POOF!!*

"the hell?"

LMAO

Movieverse makes money, no doubt about it. but now that we've had 2 films, does anyone else notice how Transformers really comes to a grinding halt to release movie merchandise, and that immediatly strats "When are the good lines coming back" questions?

yes, we've noticed.

and your signature? It's 'Michael' not 'Micheal' you know,......just so you know.

I don't think hasbro truly respects th fan base. they know most of us will suck up whatever they throw at us. I'm sorry but My collections will just about stop at animated and Classic/universe. If they come out with something else, it will have to better than this, and the movie crap is just not doing it for me. like i said before, only human alliance will get my money

seems like Hasbro is running out of patience for the fans projects. i keep getting a feeling they are happy for those companies to make accessories, but getting annoyed for making full on toys.

Do you really stop and think about what you're saying?

We get that for you, you feel Hasbro don't "respect" you, fine. Wouldn't a company that doesn't respect its fans produce nothing at all for them to buy?

The retailers want the Movie line as it makes them a shit load of money, like it did in 2007.

Then of course, there are the tens of thousands of fans/collectors who love and buy the movie toys, some (including myself) even counting them among their favorites.

Hasbro can't please everyone... least of all the fanbase, who is historically "un-pleasable" anyway.

Hopefully, we'll have better questions for the next round.

You saw my Botcon photos, right? Universe, Animated and even reissues are still on the way this year.

I'm not buying much in the way of movie toys either but I have the other good stuff to look forward to.

This. And thank you for saying it.

I like how some of you are getting butt hurt over Hasbro protecting their property

They are not going to stop making transformers not because they don't or do respect us, they will keep making it because it puts money in their pockets. Yes I understand thats how business works, and they need to make money but shouldn't you keep your faithful fans happy at the same time. Politics. can't all be about money all the time. everyonce in a while they should say, ok lets do something for the fans and lets keep it going for them till it runs dry. thats customer appreciation IMO

It seems it's the same copy/pasted answer that all the sites have been given for similar questions this Q&A - I'm guessing it came straight from the lawyers.

I think people are reading too much into Hasbro's replies re: fan add-ons

There is nothing wrong (legally or otherwise) with groups producing add-ons or even full "transforming" toys and making money. The problem is when they use logos, names, pictures of Hasbro toys in packaging, fonts, or other Hasbro IP that is the problem. It gets to be a situation where it can be argued that some companies are trying to imply that their product is official or sanctioned when it isn't. Hasbro has to be vigilant about these copyright issues or they lose the ability to go after knock-offs and the other egregious violations.

Nothing in what Hasbro said indicates that they are planning to sue FansProject or any other group. What they said is that as these groups get bigger and are making more money, Hasbro will be looking at them more carefully to see if they are violating Hasbro's IP. An infraction that might go unnoticed for a small group is likely to be spotted in a larger production.

There's also nothing Hasbro can or will do about people selling custom bots, unless those customs involve violating Hasbro IP. For example, people selling parts or customs made by casting & duplicating parts of existing transformers. That is something that is not allowed. People selling re-painted toys or customs made by scavenging parts from actual legitimate toys are not an issue.

If Hasbro didn't like their fans they wouldn't have made alternators/classics/reissues/etc.

They can't please everyone, but they sure seem to try.

Perspective. It's not just for Art class.

Okay. No offense, but some of the stuff (like Springer) has sat dormant (repaints and figs w/ names tossed onto them randomly don't count) for years and years. Seriously, all FP needs to do is hire a lawyer to tell them exactly what to do to the figure to make Hasbro unable to do shit about it if Hasbro wants to act like a butt about it. Hasbro could make a concerted effort to work with them and then it's a win/win situation for everyone, but instead it looks as though Hasbro is gonna take the low road and say that fans only deserve the shit they put, specifically the movie shit.

Edit: Forgot to put my overall point...If a company abandons a design (20+ years) and has nothing to show that they ever plan to release an updated version and no longer sell the original version, then just like a couch tossed on the side of the road, it should become public domain. Seriously, 20+ years and no legitimate update or remake, that's an abandoned design to me...

agreed but then they stop it write when it seems to be getting good. I don;t know I guess i'm just upset cuz i found something i can bond with my kids with and they stopped it. both my kids love transformers animated and that was our time.

oh well. just feel cheated is all

I would have to say that If Frenzy_Rumble, and all other customizers stop using the Hasbro Trademarked names like “The Fallen”, “Bumblebee”, “Optimus Prime”, etc., then I think they would be out in the clear.

It’s like this for example:

Someone buys a bunch of Hanes brand White T-shirts. They print their logos, designs, puffy paint, tie-dye….whatever it may be….and then they they sell these T-shirts at Fairs, Carnivals, Lemonade Stands, or Garage Sales. Are they infringing on the Hanes IP? How is what Frenzy_Rumble is doing any different than that? (Other than using their toy names and Brand name “Transformers”).

I personally believe that if the customizer quits using the TM Brand and Character Names, report earnings as income to the Tax Man, I really do not see this as illegal or even requiring a license. Maybe this is why action really has not been taken…because maybe there really is nothing that Hasbro can guarantee as “this is winnable” in court.

I'd like to see any questions like this IMMEDIATELY excluded.

Here are links to a bunch of other sites Q&A Answers - very little actually answered -

Click

just like they have quarterly reports on how much money the company brings in, they should have quarterly reports on what they are working on. and if it's to far ahead, then they should say we will have that info in the next quarter report or something like that.
stop dancing around the questions we want answered and be more direct.

example when are the next animated figure coming out. "oh we don't know, whenever it feels right"
that means until we milk the movie stuff for all it's got. then we will please you the little fans.
thats why i say they don;t repsect the true fan base

All FP need to do , if they are serious about continuning, is to appraoch Hasbro and ask for a licencing agreement to make accessories which don't infringe on products Hasbro themselves wish to make.
Hasbro would have to approve the product at all stages, but thats no a huge issue and lets face it the chance of Hasbro themselves putting out accessory packs and playsets is tiny.
Yes there would be royaltys involved and licence fees but in the long run if they're going o carry onthe way they are they're going to have to do it or start facing big legal costs.
The upside of doing it that way is being able to call them transformers products and usage of the autobot and decepticon symbols

FP is in China, I doubt very much Hasbro can do much about them. They can just tell the distributors to stop selling FP products.

Yeah there's alot of things Hasbro could do to please collectors. Reissue G1 Devastator or G1 Sunstreaker or G1 Shockwave, or the original Dinobots.

But there's millions and millions of kids that are going to buy the movie toys, compared to thousands or maybe even a couple hundred thousand "Fans" who'd buy the reissues or the fan nods (Arcee as a car, Springer, etc.)

Pretend it's YOUR Company, what would you do?

Me? I'd make the toys that make the most return for my company, know why? Because a company is all about making money. Only after Hasbro makes enough money will they do little fan nods like Universe Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Do you really think they made enough money off some of these toys they make specifically for old time fans to recoup the costs of development/advertising/design/production/salaries for designers/etc? Because I really don't. I think they're happy if they break even on some of that stuff.

Like I said, Hasbro does alot for it's old time long term fans, and they really don't have to do shit for us. We'd still buy stuff anyway.

People getting mad at Hasbro like they personally owe you something is ridiculous. They really do do alot for the fans, and the fan base consistently pisses and moans like overgrown children when they don't get every single tiny little thing they want.

Would I like a G1 Reissue Shockwave/Dinobots/Wheeljack/Sunstreaker? Sure, I'd love it. But if I never get one I understand completely. They are a business, business's are designed to make money. Not assuage the self-righteous ego's of the small percent of random fans who like to complain all the time.

Not to mention, the small percent of random fans who scream and holler for 'Toy X', out of that small percentage, it's an even smaller percentage who would actually BUY the toy.

The rest would say, "I'll wait till it's on clearance" "I don't like the colors" Etc,.

So I say Thanks to Hasbro for all that they do for us. I LOVE my Classics/Universe Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Hound w/ Ravage, and all the other cool shit they've done for us That They Didn't Have To Do At All.

why are so many people here haters of Hasbro, they are the ones who bring us this great franchise.

Most companys probably dont even do answer questions at all..

I quite like the movie toys so far, and I have counted some already into my favourite's list (Demolisher and Sideswipe )

Personally I don't really see what the big deal with FP's products is, they're just basically clip on accessories, they may look pretty, but they are just expensive plastic clothes really for your figures

Mrs. Animated Arcee would like to have a word with you.



I hurt myself from facepalming so hard....Nice one, I wish I could sig that.

I agree man, I loved Animated too. But c'mon we got 3 good seasons and what? Like 100 Toys? Surely that's gotta make you happy on some level.

Bunch of hypocrits. I bet there's a commander armor sitting at the desk of a Hasbro TF designer right now.

That's not how a business works, unfortunately.

Um, I somehow don't think Hasbro really is having issues with the add-ons. I think their problem is really with FP's full figures, which would be Springer, Broadside, and Wreck-Gar (not officially named of coursed). They are full figures.

Sorry, I didn't word it right

I meant I don't personally find an appeal to the FP stuff, I just wouldn't wanna spend alot of money on clip-ons etc...

I understood all the 'hasbro is annoyed at you making full figures' stuff

Hey Hasbro, it's question time!
Attachment 27089938