Botcon 2008 Hasbro Product Panel and Q&A: Updated with Pictures from the Hasbro Display!

HASBRO preview panel

Slides/presentation:
Thanks for a great 2007, working on product line for movie and laying groundwork for future projects

Movie stats: 700M box office
#1 DVD in USA
Movie toy stats: #1 action figure brand (npd data)
Movie deluxe-action toy of the year
#1 fans!

Animated 2008 product update:
Animated toy launch June 22 nationally, leaders and others in august
Season 1 on DVD in august
Deluxe Sentinel Prime Sept 08 little darker blue than on show
Deluxe Swoop Sept 08, metallic dark gray, big mace
Deluxe Elite Guard Bumblebee Sept 08, black and gold 2-tone car, silver lights
Leader Ultra Magnus Sept 08, hammer, spot on show colors

Universe 2008 product update
Deluxe Ironhide Oct 08 SUV, large backpack, clear windshield, Autobot symbol thru glass
Deluxe Sideswipe Oct 08, wrong head in photo
Ultra Silverbolt Aug 08, large wings, TF, blaster and jet sounds
Ultra Storm Cloud Sept 08, Powerglide in purple deco w/gold mask
Legends green tank Megatron, Jazz
Robot Heroes Kickback/Ironhide
RH BW TM Megatron/ Fuzor Silverbolt
RH G1 Thrust/Blaster

Exclusives:
SDCC july 08 Classic nemesis prime
SDCC july 08 Titanium 6” Skywarp
Walmart sept 08 Breakaway redeco cybertron Hot Shot
Walmart Fracture classic mirage redeco
Walmart Crankcase cybertron red alert
Target Dirge cyb starscream/Roadbuster CD Hot Shot
Target Springer cybertron evac/ Ratbat cybertron sideways
Kmart legends cybertron 12-pack seen in booth
TRU titanium 6” WW Prowl
TRU titanium 6” WW Grimlock

25th anniversary 2009:
Thanksgiving 08: G1 Optimus Prime reissue w/TF comic #1 and MTMTE 3-part DVD
celebrating all eras of TF:
Universe deluxe Hound w/Ravage, MTMTE tribute, Ravage hooks to back of Hound, he will fit in Soundwave
Universe deluxe Cyclonus w/Nightstick, gun can mount to hand and hand retracts
Universe deluxe BW Season one Cheetor, very cheetah, cat mode head move and mouth feature w/eye color change from Green to Red
Legends Brawn very cartoon accurate
Legends Beachcomber
RH BM Cheetor/Tankor
RH RID Prime/Megatron

Paraphrase of Hasbro statement on KOs counterfeit g1:
They are aware
Do not condone
Reiterate they are not made by Hasbro
No assurances of quality
Pursuing the matter w/legal dept

Q&A:
Movie 2: going well, consistent with first film, wait and see on product
MP Thundercracker? 25th anniversary, on the radar
Animated movie characters in the line? No
Attacktix? Not at the moment
Titanium 6” Bumblebee/Cliffjumper/Cosmos/Shockwave? No
Sari toy? Looking at it
Commercial reinforcing branding to raise KO awareness like in 80s? The movie and show reinforce authenticity and push genuine characters
Universe Arcee? Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it’s not being worked on
Robot Heroes playsets/gestalts? There is push for broadening, variations and expansions on the way
Gestalts/gift packs? Difficult and time consuming to do them right, potentially 25th Anniversary trying to work in
Hound/Cyclonus when? Wave ¾ of Universe, end of 08, beginning of 09
Universe Swerve, how did come about? GM initiated idea of promotion exclusive for European outlets, Aveo chosen because of wide European distribution, created to be given away, may look at doing in future but that wasn’t ever planned to be sold
How long will Universe go on? Idea is a place to cover all eras, hope is to keep over many years, wide open opportunity to celebrate brand, hope to see it expand and contract depending on other lines and timeframe
TF/GI Joe toyline? Doesn’t make sense to blend them quite yet, won’t benefit either brand now
Oil Slick a non-show character
Universe Wheeljack, Trailbreaker, Sunstorm, Headmasters? Looking at them all
Cartoons on Blu-Ray? Don’t know of any current plans
Movie Megatron in sequel? He has risen many times…
Legends assortment dist improvement? The price point is more likely at drug stores vs. large retailers (Archer had to buy MP Starscream on eBay because of the dist, they hear you!)
Acid Storm origin? Based on G1 rainmaker, indeed
Music Label Soundwave, gut and make Classic Soundwave? Tooling all Takara, their chip format not used in the west
Where is Animated breakfast cereal? That would top the Prime piñata!
Henkei planning Skywarp and Thundercracker as exclusives? Don’t know the exact plan but they respect each other’s exclusives, can’t speak to it, deco would be different from the Botcon and Target versions
New Scrapmetal mold for Universe? Never considered them for 25th Anniversary, not realistic
Signal Lancer? Dispensor? No
Accessory weapon packs? No
Why do you kill my wallet? Repaints, exclusive packs, extending the movie line, more accurate decoes? We make a range to look for what all types of fans want, wanted to prove ourselves with first movie, extended the line with Premiums, redecos of key characters, wanted to refresh for kids who didn’t see movie until DVD release and want them last winter/spring
Energon DVD? No plans, Paramount focusing on Animated and Cybertron
Movie larger Bonecrusher in sequel? Any guys on movie one are on table, if opportunitity arises
Movie sequel reusing molds of returning characters? Trying to bring as much newness as possible, redo in better scales, better features
Classics Sunstorm? Always an option, depends, seeker mold on top of list for exclusive re-use
Animated Prime trailer? He’s using trailers in Animated, looking at it
Mirage repaint, looking at go-bot characters? Probably not
City-formers? Trying to figure out how to bring them back, on short list
Animated characters showing up in Universe? Still not the plan
Transformers.com, thanks for design notes! Thanks, the PR team initiated that and has plans to expand fan site discussion from Star Wars to TF
Why repaint some molds but not others? Kind of depends on the re-use, the success of the alt mode, preference on realism in Universe based on warm response of movie’s realistic alt modes and continuing momentum
Why does mass market get toys a lot sooner than Diamond/comic shops? Don’t know
Any Diamond exclusives? Minimum order quantity restricts them to the big retailers
Alternators making a return? Not at the moment. There’s a strong, vocal fan base, but a small fan base, Licensed cars kind of used by movie lines now
Ever thought of expanding into model kits? Concepts have been considered but it would need to fit into product line

Images from the Official Site:
Animated Pics

Universe Pics

Images from the Hasbro Display:

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-...isplay-164757/

Finally an official topic for this.

Rawr! Me want see Elite guard related toys now!

Thanks for the panel report!

Hey does Elite Guard Bumblebee have his battle mask?>

This is all great news. But I kinda want some pics of stuff we've never seen before.

Brawn and Beachcomber must be envious of Powerglide.
He gets upgraded to Ultra Class while they stay pretty much the same size.
Bumblebee and Cliffjumper at least became deluxe class.

Cool. Like in other reports, was it said that Sentinel Prime's toy would be a Deluxe? I've noticed that this report doesn't say what size class. Definetly a lot of good news. I'm really courious as to what the surprise will be tommorowl. It's going to be hard to save up for all the TF's I want to get. I've decided to limit the number of Animated TF's I get to just the one's I really want.

Sentinel Prime is a deluxe. Thanks, I added that.

Elite Guard is a straight repaint of Animated Bumblebee.

Can someone say what Universe Hound and Cyclonus are going to look like??

So does Bumblebee actually join the Elite Guard or is this just a "for fun" repaint?

How accurate to the show model is the Sentinel Prime figure?

Cheers for the great write up guys.

Sweet. So much goodness coming out later this year and early next year...

I'm going to be so very very broke...

Animated Ultra Magnus is sooooooo mine.

i want a animated arcee toy

Nice. There's a lot of stuff there I can't wait for.

Man, nothin' but good news. Ironhide, Hound, Ravage, Cyclonus, Brawn, Roadbuster, Springer (second Evac repaint, woooo!!!), Ratbat (woooo!!!)... more Micromaster upgrades (purple and gold Powerglide, sexy!), more Robot Heroes, Titanium Skywarp, WW Grimlock, WW Prowl... etc.

Gonna be a great year for TF fans. Thanks for the detailed report!

I hope Hasbro gives US MP Thundercracker, I'll finally have all 3 season 1 seekers!

Awesome, they got some great stuff coming along. I think out of all of that, I'm looking forward towards the reissue of G1 Prime at the end of this year that includes the comic and MTMTE. That sounds awesome.

maybe he'll be next year's Botcon exclusive

Okay, okay, I kid!

How awesome did Ironhide, hound and cyclonus look. I wonder why hound comes with ravage?????

You can look at ironhide on the official transformers site.

It's an homage to their fight from More Than Meets the Eye, the G1 pilot. It's like a vs. set, but cassettemode Ravage clips onto Hound's rear in jeep mode to infiltrate the Ark. Looked awesome.

Theres going to be beast wars in univeres...i am going to have no money EVER, theres nothing i can see wroung with this line.

where?

Lots of interesting info in there.

So G1 Prime reissue this fall?

...and sounds like at least some chance of other North American reissues?

Where are the pics of hound and cyclonus?

Since they're part of that 25th anniversary deal they might be up tomorrow.

Elite Guard Bumblebee or I call him Goldbug.

Silverstreak and Silverbolt are on the official site too!!

The remaining Titaniums that I wanted. THANK YOU, HASBRO. Ok, that's all I care about.....other than all of Universe.

Well I guess Hasbro must have decided my wallet has had enough of a rest so some stuff that's not movie related.

If they pull off the 25th stuff as well as they have pulled off the 25th stuff for GI Joe then I'm going to be one broke little fan. Guess going all over Transformers for Universe is going to put a beat down on my wallet as well. Heck doesn't even sound like I'll get a break at the second film since there might be non-movie toys then as well.

But darn Hasbro, Transformers crossed over with every brand you can throw at it and still no cross over between GI Joe and Transformers? At least the Joes would seem like a better excuse for humans beating up on robots.

Will wait for Sentinel Prime with battle mask. He looked AWESOME with battle mask.

ULTRA MAGNUS=ULTRA WIN

I haven't seen a good Ultra Magnus toy like that since RID Ultra Magnus, and even then, that was dissapointing in some ways(totally compromised to combine man, compromised!).

Also, I love the IDW inspired Autobots in Universe. I want to see Ratchet!

This is awesome! Transformers finally look as good as I always wanted them to.

Animated Pics

Universe Pics

How did 25th Anniversary Cheetor's beast mode look? Was it organic/Transmetal/Technorganic. I'm asking cause I hope he'll fit in with Beast Wars Anniversary Op and Megs. Wow, Universe is the line I've been wating for since 2005.
I see they're using Cybertron Starscream as Dirge, that's got me thinking I'll use my Toys R us exclusive Cyb Starscream as Thrust and Acid Storm as Thundercracker.

Seconded (or thirded, saw someone else mention Titaniums)

The photo of Silverstreak's bot mode appears to be Silverbolt, but click on it and you'll see the real scheme. I imagine Smokescreen will be in the Botcon 2009 set.

The new Ironhide is great- it's far more faithful than the 2005 Descent into Evil Ironhide, which was still a great idea for an exclusive. Parts of it seem very inspired by Movie Stockade, and U-Ironhide could probably fit in as his rival.

Sideswipe doesn't appear ready- he still has Sunstreaker's head and weapon. This could pave the way for the same guy who released the Cliffjumper kit to release a Sideswipe kid with a new head and a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher.

Silverbolt is extremely impressive as well- the robot mode is very faithful to G1 Silverbolt. Would a tendency to topple over be considered a faithful homage?

Oh wow. I honestly didn't know how they were going to pull off the Sentinel Prime figure, but they did a fine job (save for a bunch of extra crap attached to his legs, but what can ya do).

The Ultra Magnus toy, though...FUCKIN' PIMP.

WW titaniums, CITY-FORMERS??? fooo ya

I love u so much right now!

Wow, Ultra Magnus is the first Animated toy that actually looks cool to me. That Alt mode is pretty damn awesome.

All of Universe/Classics....must have.

After looking at the images, sweet mother of all things holy.

Those are some sweet looking figures and my wallet cries.
Universe Hound and Ravage sound sweet.

Silverbolt seems a little simple transformation wise. Fold up his legs, lay him on his face & flip over the plane cockpit. Not much beyond that. He could have been a delux

I really want to know what that Cheetor is going to look like... really hoping it fits into the style they used for BW 10th Megatron.

All the animated figures LOOK AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!But I can still live without universe.

Thanks for those links.

Lots of great stuff. I like the universe Sideswipe (nice diaclone red sunstreaker homage, which is more what I'll consider him than Sideswipe). Silverstreak's paint apps looks sort of off and ugly though. Love the Thrust/Blaster RHeroes pack. Animated Ultra Magnus looks sweet too.
They gotta learn to just get rid of the yellow on Bumblebees when they redo him black though. Especially with the all yellow head still, that just looks horrid.

$69.99 for a reissue prime? I have spent less for masterpiece prime!

Ultra Magnus can so totally deal with it now.... :drool



Are we sure Sentinel's only a Deluxe??????

You know that head is not going to be on the final sideswipe.
He'll probably have different accessories too.

it says right on the site that it's a deluxe.

According to Hasbro's site he is.

http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/d...58BA5C4174E96F

I wonder if he'll get a bigger size class later on, or, he has a smaller alt mode but big 'bot mode like Lockdown maybe.

Is anyone else having a problem with the images? On the Universe page, Silverstreak's Robot Mode pic is just a duplicate of Silverbolt.

So much good stuff. Want Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Ironhide. Can't wait to see some pics of Hound, Cyclonus, and cartoon accurate Brawn.

Only need Universe Trailbreaker, Ratchet, and Jazz and all the 84 cars will have been released(I'm including Energon Downshift as Wheeljack).