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

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After looking at the Universe and Animated pictures I could just hear my wallet scream because it knows it's just so doomed.

The small one is, but if you click on it, the bigger one is the actual Silverstreak bot-mode pic.

Ironhide looks totally bad ass...now if I could afford both universe and animated...sooo much stuff I want

Only one word popped into my mind after seeing those pics. Awesome!

I'm happy to see Robot Heroes Thrust and Kickback but now I regret not getting Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Shrapnel...


My wallet just jumped out of my back pocket, let out a blood curdling scream, and hid itself in the closet.

ironhide's vehicle mode looks cracked and broken. hopefully the production version will come together a bit tighter.

silverbolt looks pretty bland. he's a perfect modernization of the original design, but he still just wears his vehicle mode on his back. I wish he had been a bit fancier than that.

WTF no #38?

Was Ravage a new mold and if so how poseable was it?

Hound...Cyclonus....Beachcomber...Brawn.....Sideswipe....Ironhide....Bluestreak.....Silverbolt......etc......etc......

Scuse me Mr Bank Manager, can I obtain a loan?!?!?!

To think about it...I can't seem to find mine now...hmmmm

It seems odd how the G1 Prime reissue picture had long smoke stacks...

Target Dirge and Roadbuster Sound like pure awesome (obscure characters FTW).

HOUND=YES
CYCLOUS=YES
CHEETOR=MAKING MY LIFE. Universe Bw Guys will cause much rejoicing.

Then the knife that is animated stabbed it.

I can't believe I'm finally getting my WW Skywarp. With that guy out of the way, I can finally close the book on Titaniums without anymore "if only they would release..." headaches.

Fantastic news about the state of Alternators. Here's hoping they pop up again soon.

The fact that we're getting Hound AND Brawn in Universe is enough to almost make me cry. 2 of my all time favorite characters. And a revised Brawn is looooooong overdue.

Classics Ironhide and the inevitible repaint into Ratchet = pure f'n win eight ways to Sunday! Ultra classes of Silverbolt & Onslaught gives me high hopes for other combiner leaders.

Robot Heroes... I seriously cannot get enough of these guys. SO glad they did Thrust - that means Dirge & Ramjet are only around the corner. And now that we have Kickback to go with Shrapnel, fingers crossed that Bombshell is in the pipeline.

So much to comment on - too little time.

6" Tit Grimlock, Prowl, and Skywarp. Sweet.

Universe Ironhide, Hound, and Cyclonus. Awesome.

I'm also looking forward to Legends green tank Megs and mini bots.

Hasbro should put a warning label. *Not resposable for dumbass kids who stab them self with smoke stacks*

Edited for the thinks that will kill my wallet.

Yay Ratbat!

Cheetor eye changing feature is funny.

hmm sideswipe does not look to have new head

yay WW skywarp, prowl, and grimlock!

New universe/classics rule!

Definately going to get Leader class magnus, how big is he?

TFormers have a pic up of Sideswipe with the correct head:

http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=view...ze=600&start=0

Yes he does, the picture is wrong.
Look at this picture.
http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=view...ze=600&start=0

Wish I would have stuck around for this, line was pretty long so we decided to make the trek back home.

I love them all except for Delux Sentinal Prime he needs to be a Voyager we all know that.

Legends Hound is just so cute.

Did ANYONE ask about a possible Leader class Lugnut???

That subject seems suspiciously absent from any of the Q&A updates.

I just shat myself in pure amazement.

TRANSFORMERS RULE! 25 YEARS AND STILL KICKING ASS!

so are these legends around wst sized?

The pics at tformers.com are ace. Anyone else think Ironhide looks more like Skids though? Especially in vehicle mode?

No...they're legends sized

dirge and roadbuster 2pack is sweet....someone nice from the boards is going to have to pick that up for me

darn cause well maybe i can stll sneak hound into my wst collection.

Loving all the Universe news. Silverbolt and IronHide are definate buys. Sideswipe looks good with the new head. The War Within Titaniums are gonna make me broke, but are must buys as well!

Are all those exclusives going to be Universe packaging??

Awesome panel! Man, am I gonna be broke!

Nice more G1 Robot Heroes! Animated is perfect. Another great year for Transformer fans.

Looking at that Ultra Magnus figure makes me think a couple things. So far the only hint of artillery I have gotten from Magnus in the show is his Hammer of Doom. I think it would be funny as all hell they don't show his guns off till later in the season and he is surrounded by decipticons who somehow get his hammer away from him and think they have him trapped.

And then Ultra Magnus lets loose with a whole bunch of clicks and whirrs and just unloads on them.

At the cartoon network panel yesterday they said the toy was more tricked out then in the show, which I take to mean that they didn't know Hasbro were going to turn him into a james bond style gimmicky death wagon of pure awesome.
That said, they didn't know about laserbeak/guitar either and they now plan to integrate that into the show so it could still be posisble and would make for a great scene.

To quote Bumblebee,
"Now I see why they call you "ULTRA" Magnus."

WW Skywarp, WW Grimlock, WW Prowl, Ironhide, Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Prime, Sideswipe =

Silverstreak looks good. Although, they could've gone with less black, like only on the hood instead of the roof, too. I feel like calling him Blackstreak. And I guess I'll have to wait until 2009 for that Smokescreen repaint.

Yeah, I found that interesting. All the same, I don't think Laserbeak is a good addition to Animated Soundwave at all (hug eguitart strapped to the top of a van?) and I have no plans to display it. Will probably sell it to someone so they convert it into Buzzsaw... or whatever they want to do with it.

I am sad that the awsomness that is Ultra Magnus is detracting from my appreciation of Swoop.

For I find swoop to also be awesome. It is just I can't keep my eyes off Ultra Magnus.

Made a bunch of comments in one of the locked threads, so I'll just add the new ones here (go here if you absolutely cannot live without my thoughts on Classics Cyclonus or new Titaniums).

- The new Classics up on the site are beautiful. Every time I fall so madly in love with Animated that I forget about Universe, some new Universe toys pop up and steal my affections back. Then Animated throws up something new and I bounce back there. It's like I'm Archie while Animated and Universe are Betty and Veronica.

- Bluestreak looks amazing (yeah, I'm calling him Bluestreak. Wanna fight about it?). I'm a bit surprised they went with the cartoon deco over the toy. Was hoping for a bit of remolding, like the different headsculpts on the Alt versions of the Datsun guys, but I'm not going to complain.

- I assume this is still the Sideswipe with the wrong head, yes? I can buy Bluestreak having Prowl's head, but Sideswipe really needs his own. And wasn't he supposed to have a shoulder launcher? And why does he have Sunstreaker's engine? I'm guessing this is a very early test model.

Edit: Okay, saw the real head in that pic from TFormers. Looking good.

- Ironhide looks okay. For some reason he's not quite clicking with me. I'm not sure why, as he looks great (even for an obviously hand-painted test shot). It might be all the seams on the vehicle mode, or maybe the way his head is angled in the bot mode shot. Either way, something about him seems off to me.

- Silverbolt is absolutely perfect. Couldn't ask for a better update from his G1 version (well, I suppose you could ask for him to form the centerpiece of a Classics Superion, but let's not get greedy). The only downside is that Powerglide looks even worse now in comparison.

- Reissues Optimus would impress me more if I didn't get the Encore release last year. But hey, are those long smokestacks he's sporting?

- The Animated stuff looks nice. Swoop, Elite Guard Bumblebee, and Ultra Magnus are all cool, but I'll likely pass on them all. Sentinel Prime, on the other hand, looks great, if a bit stumpy. He really should've been a Voyager. Likewise, the lance and shield should've been made of transparent plastic, not solid. Still, I love the character and will definitely pick him up (and then spray him with disinfectant ).

This is pretty much Transformers 2008 in a nutshell.

It's going to be VERY disappointing if they keep Sentinel as a deluxe, but not as disappointing if Lugnut remains a micro sized voyager. Those 2 characters really need to be upgraded for this line to look right.

Have Hasbro not put any of the four new animated figures in the case?
I'd like to see more of Magnus.

Actually, I'm happy that Sentinel is a Deluxe, as it gives me a reason to not get him. I've not got my Animated wants list down to 10 purchases, though my Universe wants list has grown, lol. I'm really hoping that Ironhide does get a Ratchet repaint/retool sometime down the line, though I honestly won't be surprised if we don't. I actually want to get the Optimus Prime reissue. He costs $70, so I might not get him depending on how much money I have at the time, and how easy he is to get. He's actually replaced Animated Voyager Optimus Prime on my to-get list.

Me too!

I was really hoping for a Classics Arcee in the second wave. she seems to forever be "in the works" Of course it could be worse imagine Ironhide in pink..

Did hasbro actually confirm that Sideswipe has a new head and launcher? Every pic I saw was just a recolor of Sunstreaker and noone has stated that it will definately have a new head, unless I missed it.

I was looking through these pics i found and is that a robot heroes Ironhide next to prime holding the matrix

http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=view...e=600&start=40

???

I'm not sure about the launcher (haven't seen anything about it yet), but I do know that the head remold has been confirmed. The one that Hasbro has put out on the shelves today has a new head on it. The one used for the pictures put up on hasbro's website was just a repainted Sunstreaker. Hopefully I'm able to get Fracture as a gift, buy it from a fellow board member, or something, as I really want it, but honestly, I no longer shop at Walmart. Depending on when it's released I might be able to get a relative of mine to buy it for me.