ok, so i picked up toyfare 105 last week, and was reading the questions section when i discovered the following....

question
"Dear Zach, My wonderful wife procurred the 20th anniversary edition optimus prime for me last year, and it is a killer action figure. has hasbro deciced to come out with anymore of the g1 transformers in that scale? it would be totally cool to see an Ironhide and Ratchet that actually have heads. Rick Forcinito, Manteo, NC


answer
"dont be a headist, Rick. Discrimination against decapitated toys is a disgusting character trait. does your wife know you're a hate monger? your best bet for figures in scale with Prime is the alternators line: Skids, Smokescreen, Sideswipe, Hound, Silverstreak, Tracks, Jazz (Meister), Wheeljack, Prowl and Windcharger are all available, featuring cool robot modes, and alt-modes based on real vehicles. Prime himself will be popping up shortly as a Dodge Ram SRT-10! Sadly, Ironhide and Ratchet are exempt from the revampes. "While we'd love to execute these fan favorites, Ratchet and Ironhide just dont fit in within the constraints of our current 1:24th scale" said Paula Walsh at Hasbro. "But should the scale ever change, we wouldnt rule them out!" I dont know, that toyota scion xb that skids is based on would make a cool ironhide in a pinch"

thats the entire question and answer....including toyfares silly posting styles....but it seems confirmed that those 2 wont be 1:24 alts....

 

Hopefully the PR guy has his head up his butt, there's no way they'd pass up 2 easy recolors/remolds of Skids.

 

Why is it these days that everything has to fit into a size/price bracket. I'm sure if Hasbro came along and said, "you know, we can do a H2 type alternator for these two BUT we have to charge you an extra few £/$" then the fandom would be like YES! JUST DO IT!!!111. I don't see a reason to change the scale - just the price.

Hasbro saying that they can't get around the limitations they've set themselves is crap rhetoric. THEY SET THE LIMITATIONS! THEY CAN CHANGE THEM IF THEY WANT TO.

Steve.

PS. I don't want them as Skids clones, just like I didn't want Trailbreaker as a Hound/Swindle clone. Why settle for repaints when you can have so much more?

 

Paula Walsh isn't a PR guy. She's the head of all Boys Toys at Hasbro.

 

Paula sounds more like a PR lady.  

Hmm, I like how that was worded. Maybe next year we can finally get the different scaled Alternators.

 

I'd hope ironhide wouldn't be a Skids recolor or Ratchet for that fact, Xbs are really small.

I'd like to see Ironhide as some sort of Pickup truck and Ratchet as a tow truck -why can't a robot doctor be a tow truck?  

 

"The PR guy" meaning Paula Walsh?  

 

yeah, thats what im hoping for too...would 1;28 or 1:30 molds still look good with 1:24 alts? thatd be my only concern....

 

Ironhide must be on a list of furure plans somewhere.

As for Ratchet....... I dunno what they can do there.

 

ah...i still think the head on skids looks very much like the toon ironhide and ractchet....I wouldn't mind them as straight repaints. Still a bummer though....those two, to me, had the worst G1 toys and should have been at the top of the list to get a remake...even if it was just Ironhide.

 

really seems like the palce to do Ironhide/Ratchet is the neo line, do one for the first round and then have the other on tap for a remold down the road if the line proves a success. Both really need a good representation, some of the last of the 84/85 crew that do...

 

It sounds, to me, like both the Hasbro rep and the Toyfare guy don't know what they're talking about and are using generalizations to come up with an answer. I wouldn't even take their response with a grain of salt.

 

what makes you say that? i would assume its probably pretty dead on, being from the head of boys toys and all....

 

Why does everyone insist that Ratchet should be a repaint/remold of Skids?

Have you ever seen an ambulance? Like, in real life? A Scion xB is tiny. A Scion ambulance would make even less sense than a Dodge Viper Fire Chief car.

 

Call me crazy, but I'm happy not being intimate with every single person who works for Hasbro/Takara.

And I read that as "Paul," whoops!

 

But there's another step between Hasbro and the fandom... RETAILERS. They need consistent pricepoints/assortments. Hasbro could make a larger scale of Alternators... if they have enough for a whole assortment and IF retailers will stock them.

I gotta believe an Ironhide repaint of Skids at least is definitely planned.

I agree an Xb Ambulance is not the way to go... but maybe Ratchet just won't be an ambulance, if they want to use the Xb mold a 3rd time.

 

OK, you have a point there but surely in some lines Hasbro have a small number of larger characters (like Unicron in Armada) that have unique price points?

You have to admit though, a larger price point for alts would open up a whole host of new possibilities.

I remember the good old days of G1 when you'd have about 6 different price points on the go... Before the days when companies like Toys R Us, Target et al got so big as to hold sway over the companies actually producing the toys. Progress eh?

Steve.

 

Current price points:

1)Scout
2)Deluxe
3)Voyager
4)Ultra
5)Supreme


5 is close enough to 6 in my book.

. As for TRU, they have less sway than they did back in the day. Volume retailers like Wal Mart have hurt them badly.

 

With regards to size classes:
It might in fact be the consumers, not Hasbro that requires everything to fit into a certain price scheme. Think of it, people want to pick up a box with the expectation it costs a certain amount. They don't want to suddenly find out it costs a few $ more. Kids'll save up for a new Ultra priced toy, but they'll lose interest if they find out it needs another week of allowance to afford it. Likewise, parents might say "but this one isn't as expensive, and it's only a little smaller".

It's just the way things are right now. It is kinda annoying that we can't get an Ironhide or Ratchet as things are, but look at the silver lining my friends - they aren't being shoehorned into molds that won't work for them. Hasbro isn't trying to simply put out any old toy with an Ironhide head. They respect us, the fans, enough to put it off for now in favour of doing a far better and more faithful representation down the line.

Though a G1 Neo version of either will do me fine otherwise.

 

After having watched an episode of G1 Transformers on DVD and having just bought Skids, I think Hasbro did indeed intend for the Scion Xb to be Ironhide. There is no way that head sculpt is Skids. And there is def no way that head sculpt is Blaster. Blaster didn't even have that protrusion in the middle of his helmet. It was almost "cap like" with a tiny visor.

The head sculpt on Skids is DEFINITELY meant to be Ironhide. As to the person's comment about Hasbro respecting consumer's wishes is totally bogus. Who wanted Optimus Prime as a freakin Dodge Ram? The mighty heroic leader of the Autobots is a Dodge Ram? Not only that, that model is fugly. I think Hasbro has been messing up royally lately with the Alternators line.

Ironhide head on Scion xB named incorrectly Skids.
Overdrive head on Honda S2000 named incorrectly Windcharger.
Blaster head not anywhere similar to Blaster's in cartoon.
Optimus Prime as a Dodge Ram.
Rollbar and Ricochet, nuff said.