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Yesterday, the Transformers Collectors' Club took some time out of their busy schedule to answer some of the questions we've been asking here at Seibertron.com. Our Q&A covers everything from the next big reveals for Subscription Service 2.0, concerns about packaging issues with Circuit and Scourge, BotCon 2014, original characters, reusing heads from previous Club molds, and much more. To find out the Club's responses, keep on reading fellow Seibertronians! And don't forget to visit the Transformers Collectors' Club at TransformersClub.com.

Seibertron.com: With the recent reveals of several Subscription Service 2.0 figures such as Barricade, Fisitron, and Treadshot, when can fans expect to see the rest of the reveals?

Transformers Collectors' Club: We just revealed Rewind yesterday, Sept 5th and we plan on the last two reveals over the next week and a half.






Seibertron.com: Many fans are intrigued by the inclusion of a bonus figure for next year's subscription service. Can you tell us about what lead to this decision and can you share any possible hints with us about who the 7th figure might be?

Transformers Collectors' Club: Doing a Voyager sized figure this year presented some challenges across the board so we decided to go down in size for that figure. As we were discussing character/mold choices we started thinking about basing the TFSS 2.0 a little more on the G.I. Joe version, which would mean including an "incentive" figure. Once we figured out the final line-up for the TFSS 2.0 we pretty much knew who the incentive figure would be. I hope people really dig a lll 6 figures and sign up for the full subscription because the bonus incentive 7th figure goes perfectly with another figure in the set!


Seibertron.com: During the Club's panel at BotCon 2013, it was mentioned that there had been some difficulty coming up with characters that Fun Pub could use for Subscription Service 2.0 because Hasbro already had plans for characters you guys had pitched. Can you tell us any characters that Hasbro said no-go to?

Transformers Collectors' Club: Can't really get in to that but I look forward to seeing what they have planned for the characters we were also thinking about.




Seibertron.com: The Club has created many new heads for the Club and BotCon exclusives over the years. If I recall correctly, I thought Fun Pub answered a question at a previous BotCon that the molds are destroyed for the new heads. Yet here we are receiving a G1 repaint of G2 Breakdown complete with the BotCon exclusive head, which I believe is the first time that a BotCon head has been reused a few years after its initial usage. Can we expect other BotCon and Club exclusive heads to popup again in the future? Is there more of any effort to save these molds for future use?

Transformers Collectors' Club: Initially, I understood it that the heads were done in a fashion that did not allow multiple uses. As it turns out, the heads are molded the same as with any other Hasbro produced item. So yes, if the situation calls for it, you may see a previous mold that we had engineered re-used down the road if it makes sense.




Seibertron.com: I'd personally love to see some weapons packs or accessory packs or unique accessories come out of the Club. I was a little bummed that BotCon 2013 Hoist didn't come with a remolded weapon or with a new accessory so that his alt mode could be a tow truck. Has Fun Pub considered making new accessories for upcoming exclusives or for existing Transformers figures or is this cost prohibitive?

Transformers Collectors' Club: Next week we will have a BIG reveal in regard to ANOTHER feature for the TFSS 2.0. We have been holding on to this news, but I think fans are going to be stoked when they find out what will be included with their TFSS 2.0 shipments. And we are talking more than just one add on!




Seibertron.com: With Scourge and Circuit, there were some issues with the figure rubbing against the inside of the box causing some minor paint damage to both figures. Scourge was easily fixed with a silver sharpie but Circuit is a little more difficult to restore. Would it be cheaper to bubble wrap the figures or place them in high quality bags like the loose figures are sold at BotCon instead of using the foam cutouts in order to better protect the paint on these high end exclusives? Is this issue being addressed for future releases?

Transformers Collectors' Club: Yes, we are working with the company that packaged these to ensure this does not happen again for the TFSS 2.0 offering.






Seibertron.com: Why are the figures being packaged with a custom foam cutouts? Are the cutouts more expensive than other packaging alternatives?

Transformers Collectors' Club: We find when implemented properly, this is the best way to ship these figures. We are constantly evaluating processes and improving them. Sometimes what we ask for is not implemented in the final version in China and we have no way to change it.


Seibertron.com: Are there any plans to have a box for Club members to purchase as an additional item for us to store our prized Club Subscription Service figures in? Is this something that might be an option for us later down the road?

Transformers Collectors' Club: We have talked about that. Maybe that is something we should poll people on. It's not a bad idea...


Seibertron.com: Being able to purchase Depth Charge on a sealed card at BotCon and through the Club's website was a nice surprise. Any possibility other Club or BotCon figures will be sold in this manner?

Transformers Collectors' Club: Transmutate, next years club exclusive (separate from the TFSS 2.0), will come in a collector box. That box will have a cutout where fans can store their Rampage figure. This worked out really well for Runabout/Runamuck and we think fans will dig having that option again.








Seibertron.com: A couple of us were wondering why the Club hasn't created any original characters recently instead of reusing familiar faces. Many of us have enjoyed the new and original characters and would like to see more of them such as Landshark and Nexus Prime (who ended up being used by Hasbro as one of the Original 13). Any chance we'll see a few original characters come out of the Club in the next year or so?

Transformers Collectors' Club: I think Landshark is great. Nexus Prime, part of Hasbro's "original 13 Transformers" line up, is also another really great character and the fact that we contributed to the 13 is very satisfying.

So, with that said, original characters can be a hard sell though. We did, however, reach back in to the vault when we released the cancelled Hasbro character, Toxitron. And that did well. So they can work, depending on their origin and how they are handled in fiction. Sometimes, rarer on new is not always "popular" so it is a very tricky decision. We think this idea works better in a set of figures rather than a one off.

We never want to get in to a formula where we never try new things. We don't wan't to just produce homages/updates. We like to take risks where it makes sense. Next week, when we reveal our 5th subscription figure, fans are going to see a character like they've never seen before in TF fiction. He's new, but "not new" at the same time. There is one part of the offering that has been widely popular for years, but NEVER in this way.

Let's just say, next week is going to be full of epic reveals...






Seibertron.com: While many fans are expecting BotCon 2014 to be very special because of the 30th anniversary, it's also a very special year because it's the 20th anniversary of BotCon. My how time flies. What can you tell us about special BotCon 20th Anniversary plans?

Transformers Collectors' Club: We are still working out all the details. The location coupled with the timing for the show allows us many great opportunities to celebrate 30 years of Transformers and 20 years of BotCon!




Seibertron.com: When can fans expect to hear an official announcement about the date and location of BotCon 2014?

Transformers Collectors' Club: When all the details are finalized. There are many different entities we have to work with to put the entire program together. If you announce it too early and then the details don't fall into place for the registration to start ... well then people get upset. Also we are in the middle of re-writing the entire Eventman system to add new features and to move to a different coding platform.


Seibertron.com: Thank you again to the Transformers Collectors' Club for taking time to answer a few questions for all of us here at Seibertron.com. We really appreciate you sharing some behind the scenes info with us.

Now I am really interested in what the rest of the subscription service 2.0 has to offer.

Great interview! Thanks!

LOST Cybertronian wrote:Now I am really interested in what the rest of the subscription service 2.0 has to offer.

Yeah, me, too... I'm thinking "hype vs reality". The future reveals sound good...

So wait, did he basically admit the mystery figure will pair with another figure... so.... Frenzy/Rumble, then? A lot of people already predicted that, and this interview seems to confirm it...

Anyway, I sadly didn't buy into this subscription service (when it was available), so all I can do is watch from the sidelines! And buy any spares that are offered in the store, I suppose.

Yeah, as much as I was hoping for it to not happen, it seems almost a given that the 7th figure might be Eject.

Then again, another reveal could come our way to make the 7th figure seem like somebody else instead.

Regarding the head molds, that's a surprising answer! So even the Club was unaware that they, in fact, are not destroyed as previously thought. Quite an eye opener.

And the 5th reveal is new yet not? That would point to an originally canceled character, and there were plenty of them in Universe 2003. I wonder who it will be? And that automatically makes Chromedome the final reveal

I really, really want to get that Barricade and Chromedome. I have a couple questions if someone could answer please: Is it too late to sign up for the club for these figures and how much are they with a sub? How much of a chance would one have to get them without a sub? Thanks for any replies.

Now I'm bummed to think any Club figures will not be getting official figures: namely, Depth Charge and Rampage! Those two REALLY need some updates/re-releases!

Hero Alpha wrote:I really, really want to get that Barricade and Chromedome. I have a couple questions if someone could answer please: Is it too late to sign up for the club for these figures and how much are they with a sub? How much of a chance would one have to get them without a sub? Thanks for any replies.

1) You can sign up for the club at any time, though the date lines only indicate which annual free figure you'll receive. If you sign up now, you'll get next year's figure: Protoform X aka Rampage
2) The Subscription Service is members only. We've yet to receive details like pricing and availability, but expect those to come after the final reveal.

Great interview, however I really hope FunPub proceeds with the idea of a box for TFSS1 figures.
It would be a great way for people to keep all of the figs together as a unit and smooth over some of the bad feelings about the damage done to the figures from shipping.
If anyone wants to get a thread/ petition for this, I would 110% support it.!

My club subscription just ended, not to be re-newed. I didn't like this years figure, and I don't like next years either. It's a complete waste of money imo, and the price for the subscription figures is totally ridiculous.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Hero Alpha wrote:I really, really want to get that Barricade and Chromedome. I have a couple questions if someone could answer please: Is it too late to sign up for the club for these figures and how much are they with a sub? How much of a chance would one have to get them without a sub? Thanks for any replies.

1) You can sign up for the club at any time, though the date lines only indicate which annual free figure you'll receive. If you sign up now, you'll get next year's figure: Protoform X aka Rampage
2) The Subscription Service is members only. We've yet to receive details like pricing and availability, but expect those to come after the final reveal.

In addition, you can buy them on eBay by clicking here or from our advertisers. BigBadToyStore.com has them available at http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=265&category=1519

Metrosuplex wrote:Now I'm bummed to think any Club figures will not be getting official figures: namely, Depth Charge and Rampage! Those two REALLY need some updates/re-releases!

I'm sure they will get some love in a couple of years from Hasbro if the upcoming Generations Beast Wars figures sell well and/or are well received by fans. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that the Club released a figure and then Hasbro released the same character a couple of years later. Scourge and Kup I'm looking at you guys!

I, for one, thought this was a great interview. Really informative. We rarely get such in-depth updates as to the goings-on of the Club, so this was very much appreciated.

Thanks, Ryan!

P.S. I was largely happy with what the Club had to say, but couldn't help but notice that they blamed the factory again...

Transformers Collectors' Club wrote:We find when implemented properly, this is the best way to ship these figures. We are constantly evaluating processes and improving them. Sometimes what we ask for is not implemented in the final version in China and we have no way to change it.

Five bucks says the mystery bonus figure is Rewind.

Seibertron wrote:

Metrosuplex wrote:Now I'm bummed to think any Club figures will not be getting official figures: namely, Depth Charge and Rampage! Those two REALLY need some updates/re-releases!

I'm sure they will get some love in a couple of years from Hasbro if the upcoming Generations Beast Wars figures sell well and/or are well received by fans. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that the Club released a figure and then Hasbro released the same character a couple of years later. Scourge and Kup I'm looking at you guys!

Gotcha, thanks for the info! But now it comes down to how well the BW revivals will sell? I'd like to think, "WELL!", but... as some people say, the "collectors" aren't a large enough portion of Hasbro's market, supposedly.

Honestly, this wave of "Thrilling 30" or "Generations" will be very interesting, if only to see how a collector-focused series sells in comparison to a child-friendly-cartoon series. Hasbro doesn't have a movie out, so I can't help but think this Collector focus is due to desperation over plummeting TF sales (i.e. the figures don't seem to move that much nowadays).

Anyway, it's my belief that there are quite a few G1-fans in the Hasbro offices (the model painter, for one, and probably a few engineers), but the powers above keep the toys to what marketing and financial figures tell them will sell. Your basic, baseless corporate decisions about what constitutes good and bad art, based solely on misleading sales numbers.

The Thrilling 30 would have to sell REALLY REALLY REALLY well in order to garner the kind of attention required for more updates to G1 and BW. Hasbro is more interested in cheaper-to-produce offshoots such as Kreo's and Bionicle TFs.

Seibertron, just want to say, THIS is what happens when you make business decisions based on pure business, and despite the intention of making logical, well-informed choices, business-based decisions can fail miserably when it comes to art. I.e. As hokey as Michael Bay may have thought robot dinosaurs are, I have a feeling they will be the biggest feature of the films (given the title), and considering how Hasbro has not sold a dinosaur set in quite a while, I doubt Dinobots make financial sense, but strongly believe they make artistic sense.

Mindmaster wrote:Five bucks says the mystery bonus figure is Rewind.

Back on topic, I want to retract my statement about the pairing cassette in this subscription service - the one cassette fits the "one scout" requirement, AND it'd make more FINANCIAL sense for Fun Pub to offer the matching pair in a future sub service (locking completionists in in order to complete the tape set! )

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:2) The Subscription Service is members only. We've yet to receive details like pricing and availability, but expect those to come after the final reveal.

This is why I need to read more carefully! The website even says the figures ship on Feb. 2014, but I just assumed they were mystery figures that had to be pre-ordered ages ago! I'm rather baffled that they are revealing the set this way...

You know what it is? I'm getting confused with the news of the shipping TFSS 1.0 figures, and how people are getting those. This is SEPARATE news from TFSS 1.0. Somehow, I wonder if there's a clearer way to express that on here or on the Club website?

Can anyone tell me what the asking price for TFSS 1.0 was? And how much per figure (if ordered outside the sub service)?

Seems like they go for around $70 each, which is pretty high for deluxes, IMO.

Nice interview.

Mindmaster wrote:Five bucks says the mystery bonus figure is Rewind.

But we already saw Rewind revealed as a main FSS 2.0 figure.

Metrosuplex wrote:Can anyone tell me what the asking price for TFSS 1.0 was?

Paying in full for all six figures was $282, and paying for each of the three installments throughout the year was $94. And that's all before shipping costs and the $3 online processing fee.

Sabrblade wrote:

Mindmaster wrote:Five bucks says the mystery bonus figure is Rewind.

But we already saw Rewind revealed as a main FSS 2.0 figure.

God dammit, I meant to write "Eject". I always get those two confused for some reason.

Mindmaster wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Mindmaster wrote:Five bucks says the mystery bonus figure is Rewind.

But we already saw Rewind revealed as a main FSS 2.0 figure.

God dammit, I meant to write "Eject". I always get those two confused for some reason.

You're not the only one. Don't ask me who the Trivia expert and Sports fanatic is either.

For a long time I got those two mixed up too. To stop doing this, I decided to think of a mnemonic device to help me remember who's who. Here's how I've come to remember which is which.

Many years ago as a kid, we owned this VCR that had all black buttons on it, and each symbol on the buttons was colored gray. However, the Stop button (which was also the Eject button) had a blue square on it instead of a gray one. And since it was also the Eject button, that means that the Eject button had blue on it, while the Rewind button just had black and gray on it like the rest of the VCR's buttons. So, keeping that in mind, Eject has blue and Rewind does not, so he's black.

As an aside, only one other button had its own color: Record, which had a red circle, but I digress.

Sabrblade wrote:Many years ago as a kid, we owned this VCR that had all black buttons on it, and each symbol on the buttons was colored gray. However, the Stop button (which was also the Eject button) had a blue square on it instead of a gray one. And since it was also the Eject button, that means that the Eject button had blue on it, while the Rewind button just had black and gray on it like the rest of the VCR's buttons. So, keeping that in mind, Eject has blue and Rewind does not, so he's black.

That's... one of the most ingenious memory tools I've ever heard.

Mindmaster wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Many years ago as a kid, we owned this VCR that had all black buttons on it, and each symbol on the buttons was colored gray. However, the Stop button (which was also the Eject button) had a blue square on it instead of a gray one. And since it was also the Eject button, that means that the Eject button had blue on it, while the Rewind button just had black and gray on it like the rest of the VCR's buttons. So, keeping that in mind, Eject has blue and Rewind does not, so he's black.

That's... one of the most ingenious memory tools I've ever heard.

And inadvertently gave way to a new FunPub character: Record, in red.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Mindmaster wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Many years ago as a kid, we owned this VCR that had all black buttons on it, and each symbol on the buttons was colored gray. However, the Stop button (which was also the Eject button) had a blue square on it instead of a gray one. And since it was also the Eject button, that means that the Eject button had blue on it, while the Rewind button just had black and gray on it like the rest of the VCR's buttons. So, keeping that in mind, Eject has blue and Rewind does not, so he's black.

That's... one of the most ingenious memory tools I've ever heard.

And inadvertently gave way to a new FunPub character: Record, in red.

Great because RIB/FIR and RIR/EIB isn't confusing enough before throwing in an Autobot in Red too..

jelze: One more trick for you then too, Eject is the sports guy, roudy fans tend to get "Eject"ed from games.