The Energon Pub

Submit your questions to us by June 29th. Remember to make your questions as intriguing as possible. If your questions seem answerable by the general public, then the staff of Seibertron.com will likely answer your queries; hopefully with a bit more flavor than what you might be used to with Hasbro Q&A's.

While we do live in the wonderful world of free speech, there are a few of Hasbro's guidelines that need to be followed before submitting your questions!

Hasbro wrote:Unfortunately, there are some things that we cannot comment publicly on due to confidentiality, legal or competitive reasons. Examples of these types of questions are ones that relate to the upcoming TV series or movies that have not had details announced yet, “When will X toy be made/redesigned/released?”, Hypothetical scenarios or “what if questions”, Sales/Cost Data, Product Idea Submissions, Potential Design/Redesign and Future Movie/Entertainment.

With that said, that leaves a lot of room for a whole host of other discussion points. Topics that are open for discussion are things like Deco Decisions, Current Design Choices, Design Process/Development, Character choices and Redeco/Retooling choices. Also, questions pertaining to past and current Lore/Storyline, Line Strategy and Marketing are open for discussion too.

The Transformers team certainly appreciates our fans’ continued passion and dedication to Transformers and we look forward to another great year of Q&A.

We're looking forward to your Questions!

Keep it at Seibertron.com - The Ultimate Transformers Resource!

Do you guys plan on creating more transformer toys based off of the designs from War for Cybertron? I would like to see you guys make a WFC SideSwipe and Shockwave.

Blurrz wrote:It's that time of the month again, and with your mind melted from all of the 2010 BotCon goodness, you'll be happy to hear it's not your better half's menstrual cycle.*

We're talking about Hasbro Q&A time. Submit your questions to us by July 4th. Remember to make your questions as intriguing as possible. If your questions seem answerable by the general public, then the staff of Seibertron.com will likely answer your queries; hopefully with a bit more flavor than what you might be used to with Hasbro Q&A's.

While we do live in the wonderful world of free speech, there are a few of Hasbro's guidelines that need to be followed before submitting your questions!

Hasbro wrote:Unfortunately, there are some things that we cannot comment publicly on due to confidentiality, legal or competitive reasons. Examples of these types of questions are ones that relate to the upcoming TV series or movies that have not had details announced yet, “When will X toy be made/redesigned/released?”, Hypothetical scenarios or “what if questions”, Sales/Cost Data, Product Idea Submissions, Potential Design/Redesign and Future Movie/Entertainment.

With that said, that leaves a lot of room for a whole host of other discussion points. Topics that are open for discussion are things like Deco Decisions, Current Design Choices, Design Process/Development, Character choices and Redeco/Retooling choices. Also, questions pertaining to past and current Lore/Storyline, Line Strategy and Marketing are open for discussion too.

The Transformers team certainly appreciates our fans’ continued passion and dedication to Transformers and we look forward to another great year of Q&A.

We're looking forward to your Questions!

Keep it at Seibertron.com - The Ultimate Transformers Resource!

*The staff of Seibertron.com apologizes if this week is actually the time of your partner's menstrual cycle

Blurrz wrote:It's that time of the month again, and with your mind melted from all of the 2010 BotCon goodness, you'll be happy to hear it's not your better half's menstrual cycle.*

We're talking about Hasbro Q&A time. Submit your questions to us by July 4th. Remember to make your questions as intriguing as possible. If your questions seem answerable by the general public, then the staff of Seibertron.com will likely answer your queries; hopefully with a bit more flavor than what you might be used to with Hasbro Q&A's.

While we do live in the wonderful world of free speech, there are a few of Hasbro's guidelines that need to be followed before submitting your questions!

Hasbro wrote:Unfortunately, there are some things that we cannot comment publicly on due to confidentiality, legal or competitive reasons. Examples of these types of questions are ones that relate to the upcoming TV series or movies that have not had details announced yet, “When will X toy be made/redesigned/released?”, Hypothetical scenarios or “what if questions”, Sales/Cost Data, Product Idea Submissions, Potential Design/Redesign and Future Movie/Entertainment.

With that said, that leaves a lot of room for a whole host of other discussion points. Topics that are open for discussion are things like Deco Decisions, Current Design Choices, Design Process/Development, Character choices and Redeco/Retooling choices. Also, questions pertaining to past and current Lore/Storyline, Line Strategy and Marketing are open for discussion too.

The Transformers team certainly appreciates our fans’ continued passion and dedication to Transformers and we look forward to another great year of Q&A.

We're looking forward to your Questions!

Keep it at Seibertron.com - The Ultimate Transformers Resource!

*The staff of Seibertron.com apologizes if this week is actually the time of your partner's menstrual cycle

Blurrz wrote:It's that time of the month again, and with your mind melted from all of the 2010 BotCon goodness, you'll be happy to hear it's not your better half's menstrual cycle.*

We're talking about Hasbro Q&A time. Submit your questions to us by July 4th. Remember to make your questions as intriguing as possible. If your questions seem answerable by the general public, then the staff of Seibertron.com will likely answer your queries; hopefully with a bit more flavor than what you might be used to with Hasbro Q&A's.

While we do live in the wonderful world of free speech, there are a few of Hasbro's guidelines that need to be followed before submitting your questions!

Hasbro wrote:Unfortunately, there are some things that we cannot comment publicly on due to confidentiality, legal or competitive reasons. Examples of these types of questions are ones that relate to the upcoming TV series or movies that have not had details announced yet, “When will X toy be made/redesigned/released?”, Hypothetical scenarios or “what if questions”, Sales/Cost Data, Product Idea Submissions, Potential Design/Redesign and Future Movie/Entertainment.

With that said, that leaves a lot of room for a whole host of other discussion points. Topics that are open for discussion are things like Deco Decisions, Current Design Choices, Design Process/Development, Character choices and Redeco/Retooling choices. Also, questions pertaining to past and current Lore/Storyline, Line Strategy and Marketing are open for discussion too.

The Transformers team certainly appreciates our fans’ continued passion and dedication to Transformers and we look forward to another great year of Q&A.

We're looking forward to your Questions!

Keep it at Seibertron.com - The Ultimate Transformers Resource!

*The staff of Seibertron.com apologizes if this week is actually the time of your partner's menstrual cycle

Years ago, we saw what would become TFCC's Seacons exclusive set. After years of not finding a retailer or a source to sell it for you, you finally had the chance to get it released to the collectors. Now that that task has been completed, what made you folks decide to go ahead and push on with the Seacons in their G1 color scheme? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did, (and I'm going to be the first in line to get one!) but what made it a "must" to do so now? It's intriguing.

Thanks for reading!

Will we ever see custom-able or at the very least a "Name your own transformer"? (Like the old mail away GIJoe Figures)

It kinda sucks that they only answer two questions, but answering them all would be pretty taxing.

Anyhow...
1.It seems larger characters seem to get small figures, why is this? I understand not every figure can be in perfect scale but I'm referring to when they're made in the smallest scale possible.

2.For the ROTF line, why are there new molds for non-appearance characters but several of the Constructicons aren't yet made?

Ok, here we go. Even if it is used I would still expect a generic response in under 2 sentences.

Over the last few years, we have seen a large scale resurgence within Transformers fandom.

In this time the section of older buyers making purchases for collections would seem to have grown with not only items directly from Hasbro, but items produced by Takara for Japanese sales, items sold thru Fun Publications, and 3rd parties.

Additionally, many items displayed so far for the remainder of 2010 and extending into 2011 delve into parts of transformers history ranging from highly fan requested pieces (Generations Blurr) new controvertible comic creations from IDW (Drift) and Marvel creations who have never been released as toys before. (Lord Straxus/Darkmount)

The previous company line that we have heard many times is that collectors comprise a very small percentage of total sales, however these moves would seem to contradict that statement, and with the current economic climate, when many parents are looking to reduce spending, while collectors are more likely to be willing to spend on your products. Has there been a change in your market research indicating a shift in purchases? Would any changes in that research directly alter the way Hasbro views the relationship between its products and the collectors portion of the market? Are any of these new releases for 2010/11 unlikely to have been placed into production if you did not feel that collectors with prior knowledge of the characters could move units if not embraced by the larger family market?

Were there any legal problems making the upcoming Legends G1 Megatron a gun?

You have now started to release a lot more figures with remolded parts and accessories rather than repaints or whole new molds - is this down to Hasbro changing the way their toys are manufactured, to make head-swaps ect an easier thing to accomplish?

Here are mine

1. Does Hasbro see it fit to rerelease certain items if 3rd party companies are making things that accompany them, to make extra money?

2. Will hasbro take any action to assist in the reduction of prices at botcon?

will transformers animated season 3 ever be released on dvd?

will we get more war of cybertron toys ultramagnus, thundercracker, tyrpticon, omega supreme, many more?

I'm surprised so many questions are about hypothetical figures like Voyager Jetfire, while Hasbro has said not to ask them. The quote again:

Hasbro wrote:Unfortunately, there are some things that we cannot comment publicly on due to confidentiality, legal or competitive reasons. Examples of these types of questions are ones that relate to the upcoming TV series or movies that have not had details announced yet, “When will X toy be made/redesigned/released?”, Hypothetical scenarios or “what if questions”, Sales/Cost Data, Product Idea Submissions, Potential Design/Redesign and Future Movie/Entertainment.

Also, "It would be cool if you did this and that" is not a question! So no "Leader Blackout" or "Voyager Bonecrusher" questions, please.

Ok I'm done.

Actually, there is something I'm wondering about:

With the first movie, the accompanying toyline ended when the filler line, Transformers Animated debuted. However, Revenge of the Fallen sees it's toy line rechristened into "Autobot Alliance" or "Hunt for Decepticons", while Transformers: Prime, the new filler, is practically set to debut. What made you take the decision of continuing the Movie-style toys, and by extension, no toy line for Transformers: Prime?

I now you don't want to another figure question,but could you finally make a Voyager Class Movie Soundwave, or better yet a ROBOT DEFIANCE, not Human Alliance figure?

I mean, the Deluxe one is okay, but in Robot Mode, he is very loose and nothing actually stays together like other Deluxes. A RD figure would bring on so many improvements, and You have such an expanding story for Soundwave in Transformers: Nefarious, with the Rumble, Beastbox, Ratbat, and Laserbeak minions. You could even repaint Soundwave twice for his G1 color and Soundblaster colors and release like 2 of his minions in each product.

Also, could you make a Trypticon and a Omega Supreme figure from the War for Cybertron line and make them each either a Leader or Supreme class and actually put enough detail in them to make them worth the cost of a supreme class, unlike Supreme Class ROTF Devastator?

Since you might not answer these questions because they are about figures, can you at least give us a hint on where you plan on going with transformers after TF: Prime and the Third Transformers movie?

TM2Leviathan wrote:I now you don't want to another figure question,but could you finally make a Voyager Class Movie Soundwave, or better yet a ROBOT DEFIANCE, not Human Alliance figure?

I mean, the Deluxe one is okay, but in Robot Mode, he is very loose and nothing actually stays together like other Deluxes. A RD figure would bring on so many improvements, and You have such an expanding story for Soundwave in Transformers: Nefarious, with the Rumble, Beastbox, Ratbat, and Laserbeak minions. You could even repaint Soundwave twice for his G1 color and Soundblaster colors and release like 2 of his minions in each product.

Also, could you make a Trypticon and a Omega Supreme figure from the War for Cybertron line and make them each either a Leader or Supreme class and actually put enough detail in them to make them worth the cost of a supreme class, unlike Supreme Class ROTF Devastator?

Since you might not answer these questions because they are about figures, can you at least give us a hint on where you plan on going with transformers after TF: Prime and the Third Transformers movie?

They can't:

Hasbro wrote:(..) Product Idea Submissions, Potential Design/Redesign and Future Movie/Entertainment.

I have two questions and one request.

QUESTION 1: Where is the distribution in The Netherlands for Star Wars and Transformers? We get no new stuff over here, only old stuff that no-one wants. Fix it please.

QUESTION 2: What are the chances of a Classic version of the other four Aerialbots (deluxe class so they fit in with the other jets) and having them combine with Silverbolt (the Ultra Class that is already out)?

REQUESTS:When making Classic versions of Jazz, Tracks, Kup, Scourge and Perceptor please make them as close to the original as possible in terms of design. Meaning that they have to look like the original characters. Same goes for Grapple and Highbrow. Also please make Highbrow a headmaster and Kup and Scourge Targetmasters.

DMSL wrote:I have two questions and one request.

QUESTION 1: Where is the distribution in The Netherlands for Star Wars and Transformers? We get no new stuff over here, only old stuff that no-one wants. Fix it please.

QUESTION 2: What are the chances of a Classic version of the other four Aerialbots (deluxe class so they fit in with the other jets) and having them combine with Silverbolt (the Ultra Class that is already out)?

REQUESTS:When making Classic versions of Jazz, Tracks, Kup, Scourge and Perceptor please make them as close to the original as possible in terms of design. Meaning that they have to look like the original characters. Same goes for Grapple and Highbrow. Also please make Highbrow a headmaster and Kup and Scourge Targetmasters.

Question 1: Dutchman too? We should hang out.
Seriously, though, this question is more for the Hasbro NL division. But like in the states, it's not Hasbro's fault, it's the store chains that order their product. If the customers aren't buying, the store chains don't see the need to order new stock, with the consequence that old product lingers for months. I happen to know a store that's stuck on Wave 2 Deluxe (Rampage, light variant Sideways) permanently. Only when new lines come out do they order, with the older lines going on sale. It also happens that stock is moved from one store to another, which doesn't help things.

Question 2: The chances are pretty slim, especially since Universe Silverbolt, like Onslaught, was never meant to combine in the first place. For new molds, Hasbro seems to be focusing on more prominent characters from both the original cartoons and the comics, old and new. The minor characters aren't forgotten though, some are prime candidates for repaints. Also, Highbrow is in the HTFD line, and definitely not a Headmaster.

Was hoping for a definitive answer from BotCon, or even an answer as to if they're trying to release TFA Blackout in the States yet or if it's officially a Takara only release at this point.

I'd also like to know if HasTak will look to shut down iGear for putting out KO MPs.

Kibble wrote:
I'd also like to know if HasTak will look to shut down iGear for putting out KO MPs.

They won't comment or answer questions directed at 3rd party items.

cingularman31 wrote:Here are mine

1. Does Hasbro see it fit to rerelease certain items if 3rd party companies are making things that accompany them, to make extra money?

2. Will hasbro take any action to assist in the reduction of prices at botcon?

1. Mostly that they are not going to change their plans because of a 3rd party item. They are not going to re-release a product globally for a few hundred people that have the upgrade sets.

2. That is all between Fun Pub and the facorty they are made in. It's all about the number of paint apps/piece colors, and Fun Pub stated that they pretty much go all out with paint apps, and then scale back where necessary.

Editor wrote:

Kibble wrote:
I'd also like to know if HasTak will look to shut down iGear for putting out KO MPs.

They won't comment or answer questions directed at 3rd party items.

But I'm not asking about 3rd Party items...I'm asking about KOs!

Historical query
Q: How did the mixup that resulted in Sideswipe and Sunstreaker getting switched occur?

Q: You said at Botcon that Trailbreaker has not been forgotten. Just how is he being remembered?

zenosaurus_x wrote:It kinda sucks that they only answer two questions, but answering them all would be pretty taxing.

Anyhow...

2.For the ROTF line, why are there new molds for non-appearance characters but several of the Constructicons aren't yet made?

Because they didn't want shelves filled with various different construction vehicles, they wanted lots of different molds out there. A case assortment of 4 similarly colored construction vehicles would be pretty boring.

dragons wrote:will transformers animated season 3 ever be released on dvd?

will we get more war of cybertron toys ultramagnus, thundercracker, tyrpticon, omega supreme, many more?

Buy the ones that are out and the game, and they may make more!

Amelie wrote:You have now started to release a lot more figures with remolded parts and accessories rather than repaints or whole new molds - is this down to Hasbro changing the way their toys are manufactured, to make head-swaps ect an easier thing to accomplish?

I'm not too sure about this one, but I do know when a figure is designed, at times they think ahead about a potential retool, and integrate that into the final mold, or a last-minute change forces a second head mold into the set. A good example is ROTF Mixmaster, who has not one but two heads cast at the same time, the regular and the G1 inspired one. The obsolete one is disposed of when the figure is produced.