The Energon Pub

Hasbro has responded to questions posed over at the IDW forums and some VERY interesting answers have been provided. Most importantly that Cyclonus will be much closer to his proto-type purple and that a running change for Ironhide is in store.

Check out the thread here:
http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopi ... 67a21ffefa

or take a read here:
1.) Any chance of seeing Universe 2.0 Voyager Onslaught remolded/recolored into G1 Hardhead?

1) I'd say that's a good possibility for a repaint either for our main line or an exclusive. But when ever possible, I try to offer more than just a straight repaint, such as a new head or weapon. So I might have to sketch up some options and see just what I can come up with.

2.) Why did you choose that particular deco for Universe 2.0 Deluxe Cyclonus and Nightstick, which differs radically from the prototype? Many fans liked the purple prototype.

2) Sometimes test shots come in and all of the molds are not cast in the correct colors. But that's why test shots exist, so that we can catch those problems before the toy is produced. In this example, an image of a Cyclonus testshot was released and fans had issues. But rest assured, the mold is going to remain purple and match the initial prototype image.

3.) And chance for new-mold Universe 2.0 combiners teams/gestalts?

3) The typical gestalts require a price point higher than any of the ones we have established in the short-term in Universe, so we won't be tooling up any new Universe gestalt molds for 2009. But we really like the combiner idea and would like to add some new combiner play in the relative near future (no specific plans or line decided - we are talking about it).

4.) Why the baby blue for Universe 2.0 Ironhide's face? It was originally silver, which was correct. It changed from proto to production to baby-blue. Ironically Robot Heroes Ironhide came out at the same time, he had the correct silver face. Why the difference?

4) It's supposed to be silver. When I last saw the final paint on the figure it was silver. But somehow in the development process, someone somewhere picked up a blue brush instead of the silver one. We are currently making a "running change" on the face so future Ironhides will
be correct.

5.) Will we see more Headmasters toys in Universe 2.0? If so, will they be based on IDW Headmasters? How about a Sunstreaker with headmaster Hunter?

5) I hope we'll be seeing more Headmasters in the future for Universe. If we continue to celebrate all of the different eras of Transformers there will certainly be some more headmasters to redesign. I'm not too sure about seeing a Sunstreaker with Hunter...we had already done a Sunstreaker in Deluxe so having another Sunstreaker offered again just a year later might be tough. But we'll try to get some fun stuff in the line for you guys.

Thank god i held out on ironhide yet. I was gonna henkei it because i knew his face should not be blue.

Glad that he didn't say no to anything. Shame he didn't say yes to anything either. I also "hope" we see some Headmasters soon. I too "really like" the combiner idea.

Diem wrote:Glad that he didn't say no to anything. Shame he didn't say yes to anything either.

I don't think they can say 'yes' to anything. These Q & A sessions are almost always just a teaser event. Always just enough to get you interested, but not enough that a statement is unretractable.

Everyone should be charging to the stores to pick up Ironhide now before it's too late. In 10 years people will be "coveting" the blue face

Counterpunch wrote:I don't think they can say 'yes' to anything. These Q & A sessions are almost always just a teaser event. Always just enough to get you interested, but not enough that a statement is unretractable.

Sadly that means that all these answers need to be taken with a pinch of salt...

Grr...who do I have to shag to get Universe Horrorcons?

I'm a bit lost here.

Was there a Universe 2.0 Voyager Onslaught? Is this gonna be a new mold? Or just a typo error?

Ultra? Voyager?

Wait a minute...

It'll be "too much for us to stomach" getting a headmaster Sunstreaker, but we can get a "cartoon accurate" repaint of 'screamer within a year???

You'd think that adding a whole new head system would be a much more substantial (read purchasable) remold than the upteenth straight up repaint of the F15 seeker mold...

Cyclonus wrote:Wait a minute...

It'll be "too much for us to stomach" getting a headmaster Sunstreaker, but we can get a "cartoon accurate" repaint of 'screamer within a year???

You'd think that adding a whole new head system would be a much more substantial (read purchasable) remold than the upteenth straight up repaint of the F15 seeker mold...

The cake is a lie.

Delta Supreme wrote:Wait a minute...

It'll be "too much for us to stomach" getting a headmaster Sunstreaker, but we can get a "cartoon accurate" repaint of 'screamer within a year???

You'd think that adding a whole new head system would be a much more substantial (read purchasable) remold than the upteenth straight up repaint of the F15 seeker mold...

The Starscreams are well over a year apart. And if you think a seeker mould won't sell you need to lurk moar.

So the test shot images of Cyclonus are what some of us said they probably were? Cool. Now I'd like someone to explain again how these stolen items ending up on ebay is always good for Hasbro.

And jeez, I wish people would stop requesting obscure ****. Headmaster Sunstreaker? Yeah, good one. That's what we're all wanting when we think "updated Headmaster."

Cyclonus wrote:

Cyclonus wrote:Wait a minute...

It'll be "too much for us to stomach" getting a headmaster Sunstreaker, but we can get a "cartoon accurate" repaint of 'screamer within a year???

You'd think that adding a whole new head system would be a much more substantial (read purchasable) remold than the upteenth straight up repaint of the F15 seeker mold...

The Starscreams are well over a year apart. And if you think a seeker mould won't sell you need to lurk moar.

Classics Skywarp and Acid Storm need a word with you.

More Headmasters will be a welcome addition to the collection.

Well, mine anyway.

I'm suprised that someone from Hasbro admits that the blue face on Ironhide is a mistake.

Is this one of those hobbies/secondary markets where if, say, only about 5-10% of the Universe Ironhides came out with the blue face they'd be worth $$$ to collectors?

ironh hide hace is blue? im going to have to check that out well it looks like cyclonus problem is fixed so all of us in the us may not have to go to get henkei version only of cyclonus thats good to here.

thats good they fixing these issues i thought they where getting lazy and shipping any figure no matter wht they llook like

Cyclonus wrote:Is this one of those hobbies/secondary markets where if, say, only about 5-10% of the Universe Ironhides came out with the blue face they'd be worth $$$ to collectors?

No.

Read up on Energon Optimus Prime.

It's nice that the Universe Cyclonus is not going to look as half assed as in the most recent pics but I'm still going to see what the Henkei version is like first.

Wait Ironhide has a blue face? Any one got a pic so i can see?

Won't affect me. I'll be holding out for the Henkei versions anyway.

Yay, I got credited for the mention of this subject. I'm happy to hear about Cyclonus. Headmasters would rule - who on Earth wants a Sunstreaker Headmaster first though?! Maybe they're from Cybertron... Okay, bad joke.

Ironhide is not even out in New Zealand yet, as far as I can recall, so hopefully he doesn't have a blue face in our first shipment but I'll wait just in case, since the EMP generator gimmick for Animated Ratchet that was stuffed and fixed in later releases wasn't fixed in the early shipments to New Zealand and I had to "fix" mine (okay, so it holds the EMP generator but no longer activates it. Better than vice versa).

Exciting news, today. This along with all the other news like that awesome-looking Armada Hotshot (and that badass Jolt) is really making my day!

I for one will probably end up buyiong both Ironhides, especially if they stay $7.77 at Wal-Mart. You never know when a variant will be worth money, especially since I haven't heard any word on how many Ironhides came out the first way. If there are already tens of thousands out there, it's a totally different story.

Ironhide and Sideswipe havent shown up in my area yet, but now I'll be sure to check Ironhide's face color before I buy one. Coincidently, anyone know if his face can be seen well enough to determine color while he's packaged?

Savage wrote:Ironhide and Sideswipe havent shown up in my area yet, but now I'll be sure to check Ironhide's face color before I buy one. Coincidently, anyone know if his face can be seen well enough to determine color while he's packaged?

Unfortunately not. Luck of the draw with that one unless someone gets a silver face to sell/trade.

Megatron_Wolf wrote:Wait Ironhide has a blue face? Any one got a pic so i can see?

Closest one I could find. It belongs to someone here at Seibertron.