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HASBRO- I know you have been patiently waiting, salivating for the answers, and good news, our submitted questions have been returned answered! We are privileged to be able to participate in the HASBRO Question and Answer, and we as collectors should be happy to know HASBRO hears our questions, and offers us answers.

Our Questions and Answers for December.

1.) Since the Universe toyline spans TF history, is there any chance of seeing a Transtech figure, or another "figure that never was"/"Lost Figure"? A "What Might Have Been" segment of the Timeline could be interesting to say the least.

HASBRO- It would definitely be interesting to see some of those concepts that didn't make it off the drawing board as a real toy, and the Universe line would be a great place to showcase it. In the immediate future we've got a whole list of other characters that are a little higher on the priority list, but you never know. We like to revisit these old concepts from time to time and if there's a great design we haven't used there is a good
chance it will see the light of day eventually.

2.) Any more Universe Ultras in the works? Are there any particular character(s) that you have been thinking would be a great fit for that particular size?


HASBRO- The team is really concentrating on Transformers Revenge of the Fallen product right now. Because of that, we have not been developing any further Universe Ultra items. However, there are members of the design team who would like to find space for more tanks, but currently nothing is definite.


3.) Most characters in the TF universe are male, but there were a few fem-bots in the 1980s cartoon as well. Will we be seeing any of them in the universe toy line?

HASBRO-For 2009, there are currently no "female" bots planned. However, we do have Arcee in the Animated line and you never know what could appear in Movie 2!

4.) Can you explain the typical pipeline for a toy from concept to finished product, including time & constraints, how many are produced, planning for repaints, etc.? A book illustrating this subject (with many images ) would be a very sought after collectible in the community.

HASBRO- Most items take 12-14 months from concept to store shelf. Hasbro does not discuss numbers or processes, however you can be assured that Hasbro and Takara/Tomy put a lot of love in each design.

5.) What is the hook for on Universe Galvatron's shoulder (the piece is gray and unfolds from another purple folding piece) ? And the fold out shoulder 'legs/feet'? Can you show us the conceptualized use of these features?


HASBRO- Initially, Galvatron was being designed as a triple changer and was actually going to be in a larger class. But once the decision was made to put Galvatron in Deluxe, his third "walker tank" mode was dropped. Because of molding reasons we had to leave some of those extra pieces in there. Here's the initial sketch and idea for the third mode. (see attached)



Didn't get your burning questions answered? Be ready to submit them for February! And check back for the list of other sites answered questions.

There we go, GetterDragun, I hope you're happy now.

Thanks Hasbro.

Well, I'm glad they didn't flat-out say 'no' to my question. They might as well have.

Hmm, that 'walker tank' looks kinda neat. Bet most of us are going to try to get our Galvatrons to turn into that now.

the walker tank looks pretty cool I wish they had made it...

Didn't Hasbro initially deny that Galvatron was moved from a higher class after the design stage?

Mr.Bond007 wrote:the walker tank looks pretty cool I wish they had made it...

You can kinda transform him. He just looks funny.

He can transform into that. The shoulder "hook" looks like it was meant to peg into the flap that's behind his back, for stability (it doesn't quite reach, though).The chest flap can be moved to provide some support for the middle.

I can see why they got rid of this mode, since it's so unstable and unwieldy.

The fact that Galvatron was supposed to be larger (as he absolutely should have been) and a triple-changer no less, makes me just want to punch something

typh0id wrote:The fact that Galvatron was supposed to be larger (as he absolutely should have been) and a triple-changer no less, makes me just want to punch something

And the fact that we got a picture of it means Hasbro loves us more!

In your face everyone at TFW! ( jokes, they're good guys )

Also, welcome to Seibertron.com!

Warning:

SEIBERTRON CONTAINS NUTS!!!

Just think of it this way:
At this size, he looks pretty nice with Titanium Scourge, Cybertron Unicron, and (probably) Cyclonus.

And, since we have the picture, those of us who want a tank on four legs can just turn him into one!

HASBRO wrote:The team is really concentrating on Transformers Revenge of the Fallen product right now. Because of that, we have not been developing any further Universe Ultra items. However, there are members of the design team who would like to find space for more tanks, but currently nothing is definite....

Initially, Galvatron was being designed as a triple changer and was actually going to be in a larger class. But once the decision was made to put Galvatron in Deluxe, his third "walker tank" mode was dropped. Because of molding reasons we had to leave some of those extra pieces in there. Here's the initial sketch and idea for the third mode.

I wonder if these two answers are a wee bit related. I for one would love to see Galvatron done right, as an Ultra....

no offense buthat galvaytron qusion is useless i saw the explaintion of that youtoube review of him a year ago

I've got my Galv in walker mode right now.

dragons wrote:no offense buthat galvaytron qusion is useless i saw the explaintion of that youtoube review of him a year ago

Useless? Hmmm.

Sure, everyone had some idea for a mystery third mode, but there was no official info about this until mode just right now.

The concept art is a revelation.

thedistinctroom wrote:

dragons wrote:no offense buthat galvaytron qusion is useless i saw the explaintion of that youtoube review of him a year ago

Useless? Hmmm.

Sure, everyone had some idea for a mystery third mode, but there was no official info about this until mode just right now.

The concept art is a revelation.

I agree. Joe_Blow82 on youtube could have easily said it's for flinging elastic bands at your roommates cat, but until now there was not official word on it. I for one also never heard anyone say that he was cast as a larger figure and that the bits and pieces that were meant for a larger figure stayed on because of design quirks.

I at first thought it was a bit of a silly question, but it did in fact answer more than what was asked. To that, I doff my cap at Hasbro.

My question rocked! Picture answer for the win!

thedistinctroom wrote:I've got my Galv in walker mode right now.

Figure out if the shoulder hook can connect or should we seriously consider it worthless?

GetterDragun wrote:My question rocked! Picture answer for the win!

You know what we need? A high five emoticon! Or an emoticon of my face. Both would be the highest honor one member can give to another.

Down_Shift wrote:You know what we need? A high five emoticon! Or an emoticon of my face. Both would be the highest honor one member can give to another.

What would the text command be? ":creepy:"

Glad to see they thought about answering the "process of making TF's" question I and others posed. I understand why they'd want to protect the process and (especially) the costs. However, I was rather surprised that they threw out a 12-14 month time schedule. That means that they have had the ROTF concepts from ILM since BEFORE SHOOTING STARTED for the movie. That explains the differences between the first line of movie figs and the final movie product (Prime's head sculpt, BB's face details, etc.).
Since they didn't give an answer I decided to put what's left of my brain into the problem and came up with the following process:

1. Concept
1A. Sketches and brainstorming
1B. Potential Marketing (insert design as well as ads)
1C. Trademarking of name
1D. Packaging design
2. Engineering
2A. CAD of complete figure
2B. CAD of each of the individual parts of figure
2C. Submission of transforming basics to marketing (for instructions)
2D. Submission of art for packaging
2E. Design of mold plates for parts of figure
2F. Submission of quotes for mold plates (if outsourced)
2G. Acceptance of Quote for mold plate
3. Purchasing
3A. Purchasing of insert printing (instructions, ads, etc)
3B. Purchasing of packaging printing, cardboard, and plastic inserts (inserts require mold plates, quotes, etc.)
3C. Bulk twist tie ordering (by the ton)
3D. Purchasing of paints, plastics, and hardware (screws, pins, etc) for figure
3E. Shipping of assorted packaging and parts to assembly
4. Assembly
4A. Leaking prototype to eBay
4B. Transport of mold plates and plastic to plant for production
4C. Transport of molded manufactured parts to assembly location
4D. Figure assembly and painting
4E. Final printing of packaging and inserts (instructions, ads, plastic inserts)
4F. Shipping of packing and inserts
4G. Shipping of 3 trillion tons of twist ties
5. Final production
5A. QA
5B. Application of Twist ties
5C. Application of more Twist ties
5D. Leak of packaged final product to eBay
5E. Final packing and application of twist ties
6. Shipping and distibution

I'm not sure if I put enough twist ties in there... That's my estimation of the basics of the process. I wonder how close it is to the actual process.

Question from Tformers:
"Would releasing the Henkei! Thrust and Dirge retooled molds in the United States violate your agreement with Fun Publications regarding not providing a main release for their Thrust/Dirge retool/remold figures?"

Question from The Allspark:
"In the previous Q&A Hasbro said they might consider releasing the remaining original "Seeker" characters Thrust and Dirge. Now that Takara has molded these toys with new wings, will Hasbro release the remolded toys so fans can complete their Seeker collection Stateside?"

Answer from Hasbro:
"In short, we could release versions similar to TakaraTomy's (TT) versions. In fact, we worked with TT to ensure that their versions were different enough from the BotCon versions to ensure their exclusivity.

But we recognize that there have been some fan favorites that are hard to find since they have only appeared in BotCon sets so far. We work closely with FP to ensure they get good exclusivity but we also don't want to miss good opportunities nationally.

So there may be a chance that Hasbro releases different versions of those characters (including Thundercracker as well), but it won't be in 2009."

Yes! Further confirmation that hope remains!

metaphorge wrote:

HASBRO wrote:The team is really concentrating on Transformers Revenge of the Fallen product right now. Because of that, we have not been developing any further Universe Ultra items. However, there are members of the design team who would like to find space for more tanks, but currently nothing is definite....

Initially, Galvatron was being designed as a triple changer and was actually going to be in a larger class. But once the decision was made to put Galvatron in Deluxe, his third "walker tank" mode was dropped. Because of molding reasons we had to leave some of those extra pieces in there. Here's the initial sketch and idea for the third mode.

I wonder if these two answers are a wee bit related. I for one would love to see Galvatron done right, as an Ultra....

I think Hasbro mentioned earlier that they have some other characters that they would like to do as tanks - Bludgeon was one of them. I am disappointed that Galvatron was a deluxe. He should have been a voyager. I don't care about the triple changer thing, unless it's going to be Blitzwing.

The movie toys are killing me slowly and they're not even out. We all knew the movie would overshadow the Universe line, but it's just has been hard to bear. Every other answer from Hasbro has been - We had a really cool idea for adding new team leaders, tanks, or iconic characters, but we need to focus on the movie toys instead. I just hope the energy for the Universe line will be there after the movie.

I really couldn't care less about the movie toys. I still haven't bought a single one- and don't plan on doing so.

The only way Hasbro will get me to buy a single piece of movie merch- is redecos of Classics/Universe figures under the movie line. Something like "Stealth Space Astrotrain" in his purple and gray deco.

It's disappointing that all of next year I will go transformerless.

However, maybe David Bowie will release something new, and I can spend all my hard earned transformer money on countless editions of his new album... (sacd, dvd, singles, two disc, etc...)

We do get a few waves of Universe in early 2009 though, right? Smokescreen's wave, yes? Is that the last one?

SoooTrypticon wrote:
We do get a few waves of Universe in early 2009 though, right? Smokescreen's wave, yes? Is that the last one?

Smokescreen is wave "1" of 09. Then it's Hotshot and Ratchet. Then Drift and someone else. Maybe two someone elses.

Then there should be one last wave (8 or 4 depending on how you look at it)

I'm honestly surprised that the Universe line is still in existance. The only purpose they have outside of feeding us collectors is peg warmers. No other line sells as slowly...the figures simply don't have the recognition of the other two lines outside of the collectors circles. Even now the last movie line sells faster than the Universe line...and the stores around here can't even keep the Animated line in stock. Hasbro is going to put development into the lines that make money so I don't expect the Universe line to return...as depressing as that may sound to all of us.