A Gateway to Unicron - HasLab Crowdfunding
Thursday, February 22nd, 2018 3:17pm CST
Categories: Toy News, Rumors, Company NewsPosted by: megatronus Views: 44,623
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One of the major stories coming out of this past weekend's Hasbro Media Day at New York Toy Fair is the launch of Hasbro Labs (HasLab for short), a crowdfunding platform intended to deliver oft requested and long sought after 'grails' to the various communities in Hasbro's fan ecosystem. Their initial project is the largest Star Wars vehicle ever: a 3.75" scale Jabba's Sail Barge from Return of the Jedi. With all crowdfunding projects comes a degree of risk: HasLab requires a 5000 unit commitment at $500 apiece for the project to succeed.
What does this have to do with us, the Transformer community? Well, if you haven't seen or heard the group interview with the Transformers Brand Team, some saw HasLab as a path to a no-holds-bar update to the Chaos Bringer himself: Unicron.
Would fans want to see a crowdfunded HasLab Unicron? What kind of pricing? Point fans to HasLab, talk about it, read about it, podcast about it. Talk about what you want to see, we’re listening. #Unicron
What does the Seibertron community think? Should the Transformers Brand Team use HasLab as a vehicle to bring us the Chaos Bringer? Or would you rather see Hasbro's crowdfunding platform directed to create something else entirely?
Share your thoughts in the comments below, and let's get this discussion started --- the powers that Has-be are listening!
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Posted by Emerje on February 22nd, 2018 @ 3:35pm CST
Emerje
Posted by Mindmaster on February 22nd, 2018 @ 3:39pm CST
I’d rather see this being used to create Titan-class Scorponok or Omega Supreme.
Posted by Graviton on February 22nd, 2018 @ 3:41pm CST
Posted by Emerje on February 22nd, 2018 @ 3:45pm CST
Graviton wrote:I would like him to be more than a transforming ball planet, possibly with some base/battle mode and loaded with minicon ports, a removable or extra head that could possibly be opened up as a small play set. Also loaded with homages to characters he has been involved with (like some crunched pieces of Thrust in some plating) and possibly even including a deluxe Sideways. But I think $500 is too much, possibly somewhere in the range of 300-350 and being twice the size of a titan would be cool.
This would definitely be for G1 animated movie Unicron, not Armada Unicron so no Armada references and Mini-con ports here. Definitely no extra modes not from the movie.
Emerje
Posted by ZeroWolf on February 22nd, 2018 @ 3:46pm CST
Posted by ScottyP on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:01pm CST
*Don't actually do that part, he's cool

Posted by steals_your_goats on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:05pm CST
Posted by 1984forever on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:10pm CST
Posted by Flashwave on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:13pm CST
steals_your_goats wrote:I would definitely be in for a Haslab Unicron. I really want to go in on the sail barge but $500 by April is a bit short notice for such a high price. I don't think Unicron would be anywhere near that price though, I think $250 would be more realistic. Sure it'll be big but not 4' big, I think 3' would suffice. This is Unicron he NEEDS to be bigger than Metroplex.
I think thats a bit on the dreamer side. Unicron at almost any size is going to be a far more complex toy than that Sail Barge.
Me, personally, I would love a Titan Class Unicron, but I don’t have 500 to pledge up front for something like that. I sincerely doubt it would be less than 350, and I fully expect them to throw out the 500 number
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:13pm CST
ScottyP wrote:Boo this article! Boo this man! We want Tidal Wave!
One of my favourite bosses from the most underrated Transformers game.
Anyway, I've had negative history with crowdfunding so I don't rate it's value (no pun intended)as a platform, especially in this instance. Wherein it let's Hasbro off the hook to make such TF's as part of their default lines and purely overpriced collectors items.
As for Unicron's scale, using Titans Return Fort Max as a guide, he should be 1-2 inches taller than Fort Max, but no more than that. Anything substantially bigger than that is purely ridiculous and infeasible for shipping and/or sale.
Posted by Rated X on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:15pm CST
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:19pm CST
Rated X wrote:It all depends on the height and size whether Id be in or not. Its gotta be big enough to dwarf metroplex but small enough to transform. Id rather spend $500 on a reissue of the lucky draw green unicron of light. Those 5 people who won it (and sold it) have been exclusive long enough. Mass produce the damn thing.
He can still dwarf them in Planet Mode (in contrast to City Mode) without his Robot Mode being too much taller than Fort Max. That also depends on whether this will be G1 "Fat" Unicron or if they will get creative with tucking the Planet mode inside his body.
Posted by Relic Dinobot on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:22pm CST
As for other potential figures that could come out of this:
- Titan Class Targetmaster Seacons
- Titan Class Armada Tidal Wave (in animation colors)
- Timelines CW-like Nexus Prime giftset with new molds for each character
- Leader class Beast Wars Torca w/o GPS
- Leader class Sky Lynx (that's not a combiner)
- Three-pack of Voyager-class Monsterbots (no Titan Master/Headmaster gimmick)
- All six female Autobots from the Search for Alpha Trion with brand new, unique, molds.
And some other stuff I'm not thinking of right now.
Posted by blackeyedprime on February 22nd, 2018 @ 4:29pm CST
Posted by griftimus prime on February 22nd, 2018 @ 7:03pm CST
Posted by firefox91 on February 22nd, 2018 @ 7:09pm CST
Regardless of the possibility of a Unicron, I love the idea of the HasLab program. Many have criticized it because "multi-billon dollar corporations shouldn't be crowd funding, it's for the little people". That is where some have misunderstood this process. They don't need the money up front, they need to know people will commit to this and they won't take a loss. They are a business, they aren't there to do us favors. So many people have said "I would buy [really expensive item], they just need to make it." But then when it is released they say they don't have the money or the dreaded "I'll wait for clearance." That is exactly what we don't want if we really do want big, cool things.
I am a Star Wars fan and while I was not clamoring to get a sail barge, I love the what they have here. It's a really cool item, it will be really limited, and supporting this can lead to a lot of other great things. So I funded this one. If you are a big Star Wars fan, you should consider doing it too.
Posted by Targetmaster Kup on February 22nd, 2018 @ 7:43pm CST
Posted by Zeedust on February 22nd, 2018 @ 8:18pm CST
Targetmaster Kup wrote:$500 for a 4 foot UNICRON that sizes right with Headmasters/Prime Masters/Titan Masters sounds good to me.
It's a planet. It would have to be four miles before it scaled properly with any normal figures.
Posted by spiderbob007 on February 22nd, 2018 @ 8:36pm CST
Posted by Lore Keeper on February 22nd, 2018 @ 8:54pm CST