BotCon 2009: Hasbro Review and Q&A panel

As usual, Hasbro was in attendance at the convention. They had a variety of new upcoming products to show us this year including some incredible figures that you probably didn't think we'd ever see. Here's a list of what they showed us which is followed up by First Gen's notes from the Q&A ...

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RETAILER EXCLUSIVES
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TARGET EXCLUSIVES
6" Titaniums - Optimus Prime, Thrust and Hot Zone
ROTF Voyager Fallen on fire

TRU EXCLUSIVES
Commemorative Insecticons
Commemorative Perceptor
ROTF Battle Pack - blue G1 deco Soundwave with Movie 1 Voyager Megatron

WALMART EXCLUSIVE
Masterpiece Skywarp, more faithful paint scheme to G1 toy


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TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED
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(Hasbro stated these products WILL find a way to retail!
Electrostatic Soundwave w/ Ratbat
Arcee
Rodimus Minor
Cybertronian Ratchet
Cybertronian mode Ironhide (different mold)
Fugitive Waspinator (Bumblebee in Wasp's colors not a remold)
Goldfire Grimlock
Hydrodive Bumblebee - Bumblebee will be more in scale with other Autobots without Scuba gear)
Voyager Blackout (has Earth helicopter mode)
Wingblade Optimus Prime (Deluxe scale Optimus with trailer that becomes wings and such from last episode of TFA)
Thundercracker (Starscream repaint but no one will complain about that)


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2010 SNEAK PEAK (SPRING)
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ROTF LEGENDS
Wheelie
Soundwave

ROTF SCOUTS
Brakedown (homage to G1 Brakedown)
Skystalker (new futuristic drone jet mold)
Scattorshot (military truck w/ plow - offscreen character with pistols)

ROTF DELUXE
Lockdown (TFA character as a ROTF styled figure - looks awesome)
Ratchet (comes w/ MP Blaster)
Dirge (complete with conehead, actually looks really cool, huge missiles under wings)

ROTF VOYAGER CLASS
Jungle Attack Ironhide (redeco w/ new bumper that transforms into crossbow and huge guns, gattling gun, knives, sniper rifle)
Bludgeon (G1 style - holy shit is this awesome, tank, complete w/ samarai swords which come out of gun turrett, skull face, has samarai garb)

ROTF HUMAN ALLIANCE
Barricade w/ Frenzy (stores in front of vehicle or chest has some guns as well - very cool!)

UNIVERSE IN 2010
New version of series will continue in fall 2010



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HASBRO PANEL Q&A SESSION
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Will Universe 2.0 continue?
Through spring 2010 we’re focusing on ROTF figures which you’ll see are universe inspired and in the Fall you will see what you know as Classics Universe begin again?


Will we be getting the IDW Publishing character Drift?
Drift? You may want to come back to tomorrows panel for that answer.


What is your stance on the decision to end Transformers Animated?
As many of you know, Hasbro signed into a joint venture with Discovery Communications and give that its so new we really can’t get into the details, but with the new network we will be bringing some new things which will feature G1 references and content.


In the first break between the Transformers movie and TF Animated we saw a bunch of repaints that fell into the movie line, will we see that again where its just pure repaints?
We try to go back and look at figures that fans liked and we don’t do repaints just for the sake of doing repaints, you may see some figures released like that again but not just pure repaints.


Going back to the Transformers Animated panel, are there any other characters from the series that may see a release like Omega Supreme?
There were a lot of characters we wanted to see released like Omega Supreme and the Constructicons. We thought they were great characters we would have loved to have released but the timing just wasn’t right to release them.


For the ROTF Combiner Devastator Supreme Class, why weren’t they given individual robot modes?
We put them in individual Deluxe class vehicles and to get the best Devastator robot, and to avoid redundancy of repeating the Deluxe figures, we left them with no robot modes.


Is there any reason we have not seen a Deluxe class Cliffjumper in the TF Animated line?
We thought that he was such a minor character in the overall story that the Activators line fit best for him.


Are you guys looking into moving away from using so many twist ties?
We are looking to move away from them and moving towards smaller packaging which is more biodegradable. In the future you’ll see smaller packages with Tam, which is easier to cut and biodegradable.


Will we ever see the Japan Legends Devastator set in the US?
There are plans for it to get a US release as an exclusive, probably in the spring of 2010.


Will we ever see a Leader Class Blackout?
We have plans for a new leader figure for the fall of 2010 that we think you’ll be excited about, but we can’t tell you what.


Is there any chance we’ll see Alternity in the US?
That’s an exclusive that we don’t think will see a release here in the US.


How much influence has Hasbro had on the retail store chains with the way the economy is?
Unfortunately we were hit with cost increases with the jump in prices for oil and production and we try to keep the figures at a low price but when it comes to a price increase or reduction in quality of the product, we have to go with the price increase as not to put out a bad product.


With the Takara legends class Devastator there are 7 figures but the Supreme Class Devastator has only 6 constructions. Why?
With out giving away too much, there can be a lot of constructicons that form Devastator, lets just say 15 start out to create him but only 7 make it to the end of the film. It’s a different concept than what you’re used to for the gestalt team.


Is there any chance of seeing a Transformers Animated Cyclonus?
We really wanted to but since we released him in the Universe line, it didn’t make sense to release him since they would be so similar in design.


This was asked at the Collectors Club panel but they passed the buck to you, did you guys choose the name Nexus Maximus?
Uh, yes.


ADDITIONAL NOTES FROM Q&A:

Find out about Drift tomorrow as well as the Wingblade Optimus Prime
New TF series on new Hasbro/Discovery channel
TFA has set the new standard for new projects
No Paradron Medic planned
No plans for TFA Omega Supreme or Constructicons at this time
ROTF Constructicons - made decision not to combine deluxes/voyagers so that it would look the best and same with Ultimate Devastator)
Future TFA characters might show up in future version of Classics/Universe line
Expect smaller and more environmentally friendly packaging next year
Hasbro plans to release Legends Devastator set (possibly as an exclusive)
Plans for ROTF Leader Starscream

Credit(s): Hasbro via Seibertron and First Gen