Hasbro Answers Some Burning Questions from Fans: AOE Dinobots, DJD, Packaging Changes, and More

The Seibertron site assisted a round table discussion today with Evan Brooks (designer), Marc Maher (designer), Delaney Norris (marketting) and Ben MacCrae (marketting) from Hasbro, answering questions related to the recent Legacy reveals. There would be no answers to any questions related to the Rise of the Beasts line (so I would not expect reveals of that any time soon).

Q: When will Shadowstrip and Crasher be formally announced?
A: It’s up to Walmart. Hasbro thought they would be revealed and made available by Walmart at the same time as Galaxy Shuttle but it doesn’t seem to be the case. They are waiting to hear back from Walmart.

Q (my question): Legacy/Studio Series toys are made with which primary audience/market in mind? And which demographic buys the majority of toys from those lines?
A: While the targets are “fans”, that is an internal name for the 8-12 year old market. These would be kids who are fans of Transformers toys since they grew up with the simpler ones in other lines and are ready for a more challenging conversion. While there are characters older fans are more likely to recognize, they are all still designed more with children in mind and the freedom with Legacy lets them bring other characters. Also, that demographic (8-12 year olds) is who these toys are bought for most.
Vehicle form factor is key, and kids gravitate towards the idea of a robot to vehicle conversion so there is no need to have a character that young kids know. The goal is giving 8 year olds the STEM feature of play with legacy and Studio Series. Nothing has changed since John Warden said that toys are designed with kids in mind. They are trying to make toys for kids that older fans also like. They are currently undergoing market research to see the percentage of sales from different demographics.

Q: Will there be more new characters like Scraphook?
A: Scraphook as a new character was easy since he is part of the Junkions who already have a theme/play pattern in the lore. Hasbro is constantly looking for ways to integrate new characters. Junkions are an easy place to mine for new characters and there will be more to come in the new year. Every time we have a chance to do something new, we try it though with Studio Series, that line is linked to pre-existing characters.

Q: Has the plastic type changed?
A: The main plastic types used for toys have not changed since the 80s, and the plastic used now is the same used in the previous Transformers lines (like WFC trilogy, ect). They are aware of the yellowing issue and if you have a product with that issue (or any issue) please contact the customer support team.

Q: Tarn is great, what took so long and how do we get the rest of the team?
A: Tarn is an amazing character, from a fantastic storyline. The Hasbro team are big fans of that. They had to bring him to life after seeing Tarn show up in so many other places. It was obviously the time for Tarn, but the rest of the DJD are a design challenge (not Nickel though, could be a core release). They are looking into it, and finishing off “mini collections” is still something Hasbro wishes to do. They try to have more synergy between comics and toys, hence why Knockout in the comics looks like the Legacy toy. His design (and others) were given to IDW from Hasbro. Legacy finally gave an outlet for freedom of having characters from anywhere, that’s why characters from IDW specifically are being integrated into the line. Just don’t expect the same alt modes.
***Seibertron user William-James88 suggested a Robotic scorpion which can be fan made into an electric chair for Kaon.***
Alex Milne and James Roberts will get a copy of the Tarn toy.

Q: Can you acknowledge the existence of the Legacy Minerva toy?
A: Yes, they can personally acknowledge that it exists. They have not heard from Walgreens as to their plan for releasing it yet. The official date of release would have been October 1st. Hasbro will do their best to continue releasing the Japanese characters, like Galaxy Shuttle and Victory Sabr. Mark apologises for Minerva not being a headmaster, but he wanted to release it in the line. Also, Minerva was chosen as a Walgreens exclusive due to the medical theme.

Q: Core class combining Dinobots, what challenges were there?
A: Lots of Challenges, Sludge is taking the biggest hit with the thunderous thighs needed for combiner mode. Not sure if they could do it at first, but it felt like it could be possible, so they didn’t wish to say “no”. They made it happen at Core class. They added a sixth Dinobot for the proportions to work without it having a deluxe torso.
Bringing them to core class was so that you could have the whole team on the shelf at the same year, harkening back to the G1 era. These toys are perfect for kids. Core class is meant to be well known characters that sell, at a lower price points.
***The Dinobots were not the first intent from the designer (ie. Monstructor/Dinokinginstead), but they were used for an easy sell to marketing.***

Q: Can you give more info on Override being a new mold in a line of redecos?
A: When Takara gets to design a character they have a lot of love for, you can sit back and see the wonder. (Lots of mold mathematics discussion which personally stumped your dear news editor.) Stuff like the Cyberkey hole for Override are design easter eggs made for fans who remember the older toy even though it is still made to sell to kids.

Q: Are there more female characters coming to Legacy and Studio Series?
A: Of course! So many awesome female bots, we will never say no. The female audience for transformers is immense, far bigger than most fans may think.

Q: Can we ever expect proper Pretenders?
A: Classic style pretenders shells are very hard to do (and sell to corporate) since the shells themselves become a mold of their own. Core class Bombusrt can fit into his G1 pretender shell but that is a happy coincidence.
*** Evan then proceeded to more heavily hint to the alternate use of those core class Dinobot molds (ie. Monstructor/Dinoking though nothing officially is said and we do not know how or when they will ever be made and available).***

Q: What criteria goes into choosing a Gobots character in a Transformers line?
A: The goal is to sell to kids so alt mode and colour come into play with the choice. It’s a group conversation to decide if it’s the right move or not. Gobots is still a tricky licence since another company owns what was originally GoBots. So it’s a very muddy situation. Always thinking 3 years ahead, it can take that long to get a toy associated to a toy from another “mini collection”.

Q: Any answers about the woes with Cosmos’ distribution?
A: No news on if we’ll see more cosmos at retail, everything is up to Walmart in terms of case allocation, nothing can be forced from Hasbro. The team was unaware of the solid cases in the UK since the marketing team was trying to get a solid box for the designers to have their own but was told that wasn’t a thing.

Q: Do all molds have second heads just sitting there for the future?
A: Been going on for a long time. It’s weird when there isn’t an alt head in a mold.
***The alt head for Titans Return Seaspray was a merman head from the G1 episode. Ben is a HUGE fan of Seaspray and would want another release before he retires.***

Q: Transformers boxes, can they go full closed box like other Hasbro lines?
A: Unlike Marvel and Star Wars, the Transformers brand skews younger, so seeing the robot inside does bring in more sales than a closed box with the image of the character. Transformers is not as character focused line like Marvel, it isn’t the character itself that sells the toys, it’s how the bot looks. There have been studies done and open windows are best for their target audience of 8 year olds seeing the robots on shelves. The leader class toys are higher priced and thus not likely an impulse purchase by parents, so they can look more like a toy aimed at collectors. Looking into all different boxing options, but right now open box for lower priced toys is the best for Transformers brand.

Q: Will there be more Japanese Beast Wars Characters aside from Leo Prime?
A: Leo Prime was an easy sell to corporate since he is a leader called Prime and a lion, both attributes familiar and appealing to kids. They keep testing the market and audience. The term Convoy is a trademarked name in Japan, so that name cannot be used on packaging by Hasbro.

Q: Is that Lockdown looking car in the poster a hint that we are getting Lockdown?
A: There is no comment on it being Lockdown or not but Hasbro is aware of the thirst for the Transformers animated universe (note from Editor: the toy on the poster is not Lockdown, it’s a deluxe Junkion toy like Scraphook)


And now, dear readers, here is an example of how to ask the same type of “are we getting this” type of question, but to get a better answer. One question was “is Slipstream coming any time soon”, and the answer from Hasbro was “Anything is possible”, obviously. BUT I found another way around that:
Q: Have there been any obstacles to getting the rest of the Age of Extinction Dinobots, since we got none after Grimlock.
A: There may have been at the time if the same characters were available in the Platinum line (not a certainty, memory is foggy on that), but as of right now there is no obstacle, no reason for them not to eventually show up, nothing stopping Hasbro from making them. However, G1 Grimlock appearing in the SS line did put the possible release of Bayverse Dinobots on hold.

The next reveals will be happening on the Premium member exclusive stream happening October 27th. Also, Hasbro is hyped for Eathspark and they hope you feel that too.