Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character

Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character

Thursday, April 18th, 2013 3:08pm CDT

Categories: Toy News, Press Releases, Company News
Posted by: Seibertron   Views: 43,123

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Hasbro released a new press release across the news wire at 4:00 p.m. EST today.

Hasbro wrote:For the first time in its history, Hasbro has unveiled a program in which Transformers fans can help create an all-new Transformers character that will be introduced into the brand's rich lore forever, including an action figure in next year's "Thrilling 30" anniversary line as well as appear in official Transformers comic books.

Further details can be found in the below release.

HASBRO INVITES KIDS AND FANS TO CREATE NEW TRANSFORMERS CHARACTER

Opening Globally Today, the “Fan Built Bot” Poll Kicks-Off Celebration of the Iconic Brand’s 30th Anniversary by Allowing Fans to Create New Transformers Character

Pawtucket, R.I. (April 18, 2013) — For the first time in history, the Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) TRANSFORMERS brand is inviting fans of all ages around the globe to help create a new TRANSFORMERS character that will be forever added to the TRANSFORMERS world. In anticipation of the TRANSFORMERS’ brand 30th anniversary in 2014, the “Fan Built Bot” Poll kicks off today, and will run through May 5th on TRANSFORMERS.com/vote. Hasbro invites fans to vote daily to shape this new TRANSFORMERS character. The new character will be made into an action figure featured in the “Thrilling 30” line of toys to celebrate the anniversary.

Hasbro is giving kids and fans the opportunity to make the “Fan Built Bot” character with votes determining everything from being an AUTOBOT or DECEPTICON—to its vehicle or other mode, color, personality and more. Kids and fans are encouraged to vote daily! Also, to keep with the theme of the fans being the ones who really shape and create this new TRANSFORMERS character, Hasbro will also give fans a say in the naming of the new character. More details on the naming will be announced soon.

“Since 1984, the TRANSFORMERS brand has been bringing entertainment and excitement to kids and fans with our beloved characters like BUMBLEBEE and OPTIMUS PRIME. We invite all fans to help us kick off the 30th anniversary of TRANSFORMERS with a new character of their choice — for the first time in history,” said Jay Duke, vice president of the TRANSFORMERS brand at Hasbro. “This is the perfect way to kick off our anniversary celebration and the ‘Thrilling 30’ line of special edition figures. It will be tremendous fun for everyone to keep track of the entire process from the designing of the character; leading up to its introduction as a toy and watching it become a part of the TRANSFORMERS brand.”

The results of the poll will be announced by Hasbro at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, as part of the official kick-off to Hasbro’s TRANSFORMERS “Thrilling 30” anniversary celebration. Kids and fans will be able to purchase the “Fan Built Bot” character as a toy and will see the new character appear in official TRANSFORMERS comic books.

For further information visit the official polling page at TRANSFORMERS.COM/vote as well as the TRANSFORMERS Facebook page at Facebook.com/Transformers.

# # #
About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company dedicated to fulfilling the fundamental need for play for children and families through creative expression of the Company’s world class brand portfolio, including TRANSFORMERS, MONOPOLY, PLAY-DOH, MY LITTLE PONY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, NERF, LITTLEST PET SHOP and G.I. JOE. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, digital gaming and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its global customers with innovative play and entertainment experiences, in a variety of forms and formats, anytime and anywhere. The Company's Hasbro Studios develops and produces television programming for more than 170 markets around the world, and for the U.S. on The Hub TV Network, part of a multi-platform joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK). Through the company's deep commitment to corporate social responsibility, including philanthropy, Hasbro is helping to build a safe and sustainable world for future generations and to positively impact the lives of millions of children and families every year. It has been recognized for its efforts by being named one of the "World's Most Ethical Companies" and is ranked as one of Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens." Learn more at http://www.hasbro.com.

Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character

Credit(s): Hasbro


This article was last modified on Thursday, April 18th, 2013 3:12pm CDT

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Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480147)
Posted by Super Megatron on April 18th, 2013 @ 4:00pm CDT
Oh, come on! No selection for a pink/green gassy Autobot leader that carries a toilet plunger and transforms into a Thighmaster?


FAIL.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480154)
Posted by Zeedust on April 18th, 2013 @ 4:33pm CDT
Super Megatron wrote:Oh, come on! No selection for a pink/green gassy Autobot leader that carries a toilet plunger and transforms into a Thighmaster?


FAIL.


I guess they figured a farting gimmick and Thighmaster liscensing fees would make the toy too expensive. :P


...Wait, you did mean "transforms into the exercise thingy" when you said Thighmaster, and not "has Nebulans forming the thighs", right?
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480169)
Posted by Sabrblade on April 18th, 2013 @ 6:33pm CDT
Is it bad that I can't think of any ideas to vote on? :oops:
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480170)
Posted by Mindmaster on April 18th, 2013 @ 6:37pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Is it bad that I can't think of any ideas to vote on? :oops:


Honestly, I think the poll needs more choices. Especially the personality and color scheme choices. They all feel... cliche, by Transformer standards.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480214)
Posted by FortMacs on April 18th, 2013 @ 8:57pm CDT
Green and gold decepticon tank with a blaster cannon, and grumpy.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480221)
Posted by Transformado on April 18th, 2013 @ 9:23pm CDT
Autobot + Tank + Blaster + Grumpy + Black/Red = ?
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480223)
Posted by RAcast on April 18th, 2013 @ 9:27pm CDT
Transformado wrote:Autobot + Tank + Blaster + Grumpy + Black/Red = ?

Grumpath! :lol:
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480227)
Posted by OptiMagnus on April 18th, 2013 @ 9:34pm CDT
Cool idea! I can't wait to see the new figure.
Except this means Transformers are ruined forever because this is a new character, not a G1 character.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480228)
Posted by BeastProwl on April 18th, 2013 @ 9:37pm CDT
Twitchythe3rd wrote:'Con
Choppah
Spear/Harpoon
Purple/Bronze
Wildman

VERY close to what I voted.
Decepticon
Helicopter
Purple/Bronze
Crossbow
Wildman
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480237)
Posted by ricemazter on April 18th, 2013 @ 10:35pm CDT
I would love to see a valiant, crossbow wielding purple and bronze decepticon spaceship
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480246)
Posted by King Kuuga on April 18th, 2013 @ 11:20pm CDT
It's occurred to me that Hasbro must have the molds for these prospective figures already made if they're going to release one in time for the 30th anniversary. I wonder if that means we'll see the non-winning designs released in subsequent lines.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480249)
Posted by Noideaforaname on April 18th, 2013 @ 11:44pm CDT
I don't see why they *must* have the mold done already. The Anniversary line is still nearly a year off, and will probably last for a year itself, which should be plenty of time for the typical 1-year-or-so development of a toy.


Though I do wonder if they already have specific alt modes in mind. "Construction" and "(Land/Air) Beast" are such vast categories it'd be a shame if 'we' didn't get to specify, but I don't see them having a second round to narrow down the exact design.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480254)
Posted by MasterSoundBlaster on April 19th, 2013 @ 12:54am CDT
Noideaforaname wrote:I don't see why they *must* have the mold done already. The Anniversary line is still nearly a year off, and will probably last for a year itself, which should be plenty of time for the typical 1-year-or-so development of a toy.


Though I do wonder if they already have specific alt modes in mind. "Construction" and "(Land/Air) Beast" are such vast categories it'd be a shame if 'we' didn't get to specify, but I don't see them having a second round to narrow down the exact design.

I'm thinking that's what they're gonna do...
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480257)
Posted by Seibertron on April 19th, 2013 @ 1:14am CDT
Noideaforaname wrote:I don't see why they *must* have the mold done already. The Anniversary line is still nearly a year off, and will probably last for a year itself, which should be plenty of time for the typical 1-year-or-so development of a toy.


Though I do wonder if they already have specific alt modes in mind. "Construction" and "(Land/Air) Beast" are such vast categories it'd be a shame if 'we' didn't get to specify, but I don't see them having a second round to narrow down the exact design.


The anniversary line starts in the next month, earlier than I think most of us were expecting. Blitzwing and Springer plus Legends Optimus and Bumblebee kick off the festivities.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480263)
Posted by King Kuuga on April 19th, 2013 @ 2:16am CDT
Noideaforaname wrote:I don't see why they *must* have the mold done already. The Anniversary line is still nearly a year off, and will probably last for a year itself, which should be plenty of time for the typical 1-year-or-so development of a toy.


Though I do wonder if they already have specific alt modes in mind. "Construction" and "(Land/Air) Beast" are such vast categories it'd be a shame if 'we' didn't get to specify, but I don't see them having a second round to narrow down the exact design.

Here's my prospective timeline of Transformers for the next two years.
Beast Hunters shares its spotlight with Generations through the rest of Q2 2013.
Starting in Q3, Beast Hunters gets pushed aside as Generations starts Thrilling 30, with BH releasing the last few figures in late Q3/early Q4 (September-October).
Generations/Thrilling 30 takes center stage through the second half of 2013 and first half of 2014, the actual 30th anniversary year.
In mid-Q2 2014, the new movie line will hit shelves and be the focus line for the rest of 2014. Any remaining Generations/Thrilling 30 figures at this point will probably be redecos and other second string figures.
In the best case scenario, the movie 4 rebranding in early 2015 will be like TF2010, a more all-purpose line where they can put in some more CHUG-style figs and generally fill space until a new TV show comes along, or they just decide to kill time until movie 5.

Bearing that in mind, they'll probably want to release an all-new character at some point before the Movie 4 toys come out. If they're announcing the results at SDCC, then if they were just starting production at that point, we most likely wouldn't see the figure until late 2014/early 2015, since they have a 2 year production cycle. That would be well after Movie 4 had landed, and thus it would be second fiddle to whatever movie toys were on shelf at that point. However, if they already have several prototypes ready to go, they can make small modifications to the tooling and plan out a deco based on the results of the poll in a relatively short period of time, with the figure ready to release in early 2014, right in the middle of the Thrilling 30 celebration and with nothing else to take attention away from it. That's why I think they probably have a series of molds ready to go, and we'll probably see the others used in some capacity down the road, even if it's not acknowledged that they were contenders for the new character.
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480268)
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 19th, 2013 @ 4:38am CDT
ALL RIGHT! WITH THIS, I COULD FINALLY HAVE MY SNOW PLOW AUTOBOT WHO CHANGE INTO A AXE AND SHEILD WEILDING PROTECTOR! =P~ I WILL SHOW THEM EVERTH.... oh... It's only 5 questions to vote... :-(

Okay...

Even if I voted for a valliant yellow & white :BOT: that is a construction vehicle with a sword as his weapon, they could come up with anything. [-(

Sigh...
It's better than nothing I guess. >:oP
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480271)
Posted by Va'al on April 19th, 2013 @ 5:45am CDT
There is a petition to ask Hasbro to include another option, regarding the gender of the character which will eventually be created.
(And, consequently, raise the gender issue in the whole franchise.)

https://www.change.org/petitions/hasbro-inc-please-include-more-female-characters-into-your-transformers-properties#

Please sign it if you agree, or email Hasbro directly!
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480272)
Posted by Mindmaster on April 19th, 2013 @ 5:59am CDT
Va'al wrote:There is a petition to ask Hasbro to include another option, regarding the gender of the character which will eventually be created.
(And, consequently, raise the gender issue in the whole franchise.)

https://www.change.org/petitions/hasbro-inc-please-include-more-female-characters-into-your-transformers-properties#

Please sign it if you agree, or email Hasbro directly!


I was going to sign, but they wanted my address, zip, etc. I refuse to hand out personal info.

Seibertron wrote:The anniversary line starts in the next month, earlier than I think most of us were expecting. Blitzwing and Springer plus Legends Optimus and Bumblebee kick off the festivities.


...What?
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480274)
Posted by Va'al on April 19th, 2013 @ 6:10am CDT
Mindmaster wrote:
Va'al wrote:There is a petition to ask Hasbro to include another option, regarding the gender of the character which will eventually be created.
(And, consequently, raise the gender issue in the whole franchise.)

https://www.change.org/petitions/hasbro-inc-please-include-more-female-characters-into-your-transformers-properties#

Please sign it if you agree, or email Hasbro directly!


I was going to sign, but they wanted my address, zip, etc. I refuse to hand out personal info.


That's peculiar, all they wanted from me was my city/town, nothing else. :-?
Re: Hasbro invites kids and fans to create new Transformers character (1480275)
Posted by Mindmaster on April 19th, 2013 @ 6:15am CDT
Va'al wrote:
Mindmaster wrote:
Va'al wrote:There is a petition to ask Hasbro to include another option, regarding the gender of the character which will eventually be created.
(And, consequently, raise the gender issue in the whole franchise.)

https://www.change.org/petitions/hasbro-inc-please-include-more-female-characters-into-your-transformers-properties#

Please sign it if you agree, or email Hasbro directly!


I was going to sign, but they wanted my address, zip, etc. I refuse to hand out personal info.


That's peculiar, all they wanted from me was my city/town, nothing else. :-?


Probably because they figured out you're outside the United States, and were all like "LOL that dude's not in America, he isn't worth it" and let you get away with just putting your city/town.

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