Hasbro Transformers Announces Pulse Con Exclusive and Teases NEW HasLab Project
Wednesday, July 14th, 2021 3:29PM CDT
Categories: Toy News, Event NewsPosted by: william-james88 Views: 78,185
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Additionally, today Hasbro released a teaser image (in Japanese) hinting at a brand-new TRANSFORMERS HASLAB announcement “coming soon.” HasLab is the Hasbro Pulse crowdfunding platform that hopes to bring dream products into the hands of fans. The teaser image is just the logo of Transformers Victory. This hints at the StarSabre rumour we had heard a little while back but nothing is certain.
Transformers: Generations War for Cybertron Deluxe Covert Agent Ravage and Micromaster Decepticons Forever Ravage – (Ages 8 and Up / Approx. Retail Price: $44.99 / Available: November 1, 2021)
Decepticons forever! In celebration of 25 years of the iconic Beast Wars: Transformers animated series, fans can add this 2-pack to their collection, featuring the classic Predacon/Decepticon jaguar, Ravage! Ravage may have been reformatted into a Predacon, but after watching a secret message from his long-dead Decepticon leader, he realizes where his allegiances lie. This pack is inspired by the scene where Ravage joins the Predacons, converts into his former mini cassette mode and leaps into the Transwarp Cruiser’s tape recorder. This pack includes a 5.5-inch Deluxe COVERT AGENT RAVAGE figure that converts from robot to jaguar mode in 20 steps and a 1.5-inch Micromaster DECEPTICONS FOREVER RAVAGE figure that converts from jaguar to mini cassette mode in 4 steps. Pose out with 2 pistol weapon accessories and 2 blast effects and decorate DECEPTICONS FOREVER RAVAGE in cassette mode with the included G1-inspired stickers. Remake the classic Beast Wars: Transformers scene with package art inspired by the command deck of the Transwarp Cruiser that Ravage captains. Available exclusively on Hasbro Pulse in the US, Canada & UK in Fall 2021.
Pulse Con will hit later this fall, and Covert Agent Ravage will be available on November 1st.
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Posted by Overcracker on July 14th, 2021 @ 3:46pm CDT
The only thing that comes to mind for Haslab to want to crowd fund, would be a Victory Saber set with both Star Saber and Victory Leo.
It won't be anywhere as large as Unicron, but it may bee more intricate and full featured and may not sell well to parents that have no idea who it is.
Posted by Mr.MicroMaster on July 14th, 2021 @ 4:14pm CDT
Posted by Immortal Starscream on July 14th, 2021 @ 4:46pm CDT
Posted by Overcracker on July 14th, 2021 @ 4:52pm CDT
Immortal Starscream wrote:Well, I have the mp star saber, and while I would like a generations star saber, I think wasting has-lab on it is a bad move. Now if you were to offer titan scale leokaiser, with the full breastforce gimmick/partners. I could see that. But ya, probably will be Victory-Saber
That actually brings top a good point.
If this set is going to be super high end and detailed and everything MPs are supposed to be, does it not kind off step on the toes of the MPs?
Unicron was for all intents and purposed an MP Unicron.
Posted by Nuclearxpotato on July 14th, 2021 @ 4:54pm CDT
Immortal Starscream wrote:Well, I have the mp star saber, and while I would like a generations star saber, I think wasting has-lab on it is a bad move. Now if you were to offer titan scale leokaiser, with the full breastforce gimmick/partners. I could see that. But ya, probably will be Victory-Saber
Star Saber is probably the best bet for a successful run and wouldn't be as expensive as a fully featured Liokaiser. That being said, I don't think I'm truly that invested in a Star Saber.
Sure he's cool and all, but he's basically an offbrand Gundam... he's certainly no Deathsaurus or Liokaiser. It'll take quite a bit of pushing for me to back him.
Posted by Mistaken_Table on July 14th, 2021 @ 5:20pm CDT
Then again, there seem to be plenty of people willing to pay upwards of $1500 for a Titan+ class shell-former on eBay. Hmmm...do you think the patent on the Pet Rock has expired yet?
Kingdom released the wrong Inferno.
Posted by GoldenAxe1989 on July 14th, 2021 @ 5:27pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 14th, 2021 @ 5:52pm CDT
Posted by Hydrargyrus on July 14th, 2021 @ 9:51pm CDT
Posted by Tuned Agent on July 14th, 2021 @ 10:20pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 14th, 2021 @ 11:10pm CDT
Here's Hasbro Pulse's page for all HasLab projects, but I can't find the prices for the past crowdfunds, and only the ones that were fully funded are included. Failed funds like Cookie Monster are absent.Hydrargyrus wrote:HasLab’s more recent stuff has been a bit smaller than Unicron, right? What were the prices on those?
Posted by o.supreme on July 14th, 2021 @ 11:28pm CDT
Cookie Monster ( which failed) I think was $300 or$350. The Sentinel was less, and I believe the Hero Quest game was only around $100 or so, but the number of backers required was much higher.
That could be a challenge. If the project is priced in a fairly reasonable range, it may have a much higher backing requirement
Posted by Flashwave on July 15th, 2021 @ 1:04am CDT
But what do I know?
Posted by Flashwave on July 15th, 2021 @ 1:33am CDT
Tuned Agent wrote:Well, I was very interested in Ravage until they started asking $45 for him. I'm sorry, I know the cost of figures is going up again, but there's a point at which it's just a blatant ripoff.
I get where you are coming from, but think about this:
Mass market thats a $22 Deluxe figure with probably $10 worth of accessories: $30 boxset. But this likely is NOT getting Mass Market Production Numbers, so they are charging half-again the cost, but for a run that is 2/3s the numbers.
You are not wrong, $45 is a lot to pay for a Deluxe Class figure and a G1 Cassettecon, but the math does check out
Posted by ZeroWolf on July 15th, 2021 @ 2:51am CDT
Now, bets on when the reveal takes place...full reveal at pulse con?
Not much to say about Ravage that hasn't already been said.
Posted by griftimus prime on July 15th, 2021 @ 6:59am CDT
Posted by ZeroWolf on July 15th, 2021 @ 7:13am CDT
griftimus prime wrote:i would like a primus as big as unicron but he would have to be a whole new mold.
Maybe in a few years
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 9:11am CDT
Dinoking
Landcross
Liokaiser
Masterpiece level Gestalt Boxsets, especially for obscure combiner teams that won't be in regular lines. They would fit the bill.
Posted by ZeroWolf on July 15th, 2021 @ 9:18am CDT
Though I'd only want Dinoking if they included the Pretender shells
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 9:38am CDT
Posted by Gauntlet101010 on July 15th, 2021 @ 9:57am CDT
Of course I haven't seen Victory and have no attachment to the character aside form him being cool looking. And I have next to no room anyway. So I probably won't get this one.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 10:03am CDT
Is this enough though? Does Victory Saber have a large enough following to fulfil a HasLab project (price dependant, of course).
If the buzz around the potential MP Raiden is an indication, a high end Gestalt would garner that kind of interest no matter who it is.
Posted by TF-fan kev777 on July 15th, 2021 @ 10:34am CDT
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Is this enough though? Does Victory Saber have a large enough following to fulfil a HasLab project (price dependant, of course).
In this case, I would actually say yes. It has been long enough since the MP that many current collectors missed out (myself included). The tease from the PotP fan poll ended up going nowhere, so many of us would back one (price dependent of course).
Posted by ZeroWolf on July 15th, 2021 @ 10:44am CDT
They don't know how well Star Saber will do at retail, especially if they even consider a Victory Leo, two slots they could fill with more bankable characters. But a certain amount of fans keep asking for him.
So what to do?
Get those fans to put their money where their mouth is. Literally. By using haslab, they can ensure no left over stock, everything made, will be sold. Crowd funding turns into a pre ordering system. If Star Saber fails to be funded then they'll put the others on ice. If he's successful, then it shows there's a market.
There's been a lot of demand for a Star Saber as a lot of fans weren't able to get the mp, and let's be honest, there's still plenty of fans that will get both, just because
Posted by GoldenAxe1989 on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:00am CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:16am CDT
Posted by Overcracker on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:20am CDT
Dinoking isn't even that large in relation to other characters in the show, so does not warrant a super huge figure. A CW combiner would work just like Liokaiser did. Same with Landcross.
Even if the character is relatively unknown, combiners are always good sellers and you add more figures to mix and match with CW.
The one thing that makes sense to crowd fund is A box set Star Saber and Victory Leo that combine. It would be large set, it would entail very specific tooling, and does not guarantee selling well except to some collectors that know the character.
Mom and pop won't go out of there way to get Star Saber for little Timmy if its over $100 bucks, but will totally get CW style combiner parts for $25 that turn into cars, tanks and planes that can interact with other figures they may already have.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:26am CDT
Overcracker wrote:None of the combiner's make any sense as a Haslab option. We already got Liokaiser in CW, so it clearly does not need crowd funding.
Dinoking isn't even that large in relation to other characters in the show, so does not warrant a super huge figure. A CW combiner would work just like Liokaiser did. Same with Landcross.
Even if the character is relatively unknown, combiners are always good sellers and you add more figures to mix and match with CW.
The one thing that makes sense to crowd fund is A box set Star Saber and Victory Leo that combine. It would be large set, it would entail very specific tooling, and does not guarantee selling well except to some collectors that know the character.
Mom and pop won't go out of there way to get Star Saber for little Timmy if its over $100 bucks, but will totally get CW style combiner parts for $25 that turn into cars, tanks and planes that can interact with other figures they may already have.
We're not just talking about CW level figures. To be a HasLab project, the production values are going to be a lot higher (in theory). A Combiner Team boxset, made to Masterpiece level, would fit that remit.
Also, let's be clear. Nothing HasLab does is even geared towards little Timmy. The kids aren't a factor here. These are for adult collectors.
Posted by TF-fan kev777 on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:36am CDT
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I'd assume a single figure should realistically just be a matter of another fan poll. Not crowd funding. Big things ala the Sail barge and Unicron, the on-demand model worked to offset potential shelfwarming. But using HasLab for a potentially MP level figure, it is a concerning turn.
I would actually say it is more of a natural progression. Unicron needed all kinds of special help just to make it. Some of that was clearly due to Hasbro's completely incompetent reveal and timeline, and being due at the same time as MP OP. But I think it was the price tag that pushed many away. I personally can't justify $600 for a single figure.
WFC has been pushing the regular retail line a bit closer to MP level engineering already. So Haslab going in a smaller direction for a character that may be tough to market under regular channels does seem like a logical next step. Going right to something like Primus when Unicron barely made it seems like a bad idea.
Plus, if it is Star Saber, and a Victory Leo stretch goal, then we are really looking at a pseudo-combiner already if the goal is met. If things do well there is certainly the possibility of additional stretch goals to be tacked on as other Haslab offering did have.
Basically this looks like the opposite approach to me than they used with Unicron. Start small and let it grow to whatever size the crowd-funding will support, as opposed to start really big and cross your fingers that enough will back it.
I think they learned a lot with Unicron on how not to start things out.
Posted by Overcracker on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:41am CDT
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Overcracker wrote:None of the combiner's make any sense as a Haslab option. We already got Liokaiser in CW, so it clearly does not need crowd funding.
Dinoking isn't even that large in relation to other characters in the show, so does not warrant a super huge figure. A CW combiner would work just like Liokaiser did. Same with Landcross.
Even if the character is relatively unknown, combiners are always good sellers and you add more figures to mix and match with CW.
The one thing that makes sense to crowd fund is A box set Star Saber and Victory Leo that combine. It would be large set, it would entail very specific tooling, and does not guarantee selling well except to some collectors that know the character.
Mom and pop won't go out of there way to get Star Saber for little Timmy if its over $100 bucks, but will totally get CW style combiner parts for $25 that turn into cars, tanks and planes that can interact with other figures they may already have.
We're not just talking about CW level figures. To be a HasLab project, the production values are going to be a lot higher (in theory). A Combiner Team boxset, made to Masterpiece level, would fit that remit.
The point being, they have proven that combiners sell well and can be made without going to Hasblab extremes. There is no reason to make a random Victory combiner as a Haslab project out of the blue. It would just be completely random. Making the main character and its partner that can combine and has continually been asked for, and barely lost the poll for PotP makes much more sense.
Also, let's be clear. Nothing HasLab does is even geared towards little Timmy. The kids aren't a factor here. These are for adult collectors.
Exactly. What I meant was, releasing Star Saber + Victory Leo at regular retail does not make financial sense. Which makes it a more reasonable choice for Haslab to tackle since it needs much more engineering for all its features and would make an interesting box set.
A random combiner just to test the waters would be kind of odd. Not saying it's impossible, just a bit odd.
Posted by Railbomb on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:56am CDT
Star Saber feels like such a surefire sell at retail after they got away with Sky Lynx at commander, which kids probably know nothing about. He's a cool looking robot dude with a neat gimmick. Even the resurgence of Beast Wars stuff, many of which haven't shown up in media since the early 2000's are selling just because they're neat.
I can understand if this is just a way to get out less safe characters like a power up for Star Saber with Victory Leo, or not leaving him without his rival and making Deathsaurus. If it's all 3 of them for a more reasonable price than Unicron, great! I'll probably get the set. But if it's just a stupid big and expensive Star Saber for no good reason other than it's Haslab I'm fine just having the MP.
Posted by ZeroWolf on July 15th, 2021 @ 12:51pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 15th, 2021 @ 12:53pm CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 1:08pm CDT
Overcracker wrote: There is no reason to make a random Victory combiner as a Haslab project out of the blue.
A random combiner just to test the waters would be kind of odd. Not saying it's impossible, just a bit odd.
That's the thing. They are not random, within the context of Victory. No more so than Star Saber or Deathsaurus. They are the biggest (literally) characters in that show. Therefore the most viable options for HasLab. It would be the equivalent of calling Devastator "random", in relation to Sunbow.
Posted by ZeroWolf on July 15th, 2021 @ 1:35pm CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 1:46pm CDT
This is MP-24 Star Saber. A quick search and available stockists list him for under £200. So he is still available for the "many fans" that couldn't get hold of him and think the figure ceased to exist during the last six years.
It seems crazy to WANT to pay more for HasLab to do the same thing, again. As opposed to a boxset of multiple figures to the same standard.
zeroWolf wrote:Galaxy Shuttle was the biggest according to that scale chart
Completely forgot about Galaxy Shuttle. In fact, I overlooked him. Thinking from the [uninspiring] name, it was just another base. Like Deathsaurus' Fortress.
Posted by Sabrblade on July 15th, 2021 @ 2:05pm CDT
Where? I missed out and would like to get him at some point, but everywhere I've looked show him either sold out or going for insane prices.AllNewSuperRobot wrote:This is MP-24 Star Saber. A quick search and available stockists list him for under £200.
Posted by Overcracker on July 15th, 2021 @ 2:11pm CDT
What I meant was he's no bigger than Star Saber or most other principal characters. And just picking one combiner out of all the available ones is random. Just one combiner.
Again if this is to test the waters, it makes sense to pick something that can stand on its own if no further figures make the cut.
Whether Deathzaras exists or not, Star Saber is as has been mentioned just a cool toy with potential. Dinoking would end up being something similar to Volcanicus in concept. Not saying it would identical because it won't. But its the same general idea of a combiner made out of dinosaurs. And assuming they want to scale it with something existing like MP Star Saber, then it would not be all that big anyway.
If they just make it like Titan Class huge for no reason other than to make it be worth Haslab's time, then they are setting up a less than appealing option with a Dinoking that scales to nothing, is it own standalone thing, and may never see any other figures from its show in its scale at all?
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 2:11pm CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on July 15th, 2021 @ 2:15pm CDT
Overcracker wrote:Again if this is to test the waters,
Except, everything stated officially so far, says this isn't to test anything. This is a HasLab project for Transformers Victory. Pure and simple. Whether any piece from this project scales with something that isn't Victory or HasLab, seems quite redundant.
Posted by Sabrblade on July 15th, 2021 @ 2:15pm CDT
Not eBay.
Posted by Nuclearxpotato on July 15th, 2021 @ 3:22pm CDT
They hopefully put some work into making it look less like a cockpit glued to a barge.
Posted by Munkky on July 15th, 2021 @ 3:34pm CDT
Posted by o.supreme on July 15th, 2021 @ 5:54pm CDT
Posted by Nuclearxpotato on July 15th, 2021 @ 5:57pm CDT
The base set is the Liokaiser team with their proper Breastforce partners, featuring the proper combination of six figures and possibly being CW compatible. The stretch goal would culminate in the addition of Deathcobra as a seventh member to swap out with one of the limbs (specifically Hellbat).
Now I kinda hope that Wreckgar was pulling our legs when he said it was Star Saber, because this hypothetical Liokaiser is something I'd be 100% behind.
Posted by Rodimus Prime on July 15th, 2021 @ 6:24pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on July 15th, 2021 @ 7:56pm CDT
As for this one, I do not think Star Saber is worth the slot, even with Victory Leo. If anything, the set should automatically include Victory Leo and not have him as a stretch goal as is rumored. A $250-350 Star Saber by himself is just not worth it, the MP already proved that.
To me, Star Saber should have been a commander and Leo a leader. the combination isn't even that complex unless they would mix it up like the Flame Toys one.
I really think this set should be Dinoforce with Pretender shells, or Liokaiser with 6 members and all the little animal dudes. Those 2 sets would be worth it, all new molds, wholly original and unique to the set, and pretender shells would honestly be a huge draw for me.
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on July 15th, 2021 @ 8:07pm CDT
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I really think this set should be Dinoforce with Pretender shells, or Liokaiser with 6 members and all the little animal dudes. Those 2 sets would be worth it, all new molds, wholly original and unique to the set, and pretender shells would honestly be a huge draw for me.
I would agree, were it not for the fact both Combiners have possible reuses, and therefore would be more suited for general retail (though a case could be made for the Shells...). Obviously, Dinoking has Monstructor (ME WANTS!), with Yokuryu/Wildfly ready to go:
As for Liokaiser... Well...
Transformers G1 1992 Big Rescue Force Gallery
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on July 15th, 2021 @ 8:13pm CDT
For the combiners, To truly get them right with all the members and parts, I think Haslab would be the best way to go, at least for Liokaiser. Dino force and the Monstructor 6 would be great, but I also want the shells to go with the members without making them tiny again.
Posted by Nuclearxpotato on July 15th, 2021 @ 11:48pm CDT
Compromise: Liokaiser is Haslab with Deathcobra as a stretch goal. Rescue Force is literally the same thing as its G1 figure but as a Selects boxset. It's missing three members making the price much lower (plus the tooling is already produced) especially if the Breastanimals are cut.
It'd be the most amazing worst best decision ever