RUMOR: Transformers Animated toy line... cancelled?

...

Well isnt that just shit.

Im loving the animated line, it's got some great toys and most of the tfs look brilliant in at least one if not both modes. And they're what? Cancelling it for a bunch of toys which, apart from the scout class ones, look every bit as horrible and awkward as the first movie's toys.

Thanks Hasbro.
Thasbro.

----------------------------------------------------------

Out of interest, do we know what exactly we'll be missing out on? Does this mean all the new charecters for the third season wont be getting toys?

WHAT!!!!!! They must be joking, this got to be only a rumor and nothing else. I bought almost every Transformers Animated deluxe, voyager, leader figures and now no more!!! I really want to have more of those.

I'm not believing anything until Hasbro says what the deal is.

All we have is the cancellation of a wave that has a repaint, and one somewhat interesting new piece. The rest is all speculation and taking the word of people who from the sounds of things do not have the whole story.

If Hasbro has cancelled the line then I think they are making a mistake, but hey what do I know, I just buy their products.

...And the fandom rejoiced.

Vile MK III wrote:...And the fandom rejoiced.

in a word... no.

No big surprise, at least from what I've seen at stores. Right now, these guys are just not moving and with the show not running new episodes right now, it's not likely they will any time soon. The whole line has become one big peg-warmer. I may just pick up the deluxe dinobots and bid TFA farewell.

The Movie really needs to be Hasbro's primary focus, especially with such a broad range of characters being introduced this time around. Lots of potential-limited shelf space. Coupled with continued support for Star Wars Clone Wars and the new GI Joe file, TFA was probably doomed a while ago.

If we don't get Arcee I'm done, period. They've got more than enough time to get her and Soundwave out. I hope the movie toys flop, which I'm sure they won't, but this is one hell of a 25th anniversary, eh? Get rid of the best line for one mainly made of repaints.

How stupid can you be? I'm an Associate at WM and it's true, they are dumping it.

BOOOOOO!

I'll just wait and see what Hasbro will say when they will see that the super-gobot movie line will warm shelfes 100% more than Animated.

There's not enough diversity in a wave. If each box of a wave would contain 8 different figures instead of 4, there would be much less shelfwarmers.

quite frankly i blame myself, i never brought any of the figures and focused my attention on G2

oh cruel fate, why!!!

No! I want Arcee! My neice wants Arcee! They can't do this to me! AAAHHH! Say it isn't so!

It's a simple matter of economics, animated toys need to be designed from scratch, and new molds need to be made, why bother when people will fork out for endless repaints and bionicle rip offs?

You know, we can only judge the success of a line by our own knowledge of what has sold around where you are.

In this area, the only real problem has been a couple peg/shelf warmers First Lockdown, then Oil Slick and Lugnut. Beyond that, sales have quite good, while we still have figures from the first movie cloging pegs, and Oil Slick is being almost matched as a warmer by universe Sunstreaker.

Well if they do cancel things, then hopefully, we could have a couple things happen.
1) They do release Arcee, and SoundBlaster, either as animated or universe.
2) They decide to clear them thru foreign distrubution.
3) Season 3 get a huge fan reaction and they are made to eat crow, followed by a new line with a "We always had planned to come back to this line." PR spin.

either way, the Hasbro and CN people who go to Botcon are going to have a fun time....

Ok.

Deep Breath.

Somewhere out there are Animated Arcee Figures that will never be released. So, not only is it gonna be very rare, but a Fembot at that.

Race you to an Arcee Figure, Ready?

GO!

Vile MK III wrote:...And the fandom rejoiced.

YESSSS!!!!

No!!!!!

I needed to own an animated Omega Supreme. This is terrible news.

They better release Arcee. I dont care how, but they better.

I'm calling shens.

My local Wal-Marts are stocking nothing BUT Animated. There's no space for Universe.

My theory is that the Animated toys and cartoon are being shelved until after ROTF. Perhaps in the fall? Perhaps next year? I dunno. But I have a feeling that it's getting shelved for the time being. Time will tell!

It would make sense to shelve them until the movie has died down, then release them at the same time as screening the cartoon - no one will buy them if they have no idea who the figure is supposed to be.

This sucks. Several of the newer Animated figures haven't shown up in my area. Wreck-Gar and Blurr to name two. I was also looking forward to that Arcee figure. Just when I was starting to really like the toyline, they go and do this?

You folks need to check all available sources before taking TFVanguard's words as golden truth.

The man is a well known liar in the fandom. He's come up with some crazy, crazy crap that boggles the mind.

Such as claiming he created the TF font that's used by Hasbro and other companies. (No, I'm not kidding.)

He also claimed that Walky (Shortpacked) threatened to kill him. (No, I'm not kidding, and yes, he did actually tell people that Walky threatened him, and no, it wasn't even remotely true.)

This guy is a jackoff, why TFArchive would even let him post that is beyond me.

I do think Animated is being killed in favor of ROTF, but I'm not basing that on TFG's post. Not a chance.

Can't say I'm surprised. The Animated toys are nothing more than shelfwarmers around my parts.

Seibertron wrote:My theory is that the Animated toys and cartoon are being shelved until after ROTF. Perhaps in the fall? Perhaps next year? I dunno. But I have a feeling that it's getting shelved for the time being. Time will tell!

I am hoping this is true.

Animated got really shafted by the HUGE break in the show.

Hopefully it will return post-movie.

I haven't been able to find airing dates for the US; everything indicates Season Three should start airing in Spring of this year here, allegedly in mid to late March. Thus clearing shelves of Animated merch is just dumb--there'd be plenty of time to clear shelves for ROTF.

Here's what I"m thinking.

Just because Wally and Target don't carry doesn't mean the *line* is cancelled, folks. It could be something as simple as they didn't get a good 'exclusive' product deal with Hasbro (which has been known to be a bit...dickish) so they decided to threaten by pulling a line they know is about to have huge potential for Hasbro, if Animated Season Three airs this spring as it's supposed to. Businesses play this kind of chicken all the time. Until I see TRU or another retailer confirm, I'm not losing all hope for the Animated line.

Still doesn't mean I like it.

HK, who is obviously going to have to field research this.

Only a rumor. Just hope for the best.

If it's true, What complete bullshtick!

At the store where I did most of my TFA shopping, my local Tesco, which is the UK's equivalent of a big chain like WalMart, a portion of the TFA line was also marked as "cancelled". I reported it in our sightings thread a little while back.

This was especially frustrating for me, since after reporting it the toys reappeared shortly after their "cancellation" with new tags that made absolutely no mention of the cancellation which was supposedly coming.

Which goes to show how much faith I now have in the internal practices of retailers.

Having said that however, the line has been shelf warming pretty badly ever since season two ended. Now every time I go there, and I go there at least twice a day, nothing moves at all. It's been like this for far too long now, and even though I don't believe in this cancellation I am a little worried for the line.

Autobot032 wrote:You folks need to check all available sources before taking TFVanguard's words as golden truth.

The man is a well known liar in the fandom. He's come up with some crazy, crazy crap that boggles the mind.

Such as claiming he created the TF font that's used by Hasbro and other companies. (No, I'm not kidding.)

He also claimed that Walky (Shortpacked) threatened to kill him. (No, I'm not kidding, and yes, he did actually tell people that Walky threatened him, and no, it wasn't even remotely true.)

This guy is a jackoff, why TFArchive would even let him post that is beyond me.

I do think Animated is being killed in favor of ROTF, but I'm not basing that on TFG's post. Not a chance.

The same here I've delt with that moron a few times over the years and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him.

I think Animated was going to get canned is going to happen sooner or later. I think some of designs were good but some flat out sucked
(like Sentinal Prime, Soundwave, and Shockwave) some that were great
like (Leader class Megatron) and some that looked very cool (Jazz and Lockdown).

I love Universe more.

Well i hate this movie even more now. I wasnt a big fan of Animated but now that this shit is going down (if true) Then the few figures that i still wanted i wont be able to find. Thanks alot hasbro. Id rather deal with animated then the movie. So whats next the 3rd season wont air either? Just another reason why the Movies are a scourge on the TF franchise. Maybe we should get a petition going to continue the line cause this is bullshit man. I dont care if they dont make new figures i just want to see the ones that were planned for release.

GOD one can only hope they end that awful creation!!!! Some moron at Hasbro dropped the ball on the Animated Line... I know, I know people like it but around here where I live even little kids HATE it!!! They think it looks to kidish and rather have Bakugan or the Universe line.. The crap just sits on the shelfs.. Now Universe is a different story.. They should have based a whole TV cartoon series on the remake of G1 and used the Universe/ Classic line. Would have been a lot better! I don't know what kids Hasbro test this stuff on but they sure are the wrong ones..

I hope to god this isn't true...if so I hate Michael Bay and his movie even more for ruining Transformers. I know that sounds harsh and I'm not looking to start a flamewar, but I hate that Hasbro created something new and awesome, and if this is true they're going to drop it for the marketing crapstorm known as Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. Damn Hollywood.

And now all the scalpers will go crazy and drive up all the Animated prices on eBay, thus making it even more difficult to get all the figures that still have yet to come to my area.

Man, why does it suck so much to be a collector right now? These movies were supposed to be good for our hobby...

/rant. I'd appreciate if no one picks apart my post into a flamewar please.

I hope it's not true...

OK, I've been lying dormant for a few months now, but this is ridiculous.

Postpone I understand but cancelling is just preposterous, failing that keep the line as an online from Hasbro exclusive. This cuts out the middle men and lessens the cost to Hasbro.

The movie is undoubtedly going to be huge, as will it's correspondent toyline, but let's not piss upon the branch of the franchise that has made many of us feel so warm and fuzzy, and had our brain tickled.

kirbenvost wrote:I hope to god this isn't true...if so I hate Michael Bay and his movie even more for ruining Transformers. I know that sounds harsh and I'm not looking to start a flamewar, but I hate that Hasbro created something new and awesome, and if this is true they're going to drop it for the marketing crapstorm known as Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. Damn Hollywood.

And now all the scalpers will go crazy and drive up all the Animated prices on eBay, thus making it even more difficult to get all the figures that still have yet to come to my area.

Man, why does it suck so much to be a collector right now? These movies were supposed to be good for our hobby...

/rant. I'd appreciate if no one picks apart my post into a flamewar please.

I hope it's not true...

What the hell? Bay? You think it's Bay's fault?

Not a chance. He was hired to direct the movie, and while he had input on their designs, he didn't tell Hasbro what to do with the toys. He came on board to run the camera and yell cut, that's it.

You blame HASBRO for the massive shitfest this has become. Retailers too. They called for more Movie stuff, it came. Hasbro answered their call and like a puppet on a string, did the dance for Wal-Mart, etc.

The thing that gets me is, Animated was in the works before the Movie even hit the theaters, so if they've been working on it for years, why did they do such a terrible, terrible job on getting the toys out?

Because they want the easiest buck, not the happiness of their customers.

see what happens when Hasbro did not make the leader class Lugnut!!!


if only they made size accuracies with TFA this line would have lasted longer

The have been signs pointing to this for a while, UK comic cancellation etc.

Personally, i think it was only seen as a filler between movies and isn't considered financially viable to continue with as movies and movie merch sell more than cartoons and cartoon merch.

I will be sad to see it go as it was just beginning to find its feet and really starting down a path of its own, but a has been previously said, I'll believe it when Hasbro take it out the back door and .......silence.......single gunshot....

Anybody feeling proactive about this, feel free to go here:
http://www.hasbro.com/customer-service/contacts/



I regret not buying shares now, I could've written a very stern letter.

Geez. Before you go harassing Hasbro about their evil, take a moment to consider whether or not this is actually true. Especially considering the unreliable nature of the source.

Oh no, I know that, what I mean is should anyone wish to politely enquire...

Meh. All i want is Soundwave and Arcee, and then I will be done with the line. I loved it, but Universe and Movie is longer.

I have more interest in the animated line then I ever will for the movie line which is an abomination

Na na na na! Na na na na! Hey hey hey, goodbye!

I know a lot of you actually like this line for some unfathomable reason, and you have my condolences, but I can't stand the line and I hope these rumors pan out and we can get back to TF's that don't look like they were designed for pre-schoolers. If this line is what they'd come out with back in 1984, I wouldn't even like TF's at all.

Woohoo I cannot wait for this entire "animated" sore to heal up and go away!

DAMN!!!

Many philosophers and other great minds have said that great things are born before and die before their time.

Let us just hope this is not the case with Animated.

Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not... fuck with us.

Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned...

God I feel so disllusioned, disenchanted and disenfranchised...

Literally.

*Lurkz Moar*

F@#* the new movie!!!!!!! No!!!!! Please no!!

Stay Animated we love love you!!!!!!!!!!!

Seibertron wrote:My theory is that the Animated toys and cartoon are being shelved until after ROTF. Perhaps in the fall? Perhaps next year? I dunno. But I have a feeling that it's getting shelved for the time being. Time will tell!

That's what I was thinking, but by the time the movie line finishes, Season 3 would probably be long gone. Especially if they have a whole Allspark power and premium waves after the initial release, or something to that sense.

But What if there's a season 4 animated? I don't think I ever heard an OFFICIAL statment that season 3 would be the last.

hmm... not shore what to think. I have always disliked this line and have not participated in collecting it. but i really liked the new arcee and was planning to buy her as the only animated in my collection

I just hope that they release her and cancel the line. it has been a blemish on the transformer name,(ducking while things are being thrown). Not that the movie designs are any better, i am just saying that the line that should represent the tf name should be universe or something similar

Polite and concerned enquiry with suggestion of web only sales or delayed release sent to Hasbro and Hasbro UK both.

Gawd bless the interwebs.

We are consumers. We're the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession.

the things you own end up owning you.

For Primus

You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f**king khakis. We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

Editor wrote:For Primus

You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f**king khakis. We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks.

Thank you sir!

Do you know what a duvet is?

Oh wow.

Animated series only getting third season...

...and now the freaking figures are canceled.

Well this is just shit.

The thing that kept me a fan through the awful first movie is going away.
Now that there's these AWFUL movie figures knocking off animated, it's bye bye Transformers.
Looks like I'm back to not even LOOKING at that section of the toy aisle again.

On a good note, Lego has kicked the awesome up into overdrive this year, with literally DOZENS of sets i want badly.
Now, I'll have money to do that.