Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Hasbro Q&A 10/21/2009

Hello Transformers Team,

Here are our questions for this round of Transformers Q&A. Thanks!

Unicron.com, question 1:
Over the last few months, we have seen more 'appearances' of characters in their 'Classics/Universe' toy forms appearing in IDW comics (such as Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, etc...). Is this a coincidence or is Hasbro making a deliberate attempt to integrate the comics storytelling with toys that are/were/will be available? I guess what we'd like to know is if the G1 characters appearing with a more movie-like aesthetic that we have seen, is any possible indication of what we may expect to see in toy form in the future?

Hasbro, Transformers Team:
Overall, we want to continue to align our product and content (movies, comics, novels, video games, etc.) to feature certain characters. As a result, we are sure that there will certainly be more of these points of integration between product and content happening in the near future.


Unicron.com Question #2

We are still trying to reconcile the Revenge of the Fallen Constructicons. There have been several theories:
a.) There are only one construction vehicle that turns into one component robot and unites with fellow team members to form Devastator. This is the G1-paradigm. For this to be true, we must assume events in the movie are depicted out of order, that Devastator took his tumble off the pyramid, then each component transformed, off-screen back to robot form and rejoined the Autobot vs. Decepticon battle...
b.) There are fictionally, more than one Decepticon with identical construction vehicle alternate modes. Fans should assume that the Mixmaster that go gutted by Jetfire is a different, non-related character to the cement mixer Decepticon component of Devastator.
c.) There are fictionally only 1 construction vehicle that turns into a robot. But, Devastator, like the toy, is one entity comprised of 6 vehicles that don't turn into component robots. One could suppose that Scavenger, a different individual than Demolisher, could be controlling all the rest -non sentient vehicles?
d.) Something else we haven't thought of????
Please provide us an official explanation?!

Hasbro, Transformers Team
The quick answer to your question is one that you provided, Option B. Simply stated, there are a race of Transformers called Combiners that are not limited to one form or method of combining. Needless to say, there are a lot of things that can happen within this and other races of Transformers.


Unicron.com, Question 3a
Can you share any estimated release dates/store-locations for Transformers Animated items such as Season 3 on DVD, and/or toys like hydrodive Bumblebee, Blackout, Hot Rod and Arcee?

Hasbro, Transformers Team
We will be releasing Animated Deluxe Cybertronian Ratchet and Arcee in Spring 2010.

Unicron.com, Question 3b
Will there be a Universe 3.0, with any new-mold homages to the Unicron Trilogy, like Hot Shot? Also wondering, was the announcement of a ROTF Bludgeon and Mindwipe an intentional homage to The Chaos Trinity from The War Within, and if so, are there any plans to release a Bugly toy to complete the trio?

Hasbro, Transformers Team
While it is still too early to discuss our plans past Spring 2010, we certainly appreciate everyone's interest in the next iteration of the Classics/Universe line. There are plenty of great heritage characters left to do and we look forward to bringing these to you in some form or fashion in the near, not so distant future as there certainly will be plenty of surprises to come!"